67Cuckoo in France

Welcome to the 67th weekly post of our Baby Boomers Move to France blog.

This is our 39th week in France 4/25-5/2/26

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.

This week,

WOOHOO!! We have our WiFi back. It is crazy how it has become so important. It is what it is, and we are so glad to have our WiFi back. This week we get back on track with our regular blog post and fill in some of the blanks from the last two weeks. Last week we made fantastic progress on our veggie patch, and the flowers are blooming like crazy, so this week we share some pictures. I’ll update you on our doctor appointments and share our week’s activities.

Our home in Chabanais, France

Things on the agenda this week:

• WiFi installation
• Hearing specialists appointment
• Solar panel app update
• Follow up on taxes
• Follow up will
• Golf
• Update workshop door painting project
• Garden work

Weather forecast:

It was a beautiful Monday morning at 5AM. Super clear sky and the Big Dipper seemed so close that I could almost touch it. There is a slight chance of rain most days this week but high temps in the 60s and 70s and lows in the 50s Fahrenheit. The rain will be good for our veggie patch.

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 Week in General

As you know I wrote the last 2 week’s postings on the iPad using my iPhone hotspot. It worked ok but was slow and I had a tough time with the formatting and fixing typos and misspellings. One really glaring error that I just couldn’t get fixed was the spelling of our river, I guess autocorrect thought the name should be the Viennesse river. I’m sure you know I meant the Vienne River when I talked about crossing the river on the bridges in our village. Okay, I feel better now that I cleared that up.

Sunday

Sunday was gorgeous and we got our walk in. We walked up the hill and got to see the donkeys.

Then we did a little work in the yard had, lunch did a little more work and stopped just after 3:00.

There are 5 or 6 donkeys that graze in this field about a 5-to-10-minute walk from our house, I think we walked by as they were expecting food. It looks to me like they still have their winter coats. This land includes a sawmill thus the logs shown.

I mentioned the veggie patch. EB has each plant type identified so we know what is what. In addition to the herbs, strawberries, figs and grapes already planted by the previous owners of our house, Elizabeth has cucumbers, red peppers, yellow peppers, tomatoes, beans and green onions planted.

Flowers from the garden made a really pretty bouquet.

Monday: Another pretty day

We were expecting the technician from our new internet provider, SFR to arrive Monday morning. He arrived around 9ish and had us all set up within 30 minutes or so. He got everything connected. Both phones, 3 iPads, the TV and the laptop.

Why the heck do we need 3 iPads? I’ll share the details in the French Lifestyle and Culture section.

While EB (our tech guru) figured out how to get the MyLight app for our new solar power on the iPad, I took a bunch of stuff to the decheterie and then got the car washed and dropped off a bin of glass bottles at the disposal site. I didn’t do the bottles at the decheterie because there were a lot of cars and trucks there today and it was a bit congested. Our regular drop off site is just up the road from us and there was no congestion there.

The car wash is one of those automatic deals where you pull the car in until a red light says stop and you must get out of the car. At the pay kiosk you select what wash program you want (there are 6 or 7 options), then put your credit card in the slot and voila the car wash happens. A lot of towns in France have banned car washing at your house as they don’t want the water wasted and also taking contaminants into the storm drains.

While I was standing waiting for the wash cycle to complete another car pulled up. A lady got out of her car and checked out the pay kiosk. We exchanged bonjours and she asked if I speak any English. I know my French pronunciation is getting better, but I guess it is good enough to make her think that I might not know English. We had a laugh and she asked me what some words on the pay kiosk meant, Sorry to say that I didn’t know. Her husband was sitting in the car laughing. I did go home and checked the translation app and I learned 2 new French words, hauteur (height) and largeur (width). The car wash station had a limit for both dimensions.

Tuesday: Another beautiful day

We drove over to La Rochefoucauld for my hearing test appointment. EB wanted to walk around the town a little while I was having my hearing tested. It is a nice town with a population of about 19000 and a pretty chateau. It is in the Charente department about a 30 minute drive away from Chabanais. By the way, my hearing hasn’t changed much since I had the test and bought hearing aids at Costco in the states a couple of years ago.

I wanted to call Hector the solar panel guy around 11:00 so we headed back home as soon as my appointment was done. Of course, the timing didn’t work out real great. I got a text message that he would get back to me.

