77: Our Life in France update and Our Titre de Sejour is Ready for Pickup

Welcome to the 77th weekly post of our Baby Boomers Move to France blog.

We are into our 49th week in France 7/5-7/12/26 having spent 3 months in Duras and then roughly a month and a half in St Germaine de Confolens before settling in Chabanais.

We have been in our home in the village of Chabanais in the Charente department of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region of France since the middle of December 2025. We are still loving it.

This week,

Work on the chicken coop (Cocktail Coop), EB volunteers at the cancer charity shop. Hopefully back to golf on Thursday, check on the firewood moisture. Check in with Ron to see if he needs help stacking his delivery of firewood.

Our home in Chabanais, France

Things on the agenda this week:

• Cocktail Coop
• Firewood moisture checks and plan for new delivery of wood
• Check out outdoor furniture options and purchase
• Work on Garden

Weather forecast:

The forecast is for a cooling trend with high temps in the upper 80s and lows in the 60s. I don’t see rain in the forecast for the week.

Why this Blog?

Long story short, we are “Baby Boomers” that have moved from Venice, Florida to the beautiful French countryside as retirees. After a little over a year of planning and fretting we sold everything in Venice and made the move on 1 August 2025.

We publish a brief update of our adventures every Sunday to share our experiences, tips and mistakes.

If you are wondering what got into our head and inspired us to make the move, check out some of our earlier posts. Again, if you have questions about our adventure, drop your questions in the comment section below.

This Weeks Daily Update

Sunday

Test EB’s pickles

EB’s pickle experiment is a success mostly. She says she will back off on the vinegar a little as they are a bit too tart.

Overall a quiet day and a little time for star gazing

After dinner the weather was so nice I wanted to stay outside and see if I could catch sight of any shooting stars. I took my glass of wine out, watched the sky and waited. The sun did not fully set until well after 10 closer to 11. My patience was rewarded with the sighting of 3 shooting stars. I believe that August will be better for sky watching but I didn’t want to waste such a beautiful night.

Monday: Quiet day

We did a couple of chores. EB trimmed the rose bushes again and trimmed the fig tree again. It is a never-ending chore during the summer. Definitely needed it. Then using water from our water barrel, she watered her veggie patch. Of course, Rosie doesn’t leave EB’s side.

Time to work in the cave.

We store our firewood and pellets in the cave. I was concerned that this storage space might not be ideal due to potential moisture. I had to be sure I hadn’t made a big mistake in storing the firewood there. I spent a couple of hours rearranging the firewood and testing for moisture content.

I rearranged the pellets to allow me the room to use our metal firewood rack. I had to level the rack with some stones. Then I added some capacity to the current firewood stack and started sorting the wood. I took my moisture meter and checked samples of the firewood. Moisture content should not be above 15% according to my meter. I found only a few over 15% most samples were well under 10%. I decided to sort anything over 10% and move those pieces to the metal rack where they will have a little better air circulation. Just a few pieces fell into that range. I didn’t check every single piece, but I think that I checked a pretty reasonable sample size.

I was very relieved to have this issue sorted out. If I had found too many pieces over the 15% moisture content limit, I had a plan B. However, all is good and I was glad that plan B was not needed at this time. It would have been a lot of work and take up space in the Cocktail Coop and then the space in the cave would be wasted.

Tuesday: Weather creeping up to the 90s and Simon is back

Simon is back to follow up on a couple of handyman projects including drilling through the workshop wall to run some plumbing so that he can install a water spigot in the upper garden area. He needed a 40-inch-long masonry drill bit to get through the wall. That is not a drill bit that I have on hand. He is also fixing a ceiling joist in the laundry room. It is too warm to work past 1:00 so Simon will be back on Wednesday to finish up.

EB and I had important stuff to do. We needed to spend some money. Garden furniture was on the list. We had checked out availability at Hyper U and other stores and didn’t find what we wanted so we went to the internet. Leroy Merlin has a pretty good website, and we found just the right stuff. All will be delivered in a couple of weeks. “Some assembly required.” LOL

Last week I mentioned the Bal de Pompier (Fireman’s Ball) will be 13 of July. We got our reservation in on Tuesday. We are looking forward to attending this event.

