Village de Vaux

The Final Posting of the Year

2011-12-31T23:50:00.003+01:00

apart from finding the courage to publish the new blog address, SweetpeainFrance wishes everyone a very Happy New Year.

I wish all the Village de Vaux readers, who have contributed to 9307 page views of my 355 postings since I started this blog, all the very best of wishes for 2012 and thereafter.

I hope you receive kindness, good health, happiness and much more of the positive elements of living life in a challenging world.

For me I am on a slow learning curve, looking at a half-full glass.
So Cheers to you all as I toast in 2012.
Over and out from SweetpeainFrance

A love song which touches my heart

Penning the penultimate posting

2011-10-03T18:16:00.000+02:00

This is the penultimate posting for SweetpeainFrance.
She will publish the link to her new blog when it is up and running in a few weeks time.
Meanwhile something to listen to.

Stag Beetles

2011-06-10T08:46:00.001+02:00

Marvellous, magnificent beasts.

On Wednesday at Angles sur L'Anglin there was a beautiful Stag Beetle trapped by himself into a large builder's bucket and his glossy back was dusty. After a photo shoot he was let free and attempted to bury himself under a log. I let him be.

On Thursday at Village de Vaux a Stag Beetle fell one metre to the ground from a Laurel bush. He was shiny and feisty. Big Feet came to look and leapt into the air when her nose got too close. I suspect it emitted some form of protective liquid.

They have marvellous antlers which when the beetle marches forward hold together as if locked into position. It reminded me of a Roman soldier, strong, determined, ready to march many miles.

I haven't seen Stag Beetles for several years. Perhaps they like the warm, dry, conditions.

I will do some further research, report here later and add some photos. I'm just a tad pushed for time and need to be better organised for posting.

Meanwhile, let me tell you that we have had 14mm of rain since Monday.

These are interesting links:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-13710152

The sound of the larvae can be heard here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12138245

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12132360

With thanks to the BBC.

To June

2011-06-02T22:44:00.000+02:00

The wind has been blowing so much that doors bang unless propped open. Then dust comes in so we have to open and close each door. My house has many doors.
The driving wind is driving us mad! I would detest living anywhere near the Mistral.
The wind is a sign that the weather is to change and rain is forecast!

5 little swallows sitting in the porch

2011-05-29T14:47:00.000+02:00

It's transition time.
"It’s a shaky time when chicks first leave the nest but all part of the natural process when they learn to survive on their own." RSPB

I can't open the kitchen door but will have to sometime soon.

Five, beautiful baby swallows are sitting on the metal angles that support the glass French verandah above the entrance door. These are not my favourite architectural inventions but they do keep the rain and snow from falling immediately outside the door. I am over at Angles sur L'Anglin and temporarily prisoner in my own home. Mummy and daddy swallow re-appear very frequently, to swoop at a fledgling and feed it. Someitmes they hover over a gaping mouth as if to feed it but then suddenly choose another. There is a pecking order. The stronger bird seems to get fed more and is getting stronger more quickly! Such is life!

The meteo for this region says 25 degrees Celsius but it feels hotter than that. The rear garden is incredibly hot. I have had to retreat indoors. Thinking about doing all the jobs that need to be done is too much and I have succumbed to laziness and creative writing.

I was only sitting in the shade in the rocking chair that does not rock a lot when I became quite hot and flustered. I am drinking copious quantities of tea, even cold, black, green tea is delicious. The concert of birds in the back garden is good listening material. Hoopoe was seen to fly from 7 o'clock to 1o'clock diagonally across the garden. Blackbirds, blackredstarts, sparrows, chaffinch, pigeons, doves, rooks are content.

Still, I must do something after blogging.

Then I decided to go to my car and find the camera. As you can see I have not located it which is such a pity. As I did so, some fledglings stayed and some flew away. I felt very bad. But then they returned and I don't like to go out again and disturb their mealtime.

In June

2011-05-23T22:49:00.000+02:00

I change my tune..................
the cuckoo has commenced its garbled warblings of
cuck cuck cuckoo
cuck cuck cuckoo
cuck cuck, cuck cuck, cuck cooooooooooooooooooooo
we're not yet in June
though it feels like August
in the heat of the sun
gin and tonic a must
5pm
later
sun bares teeth upon golden skin causing us to seek shade
as bright light make us squint to see to the end of the field
now grasshoppers sing
if I could
I would
lie
in the hammock
all evening and listen to the songs of the wild.
Meanwhile a bedroom window is open for me to listen and hear.
She stops.
and reminds me that even no nightingales have been heard for several days.
June will change my tune....................

The rain came

2011-05-22T14:31:00.000+02:00

last night with a strong, fresh breeze bringing a thunderstorm and lighting the sky with orange explosions. This morning the rainometer (minor memory loss - what IS the correct word?) measured 5mm, but as it was positioned under a canopy of tree leaves perhaps there was more rain. This region has had drought conditions for several weeks. Whereas no rain fell here, at Angles sur l'Anglin about 15 miles south east, had 26mm several weeks ago in one downpouring!
Our neighbour will be happier as he was having to feed his sheep some of the newly cut hay! The sheep, all newly shorn, streamed into the uncropped grass in the field behind the house. Our neighbour helped us stack 10 steres of oak logs and another wood that burns brightly, we think is called hornbeam, but his French word for it defeats translation from dictionaries and the internet.

Roadkill

2011-05-17T23:17:00.001+02:00

Very sadly, this old bird flew into the front of my car. It was immediate death. I slowed in surprise and shock, the van behind overtook me, the approaching vehicle passed and in the mirror, seeing the pheasant lying in the road, thought, "Oh what a waste," and reversed to rescue it. Having researched what to do, I bravely dunked it in boiling water in my preserving pan cauldron, wet plucked it and wearing gloves emptied the poor thing, set it on paper in a sealed container in the fridge for my memory to fade with instructions to Captain Sensible to braise it after 5 to 7 days. It was a bit of a tough old bird, but I blessed it and thanked it for providing food as braised casserole, a meat pie and soup.

Although there was a time of great poverty when my children remember me trying to kill a bird by driving at them, which was stupidly dangerous of me, I have never to my knowledge killed a game bird in this way. I am not proud of taking a life but it did just fly straight into my car.

I do not wish to repeat the experience of plucking and gutting but would do so again if I had to!
And I was a vegetarian for over 23 years!

