Looking back

New Years’ Eve – and time for a recap

This blog is in text only - to see the year in photos please visit : http://rosievie.wordpress.com/2008/12/31/2008-in-photos/

January

DIY seemed to have been then main topic of conversation – planning it, buying parts for it and decorating the ‘bedroom that would become a lounge’.

We were planning our holiday in Hong Kong, and talking about book clubs, watching Masterchef (can’t wait for the next series) and watching wildlife, including the kitten who made his first appearance; he was later to become known as BB (short for Big Balls) for obvious reasons should you have ever seen him walking away from you. We went to the sales and did a bit of trolley browsing and went for a long drive in search of the ‘snow capped mountains’ in the Cantal but didn’t quite get far enough. We did, however, come across the smelliest woman in France in the supermarket on the way home again!

Jon took advantage of the milder weather and did lots of work in the garden clearing land and making the cats a special shelter so that they could stay dry if we were out and it was raining.

We looked back on 2007 and forward to 2008, thinking that we would have got a little further with the loft (and so what?) and that we would have lots of visitors – that was true at least!

February

Our telephone supplier let us down very early in the month but we were off to Hong Kong for a holiday so we left it all to deal with on our return. The cats were packed off on their own ‘holiday’ and we had a fantastic two weeks in the most incredible place.

We have discovered a slightly faded but wonderfully placed hotel on one of Hong Kong’s islands. It’s right on the beach and very peaceful but with easy access to the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon only a short ferry ride away.

We had a wonderful fortnight’s holiday enjoying the sea, sights and smells of the Far East.

March

It wasn’t until 20^th March that we were finally connected back with the outside world after our telephone was accidentally cut off and we found a new supplier. A very frustrating month!

The weather was fairly pleasant at the beginning of the month and Jon was busy outside clearing lots more land

Then it rained. And rained and poured.

We read more books, went to more reading groups and attended our village pub quiz for the first time.

It was a damp miserable Easter but finally on the last day of the month work started on our pool. They told us it would take two weeks….???

APRIL

We heard the first cuckoo of spring on 1^st April last year – we were wishing it would shut up by the end of the month!

Work continued on the pool as Jon made a hole in the sitting room ceiling to give access to the loft.

Friends came over and they and Jon spent a day taking down trees and letting in more light (still loads more to do in 2009 though!)

Work continued on the pool and the weather wasn’t too bad. On Jon’s birthday we had a lovely sunny lunch outside a restaurant for the first time this year, and four days later we were drowning!

But later in the month the sun came out again and we had our biggest tree cut down

The pool was finished but the heater didn’t work!

May

3^rd May we had our first swim!

We enjoyed sitting outside and watching the lights in the pool and down in the village so it must have been fairly warm.

The log burner was on order and we had the calcaire delivered for the garden paths on the hottest day of the year so far!

We tried to get our tax forms completed, unsuccessfully, and went to a plant fair which was more successful.

Amanda and Alice came to stay and the rain returned – fortunately not for the whole week.

Alice learned to swim!

June

Mum came to stay and the neighbours cats obviously decided she was a soft touch and thought they’d try and move in with her.

Fat chance.

We returned to the UK for a party and had the most wonderful weekend.

Within hours of our return to France our new grandson was born back in the UK – missed it! So I had to return to the UK again to get my baby cuddles.

We had our new log burner fitted, after some bees had to be ‘rehoused’ from the chimney and enjoyed some of the hottest weather of the summer.

July

The weather was hot and sultry. Vic and Shirley came down and stayed in a nearby gite, we had some lovely meals together and swatted a million flies!

The new stairs and new front door were fitted

Robbie came to stay and helped Jon move tons of logs!

I had another series of arguments with the telephone company and the neighbours cats decided to break in while Jon and I were in the garden, eat our cats’ food and make themselves totally at home, one on the sofa and the other up in the loft! They were swiftly evicted – squatters rights? Not applicable!

August

The month started very hot, vegetables were springing up all over the place and the veggie plot needed frequent watering.

The floorboards were delivered but the delivery truck couldn’t get up our driveway and we had to shuttle them from the village in our two small cars – quite an eventful day!

Lizzie and Tristan arrived for their holiday with our lovely little boys. Poor Leo had chicken pox and wasn’t at his best. Jack learned to swim in the pool and Riley was just adorable.

The cats went into hiding as much as they could for the duration of this visit and Jon and I moved into the chalet with them at night, leaving the house to the family.

We enjoyed the BBC Promenade concert season and started ‘rehearsals’ for a scratch performance of the Messiah.

September

The month started with a continuation of the busy entertaining schedule, staying guests and local friends. Rolf and Christine came and took us out for a wonderful meal in a local restaurant.