Unfortunately, the event was cancelled due to the forecasted high temperature. Most outdoor activities are cancelled as the French take the hot weather very seriously.

EB had promised Ian and Penny that we would stop by the restaurant this week and Tuesday would be the day. As usual we had a great meal we opted for the fish and chips this time. EB had an ice cream for dessert I went for the coffee cake and a cafe au lait. All was delicious and we got to chat a little with Ian and Penny. We met a lady from England that has been in France for decades. She and her husband live in Angouleme and just happen to be passing through Chabanais on the way back to Angouleme from Confolens and stopped at Cafe Lillian.

Wednesday: Cooler in the morning, but got up to 99 by 4:00

EB volunteered at the cancer charity shop from 10 to 1:00. She walked over to the shop, and Rosie was a little upset. Rosie split her time between sitting by the front door and checking out the summer house.

The charity shop did pretty well having sold over 40 euros worth of stuff during EB’s 3 hour shift. EB bought me a hat and herself a pair of linen pants.

I spent a little time sanding the Cocktail Coop wooden walls and thinking about next steps. We will have to decide if the unpainted wood is to be painted or stained. The wood that is already painted needs a fresh coat, so we get to choose a color.

EB finally got her Bilan de Sante (health checkup) results back. It is a little strange that I got my results in my online space and she got hers via mail. I have no clue why the difference. Anyway, she has no serious issues so a big thumbs up.

French class It was a good class with a new Scottish member, not sure if he will be in every class or not. Lots of French spoken. After class we went to Cafe de Sport and sat with Diane and her French boyfriend. More practice with French and a couple of beers. We sat outside and had to move our table and chairs a couple of times to stay in the shade of the very large umbrella. As long as we were in the shade it wasn’t too bad at 6:00pm.

Thursday: Started nice in the morning but warmed up too much for any outdoor activity.

We had some guys working on our garden area, so I had to skip golf to be available to answer any questions.

EB went to St Junien to return her curling wand and pick up a few items.

Me and Rosie held down the fort.

Russell dropped by to take a break from his chores and we had a brief chat.

Cocktails at Russell, Damien and Gary’s (The Boys) house (maison). They always seem to have an eclectic group over for dinner and/or cocktails. We met some new people; Clair, Phil and their daughters Jasmine and Amber. They have had their “holiday home” in Chabanais for something like 20 years. When not in France they live on the Isle of Man an island about midway between Ireland and England. Amber has been studying in Spain for the past 2 years or so. Jasmine is studying in England I believe.

Friday: Titre de Sejour approved and ready for pickup at the Prefecture

Yeah, EB’s first SS check arrived!

Titre de Sejour

Another milestone is checked off of the list this week. We were notified that our Titre de Sejour (residence permit) is available for pickup at the prefecture in Angouleme. This means we are officially approved to stay in France another year. We will be going with Ron and Michelle as they got their notification as well. So far, we are on parallel paths.

Speaking of Michelle, her birthday is this coming Monday and Ron is treating her to dinner at the Le Vieux Moulin restaurant. NICE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELLE

1st delivery of garden furniture

We got our first delivery of garden furniture and spent some time assembling a couple of chairs and a little table. EB and I are a pretty good team at this type of task.

Saturday: Decheterie run and EB volunteers at the cancer shop. Surprise, overnight rain! Much needed, but not nearly enough!

Our work in the garden and cocktail coop generated some trash that was beginning to pile up so I couldn’t put off a decheterie run any longer. I loaded up the Dacia and headed over to the decheterie. They have changed the procedure a little. Instead of a person checking our card we stop at a kiosk ahead of the gate and hold our card for the card reader. The card is validated and the screen welcomes Mark and Elizabeth Beiley to the facility and the gate opens. There are still attendants there to make sure we deposit our junk and trash in the correct dumpsters.

EB volunteered at the cancer charity shop again and Michelle dropped in and bought some stuff and then Clair, Phil and Amber dropped in too. EB is so happy to be making friends that she is starting to recognize out and about in the village all the time.

