My Life in Groceries

As of April 24 we are back on C.A.R.I.B. III in Auxerre, France. This amounted to a 2-week delay from our original departure date. I got the cast off my hand on March 29, and x-rays showed that the hand was healing as expected, but I simply felt more comfortable being close to the orthopedic doctor during the next 3 weeks of healing. The three weeks in a cast did no favors to my hand and wrist flexibility. X-rays at the 6-week mark showed the healing continuing, but it's taking a while to get the flexibility back. Even during this 6-12 week post-break period I'm still pretty much limited to flexibility and stretching exercises with my left hand--no strength exercises or lifting allowed--but we decided that I could do this in France. Because of my hand limitations we're still figuring out how we will manage the distribution of labor during our first few weeks of cruising.

In the meantime, we're happy to be back in France and aboard the boat once again. As usual, it seems like we were never gone. Lon has mostly been dealing with the removal of the winter's deposit of Sahara sand from the exterior.

While he has been busy with that, I have been contemplating "my life in groceries." Because we live our lives split nearly 50:50 between residences in Florida and France, it feels as though a third of my life involves either "spending down" our food supplies during the month immediately preceding our departures to Florida (or France), or replenishing cupboards and refrigerators in the month after arriving in each destination. 

Restocking in France presents more of a challenge as compared to Florida. We have no car with the boat, so I am limited in how much I can purchase during each foray into the grocery aisles. Smaller loads, more trips. We've now been in France for 6 days, and I've shopped for groceries every day except Sunday.

E.Leclerc: my current home away from home.

I occasionally "mix it up" with the Monoprix in the center
of Auxerre.

On the bright side, the E. Leclerc is only about 2 blocks from our port, so it's not a difficult errand to run. (Last year, we were nearly 2 miles from the nearest good supermarket; the bike ride got old fast.) I also know that we'll soon get to a "steady-state" that won't require daily shopping. 

The weather has, so far, been typical for April in a northern climate--cool, some wind, some rain, a bit of sun. We've used some of the sunny periods to reacquaint ourselves with Auxerre.

A mini Saturday market in the center of town.

We're not quite sure yet when we'll be leaving port to start cruising. The water conditions are certainly good enough at the moment, but we're waiting on the delivery of some canvas window coverings (we should have them by later this week) and we're considering a possible electrical system project. So, no departure this week, but hopefully we'll have a better idea of the "when" sooner rather than later.