We thoroughly enjoyed the scratch Messiah at Puycelsi in the Tarn – a cd is available but we haven’t got a copy yet.

We went to Paris and Telford which didn’t go exactly to plan but we had a wonderful time at Bonita and Steve’s wedding despite Jon’s serious attack of gout and were extremely grateful for the loan of some comfy footwear to allow him to walk Bee down the aisle

A week later we welcomed Bee and Steve to stay with us for a week.

October

Bee and Steve left us and Nicki and Marcus arrived. We had some superb weather and the leaves began to turn colour.

Jon had a major battle with the shower unit which refused to settle down and stop dripping.

Nicki and Marcus left and Merv and Maria came over to celebrate an early Christmas. Boxing Day (23^rd October) was bright, warm and sunny.

Then, when our last visitors of the year had left (and the gout too), we were able to really get on with the loft.

Jon donned his Ghostbusters costume and treated all the wood, then laid the floorboards.

November

Suddenly the weather changed and we were out of t-shirts and into layers of sweaters. We even had a smattering of snow!

Jon finished laying the floor in the loft – which looks brilliant

We eventually picked up our Velux windows and a builder came to fit them. Just as he was packing up, it snowed again!

December

We took a quick trip to the UK and saw lots of family including the lovely boys. We even managed to fit in a trip to the theatre to see La Cage Aux Folles.

We both went down with bugs collected on our travels – Jon with a persistent cold and me with an inner ear infection.

The insulation for the loft was delivered and we have fitted it now, making the house so much warmer already.

Friends had a lovely big Christmas party where I sang(?) and Jon played the piano for me, some cellists and lots of carols.

On Christmas Day we had friends come to us for lunch, but on Boxing Day all our plans went awry when the snow came down bringing the local area to a standstill. Other parties were cancelled too.

And now, we are looking forward to a quiet New Year’s Eve on our own. A dinner for two and a glass or two of champers – what better way to reflect on 2008 and look forward to 2009.

We hope you all enjoy your New Years’ Eve, whatever you may be doing.

Snowed in

LA VIE EN ROSE IS MOVING, PLEASE CHANGE YOUR 'FAVOURITES' TO www.rosievie.wordpress.com

We had a fantastic Christmas Day. The sunrise was stunning that morning.



Our friends Mr and Mrs H came for lunch which all worked exactly to plan and they were very complementary about my food, which I am very happy about as they used to own a restaurant and Mrs H is a food presentation expert. We sat by the log fire having several cups of after-lunch coffee, generally chewing the cud and relaxing. A lovely day.

Yesterday we had been invited to some other friends for the day. Mr and Mrs H were also invited and had kindly offered to drive us as it is at least an hour away.

An hour or so before we were due to leave a light sprinkling of little snow started.

'I'm so glad it's not us driving today' we said to each other.

By the time Mr and Mrs H turned up to collect us, it was a little more serious.



It would have been foolhardy to have driven in this, and we called Mr and Mrs E to say that we just couldn't make it. Mr and Mrs H had already taken 15 minutes to get to us, a drive that is usually 5 minutes maximum. We might just have got to Mr and Mrs E's by tea time instead of lunch and then there was no guarantee that we would get home again.

Our friends bid a hasty retreat home while they could, just in case it got worse and they couldn't get out again.

We had some lunch then decided to wander down to the main road to see what was going on. We could see a few vehicles crawling along the road from our house. On our track, our neighbour had abandoned his own car just before our driveway and had walked the rest of the way home uphill. Further down, another car has been abandoned too - we have no idea whose it is as it is registered in a completely different part of France!

Down at the main road, looking north we saw this.....



... but looking in the opposite direction up the hill we could see that nothing was moving and some lorries were completely stuck. The gendarmes had been called to supervise the traffic and were having a noisy conversation with a couple who had just left their campervan.




Just as we were turning to go back home, a steady stream of traffic crawled down the hill. Dozens of cars, lorries and trucks made their way gingerly northwards. It appeared that there had been a traffic 'incident' about which I can learn nothing at the moment, but these vehicles must have been stuck for at least two hours as we had seen nothing moving for at least that long.

We tramped back home and snuggled up in front of the log burner to watch 'Mamma Mia!' on DVD, then we scrabbled around and managed to make ourselves a very nice supper.

Today the snow is still lying. The cars are still abandoned on the track and we will be going nowhere again. The cats are totally bemused by this cold white stuff and only venture outside for the briefest of times to answer those calls which cannot be ignored!

The bird feeders are being well frequented and our resident pair of magpies are hopping around underneath hoping that the blue tits, coal tits and blackcaps will drop them some little titbits of food. Misty inside the back door chattering at them but not bothered about going to chase them off today.

So, if you want to know where we are today. It's just here.

Merry Christmas

St Noël

Happy Christmas to one and all!