For those who are interested in history

2011-05-08T18:23:00.000+02:00

I found this very interesting site:

http://www.history.co.uk/this-day-in-history/May-08.html

You can click on any other date than the date of whatever is "today" and read and see A VERSION of history for that particular date from the past.

I thought I need to learn more about my own country of birth and the history of the world.

Dry weather in France

2011-05-06T22:14:00.000+02:00

Evidently April 2011 was the hottest April in France since 1900.

Drought is occurring in the North of France. Drought will push up fruit and vegetable prices as well as the price of feed for cattle and other meat oriented animals.
To the gloom and doom, we can add petrol costs which are rising and unfavorable whilst we ferry back and forth between two houses. The Sterling / Euro exchange is far from favourable. I was waiting for it to improve before converting my pension on the currency market but the rate has become steadily worse. I'll just have to bite the bullet soon! One compensation is that if we were in UK the taxes would be higher overall. Well, that is our argument!
However, it is usually hotter here in the spring and summer but slightly colder here in the Winter than UK. I don't mind cold but do prefer warmer weather and that is the bonus. In winter we have the warm woodburners.

European Pond Terrapin

2011-05-04T19:20:00.000+02:00

The European pond turtle is a terrapin. It is of a medium size varying from 12 to 38 cm in length. Its shell is brown with a hint of green with yellow spots. Emys orbicularis species have become rare in most countries even though they are widely distributed in Europe. They are a protected species and are not allowed to be kept as pets.

So, what a wonderful and unexpected surprise Captain Sensible received on his walk with camera in hand. He thought it was a tortoise but its tail alerted me to the fact that it may be a terrapin. I am glad he left it where he was because it was in its natural habitat. If it were a tortoise I had wondered whether it should go to the vet as someone may have lost it. But that decision was not necessary.

I did some research on Wikipedia. They prefer to live in wetland areas surrounded by large, natural, woodland but can travel up to 100 metres away from the water and occasionally up to 4000 metres to lay their eggs in nests which they may return to year after year or they will travel for feeding.

I wish I had seen it.

A few days before that we met unexpectedly, a lady who is keeping three tortoises. As they are over 15 years old she is worried that people might come and steal them .. so we are sworn to secrecy.

With grateful thanks to Captain Sensible for permission to use his photos. Click on them for a larger view.

Easter

2011-04-24T23:14:00.000+02:00

A day of reconciliation.

A day to accept and acknowledge errors, failings, weaknesses and "to accept the things I cannot change" and "to have the courage to change the things I can" and "to have wisdom to know the difference".

Patience, time, appreciation, tolerance are required to make changes.

Despite days, hours and parts of time, with difficult moments, there is strength to pick myself up, to try again and again, to be determined not to be beaten and to make the next step - pas a pas - to work at confronting struggles as they occur, one day at a time.

To forgive but not to forget.

To remember.

To acknowledge what my dearest daughter told me,

that the past is not the future.

To create change can be rewarding.

Out of death, growth and life will come.

Frosts in April or May?

2011-04-15T22:19:00.001+02:00

Although we have a way to go for the following dates, and as a reply to “DaysontheClaise” with their posting "Frost Candles at the Ready" which mentions the installation of special candles in vineyards, ( a lesson for which I thank S & S), I feel bound to write about the Frost Saints' Days, which our French neighbours have often alerted us to in previous years.

The dates are May 11, 12, 13 when three consecutive days in May mark the feasts of St. Mammertus, St. Pancras, and St. Servatus. In the wine-growing districts of France, a severe cold spell occasionally arrives, inflicting serious damage on the grapevines. Although scientists claim that the unseasonable frost is caused by air currents blowing off a late breakup of polar ice in the north, some people in rural France believed that it is the result of having offended one of the three saints, who for this reason are called the "frost saints."

In Germany, too, feelings toward these three saints are mixed, especially among those whose livelihood depends on agriculture. They call them "the three severe lords," and farmers believe that their crops are not safe from frost until May 13 has passed. French farmers have been known to show their displeasure over a cold snap at this time of year by flogging the statues and defacing the pictures of Mammertus, Pancras, and Servatus.

Evidently, the growing season has to get past these dates in May safely, if at all possible, to ensure a chance for the cropsin the potager or fruits in the orchard to survive.

I have only ever heard of the second saint linked to St Pancras Station in London, UK. As for the first and third, I suppose I ought to do some research but do not have immediate time. Mammertus makes me think of mammary glands and Servatus makes me think that I should serve myself as well as others! Flippant or not?

Not being NOW religiously-minded, I do know that one year recently we were afflicted by frosts in May (was it last year?) and our potager crops were mostly unsuccessful. So much so, that this year, and because of other circumstances, we are hardly going to plant anything. We are fortunate enough to have a marvellous French producer of almost bio veg in our village at incredibly reasonable prices…….we are going to support this French family to receive or seasonal fresh vegetables so as to get on with other facets of our lives and thank the Saints that we won't have to dig, weed and harvest the crops and therby save our own personal energies!

With thanks to Wikipedia.

Part 2 The Spring moves forward as the clock changes time

2011-03-27T21:07:00.000+02:00

You have to have read the previous posting.

It is almost 21h, that is 9pm, new time, Spring time.
I just wandered outside with the rain spitting as it does in this region and down at the woodland at the end of the field which is the garden at Village de Vaux can be heard the nightingale preparing her speech and not yet in full song. I am in love. She or he who is so enchanting must surely fill hearts... but not of those who cannot hear.
To be unable to hear would be terrible. It would be worth the hearing aid.

Listen to this.

Read this.

Hark! that's the nightingale,
Telling the self-same tale
Her song told when this ancient earth was young:
So echoes answered when her song was sung
In the first wooded vale.
- Christina Georgina Rossetti, Twilight Calm

Thank you Spring. Thank you March.

The Spring moves forward as the clock changes time

2011-03-27T14:14:00.018+02:00

Now the rain is sprinkling the land after days of glorious sunshine. Dry weather and warmth started their promise for a summer to celebrate life.

The daffodils in my new garden at Angles sur L'Anglin have had to be watered three times a day to prevent them lying prostrate on the ground in the heat and drought, but at Village de Vaux they do not appear to need extra water. Tulips are coming into bloom. Cowslips (les coucous) have been in flower for over a week. The cherry and plum trees blossom, but are almost finished. The bees have been about their work. I made a herb garden from the bonfire ashes. It’s a kind of raised bed with recycled wood to create an edge. Boxwood plants surround the edge and it is intended to be a sensory garden. There are no grand plans just an impulse to create something interesting. Elsewhere flower seeds have been scattered and plants transplanted and there is more to do. There is always more to do. It must be a pleasure rather than a chore.

