Monday 5 January 2009
Wednesday 31 December 2008
Looking back
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
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
We have discovered a slightly faded but wonderfully placed hotel on one of
We had a wonderful fortnight’s holiday enjoying the sea, sights and smells of the
March
It wasn’t until 20th 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 1st 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
3rd 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.
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
Within hours of our return to
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
We went to
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 (23rd 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
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.
Saturday 27 December 2008
Snowed in
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.
Thursday 25 December 2008
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
Sunday 21 December 2008
Let the festivities commence....
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.
Thursday 18 December 2008
Dark days and warm places
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.
Monday 15 December 2008
Moving house
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.