A very early Christmas morning for me. I don't remember being up this early on Christmas Day since I was a kid. Or was it when Jon used to have to work an early shift on Christmas Day? Probably that.

I've seem to have had a run of early starts for no apparent reason. Well, cats I suppose.

Anyway, here I am with a bit of time to reflect on the last few days.

The Christmas party just over the hill here went very well. Many of the guests joined in the spirit of things and did a 'turn'. There were jokes, cello playing (with audience participation), stories, monologues and some dame singing a couple of songs. Luckily I managed not to screech off key too much and they seemed to go down well. Jon hammered away on the piano and everyone joined in The Twelve Days of Christmas bullied by myself into singing a line per couple and seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves. The carols were loudly sung with the odd descant popping in here and there.

After the performances our friend, Sue, put on a brilliant supper for 28 people and everyone mingled well before disappearing in their various directions, probably to meet up again at drinks parties over the next week or so. We have told our friends that we are expecting a repeat party next year since it went so well. They are keeping quiet about whether they can face another one but I bet they do!

On Monday I was due to take Mrs H shopping but unfortunately her foster dog (which is a whole new story) took ill and she had to take him to the vet. I took advantage of the day ironing and making shopping lists and menu plans. We did make our shopping trip on Tuesday and it seemed that the whole of this corner of France had decided to do the same thing.

Or so we thought. Until Jon and I, up early on Christmas Eve, decided to make an early trip to market, via the supermarket, to buy our festive goose. We arrived at the supermarket 10 minutes before opening and watched the crowd gather at the door from the warmth of our car. It was freezing!

The French do enjoy oysters on Christmas Eve. And Christmas Day, and New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day... any party they can think of. A stall was set up outside the supermarket piled high with boxes containing 3 or 6 dozen of these funny looking shellfish. People were taking advantage of the supermarket not being open by buying up several boxes each and returning them to their cars.

Eventually the main doors open and everyone piled in. I was expecting a Sainsbury's or Tesco mad dash all around the shop but no, everyone headed straight for the fish counter and stood in another queue.

Luckily this gave Jon and I the shop to ourselves and we managed our few bits of shopping - milk, cream, smoked salmon - in record time.

The market in town was bustling and we soon located the smallest goose we could find. Actually we didn't have a lot of choice since we didn't want a huge bird and there were no medium-sized ones to be seen. We decided that we will supplement the goose with a slice of Festive Ham, which I have cooked according to Nigella's book Feast, in cranberry and apple juices with cinnamon, cloves and star anise (actually, Nigella doesn't use star anise but I love that smell that reminds me of Hong Kong and Christmas both at the same time).

So today's menu is:

• Chestnut soup
• Individual smoked salmon terrines with beetroot crisps and salad
• Roast goose and festive ham, chestnut, prune and pork stuffing, roast potatoes, maple glazed parsnips and green beans
• Selection of cheeses
• Muscat wine crème caramels with cinnamon biscuits and spiced fig
• Coffee served with christmas pudding truffles

Which reminds me - I'd better get cooking!

Happy Christmas, one and all. Have a wonderful day.

With love and best wishes to you all.

Sue and Jon

Let the festivities commence....

St Tomaz

The Christmas festivities begin today with a party at friends' this afternoon. These friends are in the midst of rebuilding their house from the ground up. We are in awe of their project compared to our 'dabbling' in DIY.

They completely gutted their house in the 'Grand Designs' tradition and are recreating their living spaces from the ground up. They currently have a completed bedroom, bathroom and boiler room but their kitchen and dining room (almost as big as our house) are still work-in-progress. They have organised today's party for 30 guests cooking with only two electric rings and a microwave, a couple of slow cookers and a hand basin in place of a kitchen sink. Their kitchen units are waiting to be fitted when they have laid the floor tiles which they were hoping to have done by now but ran out of time.

Our friends asked if I would help by making the canapés which will be served to all the guests when they arrive along with a drink. The aim of the drink is to make everyone relaxed and convivial as each invitee has been asked to do a 'turn' before dinner. Our hosts are performing some sketches and poems. Jon will be playing the piano for carols and accompanying some other friends who will be playing the cello. I decided when the invitation came some months ago, that I would subject the audience to a song or two. Now I'm beginning to panic! I changed song two days ago when I realised that I just couldn't cope with the one I had originally planned, now I have two other songs and I think I might just have learned the words(?)

Yesterday I spent all day in the kitchen making nibbles. Delia Smith's little cheese and olive scones are always a hit, little mouthfuls with a piquant bite to them. There are tiny cheese and tomato puff pastry bites and Serrano ham bites too; feta, pepper and olive sticks, stuffed cherry tomatoes, tiny tuna vol au vents and a pile of bruschetta waiting to be spread with various toppings.