Before Christmas I purchased several shrubs. Now they stand in a row intending a hedge between neighbouring gardens. The black redstart and the robin vie with each other for worms revealed in the earth. Digging 12 deep holes, filling with compost and then the shrubs was hard so I have given up for the moment on putting down textile fabric. Logistics and energy went out of my head.

My French neighbour who rarely has conversation came to the boundary to ask questions about what was this and what was I going to do with that, then asked me round for coffee but we had tea and proceeded to ask even more questions about the house, telling me her viewpoint on what needed to be done and how she would do it, and what the price should have been. Hm… I did retaliate with questions so admit that I tried to deflect the interrogation away from my private life. Did I understand her French correctly? Hm… She thinks I should not have lavender in my herb garden because lavender is huge. It can be true of course, but also there are some pretty dwarf-type varieties of lavender and I do like French lavender flowers.

The first lizard of the year was seen on Thursday and on Friday the reinettes (small green tree frogs) began to chuckle to each other. Every day I open the window and wait with bated breath to hear the cuckoos and nightingales that abound the rear of Village de Vaux and create magic in my life with their incessant song. This morning I am rewarded with the call of the Cuckoo in the woodland at the end of the field. I hear it, but it takes several seconds to register …aha, there she is! Now I await the Nightingales, which are private and hide themselves from view. They lure with their captivating, enchanting song. The house martins and swallows arrived about a week ago screeching and squealing as also fighter planes flew overhead. Turtledoves romantically canoodle and repeat their cooing. Pheasants, or partridges more likely, are chook-chooking in the field beyond the grape vines, hidden from my view.

Loirets or maybe the glis glis (edible dormouse) called “bandits” are in the combles. As there is no accessible attic we will have to remove the roof tiles to check on what is happening up there. I lie in bed with a fly swat and bang the ceiling and walls at the least sound of entry or exit of the little darlings! They woke me up the other night with a swishing and swirling as if a train was arriving or as if a waterfall had appeared. I think they are mating! So sweet looking but a nuisance.

Blogging has taken a bit of a step backwards as I am pretty exhausted with manual labour but Captain Sensible has been able to make progress on my new house….little by little......we will arrive.

I oscillate between hope and despair, of pessimism and optimism: I realise that dreams are made to be broken if ever they get created.

Yet, walking along the lane of life in France I am transported into WONDERLAND.

I am trying to play the piano more frequently. Yesterday, it was just one note, one particular note, Db in its melodic and harmonic context, that reduced me to sobs of tears. Chopin does that. On other days a sequence of notes and their harmonies ill have created heart-wrenching pain but I never know when it is going to happen if indeed it does. Sometimes I am afraid to play because I don't want to cry when I play. Sometimes I play and create pure inner smiling pleasure. Music can make me dance with joy, it makes me move, it gives me joy, it makes me as happy as a canary in a cage as well as an emotional wreck. It has been too long insufficient in my life.

Inspiration in the kitchen with Salmon and Rosti potatoes

2011-03-20T11:43:00.000+01:00

January 13th 2011

I felt inspired to cook something interesting and different as I had offered to cook for tonight. I just love cooking salmon. It is so simple and usually so delicious that it needs very little to accompany it.

I peeled the last of the unsuccessful 'tiny' potatoes of the Charlotte variety. They have lasted to now so how is that unsuccessful? Because they are small and we have had an abundance of small potatoes and I am the only one who is willing to peel them. They have not always needed to be peeled but they are fast throwing out shoots. Several ideas in my head amounted to opening up the very nearly vegetarian cookbook, one of those Australian cookbooks that are so marvellous, and I espied a meal we enjoy.

Rosti Charlotte potatoes, Fresh Tail Cut of Salmon, Creme Fraîche mixed with cream, wasabi, seasoning, lemon juice and tarragon, plus well-washed mâche which is like watercress and is a healthy eating food, of which we buy from our charming village 'producteur'.

There was half a bottle of delicious refrigerated Cremant de Loire opened but well-recorked, with less of a fizz but stillaplenty to accompany this January evening meal folowing a day of shopping for flooring materials and realsing that the January sales have started!

Age knows no Mercy

2011-03-02T00:13:00.034+01:00

When you get to my age and read about the death of a particular woman from when 'Times have been a changing', and from when Times long ago produced male musical heroes who made one girlishly hysterical, one knows one is on the long long climb downhill!!

Suze-Rotolo was 67 and I have that Freewheelin' LP and it's cover somewhere I'm sure.
They were in love. Then listen to This

March begins but yesterday was not a good start!
My mother's been in hospital unexpectedly with bronchial problems and I hear again of more acquaintances and friends who have cancer. Life isn't easy. I weep too much as it is.

My car needs a lot of money to be repaired. My heart has been pounding as to what decision to make. Should I let it limp to death and abandon it for another that I know not so well.... or give it a kiss of kindness and hope it WILL be kind to me and see me through for another few months or even a year, until I can get it together to buy a newer model!

Good news on the house front with thanks to Captain Sensible ..... a floor is being laid and rooms have the sign of being loved and are keen to be lived in having been unlived in for almost two years. I DO SO HOPE to get my brain and life in gear to write that other blog.

Spring HAS to give way to NEW LIFE even though the bitter cold of today has said goodbye to the FALSE HOPE of the February warm weather.

March must hurry forwards to April and Easter and a time when a woodburner will not be required.

Be still and know

2011-02-05T22:38:00.001+01:00

Signs of Spring advance.

Tonight, be still and know.
I stood outside leaning on the oak support of the porch
(which in England or in India would be called a verandah),
langourously looking
at the whispery-grey branches of a bare plum tree,
where in just a few months,
will be adorned white petals
and the hummmmmm of beeeeeees
and after that small red-baubled jewels
will entice one to make jam or tarts.
I stood
heart full
looking at different light in clouds of night
knowing that Spring is coming.

I stood and stared and tried to find peace in my heart.
Be still.

February is such a lovely time of year when one can stand,
feel privileged to witness the rise of temperature
to appreciate the suspense of Springtime
whilst watching a world of stars in space,
scudded by moonlight behind clouds;
to know the unseen gentle brush of breeze against a background
of a seemingly, apparently empty world
yet which is full,
repeating itself year on year,
since a time before we have ever known.

This place is special.

