The simple truth is that there hasn’t been that much going on with the house. I’ve been filling in, feeding you apps while I scramble in the kitchen to pull together some kind of main course.
I have an architect, Nicholas Adams, nice guy, good crews, great choice. I’m happy. We have been trading emails and floor plans. The time has been well spent but not exactly blog-worthy. The visit Jacqueline and I made to the gallery he and his wife run was close, but maybe a little off-topic. When you think Nick, I don’t want you getting confused about the connection.
Today we got to blog-worthy. I had been unhappy with some aspects of the plan. The floor plan was awkward and the kitchen layout even worse. The heating system was close but not exactly what I wanted.
A couple of days ago I went to the house and realized the logic of the original plan was starting to make sense to me. Then I started having dreams about where things should go. Yes, I had a dream that told me where to put the washing machine: sad but true. Then today I had a meeting with Nick, his cabinet guy and his demo/energy expert. They liked the house and really liked the new plan. I just love it when I describe my idea and the guy who has to build it, who came here from the chateau he is working on, listens and his eyes light up. That tells me it’s going to work, maybe even better than I thought.
And best of all? Do you see that well in the photo? That’s not just a 19th century relic, not just the nucleus of my graywater system. No, it’s more. We wandered into the cave, where I had never been, and found an old geothermal heat pump. The energy guy did a little dance and explained it all to us. This heat pump was some 30 years old; it was cutting edge technology back then. 30 years ago the previous owner created a heating system that used the earth’s warmth to heat the house. This involves a heat pump, such as the one in my basement, and rods buried deep in the ground — or, in my case, deep into the well. That well and a new heat pump are going to heat my entire house, including hot water and pool, at a quarter of the cost of electricity. They don’t have much natural gas over here, so this is big. The system set up by the previous owner made it possible.
So now, finally, we are ready to move forward.
At Home in France 
Where’s the like button? Cheap and environmentally friendly.
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Like button? Good question: I may have to add one.
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Oops. Found it. It’s just beneath the post, to the left.
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