It's the first time I've been asked to provide food for someone else's party and I wasn't sure how much to do. I'm sure there's far too much food here but we can always use the left overs for lunch for the rest of the week if we have to!

If I'm not run out of town for creating a terrible noise I will report back on the party tomorrow.

Dark days and warm places

St Gatien

Not terribly unusual that I was up early this morning - the unusual thing is that it wasn't because the cats dragged me out of bed. Quite the opposite in fact. Figgy, who has been sleeping on our bed every night for the last week or so since we 'liberated' him from the cattery, was nowhere to be seen.

He crawled in late last night and after a brief kneading of Jon's lap disappeared somewhere in the house and hid.

He didn't stir when I popped down to the kitchen to give him his late night Whiskas kitten food (the only 'wet' food he gets) a ritual he usually loves and waits for.

So when I woke early and he still hadn't stirred I began to worry. As I roused myself, Misty appeared and asked to be let out, so I pottered down to the kitchen at 6am and couldn't be bothered to go back to bed. Figgy finally appeared about 15 minutes later but I still don't know where from.

They've both been out on their usual morning patrol and are back indoors looking for fires, blankets and warm spots.

At 8.30am it is finally just about light. I hate these dark mornings but then in the UK I used to hate the dark evenings. There was nothing worse than going to work in the dark and arriving back home in the dark. If I didn't get out of the office at lunch time it was as if I didn't see the light of day for weeks. Our weather has been very dull for a week now but there is light on the horizon as the forecast for Sunday is sun all day.

We had a good day yesterday. We finally were both fit enough to spend a day insulating the loft, and are very pleased with our progress. The majority of it is now done but the last few sheets will have to wait for a few days.

Why?

Because Jon is now injured again after he fell (and we still don't know how) off the ladder in the loft. Luckily it is nothing more than a nasty bruise and a sprained shoulder and, like a good trooper, he climbed straight back up the ladder to finish the job. Today he will be very sore and probably won't be able to use his arm again for a couple of days, but we do hope he will be able to play the piano for our friends Christmas Party on Sunday afternoon, otherwise the carols will be very dull.

Moving house

Morning, readers.

I've been working on a new project. I've been thinking of moving home - there is a new La Vie En Rose over at Wordpress - please drop in and let me know what you think!

Find my new home here

I will continue to update both blogs until I decide which one to keep going - all old posts can be found on the new one as well as here.

Bugs, germs and rolls of insulation

Ste Odile

We both seem to have collected nasty germs during our trip to the UK. Poor Jon has been coughing and sneezing all over the place and I have got some sort of virus which has kept me immobile for days, mostly on my back as the room spins uncontrollably every time I stand up. However, I think we are both on the mend. Which is just as well given the busy fortnight up and coming.

We sadly missed our first Christmas party on Friday due to the bugs which we were very disappointed about, but we did have a very pleasant surprise on Friday morning.

You will recall my numerous moans and groans about slow, late or just vanishing deliveries over here Sarkozyland. Well, in the hunt for insulation materials I came across a website which promised delivery 'in under 48 hours'. Fat chance, we thought, but since we don't have the transport with which to collect 7 rolls of 15 sq m of insulation, we thought we'd give it a go, expecting the stuff to turn up sometime after Christmas.

I placed the order on Wednesday afternoon just before 3pm and had an immediate acknowledgement by e-mail. Nothing very surprising there as these things are usually automated.

On Friday morning the telephone rang at 9.30. I was still struggling myself into a sitting position in bed (it's been taking me a while) so Jon handed the phone to me. It was a delivery company asking for directions so that they could deliver our rolls of insulation. Within 15 minutes the van was at our door, unloaded and paid for.

Wow.

Jon thinks it will take the two of us a couple of days to put it all in place in the loft, so we should be toasty here for Christmas when we have cut out the draft coming down from the roof. Just as soon as I can stand up straight we can get on with it.

Meanwhile my eyes are beginning to work again so I can plan my Christmas Day menu, and my canapes for our friends 'bit of a do' next Sunday, and we can rehearse our turns for the same little party. Jon has been asked to play carols and accompany me and a few other friends. I haven't quite decided what to sing yet though.

The weather has been rather chilly this week but now it has started to rain. We hope we don't get quite as much rain as the UK has had this weekend, we don't want a repeat of last years' floods, thank you very much.

Friends and Family

Ste Guadalupe

'You're back!' - friends seem pleased to see us. 'How did it go, how are you?'

That's a difficult one to answer.

We're pleased to be home, no doubt about it. There's nothing as good as your own bed, having the cats back home (they are truly grumpy about their own 'holiday'), being in your own home and knowing where everything is, a log fire, open spaces... I could continue.

