When Jan and I were staying at the Tower Motel in 1995, the owner Edith Barth came over to our room one day and said that we had to meet the French tourists staying at the motel. Jan has studied French most of her life, so this was a great opportunity to speak French. We walked down to the room they were staying in and introducted ourselves to Geneviève Wilbert and her cousin Lu Lu. Over the years Jan and Geneviève have corresponded regularly, and we have been asked to visit her numerous times.
Geneviève lives in the town of Toutencourt which is a farming community of about 500 people. Recently people from Amiens (about 20 miles away) have been moving in, so it is becoming a bedroom community. This is disturbing to the long-time residents because the new people stay to themselves, and that destroys the sense of community that most are used to.
We had seen many pictues of the house, but assumed that a farm house was outside the village. It wasn't. Geneviève lives in a farm house which I considered large by any standards. It consists of a section built in the 1800s and a new section added in the 1960s. This is the section of the house along D23 that contains the bedrooms that we slept in.
The main courtyard has a large black walnut tree, a dolmen (rocks assembled to look like part of Stonehenge) and lots of shrubs and trees.
| House toward the road | |
| The rest of the house with our rental car. | |
Geneviève and Lu Lu were waiting for us when we came into the driveway. As soon as we entered the kitchen, I smelled a wonderful apple-like aroma. Only after I got home and smelled the same thing did I find out it was tarragon drying. The kitchen was large and bright. After the grand tour of the house, we settled in for dinner. Just before dinner Narcisse, Geneviève's brother-in-law, arrived. He eats meals with her since his father died.
We became part of the family. Geneviève is everyone's grandma (she has four grandchildren). Lu Lu is the great aunt who says very little, but when she does it carries lots of weight. Finally, Narcisse is the great uncle who has the wisdom of age. After dinner we all settled down with the last of the dinner wine and talked about the problems of the world and the history of the region.
| The first night's aperitif. From left to right Geneviève, Jan, Narcisse, Terre and Lu Lu. |  |
During the evening's conversation, Narcisse told of how his grandmother was milking a cow during the War and an American plane was flying over and was shot down by the Germans. He later found machine gun cartridges in the field. We also learned how the French system of social security works. It has some very strange ways of dealing with problems.
Our room had belonged to one of Geneviève's sons, Bruno, while Terre had her son Vincent's room. Over our bed was a big picture of Bruno in his uniform. Both rooms were very comfortable and we all slept late because the shutters kept out all of the light.
At about 7:30 or 8 am, Narcisse came over to open the shutters in the kitchen, read the paper and eat breakfast. I got up shortly after he left and just about that time Geneviève came out and started coffee. The kitchen was beautiful in the morning with light coming through the lace curtains. There were lots of European Gold Finches under the walnut tree eating the fallen nuts.
After breakfast we walked around the village. Narcisse was off at the city hall selling hunting permits for the great village feast the following Sunday. Lu Lu was at home across the street and Geneviève was working on dinner. Along our walk we met Mme Crédeville. She knew who we were since I'm sure Geneviève had told all her friends we were coming. We were invited to see her house which had just been remodeled. It had a wonderful kitchen and dinning area designed by someone from New York. Her daughter spent about half the year in New York and the rest in France. As we walked into the country side we saw a large cross that was used to remind the farmers to cross themselves.
Dinner was a big affair that lasted for two hours. As usual Jan was the last to finish eating, since she had to translate for all of us! We had chicken, vegetables and couscous. After dinner it was pouring, but Geneviève took us for a tour of some of the local sights. We saw the church of St. Pierre in Mailly Maillet, and the memorial for 72,087 unknown British and South African troops from World War I who are buried there. The tomb is marked by a large arch with each brick representing a soldier. Later we saw a WWI Canadian burial ground where the trenches were still visible. Finally we went to Albert where Geneviève does her shopping to get gas.
That night we once again talked very late over a bottle of champagne.
| Lots of friendships had formed by the time this picture was taken |  |
| This time I got into the picture. |  |
The last day in Toutencourt we toured the village church with its rich history. Geneviève had helped write the village history which was published in a large hard cover book. The church has a whole chapter in the book.
Sunday was Lu Lu's birthday. After dinner with pork roast and all the fixings including an appetizer of Pâté de Fois Gras and a special wine for the Pâté, we packed the car and left for Amiens .