EB asked if I was interested in going to Cafe des Sport for a beer. She knows how to speak my language. Rosie came along and we walked over to the cafe and sat outside in the sun.

I figured we were not going to hear from Hector today. But I was wrong and he called around 4:30. It turns out that for some reason the WiFi is not talking to the solar power system, so we tried to trouble shoot it over the phone. No joy. The technician will be here next Tuesday to make needed adjustments. Fingers crossed. I got off of the phone around 6:00. We want the connection so that we can monitor our electricity consumption and to also “bank” any excess energy that we create. The system is supplying all of our power needs right now.

Our new WiFi stopped connecting with all of the features on our TV. Very frustrating. We need to go back to the SFR shop for consult.

Wednesday:

SFR consult

EB suggested that we take a video of the TV and WiFi remote controls as she tried to access all of the features on our TV. Excellent idea! We drove to Limoges to meet with the folks at the SFR shop. The guys at the shop watched EB’s video and gave us some directions. They speak some English but we left the shop with minimum confidence that it would work. We did get it to work, but there is some issue somewhere that I can’t figure out.

While in Limoges we decided to go over to Leroy Merlin to check on another can of paint for my shop door painting project. I need a second coat of paint. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the brand of paint that I was looking for. Where the heck did I buy that paint?

Language/culture lesson at Carrefour

Before heading home EB wanted to stop in the Carrefour market to buy a bottle of Wing Sauce. Hot chicken wings are rare in France. This particular store is located within the mall and is huge. We missed the entrance and as we walked along the many cashiers EB decided to ask one of the cashiers how to get into the store. Elizabeth forgot to start her question with “bonjour madame” so the lady responded with “bonjour”. EB continued with her question and the lady said “bonjour” again. We finally got it and said, “bonjour”. Like magic the lady told us where the entrance is. A friendly reminder for us to always start with “bonjour”.

After all of that we did not find wing sauce.

Lunch at home and then test out the directions for getting the TV set up. We got a bit frustrated and went to French class. We will figure out the TV on Thursday.

Thursday: Nice day with a little rain. Golf with Ron and Michelle cooked a fantastic dinner.

We started Thursday with our walk by the horse pasture, then over the pedestrian bridge over the Vienne River and headed up the hill to see a lot of very nice homes. Rosie was content to ride in her backpack. Then we headed back down the hill into centre ville past the maires (mayor’s) office and over the main bridge to the Thursday farmers’ market. We didn’t need anything from the market, but I went into the boulangerie next to the Cafe de Sport and bought a traditional baguette and a Cornu baguette and 2 croissants. The croissants are the real croissants made with butter. So good!

We stopped at the Barrier restaurant and sat outside at a table for two and treated ourselves to an espresso. What a great way to end our morning walk.

We got to work on the garden shed and have it just about ready to paint. One thing that you learn is that paint is expensive in France.

EB dropped me off at Chez Francis with a couple of bottles of wine for dinner. Michelle welcomed me and I handed her the wine. Ron was already up in his golf loft and I was looking forward to playing a new golf course on his really cool simulator. So much fun. We played 2 different courses and 36 holes in about 4 hours.

EB came to Ron and Michelle’s house around 4:00 and brought a bunch of flowers from the garden.

Michelle shared her French language skills to help EB call and make her mammogram appointment. Not all French doctors have a simple English language reservation system. Once that important task was done, they moved into the “Donkey room” and had a glass of rose. There is a cool picture of donkeys that was left in the room by the previous owners, thus the name.

Michelle prepared an awesome dinner including veal from the farmer just down the road and special potatoes from Ile de Re. The veal was tender and the potatoes were so tasty. The potatoes are grown near the west coast of France (near the Atlantic ocean) and they have a naturally salty flavor. What a treat. Then Michelle brought in the cheese course of 3 different delicious cheeses. Wine continued to flow and the conversation comfortably flowed too. Then if that wasn’t enough, Michelle goes into the pantry and brings out the cognac. Wow!! The Cognac was so smooth even EB enjoyed some. As you know, France has a region called Cognac where the real Cognac comes from. We didn’t want to leave. Michelle gave us a jar of honey that she and Ron had found to be about the best tasting honey they have ever had. It is from another local farmer and it is a creamy honey and you spread it like butter!