It bares the bones of life and France.
No roaring sound of machine or man.
Emptiness.
Sheer emptiness
full of flora and fauna.
Alone in France?
Never!
Always an animal or person or stone or tree
to reveal a truth
or a smell
to haunt the mind.
It has taken so much time for me to learn it,
to know it,
to believe in it
and
yet
it drives me wild at other times to be without people.

Be still and know.

It drives me wild to oftentimes hear the silence that is not silent.
Sound is always here.
The rustle or more of the wind,
The trickle or pelt of the rain.
A vehicle moving in the distance,
A tractor passing by,
The tick of a clock,
The cough of a sheep or poney.
My cough.
My cry.
The loiret close by.
Big Feet purring likes to know
I am here.

I stood outside and hung the washing on the line.

Be still and know.

Gourmandise des Rois

2011-01-13T20:44:00.000+01:00

Epiphany cakes for kings and frangipane lovers

2011-01-06T19:22:00.005+01:00

We invited H to share with us this best of gateaux called La Galette Hollandaise. A galette is a pancake but in this case it is pastry, often flaky pastry, stuffed with almond paste. This year we have given our Gold Award for 'galette des rois' to the Angles sur L'Anglin boulangerie. I don't think this one has flaky pastry. The pastry is crisp and crumbly. The almond paste has not been stinted on and fills the pastry shell... no gaps here! ... and seems to have a slight taste of rum. The icing sugar on top is dry like crisp and even snow.
At 10 euros for the cake which serves 8 not greedy people, I reckon it is good value with our cup of Blue Lady Grey tea which I mixed with a little Green tea (unspecified) and some dried Rosehip berries from Spain.
So we chatted. I explained my amusement of making her laugh by adding decorations (feves,that is beans or figurines from previous affairs with foody delicacies!) .......a plastic fir tree from 2010 Buche du Noel, an unexpected guest or lonely shepherd, the angel keeping guard over the baby for now the Kings had departed to wish us all a Bonne Année. What a pleasure that she should receive the feve... a little frog.. Perhaps her Prince will come!

We shared gifts. I think I prefer this day to Noel and its Eve and New Year's Day and its Eve. For me it has more meaning with the coming, and going of the wise men, Balthazar, Caspar and Melchior. I feel a new tradition occurring and pourquoi pas? We are in France-home of the Good Food Appreciation Society.

And today what joy .. my daughter's Christmas Gift arrived. It was posted on 8th December and we feared it had been lost but here it is with so many little things in it that I shall open them little by little. She's always so very very good at choosing exactly the right gift!

Never have we seen a vertical rainbow

2011-01-03T21:39:00.001+01:00

Is it an omen? As a rainbow it must be good. On the way home from work we were astounded to see near the setting sun a vertical rainbow. The sky was blue with large long clouds reaching out like fingers beckoning to us and skudding across the sky as if to make an escape. As they reached their end they would wisp upwards like meringue being whisked into peaks. We've witnessed a great many aeroplane trails in the sky, both this morning and this evening. The sunrise was so beautiful as it lifted itself over the mist laden paysage.

My internet research has led me to facts that I never knew before! This article is about photography.

Sunset Rainbows are special for three reasons.
(1) The sun's rays are nearly horizontal, so the top of the rainbow will be high in the sky. A sunset rainbow is the widest arc you'll ever see from the ground. Almost half of the full-circle rainbow can become visible.... This means the ends of the arc are nearly vertical as they intersect the horizon. Sometimes only the end segment of the rainbow appears, and if you see a photo of a vertical rainbow at the horizon, you'll know it was made at sunset (or sunrise). With a little geometry work and a sun angle chart, you can tell time using a rainbow at the horizon.

Ireland Sunset Rainbow
near The Cliffs of Moher
(photo by Shannon Field)

(2) At sunset, the sunlight contains more red hues and less blue (because of atmospheric scattering). This will affect the appearance of the rainbow by emphasizing the red bands and muting the blue bands. The same red tint will apply to anything on the ground illuminated by the sunset. The effect can be quite dramatic.
(3) If you're lucky, you can get a rainbow against sunset clouds. This phenomenon is gorgeous to behold, but photos seem to be few. Be sure to turn around next time you're photographing a sunset, and see if the sky behind holds anything interesting.

With grateful thanks to Photocentric

Noises in the Night from not the Stone Martian but the Stone Marten

2011-01-02T23:08:00.002+01:00

Awoken again, but this time as the alarm went off, with a screeching noise coming from the attic above the stairwell. I went to the landing where Big Feet was looking with interest at the ceiling. Captain Sensible got the fly whisk and banged about on all the upper floor ceilings. The noise had ceased by then.

I have suspected for over a year we have a stone marten in the roof. At first I was quite spooked and used to lose sleep but I have now got used to it! It crawls in at night knocking the roof-tiles about!
Evidently we need mothballs to dissuade it of co-habitating in the space that we can't access. They don't like noise, though they van make a lot themselves... so leaving a radio on at night is supposed to deter them! Little critter... but don't they look cute?

Chris of Planet Passion

has a very good description of both

the Stone Marten and the Pine Marten.

I have often seen the latter in wooded areas. I hope he does not mind me promoting his website here.

Listen here to the sound I heard this morning.

For those who have not yet twigged... if you hover the mouse over the highlighted areas that are then underlined and click you can go to the next site. Make sure you return here!

Best Wishes for the New Year

2011-01-01T01:26:00.003+01:00

This is a scene that is no more.

The first photo is on Christmas Day 2009 and is where we had our last picnic.

The second photo is of the same place by the River Anglin where now poplar trees have been razed.

I am sure regeneration will occur but to see devastation was yet another sad blow to the year 2010.

OUT OF CHAOS WILL COME ORDER

SO THAT BEAUTY WILL EMERGE

FOR WHEREVER THERE IS HOPE THERE IS ALWAYS NEW LIFE

MANY THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO IN THE MAGDALENIAN AGE

DIFFERENT TREES PROVIDED SHELTER

IN JUST A FEW YEARS TIME NEW PEOPLE

WILL EXPERIENCE THE SHADE OF YOUNG TREES.

THAT'S LIFE

WHOEVER YOU ARE AND WHEREVER YOU MAY BE

WE WISH YOU WELL FOR TODAY

AND FOR ALL THE DAYS AND MORROWS OF 2011

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF

with all best wishes for a

H A PP Y N E W Y E A R

much love from SweetpeainFrance

and Captain Sensible

at VillagedeVaux

Bon Fin d'Année 2010

2010-12-31T23:03:00.000+01:00

Best Wishes to everyone; friends, family and all those who I do not know and may never meet, who read my postings, for the end of the year..... and for the next year I wish you all the best of opportunity.

