Birthdays and Gorgeous French Weather for a Car Show and Happy Easter to all

Welcome to the 63rd weekly post of our Baby Boomers Move to France blog.

This is our 35th week in France 3/29-4/4/2026.

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, we will take some walks while the weather cooperates. I hope to play a round of golf at Ron and Michelle’s house. My brother Dan has a birthday on 31 March and Ron has a birthday on 1 April. We expect firewood delivery on Tuesday between 8 AM and 1 PM. We send our updated will information to the Notaire.

Our home in Chabanais, France

Things on the agenda this week:

• Firewood and Pellet delivery
• Complete French will update
• Golf
• Garden work

Weather forecast:

It feels like we are starting a little warming trend this week with highs reaching mid 60s and lows in the 40s. the weather is forecast to be partly cloudy and slight chance of rain on Wednesday.

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 thinking about a move to France? We are happy to share our thoughts and answer questions. Just drop a question in the comment section below and we will get back to you.

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.

We are learning a lot about the French culture and lifestyle as we make our life here and each week, we include in the blog some thoughts on what we learn. If you have a specific question about France, let us know and we are happy to answer. Other folks probably have the same question. If we don’t know the answer, I’m happy to do a little research and we will share resource information.

This Week in General

Sunday

Quiet day, a little chilly in the morning. When I took my walk I put on a sweater, my scarf, hat and a jacket.

I got in a little banjo practice and EB worked on a new crochet project while sitting by the wood stove.

Monday: Shopping and finalized the French tax paperwork

After morning coffee, we split up to divide and conquer some needed tasks. EB went to St, Junien shopping for groceries and she brought home another pair of jeans for me, and she found the lime tree that she was looking for. She picked up a better and more decorative container for our pellets too.

Our little lime (citron vert) tree.

I finished up the French tax paperwork. After we had lunch, I went over the taxes with EB and finally submitted the documents to the tax preparation service. They immediately got back to me acknowledging that they had received the documents and sent a summary of my submission for me to review and sign. I signed it, emailed it and cross my fingers that all is good.

We took a break

Weather is getting nice.

After submitting our tax forms, we took a break (nous avons fait une pause) and rewarded ourselves for a job well done. We walked down by the river and found a boat ramp near the fire station. Interesting, I don’t recall seeing any boats on the Vienne River around Cabanais. We continued to walk along the river and then back into town and went into the Barrier cafe for a beer. While we were there, in walks Deb and Allen. They joined us. We finished our beer and EB and I opted for a small carafe of red wine (vin rouge). It was nice to sit and chat and get to know Deb and Allen. They live just down the road from Ron and Michelle in the small hamlet of Grenord.

Anyway, we got to talking and it turns out they like to sail. I think they have a boat that they sail at the lakes near here. I had asked about canoeing and kayaking in the area and before you know it, we were talking about sailing.

We drove by Lac de Haute-Cherante a couple of weeks ago which is about 7 miles from our house. There are a number of beaches and canoe and kayak rental areas. It will be fun to check it out this summer.

French Will Update

Nothing new here. We still have questions and working on the paperwork. The inheritance law in France is pretty complicated, so we definitely need a notaire.

Tuesday: Another beautiful day

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BROTHER DAN

Firewood

We were hoping that our firewood would be deilvered on Tuesday. I guess I misunderstood the emails. The new delivery date is Thursday.

Elizabeth’s French driver’s license

We received notification that EB’s French driver’s license is approved. There is one more hoop to jump through to get the license in hand. She must send in her old Florida license to the officials first. She has an attestation that her French license is being processed. This will serve as her license until the physical French license arrives.

Wednesday:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR NEW FRIEND RON FRANCIS

We did some chores and then went to Cafe Lilian for lunch. We had the fish and chips, desert and tea. We were lucky to beat the crowd. It is great to see a local business so busy and prospering. I’m sure that I have already shared our complete enjoyment of the food and hospitality of this local cafe. Hopefully when Cindy and Don and Dan and Rhonda visit, we will have a chance to eat at Cafe Lillian.

By the way, I verified that the milk in my tea is UHT milk and the taste is good. Yes, I put milk and sugar in my tea while at the Cafe Lillian.

The walk home form Cafe Lillian was a bit cold and overcast. As soon as we got home, we fired up the wood stove, and it got nice and cozy in our living room in no time.

French class was interrupted by an emergency as a pregnant woman down by the river was in distress. Our instructor called an ambulance for the lady. The husband did not have a phone and came running up to the window of our classroom asking for help. I think the couple is homeless. The ambulance arrived and the EMTs took charge.

We were happy to see Ron in class. We thought that he and Michelle would be out of town. It turns out that they postponed their trip until next week.

We had a new person join our class. He is from the UK and talked too much and by the end of the class we were all rather annoyed. EB sent an email to the instructor and mentioned our displeasure.

Thursday Firewood delivery and Golf at Ron’s!!

Firewood and pellets arrived in the morning. 990 kilograms of pellets (66 bags of 15Kg each on a pellet). That is about 2,182 pounds, just over a ton.

The firewood came shrink wrapped on a pallet as well. This was 872 kilograms (about 1,922 pounds, just under a ton). I didn’t realize what I had purchased. EB called for reinforcements and Ron and Michelle who were just down the street at the farmers market were at our house in about 2 minutes. I’m so glad that they were here.