Friday:

Good news, I received an email from Annabelle at French Connections HCB with the news that my application for the French driver’s license had been approved. I have a couple more minor hurdles to jump. This is really good news though.

We got the coffee going just as our plumber showed up. I had called him last week about the water hammer that has been bothering us, and he said he would swing by when he got a chance. He surprised us Friday morning. I was glad that we hadn’t started our morning walk. We would have missed him. Anyway, after 2 hours of trouble shooting, he fixed our problem so no more complaints about water hammer.

While the plumber was here, EB went over to the boulangerie and brought back 2 croissants. When the plumber left, we poured a couple of cups of coffee and spread our new honey on the croissants. It is so good. I could see this being a regular thing.

Saturday: Beautiful with a slight chance of rain

We woke up to a gorgeous day. EB now has a morning routine where she opens all of the shutters and windows.

We had a list of items needed from the Brico Marche so we headed over to Confolens and found everything we needed for our projects today. Paint, brushes, rollers, and trays. We also picked up some pellets to ward off the snails that are eating our bean plants. After reading/translating the French instructions I spread the anti-snail pellets in the veggie patch. Hopefully this will protect our new plants.

EB painted the garden tool shed interior and I put another coat of paint on the workshop door. All looks pretty good.

Elizabeth worked on her crochet project. She is making covers for the arms of our Salon couch and chair to protect the arms from my wine drips. I worked on the blog and got a little banjo practice in.

I got the reservation for EB’s birthday lunch at Le Vieux Moulin restaurant. It won’t be on her actual birthday anniversary because they aren’t open that day, so I made it for the Sunday before (May 10).

So that was our week.

A little exploring, yard work, and paint projects. Good news about my French driver’s license, awesome dinner at chez Francis. Michelle shared her favorite Cognac. 36 holes of golf and great walks around town.

French Lifestyle and Culture

Cuckoo in France

Just like everywhere in the world France has a huge population of bird (oiseaux) species, and we love hearing them while we take our walks and sit outside at our house.

There is one species that I didn’t know was a real thing and we got to see and hear this bird on our walk on Thursday. We were hearing cuckoo clocks all over. It turns out they weren’t cuckoo clocks they were the actual cuckoo birds. I have heard of cuckoo clocks and heard of people going cuckoo, but I had no clue that that little bird that pops out of the clock and blurts out “cuckoo” was a replication of a real bird. Crazy I know, I’m 78 years old and didn’t know that the cuckoo was a real bird. Now I know and we actually saw one. They are all over Chabanais at this time of year and they really sound like the cuckoo clocks. I guess it is true that you are never too old to learn something.

The common European cuckoo is known in France for signaling the arrival of spring during their migration trek. EB verified the species with her Merlin application on her iPhone during our walk. We are really enjoying living in a small village in the French countryside.

By the way, according to Oiseaux.net, there are something like 687 present and migratory bird species in France. From the African Chaffinch to the Zitting Cisticola and including of course the cuckoo.

About needing 3 iPads

Wellll, you remember that we have installed a whole house solar power system. Our electric power is totally furnished by our solar panels, and any excess is saved in virtual batteries. We do not have lithium-ion storage batteries on our property. In order to monitor our power usage and storage inventory we have an application attached to the virtual battery company called MyLight. It turns out that the app is a French app. Our US Apple devices are great, but some French apps are not available on the US devices. One option is to have our iPhone or iPads reset to accept French apps. This is not the option that either EB or I wanted to do. So, the option that we selected is to buy a new iPad that is set up to get French apps. EB loaded the MyLight app on it and we have a technician scheduled to help us get it totally set up coming on Tuesday. Fingers crossed!!

Next Week (la Semaine Prochaine)

• Finalize MyLight app set up
• Send in Mark’s French driver’s license final paperwork
• Maybe a little work in the garden
• Workshop organization
• Golf with Ron on Thursday
• EB volunteer at the Cancer Services of France store

Weather forecast for next week

A mild weather week is forecasted with a chance of rain. good for our veggie patch. Temps in the 60s are expected.

Signing off for the week

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

We had some bad news from the states this week. Our very dear friend Debby is at the hospital in the ICU in very serious condition. Please say a prayer for her and her 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