We are pleased to be away from the heat of England. No, don't get me wrong, there wasn't a freak heatwave over there last weekend, quite the opposite, but we are used to the chill of our own home and the sharp French winter we're experiencing, and find everywhere in the UK from homes to shops to public transport, theatres, restaurants, even the Royal Festival Hall where we stopped for a five minute 'culture break' on Saturday evening, just very warm and slightly oppressive at times. Should you keep the coat on or off? Would you need a scarf, gloves or a tee-shirt and shorts?

However.

There's always a 'however', we had a wonderful time with family and friends. Lots of lovely cuddles with our grandsons, seeing the 'Sisters, and the Cousins and the Aunts' (no we didn't go to a G&S production), the mothers, the in-laws, the brother, the father. We can't deny that there's a pang of guilt, much sadness and a few tears when we say our goodbyes at the end of a visit. And, of course, with a 'split' family, Midlands and South, we didn't manage to see two of our daughters and granddaughter this time round.

We met up with friends that we haven't seen for two years, including some from overseas who happened to be in the UK at the same time as us. We didn't get the chance to have a long chat with all of them but it was good to see them 'in the flesh' and all looking so well.

We celebrated a 'virtual' New Years' Eve with the friends who were here in October for a 'virtual' Christmas, and sang the 'New Year' in with a verse of Auld Lang Syne.

We spent Saturday in London walking the traffic-free Regents Street and side roads, paying a visit to one of our favourite shops dedicated to musical theatre, The Dress Circle. We had a very nice lunch in Charing Cross Road at a new (to us) restaurant Med Kitchen, and later, after a visit to the fantastic show La Cage Aux Folles. The show was just amazing, even though we were sitting in the cheap seats on the 'mantlepiece' as one of the actors called it. It's one I've wanted to see for years so I was very glad we managed to fit it in.

On Sunday my (exhausted) sister entertained as many family and some friends, as she could fit into her house to lunch. We had a lovely time catching up with siblings and cousins and even recreated a few photos of ourselves as children, although the clothes and hair were not quite the same - my brother having been photographed in 1963 in a pair of short tartan trews!!! - Such a shame we couldn't find a pair to fit him again.

We are both grateful to everyone who made our trip home such a success, to friends for putting themselves out and finding time to meet up with us however briefly, to family for coming to see us on Sunday and especially to my sister Anne, my Mum and daughter #3, Lizzie for feeding, driving and entertaining us so well.

I know you're all exhausted, so we promise not to do it too often. Unfortunately!

Don't forget all. We're open for bookings for 2009!

PS - If you are wondering where the photos are. They are in my camera. Which is in my sister's house. Ooops!

Seeing the light of day

St Saturnin

Ooops



Don't worry, it's not serious.

On Thursday our builder friend arrived to start work on the Velux windows. We knew that it would be one day's work per window. He was still with us at 6.45pm on Thursday evening.

This was the state of play on Friday morning.


Luckily he had a better day and had completed window number two by 4pm.


Over lunch on Thursday we reminded him that we would be going away for a few days next week, but not to worry, we could leave him a key.

Oh no. He wanted to finish it all before the rain comes on Monday.

I was amazed actually at his faith in Mr Meteo's predictions. As you all know we have very little faith in his accuracy and have virutally given up even looking more than a few hours ahead these days. Our friend, however had seen that rain was forecast for Monday and that was that.

He returned this morning at what seemed like first light (we are not early risers these days and as it was the third day on the trot we were feeling a little jaded). He has been working away all day and finished in the middle of the afternoon.

It was just as well because as he finished his cuppa and slipped our rather large cheque into his back pocket this happened.........



I don't think he had seen THAT coming on Mr Meteo!!!

One door closes ...

Ste Flora

... and another shuts in your face, as my mother (who will probably deny it) used to say.

This isn't about us. We're doing OK, but our local English bookshop is closing its doors at the end of this year. It's sad to see any business close but it does seem to be a sign of the times as there are 'liquidation totale' signs up in many windows in our local towns. Luckily the reading groups attached to the bookshop have elected to continue, so we will still be getting our reading matter.

Just around the corner from the bookshop, another shop, three times the size, has just opened. This shop is selling English (should really be British) produce, they are taking orders for Christmas turkeys and gammons, they have a supply of clotted cream, Marmite, curry sauces and Walkers crips.

Most of these things are available here if you hunt for them and are prepared to pay the inflated price. We have made do without most of them or found alternatives, but I confess I have ordered myself a Christmas gammon. I asked for the smallest they could supply as it is VERY expensive! As for Marmite, we brought 3 huge jars over a year ago and still have plenty to last us a while. Curry sauces - we make 'em ourselves. Walker's crisps? Far too salty. Clotted cream? I can't remember the last time I had some of that. I'm sure I can live without it though.