The truck driver had a challenge getting the pallets off of the truck. The pallet with the firewood on it had shifted and was precariously leaning towards the front of the truck. When he put his pallet jack under the pallet, the drive wheel lifted so he couldn’t move the pallet. He had backed the truck up our narrow street, and you might remember that our house is on a hill. This steep street added to the tilt of the shifted pallet load. The driver solved that issue by turning the truck around and headed up the hill. He managed to get the pallet moving and carefully maneuvered it onto the lift gate. Once off of the truck he was able to leave the pallet load on the street near our cave opening. The pallet was slightly damaged as a result of the struggle to get it off of the truck.

He did the same thing with the pallet of pellets. Unfortunately, 4 of the bags were torn and we lost some pellets. The driver took pictures and will report the damage.

The driver could not bring the pallets into our storage area. We were going to have to unload the pallets piece by piece. We got a Smurf line going. Ron at the pallet of pellets, EB and Michelle in between and me in the cellar “stacking” bags of pellets. Then Michelle had to take Stella to the veterinarian, so we lost her after the pellets were stacked. By the way, each bag of pellets is 15 kilograms (about 33 pounds). 66 bags of pellets each weighing 33 pounds, so we got our work out.

Next, we took on the pallet of firewood. Another Smurf line. Our main goal was to get the loads off of the street as quickly as possible. Thus, my stacking job was a bit shabby.

Having Ron and Michelle to help made for pretty quick work. I regret not taking any pictures of this experience.

Golf

We took a break and then I met up with Ron at his house, and we played 36 holes of golf (2 different courses). I was so happy to improve my swing, loosened up, relaxed and slowed down. Much better round. Ron plays to a slight fade but hit them straight and long on Thursday.

Friday: Restack firewood, chores and relaxing

I mentioned that my firewood stacking was a bit shabby. My main project for the day was to repair the damaged pallet and restack the firewood and the bags of pellets. I did get a picture of the restack job. Much better.

EB went to the grocery store and got laundry done. After lunch l spent a little time organizing the workshop. The workshop organizing will be a project including at least one trip to the decheterie probably 2.

I fired up the Bar B Q and EB had duck breast all set for the grill. It was raining a little and cooled way down, but the coals got plenty hot and the duck turned out great.

Saturday: Car show and a trip to the lake

Beautiful day!!!

There was a lot of traffic going by the house on our narrow street. Very unusual. We wondered what was going on. We decided to walk over to the square and check it out. Nothing. We stopped at the boulangerie and grabbed a couple of baguettes.

I figured maybe something big was happening at the fairgrounds. We walked up the hill from our house to the fairgrounds and saw that a car show/swap meet was going on. How did we not know about this?

If you are into car parts and old cars this was really cool. Need an engine or some parts? Old motorbike or classic motorcycle? A box of carburetors or pistons? Or take a look at an old MG. There were several Panhards there too (it is 1960s vintage French sports car). There were 1000s of little car and truck models on display and for sale. I took a ton more pictures. The below are just a few examples.

After the car show we went to Le 16 Beach Pizza restaurant

EB noticed that Le 16 Beach restaurant is officially open for the season, so we had to check it out. It is in Pressignac on the Lac de Haute-Charente. What a cool place to grab a beer and a pizza. We are thinking this place will great during summer.

Lac de Haute-Charente is really 2 massive lakes, the Lavaud and Mas Chaban that were created to regulate the flow of the Charente River. There is a lot to do like fishing, boating, hiking and more.

We sat outside and enjoyed a beer and shared a pizza and the view. Rosie liked it too. While we were sitting there the place started filling up with British expats. Seems like they are regulars.

So that was our week.

We made good headway on our tax prep and French will paperwork. Our firewood and pellets were delivered. Had a fish and chips lunch at Cafe Lillians. We did some exploring and found a new favorite beer and pizza place for the season.

French Lifestyle and Culture

Gas prices

We are hearing that gas prices in the states are going up to $4.00 per gallon. In France there are places where gas shortages are showing up. We decided to go to Confolens on Sunday as EB wanted to go to the Hope secondhand store there. Our plan was to get gas on the way back home.

The station in Confolens had gas and we were able to fill up. Cost: 2.06 euros per liter. You remember that there are about 3.785 liters per gallon. That means our gas is about 7.80 euros per gallon. The current exchange rate is .87 euros per dollar so our gas for the car today cost us about $8.99 per gallon.

Yes, wine is way less expensive in France than in the states. However, as I have mentioned in previous posts, fossil fuel-based energy is way more expensive in France. No wonder cars tend to be smaller and more fuel efficient.

Solar and wind power are more prevalent in France too as France is considered the most energy efficient country. In fact, France typically produces more electricity than it consumes according to energyconnects.com.

Even so, solar power for self-consumption continues to grow. Solar power generation in France has more than doubled in the past 4 years 2021 to 2025.

Next Week (la Semaine Prochaine)

• French taxes
• Pictures from our visit to Confolens
• Maybe a little yardwork
• Walks around town and more photos
• Golf with Ron on Thursday

Weather forecast for next week

Serious warming trend next week with highs getting up to 80s lows still in the 50s overnight. Time to break out the shorts and T-shirts.

Signing off for the week

My apologies for getting this posted so late on Sunday. We couldn’t resist a drive on a beautiful Easter Sunday.

Happy Easter everyone!

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