I was reprimanded today for saying Bonne Année because one can't say that until after midnight! How very logically French and quite exact!

Until then one has to say "Bon Fin d'Année" and why not celebrate the going out as well as the coming in? We don't have any black coal though!

Happy New Year to you all.

In the Bleak Midwinter

2010-12-29T00:04:00.019+01:00

I've been singing this carol and only this carol this year whilst I clean, hoover, walk, be ...
and it just keeps singing in my head all the time.
I love it. It is sad. It makes me cry. It fills me with the beauty of the world.
It is a solitary carol....... so I have been thinking of people I know in England and people in other parts of the world. And it makes me see the glass half empty and the glass half full.
I like people very much and it always pains me enormously if I feel I have inadvertently hurt anyone.
I want to give, yet sometimes it is impossible to be able to give, even my heart.
The Youtube video I have chosen is quite poignant.

If you wish you can watch the choir and listen to this moving song of praise.

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,

 Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,

 In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain;

Heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign.

In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed

The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

 Angels and archangels may have gathered there,

Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;

But his mother only, in her maiden bliss,

Worshiped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;

if I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;

Yet what I can I give him:  give my heart.

With grateful thanks to Christina Rossetti

On Christmas Day, On Christmas Day, No Picnic was had on Christmas Day

2010-12-27T10:51:00.005+01:00

On account of the below freezing weather conditions which we have tolerated before on our legendary Christmas Day picnics, and on account of our fatigue in many areas it was just as well that we did not have such a feast mid-day. So TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT and TO DO SOMETHING SENSIBLE we took a 3 hour walk across fields and woodlands, through ancient rural villages, uphill, downvale, along river banks showing evidence of medieval strip farming, across fords, to afford ourselves a place in the winter sunshine at a special lake where we had previously had our Christmas Day picnics and so... we SIMPLY ATE our smoked salmon sandwich rolls with a clementine for dessert followed by coffee laced with Whiskey Mac.

In the evening once our hunger was restored we ate a first course of Salmon Provençale pre-prepared... with a green salad followed by the main course of Shoulder of Lamb from the field next door served with roasted potatoes, pumpkin, onions, garlic and steamed broccoli and carrots. Then one of LIDLs finest cheeses, a Bleu Bresse, accompanied with mâche (lamb's lettuce). This latter leaf is very popular with the French. It belongs to the Valerian family so is therefore probably very good for relaxation and healthy sleeping habits.
When I bought wholemeal bread at Leclerc I just could not RESIST the desserts and after umming and aahing over whether I should choose buche de noël or ???? I chose these two on account of the little lutin and his spade for Captain Sensible and Sweetpea coloured raspberries!

And then they and the day were gone!

Thank goodness, that's all over for another year. The dreaded day has passed well, all things considered!

It was Christmas Eve 2010.........

2010-12-26T19:36:00.014+01:00

How very French...

I took a small inexpensive gift to my French friends wishing them festive greetings and we were unexpectedly invited to an evening meal.

By the time I did what I had to do, there was no time to change into evening wear and anyway I knew that where I was going they had not much more heat than I have at Angles so it would be careless to discard the layers of clothing. I exchanged the trousers for a skirt and the upper garment for another, wrapped a cream scarf around my neck to brighten up the shades of black and burgundy, changed my shoes, splashed some perfume on the wrists (better than slashing them) grabbed the flowers and the wine and set off, arriving later than requested. Parking presented a problem trying not to park in front of garages.

Applause

When I arrived the 7 persons seated applauded and called out my name as if I were a football team which made me quite embarrassed! Cries of "Je suis desolée" were drowned as I removed my hat, coat, gloves, gave my gifts and was seated at the head of the table! A table of 8. More embarrassment as I realised that it was a shared meal… people had contributed! I did not foresee how much there would be to eat nor when I would get home! The next time we are invited by French people to a meal I MUST establish what I am expected to do: what should I bring? What are the expectations for the guests? I have made so many cultural faux pas that I don't want to make any more.

Let the Feast begin
I had missed the aperitif toasts (unlike an English toast) and the guests were eating escargots but I was presented with foie gras on toast (which they also had) and a cockle shell containing 4 Coquille St Jacques in Beurre Nantaise. These days I eat the foie gras as I do not have the energy or language to remonstrate. "Hypocrite" I say to myself but it’s often such a nice creamy taste and THAT IS MY DILEMMA after 23 years of having been a vegetarian!
Then the 3rd course of home-smoked salmon was heavenly. A friend of G. obtains the salmon atlantique from his friend a poissonière, smokes it and slices it very finely. It was oh so sweet and melted in the mouth. I had to have a second helping when it was offered to me.
Following that were the oysters. I don’t like imbibing salt water! I tried one… and remarkably, unlike previous experiences, there was no salty ocean, just a wonderful, slippery, weird experience which suggested I should have another, but I refused, as one was plenty!

The main course was a very large of Poitevin gigot of lamb with white creamy beans, (perhaps mogettes) with green haricots verts. The lamb was deliciously sweet and melted in the mouth. The plate was full then empty!

Aumoniere de fromage du chevre avec miel et pignons was interesting but E. was disappointed because the cheese hadn’t melted and the pastry was like burnt paper. She is not yet used to the woodburner oven which was instlalled for their emergency moving in just a few weeks ago. I thought the pastry needed to be more soaked with butter.

The mixed lettuces that the French call 'salade' was passed around the table.

Course 8 was dessert. A very fat slice of pear and chocolate roulade in bicoloured, marbled sponge was set before me! OH MY… would I make it home and WHEN would I lose the weight I was adding to my figure!

Course 9 consisted of Les Mendiants. Fortunately we could choose to have anything in between 0 and 13 of these ingredients from the platter of fruit and nuts. I chose prunes.

Coffee and chocolates came then tilleul (lime flower) tisane, then more coffee or more tea as stories and jokes abounded. I had intended not to be late home BUT I couldn't just get up and leave! At midnight the Baby Jesus was put in his creche and Pere Noel had been hinted at with stories of childhood memories!

At 13h30 it was Christmas gift time. More embarrassment but I noticed that not all guests exchanged gifts so I relaxed only to discover that I was receiving a wonderful, beautiful gift from a family whom I have only met once before! He is a medieval metalsmith and stone carver and I don't know what else. Except he's very funny!