A touch of glass

St Tanguy

Did you see what I did there?

Our Velux windows were due for collection today. Being organised (Who said 'that makes a change?' I'll get you later), I decided to call the store yesterday to be sure that they would be there this morning.

Automated machine tells me to make my selection. That was easy 'Press one to verify the status of your order'.

Thank you. 'Please hold and you will be transferred to the relevant department'.

Goodie.

'Please enter the 10 digit order number'.

OK. Done that.

'Your order number is 1234567890. Press 1 for correct, press 2 to re-enter'

Pressed 1.

'Your order is not available. Good bye'

What? 'Hold on, I want to talk to someone'

Disconnected.

Tried again. Exactly the same thing, no option to talk to a human being.

So I thought I'd look at the website and see if that was any more helpful. Oh yes it was. I entered the the number of the first order. 'Your order is not yet available'. Tried the other order 'Your order is not yet available'. The website told me that the order was expected to be available today but I believe nothing.

You can therefore imagine my surprise when I went through the whole rigmarole again today only to learn that my order IS available. Lovely. My chauffeur collected me, drove me to the store, we collected the windows and brought them home.

As I felt we were on a winning roll, I suggested that this afternoon we try for the fifth time (no exaggeration) to purchase two pieces of glass, one for a small window in the loft and the other to replace the glass in our 'bullseye' window through which gales howl even on a still day.

My chauffeur from this morning had suggested a little shop which we had never been to before. It is slightly out of town and seemed to be a wallpaper and ceramic tile shop. However we thought it worth a try.

A very nice young man asked if he could help us as soon as we entered the shop. Did he cut glass for windows? Certainly he did. We gave him the measurements and were told to go shopping for an hour.

An hour later we returned, were given to pieces of, not unsubstantial, glass and charged the princely sum of 5 Euros and 5 centimes. Wow! The same glass in the UK would have cost me at least 20 quid!

Now we have to wait for our builder friend to come and fit the Velux, hopefully next week, and meanwhile Jon will be learning how to make window frames for the two 'awkward' windows.

Silent Saturday

St Albert

CHEERS!!!



The Peak, Hong Kong, February 2008

Copyright Sue Smith 2008

It's curtain time

St Sidoine


As Jon is progressing in the loft, I decided that I must put in some effort into preparing the soon-to-be-extended sitting room.

I've been looking for some curtains but not been very successful until I asked the question on a local website of where I could go looking for reasonably-priced fabrics.

A few suggestions were forthcoming but sadly one of them, which we went in search of last week, seemed to have disappeared. This was the day we also intended to buy our Velux windows.

We thought we were doing the right thing by checking the supplier's website first . Yes, the did them in the style we wanted and yes, they had three in stock. When we arrived in the showroom we were told that, in fact, they only had one in stock but could order the other two for two weeks time.

Fine. We would take the three fittings though.

Nope. We stood in line for the collection point only to be told that the one window claimed to be in stock wasn't, and of the three fittings, they only had one in stock.

Next week a friend is taking us to Brive in their estate car to collect the three windows and the remaining fittings. Meanwhile we are hoping and praying that the following two weeks remain dry so that our builder can come and fit them.

So, the trip north was unsuccessful on all accounts.

Yesterday I met a friend in town and we 'did' lunch. She then directed me to a little treasure trove of a shop just out of town.

This, fairly small, shop was laden with fabrics of every shade, weight and composition. Wow. My eyes lit up. We edged our way between bales and rolls of furnishing fabrics. Madame asked if she could help.

'What I'm really looking for, Madame' said I, 'Is inspiration'.

What exactly is Madame looking for? Curtains? For the dining room or bedroom. No, the salon. Ah, and does Madame want something bright, dark, lightweight?

Madame said she was looking for something fairly plain but with a certain 'je ne sais quoi'.

'I'll know it as soon as I see it' I said, helpfully.

Madame directed my friend and I to a pile of creams, beiges and whites, where we spotted a few 'possibles'. Suddenly I saw a flash of aubergine colour at the bottom of the pile. My alcoves are painted aubergine. This was hopeful.

My friend insisted we took the roll of fabric to the door to look at it in daylight. Good idea, I hadn't thought of that.

Yes, even better, the colour is just exactly what I wanted (even if I didn't know it when I walked into the shop). Cream with a splash of aubergine.

I'm looking forward to getting out my super sewing machine, bought two years ago and very low mileage, to get going on making the curtains this weekend.

Window shopping

St Christian

Every Tuesday or Wednesday piles of leaflets pour into our letter box. All the local supermarkets, and there are many, want draw our attention to this week's special offers. One may have pork on special offer, another will have special deals on duck. We used to spend time looking through them just to see what possible bargain we might find this week, but nowadays we give them a more cursory glance and consign them to the recycling bin.

