on saturday we only stayed at fort de chartres for a few hours, then we were off to Ste. genevieve, MO, to our B&B.  i’d booked it because it was a short drive and ferry ride to ste. genevieve – only 15 minutes.

but then we found out that ferry wasn’t running because the river is so high.  oops.  there’s always one little thing that i forget…

instead, it took us about an hour to get from one place to the other.  when we got to town, it looked kind of deserted.  was it just too hot for mortals to be walking around?

we checked into our b&b, the Inn St. Gemme Beauvais, and it was lovely, just like it looked on the their website.  this is the front hall; the grand staircase is just off to the right.  we were on the first floor, though, which made it so easy to just go in the room and plop down in the blissful air-conditioning.

it’s fancy when they pile on the pillows, but really, why do they do that?  we just had to throw them on the floor.

all the rooms were filled with really lovely antiques.  there on the wall is the relatively small tv; kevin and i pushed the settee on the right over in front of the TV because we watched the dvd “the long long trailer,” an old lucille ball-desi arnaz movie about this couple who buys a 40-foot CRAZY LONG trailer, and the many mishaps they have in doing so.  it’s kind of dumb, but was also entertaining, in a very silly kind of way.

but before the movie, we walked around the town.  so, the town is old, with some old buildings, but you had to pay to tour them plus they were all closed by the time we were walking around.  i got a street map (of course) and studied it, finding the couple of streets with the most shops and things.  but when we walked down them…there just wasn’t much there.  we went into one shop that was FILLED WITH STAMPS.  rubber stamps, of all sizes, and some of them were INSANELY elaborate, and they showed a card that had used a stamp but then you had to COLOR IN THE CARD, and cut stuff out, and, really?  do people really spend hours and tedious hours doing that?  clearly they do, because the store had SO MANY STAMPS for sale, plus the ink and all the other stamping stuff.

we went into a candy store/gift shop and bought a couple of chocolates, but then…not much else in the town.  maybe it’s more lively when it’s not sweltering, i don’t know.  we did find a charming little cafe serving cajun food, and went back there for dinner.

afterwards, we watched the aforementioned silly movie, as well as “the man with two brains,” one of steve martin’s VERY silly movies.

here’s some more information about fort de chartres, in case you were wondering:

Fort de Chartres is the last of three eighteenth-century forts by that name erected near the Mississippi River by France’s colonial government. From 1720 to 1763 French administration of the Illinois Country was centered at the forts, built successively over a 40-year period on or near the same site. The stone fort, built in the 1750s and abandoned in 1771, has been partially reconstructed to provide a glimpse of life in Illinois under the French regime.  Fort de Chartres State Historic Site, which also preserves the archaeological remains of the earlier wooden forts, is managed by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

the next morning, after a lovely breakfast, we headed back to the fort.  the guys were hard at work again.  the guy on the right, bending over there, is named YANCY VON YEAST.  i’m not making that up.  i just love that name, yancy von yeast.  i just asked kevin if there isn’t some gun called a yancy, but he said that would be his gun, because yancy MADE THE GUN for him.  yancy is also a college professor.

those tricorner hats make them look a little bit like pirates, don’t they?  not quite as elaborate as captain jack sparrow, though.

we walked around to look at stuff again, and they were about to fire the cannon.  “five minutes!” yelled the guy.  i think he meant to say “five seconds.”

here are some guys about to fire their muskets.

this guy, pretty much dressed like an indian, is taking a drag off a cigarette.

this man was making bows.

the guy in charge of the fort is named darrell duensing, and on sunday he put on the full regalia.  darrell was a very nice man, as was Dennis, the assistant site manager.

here’s dennis, who gave me a rendezvous ribbon!  i was very excited to get it, since kevin has ALL the ribbons in the family, until now!  i am going to have to find some empty wall space to display it.

both dennis and darrell know phil funkenbusch (KING OF THE PRESIDENTIAL MUSEUM), because they both work for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, and they were delighted that he’s my friend, too.  we agreed that phil must know MILLIONS of people, all over the place, or at least all over illinois.

i do think it’s funny that dennis gave me the nice ribbon, because i definitely think i was the one person at the whole event who took part in it the LEAST of anybody.  except that i did take the pictures.

maybe next year i’ll dress up.  plus jim leinicke is going to drum up more shooters for next year, so maybe i will actually have to do some work at the computer!

meanwhile, mollie waited for us to come home.  we are SO LUCKY that amy and jim live next door, because mollie could go over there whenever she wanted to.   when amy let her out of our house on sunday morning, mollie went trotting right down the path to their house, and had a lovely visit with them.

jim took this nice picture and sent it to me.

and here she is, looking so happy but she’s really just hot, after they took her for a walk.

and that’s all for the weekend…now i MUST find something to take a picture of for the banner before i turn around and it’s JULY already…

ok ok ok,

mrs. tuesday afternoon hughes.