Melusine et Chevan also received one of his wonderful sculptures.

At 14h30 everyone was still nattering and enjoying the morning. However, after 6 and half hours I had to get up from my seat for reasons of health and safety so decided I must reluctantly take my leave. Then more surprise as I was invited to eat again that day, Christmas Day, at another house but I felt quite rude when I declined giving the excuse that I would eat very little the next day, I mean Christmas Day.

I am lucky to have such wonderful French friends who look after me. I try to look after them and have supported them with their business events. At the moment their Ouessant mouton is mowing my lawn.

Wishing you all a seasonal feast full of warmth and kindness

2010-12-25T03:25:00.002+01:00

With best wishes from SweetpeainFrance

21 12 2010 Winter begins

2010-12-21T23:06:00.001+01:00

It has been the shortest day in our part of the Northern Hemisphere and I never noticed.

There was also a lunar eclipse but the cloud cover concealed the moon and the sun. According to NASA it was the first time since 1638 that the two events coincided.
You could look at some amazing photos of the event here.

So on this Winter Solstice the axis of the Earth we will be at it's utmost so that the North Pole will be angled 23.5 degrees away from the sun -- at 6:38 p.m. EST, after which the days will gradually grow longer until the summer solstice in June 2011.
I could do with a few more hours of daylight and sunshine!
In ancient Rome the winter solstice was celebrated at the Feast of Saturnalia.. The Feast of Juul (Yule) was celebrated in pre-Christian Scandinavia. However no one knows exactly when people first began to honour this important calendrial day.

In England and the UK people have had the coldest temperatures since records began and records suggest that it could be the coldest December since a Little Ice Age in the 1890s.
Minus 20 degrees has been recorded near where to Captain Sensible was born.

Today we have had a reasonably mild day. One woodburner has been installed but not yet lit. Only a small fire is allowed for up to 8 days when little by little the heat can be increased. The other room is presenting a greater amount of angst, conundrum and concern. The chimney place has to be finished. We thought the chap would be inserting the angular tubage but he had so many work-related problems yesterday. After over 4 hours working by himself in stinging rain I think he was glad to be going back to base! Having given some thought to the problem we have decided he must come and do what need to be done so that we can get on.

It's a grim season that's for sure.....we hope we can light the fires and get through the winter and progress further with the renovation.

But for all friends and family in the UK, it cannot be easy. Thinking of you all.

The Yellow Hand : La Main Jaune

2010-12-09T23:26:00.002+01:00

Roundabouts in France are often very interesting and some can be spectacular. This one is truly an interesting landmark. It is at a junction where the N10 meets the autoroute. It was installed in August, weighs 15 tonnes and is nearly 16 metres tall. It was designed by a GP who enjoys sculpture. Evidently, it symbolises the working world: apprentices, engineers, craftsmen, pensioners and other workers in and around Chatellerault, especially from 'The Manu' where once arms and later cutlery were manufactured. That arms factory is now an excellent auto and velo museum. The Yellow Hand took 7 years for volunteers to make. If you can find the Yellow Hand then one cannot be lost!
Several years ago, whilst mosing about on French C roads, our road map did not reflect the actual lanes! I wound the passenger window down to speak to two old boys in the pretty very rural village and explained that we were lost and could they help us! I was told with a smile that one can never be 'LostinFrance' because one can always find out where one is. Truly French logic!

In memory of...

2010-12-07T21:22:00.003+01:00

John Lennon and Little Feet.

Little Feet died three years ago. Goodbye Little Feet. The rain lashed as it did yesterday and today. We think she had been inadvertently poisoned by eating vermin. She was a stay-at-home-cat, timid, loyal but a bully to her sister, becoming quite obese from eating cat biscuits, leaving little for her slender sister, the polydactylic supreme, Queen-of-cats, Mole-eater, Big Feet. "God bless her cotton socks" as we laid her in her grave next to the only rose bush in the garden that Captain Sensible had acquired at this special place on La Balade des Plaisirs! It has been a pleasure to have lived here as it was for Little Feet and is still for Big Feet. Little Feet, alias Syrah, disliked people, keeping a distance. The person she favoured the most, other than ourselves of course, was the writer, Neil Powell, poet and biographer, whose leather shoes she would always tumble upon, causing much merriment! I do miss MissHeavyWeightMissPloddyLittleFeet who would stretch herself out on the mantelpiece above the woodburner or sit atop the piano eyeing us and pretending she was asleep. I felt guilty that we had not got her to the vet earlier. I cried in grief for nearly a year. Now Big Feet, alias Shiraz, has become fatter but not overweight and is still the French Tart, enjoying to have her tummy tickled.

When in 1980 on 8th December I heard that John Lennon had died I sobbed and I sobbed and I sobbed. I could not believe assassination. I can remember my sobbing, where I was and what I had been doing before and after; then, it was just more devastation, grief and bereavement. I still cry when certain of his songs and those of The Beatles touch my soul. This is also how I feel about my life, even today, gripped with sadnesses, more as one becomes older. For John was in love with Yoko and she was in love with him, and whatever we think about her or him or her music or their music, I just loved the sound of his music, his images and films. The Beatles together or separately made a huge impression in my life. I laughed and cried and still do... happiness is.......

Listen to the tune to go with these words.

"There are places I'll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all"
— John Lennon

He was my hero. Just imagine.

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

My memories make me cry. Such a sad loss of my friends in music and in solace. xxxxxxxxx
PS with grateful thanks to YOUTUBE. BUT OF COURSE a much bigger thankyou to John and Yvonne for introducing us to Little Feat and Big Feet..........