The only leaflets we give more time to these days are the DIY store leaflets. A new DIY store recently opened and it seems to have spurred its only real rival into action. However, the rival has two branches, one in each direction, both a half-day trip, of course, and these two branches never have the same things in stock. If we see something in one and don't have room for it but happen to be passing the other a few days later, it won't have it in stock, or it will be a completely different price. It's most frustrating.

This week we had a treat, three, yes three, leaflets from the wonderful stores Gifi and Foire Fouille. Now these are veritable treasure troves of shops. Readers may recall that Gifi is where we did our 'Christmas' shopping the other week. This time they have their Christmas decoration stock it. Ooh, I can't decide, shall I decorate my house in gold this year, or red and white? What about Venetian style? The options, it appears, are endless. I could even go for a black and white theme.

But then what about all those Christmas decorations we've collected over the years? The things that we had when the children were tiny and the baubles we bought in New York? No, I think we'll just get the baubles and tinsel and all those memories out again the same as every year.

Get those leaflets into the recycle bin quickly!

Oh, and.......

Have you seen this? It's brilliant, but I can't help thinking that some people have way too much time on their hands.....!!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=65I0HNvTDH4.

Some pictures

Ste Carine

The loft floor is almost finished.

The electrics are in, the windows are on order, the man to fit the windows is on order.

Just the insulation and walls to do then. Just!

We were going to create two rooms but 'he who shall be obeyed' has expressed his preference for one big open space. For now at least. One end for bed and dressing ....


and the other for relaxation, office and my craft table (I just slipped that in, in case Jon is reading and didn't know!).



While he's been doing that, I have been cooking, cleaning and working. I managed to pick up some transcription work this week. It's not ideal, I would much rather have a large project to work on but at least it is varied.

I've also been planting some bulbs, in between showers as we have finally had some welcome rain, and I've been trying to find some fabric to make curtains for the soon-to-be enlarged lounge and kitchen. I've been given some tips on where to shop for fabric but the shops recommended are all at least one hours' drive from here - and every one in a different direction. So I will be taking my time touring the countryside in search of just the right fabric. A good excuse for the odd day out, methinks!

And here is what we woke to one day last week.


Pretty eh? Luckily it was only there for an hour or so.

We are the champions (well, this month at any rate)

St Hubert

We gathered together a little team of six for this month's pub quiz. We quite look forward to these little gatherings and it's good exercise for the little grey cells.

This month's categories included Music, Literature, Rivers, Spelling and Nature. We usually learn something new. For example do you know that bees have five eyes? That's nice, they can obviously see all around them. But hang on. We have looked it up now here. That's all very well but where exactly are these eyes? We found a dead bee in the cellar yesterday and took a look at it, but I couldn't see five eyes. They must be well hidden. And do you know how many whiskers a cat has? 12, 18 or 24. I insisted it was 24 (although I suspect the Little Bar Steward and Misty Moo have even more than that), but the other two ladies on the team insisted that it couldn't possibly be that many. Herrrumph!

Well, despite that, we won. Only by 2 points, but hey ho, who cares. We are delighted to be the proud owners (for a month) of a very tasteful champions cup, and were even more delighted to be presented with this month's first prize, a jar of honey, three bottles of wine, a cigarette lighter each and a pair of pale green knickers.

No, I have no idea.

The wine has been donated towards our friend's 'bit of a do' for Christmas, the honey came home with us and the knickers are, I believe, tucked away in a drawer somewhere south of here.

So unpredictable

St Toussaint

A week ago we were basking in glorious sunshine, t-shirts and shorts, lunch in the garden, all the windows open.

Now it's cosy by the log fire, dodging showers and even (we just couldn't believe it) SNOW this week. Luckily the snow only lasted for as long as it took for the air to warm up a little.

Fortunately, the day before the white stuff came down, I had wrapped up the delicate plants in their winter coats. Two days later (yesterday) the temperature was back up to the 'teens' and feeling very mild indeed. It's just very unpredictable.

We're quite glad that we're having some rain really. It's been a long time since we had any decent amount and the ground will need it over winter and so will the reservoirs.

Today is All Saint's Day. It's the day for putting huge pots of chrysanthemums on the graves of the departed. Shops have been full of them all week but we didn't like to buy them for the garden. Well not yet. Apparently next week they will all be half price - a bit like red roses in England the day after Valentine's Day! Then I will go in search of some to brighten up the patio until the bulbs start coming through.

Today is also a public holiday in France. The first of two in November - Armistice day being the second. I'm sure there are many who are extremely disappointed that this one falls on a Saturday this year as it doesn't give them an extra day off work. It hasn't stopped people from travelling away from home for the weekend though, and the roads have been quite busy. I expect they are all travelling back to their birth villages so that they can place the aforementioned pot plants on the correct graves.

