December 21, 2014 - January 1, 2015

Our house sitter host Mark picked us up at the Auch train station. It was about a 45 minute ride to their house in Lupiac. Yep, we were in the middle of nowhere - Lupiac, population 310. Lots of rolling hills, a few small vineyards, and a couple of towns along the way.

We asked Mark a ton of questions. We learned about the animals, the house and the details of their trip. When we arrived at the house, we were greeted warmly by the entire family - Susan, the wife, and three teenage children.

Susan made us a lovely dinner and we all ate together that night. We chatted quite a bit and learned about how they arrived in Lupiac nine years ago from the UK. They were returning there for the holidays to visit family.

They left in the morning and we were on our own for the next ten days. Our days were spent trying to keep the fire going (our main source of heat) and keeping the animals happy. We were often cold, but we later discovered we were not keeping the roaring fire that Mark had achieved. It was constant work trying to make sure there was enough wood available and in the stove. Eventually, we got into a routine. We did get the quiet and slower pace we were seeking, especially for the holidays.

Christmas morning was anticlimactic for the kids. Maeve still came down the stairs and checked under the tree (Susan had two trees decorated). Sadly for Maeve, nothing was there. All gifts this year were sent via email. I made movies for the Maeve and Liam chronicling their trip to date. Michael found gifts of interest in future destinations for them. Maeve will enjoy a spa day in Bangkok and Liam will get to go-kart race in Dubai. That news brought smiles.

Most days the scenery was gorgeous. We only had a couple rainy days and a few frosty mornings. We got a lot of school work done and we enjoyed the satellite English TV programs.

We used their car to drive to Aignan, the closest town about eight kilometers away. We stocked up on groceries. We ran into a few people from California who were staying in that town. They asked us if we were stocking up the storm shelter. Guess it looked that way, but we didn't want to drive out here regularly. It wasn't our car and we weren't familiar with the roads.

Roosters and chickens taking over the deck

Someone found the warmest spot in the house

The family returned on New Year's Eve. I made dinner for everyone and despite the exhaustion on everyone's part, we managed to stay up until midnight by watching some shows and playing Yahtzee.

Overall, a successful house sit. The animals were well cared for and happy. Poor Mark had to drive us to the train on New Year's Day. We set out for another night in Toulouse and then a train back to sunny Barcelona.