Escapism

2010-12-03T21:48:00.001+01:00

We managed to step into the great unknown world today on two occasions.
1: We went to AsA thinking the oak flooring may arrive but no, it will be tomorrow. However, it gave us a chance to assess the roads, which once we were through our lane were surprisingly clear and dry; to assess the materials we need to purchase; to assess the electric heater usage (it had been left on to dry out plaster) and to allow for another, yes, yet another, until the walls are flat, coat of 'jointe rapide' and of course a French mid-morning coffee break with the best croissants in the world from the boulangerie-on-the-hill. Tomorrow, we will economise (slightly) with apple pancakes. One can't keep spending and being tempted at the lovely boulangerie!
2. After a quick cheese on toast with sauteed tomatoes lunch we headed into the outskirts of Poitiers to purchase tiles for the hearth. Oh much deliberation from she who doesn't make decisions painlessly! THEN she makes a choice only to discover that the tiles have to be ordered! Eventually, acknowledging that 10 days still gives time before Christmas for the two poele-a-bois to be installed she orders those more expensive ones and ALSO orders a different sort for the salle-de-bain. She had to get her 5% discount on the LRM store card that she was inveigled into before the end of the year! Oups! We also took advantage of the distance and leapt into the vast Auchan which is not as ENORMOUS as the one at Tours, to buy food, gas and petrol as stocks were perilously low. ONE OF THINGS WE LOVE ABOUT WINTER is seeing how long we can go without shopping! Inventing meals can be quite innovative! However, when there are no eggs and no fresh vegetables then it is imperative to shop! Of course this year we have the freezer filled with lamb and Captain Sensible for some inexplicable reason is into ice-cream. It goes nicely with bottled cherries! So we are never without food. We also have a lot of small potatoes from the potager which I am very happy to peel because it reminds me of maternal grandmother! Now, we have stocked up on fresh veg and fruit, a change of carnivorous protein, AND for me some French wine! It keeps me balanced!

Snowday

2010-12-02T10:54:00.000+01:00

It's another snow no go day as we elect not to travel to do house renovations a 30 minute drive from here. It's all downhill into the valley and I expect the weather conditions may improve but then it's a consistently uphill climb and although we have a set of snow chains they are a nightmare to put on.

Bison-Fute indicate we are on an Orange alert..(nothing to do with FT!!)... indicating difficult driving conditions... not RED nor BLACK but one level up from GREEN which mean smooth with no driving difficuties. Even so the woodburner is more inviting.

When we get there we'll have to turn the water on...and when we leave, turn it off. We have left the electric radiator on very low in one room to dry the plaster so it will be sort of cosy in there but the kitchen will be bleak! The comfort zone is pretty low there but not as difficult as with anyone who has to work with animals. I am thinking of my son, his lady and the horses.

This is just a quick diversion before I settle to do admin work... and THINK about the possibilities of TRAVEL... later today or tomorrow. In any case, we have to go tomorrow as the oak flooring is supposed to be arriving. The company is from further south, West of France. Do they realise what is white and is falling on the ground in this rural region?

Roses in the Snowses

2010-12-01T17:21:00.000+01:00

Winter wonder
Beauty in colour
Struggling flower

La neige

2010-11-28T16:39:00.000+01:00

from a bedroom window.

Orange Saga is complete ... I HOPE

2010-11-13T10:29:00.000+01:00

Yesterday after an hour on the phone plus with the technical help from Captain Sensible and a man called John from the English Speaking Orange Helpline who must both be praised profusely, the internet LIVEBOX has been re-set, the internet phone has been re-set, the two phones are wired up correctly, and it is all working with the original fti/ connexion number rather than the second one that they sent me. Mysteries solved! The conflict of having two contracts has been resolved!

I am still nervous about whether it will last. However, I am assured that the Orange and France Telecom engineers did something on 10-11-10 and now it is all tickety-boo! I've even had my first invoice! Now, after 86 days, I can "phone for free" on the internet line or pay more on the landline. What Choices, eh!

12-11-10

2010-11-12T20:08:00.002+01:00

The wind and rain were forecast to be so strong that Camille the poney was stabled. We could hear her kicking the fence and neighing in protest at her confinement. She had for several weeks disappeared to where we know not and has recently been returned to her flock of 8 sheep which circulate the fields in front of and behind our fermette.

We must count those sheep because on Wednesday we received the carcass of a lamb...for the freezer, ewe know. Oh, those years of vegeterianism hang rather limply these days when eating food-in-france! It was only in February, we were sort-of gifted a lamb, to eat, you understand, and we haven't eaten all of it yet! One cannot eat lamb every day! However, a few weeks ago we were asked whether we would like a lamb. Of course we affirmed that we would! Panic prevailed....we realised we had 'to make way in the freezer' so at this point in time we are rather full of my favourite meat and have got to the point where we do not really want to eat more!
When we were approached, I bravely asked how old the lamb would be. I certainly did not explain why, but in Year one we definitely had 'lamb' in contrast to Year two when we were inclined to believe it was 'mutton'. We have learned that the transition between lamb and mutton is not only dependant on culinary cooking times but also on the weight of the animal as well as the age. We're not sure but we are hoping that we DO have lamb and not mutton as in our first year. It makes a difference to what cooking methods we use so as not to have to chew the meat!
Perhaps we have inherited a sheep that was barren... best not to ask... I will coo and aah in raptures at the first and even last of the lambs that are born to give so much pleasure as they gambol in the fields of France and generate food for almost free!
The proverb that "Beggars cannot be choosers" features much in our lives. Let's say it was a very satisfactory price compared to the price of Poitou-Charentes lamb in the supermarkets or boucheries.
The wind has abated... the temperature has risen before the fall of the frosts yet to come and Camille has re-appeared in the field. We witnessed her rolling on the ground... either she was happy or has a tick or two!

More of Orange and FT

2010-10-31T15:37:00.003+01:00

At my new house in Angles... It seems that I have had to register with France Telecom for the messagerie service 3103 and that will take 5 days to activate! How is one supposed to have known this? Then for the Orange internet telephone to work it seems that I have had to re set the Livebox and register with the new terribly long and meaningless email address and various passwords that they sent me on October 3rd! I did nothing with this information because as the Internet was working why should I change it if it isn't broke and risk being out of contact with the internet services. So there I was waiting and waiting for it to be activated when it couldn't. Even the nice helpful Orange man said it was weird to have two fti/ numbers etc!

Therefore, by the end of next week I hope to have not only the use of the internet but also TWO telephones as well as making my monthly payments. I am sure they will not reimburse me for the payments I have made whilst not having had communication with the outside world. Ah... Orange!

Meanwhile I have to try and translate the French telephone instructions which are not available in English as of course like all technology the model number is specifically for France!

Burning decisions

2010-10-30T22:13:00.003+02:00

I have made some PROGRESS…. Note the majiscules.

After what seems to have been several months of ongoing, from-time-to-time-research, I have, at last, decided to buy two woodburners from a new company, who being only one month in business with their shop still not consumer ready, and having visited two other woodburner businesses in one day, we were pleased to have stumbled upon.

In addition, I have surfed the net to research woodburner companies in France, woodburner companies in our region of France and woodburner companies in UK and those with websites of particular brands / marques of woodburner stoves as opposed to multifuel stoves, gathering useful information so as to at least have a little knowledge!