Moving on

St Jude

Hey Jude!

Now all our visitors have left it's back to work with a vengance, for Jon if not me. As always he says there's no room for me to help as he lays the floor in the loft.

The air was rather blue yesterday as he laid the first two rows and the pieces just wouldn't join together but with a firm anchor to work against now, it all seems to be going down much easier.

Our 'little man' is booked to come and fit our three loft windows in about three weeks time, before he goes back to England for Christmas, so we've been checking local stocks ready to make a trip or two to go and collect them. We took some time deciding how large to have the windows and checking on sizes available so I was a little horrified to discover that there aren't many places that stock the size we need! Luckily the shop we had originally wanted to buy them from does have them and isn't too far away, just an hour's drive.

Lucky for me the shop isn't far from my favourite fresh produce shop and I'll take advantage of being there to stock up on 'exotic' vegetables and cultivated 'wild' mushrooms, looking forward to making some delicious soups and curries in the coming weeks.

Praying for .....?

St Dimitri

This little lass turned up yesterday afternoon as we were outside enjoying the sun.


She climbed onto the table and tapped Jon on the wrist. We never did find out exactly what she wanted!

That time of year again

St Florentin

Very sadly we have just said goodbye to our last staying visitors of 2008. (Bookings now being taken for 2009!).

Readers may recall this time last year when we celebrated our virtual Christmas with a virtual Christmas dinner, virtual gifts and probably thought we were all mad. This year was even better.

Our friends arrived from the UK on Tuesday evening (Christmas Eve). We greeted them with a glass of champagne and enjoyed a Thai meal before sitting in front of a roaring log fire. At 11.30, as is traditional, we sang carols round the piano.

Let me just explain something for the uninitiated: This couple are very old friends with whom we never managed to spend Christmas, so whenever we could have a few days together, usually a rented cottage at half term, we would have a 'Christmas Dinner'. The tradition has expanded a little over the years.........

On Christmas morning we were very lucky to find the shops open (?) and armed with a maximum budget of 5 Euros each, we bought presents for each other in a little shop. The ladies had separated from the gents, I had to buy a present for my friend's husband, he for me, she for Jon and Jon for her.

We had great fun trawling the aisles of this little shop and found some fantastic little gifts. However, as we left we noticed a marquee in the car park - Christmas gift shop! Wow, us ladies were in our element and had to go and look at (I must add) some of the tackiest Christmas decorations we have ever seen in our life! We had to buy just one or two as we couldn't believe our eyes.

After a light lunch we prepared all the vegetables for Christmas Dinner and, since it was drizzling outside, we stayed indoors playing silly quizzes and games all afternoon.

The traditional roast turkey had shrunk and became chicken, but it was none-the-less tasty. However, before that we had to open our Christmas presents to each other. Sadly my photos of the gifts didn't come out very well, so you can't see the fantastic cow socks that Mrs Y received from Jon or the wonderful mobile phone holder that I bought for Mr Y, but here is Jon's gift ....


.... and here are my lovely socks (Mrs Y also received the same pair) which came with a lovely knitted hat (not matching).


Not bad for under 5 Euros, eh?

Yesterday (Boxing Day) was a beautiful day so we drove over to Rocamadour a medieval village and pilgrimage site which our friends had not visited before. We had a lovely time looking around the sanctuaries and gift shops before coming back home for a traditional (?) afternoon of moving logs and burning garden rubbish.


We've waved our friends off on their way to Toulouse airport very early this morning, but we're looking forward to seeing them again at their home soon to celebrate New Year's Eve - on 6th December.

Showers, visitors and chutney

St Géraud

We are having a wonderful Indian summer. 26 degrees and a lovely warm southerly breeze. The trees and hedgerows get more colourful day by day and every excursion out is 'worth a wow' (family joke).

And what have we been up to in the last week or so? Well, the fig crop has been marvellous again this year and was supplemented by some friends crop (they don't like figs at all and end up with sacks of them), so the freezer has a plentiful supply and the other day I made 14 jars of chutney with the others - plus a few desserts of baked or stewed figs.

Jon had to remove the shower to repair the leaks, and has since relayed the floor and is currently revarnishing it.

We are currently enjoying the company of friends who have suffered a damp, cool summer in northern England and are delighted to find sunshine here so late in the year. They have been enthusiastic about the area, views, countryside, quiet, sun, wine, wine, cheese and wine, and we are delighted that they are so excited about everything. Our visitors do make us take another look at life here and, although every day we love the life we are living and the area we are living in sometimes, when we might just be starting to take it all for granted, along comes a new visitor to stir up our own enthusiasm and it is just like seeing the whole area through new eyes again.