AC

EB got information from Julia and Russell about potential vendors for air conditioning systems (Climatization). Julia and her husband Brian just put a new system on order and expect the installation by the end of July. I’m thinking this might be something we do sooner rather than later as Julia’s quote seemed very good to us. She had 3 different companies quote and fortunately the one she felt most comfortable with also had the best priced system but more importantly she felt the guy listened to her and would accommodate her wishes. Also, that same guy has installed a system in another friend’s house and was happy with the work he did.

EB’s veggie patch is producing some pretty big cucumbers. We will have a ton of tomatoes soon too.

EB has been experimenting with pickling. She sliced up a red onion and pickled it. Wow, it is really good.

Managing keeping the house cool during the heat of the day

EB is getting good at managing keeping the house cool during the day. First thing in the morning she makes sure the windows are open to get the cooler morning air. Our house faces east so she makes sure the east facing shutters are closed when the sun starts coming through the windows and door. We benefit from the building across the road shading us for part of the morning. In the evening she opens the windows and shutters to grab the cooler air. Of course, we have fans going most of the day and they really help.

I’m still in favor of having an AC system installed. It will make our living more comfortable and add value to the house, I think. The newer modern split systems are pretty efficient and given the fact that our solar power system currently generates more electricity than we consume, I don’t expect an impact on our electricity expenses during the summer since that is the period of peak solar electricity production.

In the winter we don’t need AC so when our electricity production decreases, we should still be okay. I will let you know.

Tour de France

I’m not a big bike rider, but The Tour de France is pretty interesting. There is a lot to learn about professional bike racing and the Tour de France is considered the biggest and perhaps the most important race of the year. Stage 8 of 21 stages of the 2026 race started this morning. This stage is from Perigueux to Bergerac and is a relatively flat run and the racers will average over 40 km/h. You can download the Tour de France application for your cell phone. The app helps us newbies get into the whole vibe of the Tour de France.

So that was our week.

Work in the garden, lunch at Cafe Lillian, cocktails at the boys’ house. We continue learning French on the Duolingo app and I did get some banjo practice in.

French Lifestyle and Culture

The School Year in France

I mentioned that we met Clair and Phil and their two daughters Jasmine and Amber. I realized that they are currently on school holiday. It got me to wondering what the school year in France is.

Well, it turns out that in France, educational instruction is compulsory for children between the ages of 3 and 16. The school year begins in September and ends in late June/early July. To be sure young people continue schooling after 16 years of age. At age 16-17 they attend the Premiere year (equivalent to the 11th grade in USA) and age 17-18 is the Terminale year (equivalent to grade 12 in the USA). Yes, like the USA public schools are free.

Very interesting is the mandatory schooling at 3 years of age. From 3 to 5 the student attends Nursery school. By the way, this schooling is free from the age of 3. That is correct Nursery school for ages 3-5 years is free. Okay, okay, it isn’t free it is paid for out of social taxes, but what a great way to spend taxes. Young parents can work and children get a consistent education. Of course there are private day care options too.

Now for younger children (less than 3 years old) most children are looked after by a nounou (professional childminder) or in a crèche (nursery). The costs of these two options are about the same but varies depending on your earnings.

I remember when my son was a toddler the effort to find a satisfactory nursery school was daunting and the cost in California was pretty high.

Next Week (la Semaine Prochaine)

• Paint the Cocktail Coop
• Simon the handyman will be back
• More work on the garden
• Firewood delivery
• Fete in Confolens
• Garden furniture delivery

Weather forecast for next week

Sunny and hot this coming week with high temps forecasted to reach 102. Overnight lows in the 60s. Partly cloudy, and chances of rain in the forecast for the week. It finally starts cooling down on Friday and through the weekend.

Signing off for the week

STAY COOL AND HYDRATED!!

As always, we sign off wishing you all a good week and remind you to take care of yourselves and your family.

Keep in touch and leave questions, suggestions and comments below. We really enjoy hearing from you all.

Wishing you a good week (Bonne Semaine)

Mark and Elizabeth Beiley

Babyboomersmovetofrance.com