Now, there is a difference in woodburners and I don’t just mean wood pellets or oak logs!

I am not a technically-minded-creature so I cannot possibly re-iterate all that I have learned but I will say that whatever I HAVE learned is just the tip of the iceberg and I would like to learn more, but, just as I cannot afford the chateau when I can only afford a garden shed, I cannot afford the type of woodburner my heart desires, therefore and of course with some things in life one just has to compromise.

What is it about buying AND INSTALLING a woodburner in France that is so difficult?

Well, for me, nothing is simple in my life! So, that is an aforesaid! Now to the practicalities, procedures and facts!

1.    One has to invite the company to one’s house to study the chimney / fireplace to measure dimensions and to verify that it will accept the woodburner and to establish how the company will install it. That appointment has to be made several weeks ahead of when one wants to install the woodburner, because
      a) it will take several weeks before they can to do ‘l’etude’,
      b) it will take at least two weeks after that for the estimate of the works to arrive!
      c) it may take several weeks for the woodburner to be ordered and installed!
      So be prepared to say Goodbye to at least one to two or months and pray that life continues!

2. IF as a law-abiding English person living in France on a full-time basis and therefore registered to pay French taxes one wishes to apply for the 40% or 25% tax rebate, one needs to buy the woodburner from the installer! This precludes buying a woodburner online! As a result of this knowledge we did sums to compare the costs of buying a cheaper and/or more expensive woodburner online and not gaining the tax rebate with buying a cheaper and/or more expensive woodburner from a buyer/installer and applying for the tax rebate. The difference can be and has been surprising! Please note also that France may well reduce this tax option at the end of December of this year, hence the fact that all woodburner companies are fully-booked!

3. Other complications set in! One cannot find out the price of a woodburner from a French company because they want to come to the house to do the ‘l’etude’ so you have to enter the game! I have not been able to find out the sale price of a particular brand of woodburner from one establishment without this farce.

4. When we came across the new company, I was amazed. The proprietor was prepared to give an estimate according to Captain Sensible’s plan, diagram and measurements AND within a few minutes of enquiry we had a devis / estimate as opposed to a 4 week wait! More importantly, whereas from one company we had been quoted 650 euros to install each of the two woodburners we were now being quoted 150 euros to install the two woodburners. Subsequently, from a different entreprise, I have been quoted 200 euros to install one woodburner if they come and install the two! We realise the profits have been added to the cost of the woodburner but I have also gained a 15% reduction on the cost of each woodburner.
5. Another shop will not tell me how much a Jotul or Dovre woodburner will cost me because they have to come and do the study which will be in 2 weeks time! NO, I cannot wait further at this time of year.

6. An Englishman and his company working in France for over 10 years sounds to be a reputable company and eventually after some mystery and hesitation he agreed to work from the plan with measurements. However, I discovered that their website does not suggest that they can get me a certain brand of woodburner that is not advertised on their site! A telephone call does suggest this! Of course I have chosen the upper end of the market with the Jotul range and because I wanted two woodburners with side doors and in enamelled Ivory colour, one with 12kw or more and one with about 9kw he can order these. If I had known this back in June I might have been more tempted!

7. Also.... there is a requirement that the installer is responsible for the chimney, and in the case of any impending unwanted "fire in the chimney", the insurance company makes a claim against the installer and obviously, the installer has to guarantee his installation to the house insurance company. Hence, most probably these are the reasons for the installer to inspect the chimney, maintain the mystery and assume all expertise. If without someone who has previously installed woodburners then I think one is under their spell. I am lucky. My partner has a technical and practical mind and has installed woodburners before.

8. By now I have sussed out that certain companies purchase e.g. the Dovre model and market it under a Franchise brand name.
9. Now, that is where I have ended my research because of the restrictions, mais bien sur, on the pocket and wallet! The company which we stumbled upon now has my confidence and order within two days of correspondence. I have paid 30% for the installation of two Dovre-models of woodburners to be installed at the end of November, when I will pay the balance of 70%. The designated wood burners have flat waffle-patterned beds and are not for multifuel. The proprietors did not encircle me with magic and mystery of woodburners for they quickly realized we had gained our knowledge from our research and were prepared to gain a sale realising that our measurements were adequate for a devis / estimate. Voila! They have succeeded where others have prevaricated!
10. I hope this story ends successfully and that the woodburner mystery saga will be solved after some more hard work on our part, so that logs and luxurious comfort compared to the current cold ambiance will be welcomed at my new house.
11. Meanwhile the Nestor Martin at Village de Vaux beats out the heat in almost November and keeps us as warm as toast on a Sunday morning.

Meeting challenges, insufficient time and believing in oneself

2010-10-19T21:24:00.002+02:00

There's such a lot to do and such a lot to think about! And I am tired already! But I keep on going!
Then this week a village resident decides to take me up on my offer to help her child with learning English. I don't need extra work this week .... nevertheless, I am always so very, very pleased to help young people or older people, whoever they are and whatever their age, to learn English. It is a huge pleasure for the teacher in me to see and hear them making progress, but I'm not sure I was ready for over 3 hours voluntary work this week at Bac level! Still, I have done my homework and I have treated it as a challenge and as a learning experience for me.   I just hope that I have conveyed and imparted sufficient knowledge and enthusiasm for the 16 year old young horsewoman to gain not only good marks but also the confidence and competence to make progress herself.
Learning is about accepting challenges, and doing one's best to gain whatever it is we need to learn, however old we are!!! I don't think that as a parent I conveyed that message very well!
I can't quite think at some moments of the day, especially first thing in the morning or after the evening meal, yet at other times the list is theoretically quite lucid, until I start to think pragmatically, or start to shop at DIY institutions!
There is the need for optimism
Double glazing is arriving from UK at half the price of the French estimate as of next Tuesday! Then there is major work to do on about 20 windows and doors! I am the support unit!
Finalising the choice of two woodburners and getting an installer before the end of the year, in addition to all the prep building work we need to do, is the next challenge!   Oh, it sounds so simple!   Believe me, IT IS NOT SIMPLE!!!
Meanwhile, the electrician says he will arrive tomorrow... 8am ... to make the electricity safe and earthed and to install ( oh joy) running hot water!!!!!! from a 'chauffeau thermodynamique' !
Will he arrive....because last week's date of his arrival came to nought?
Today was absorbed with DIY shopping for a window and plasterboard and other materials whilst researching the price of a number of things, on what amounted to a lengthy journey, despite the impending fuel shortage. The bonus was that we passed the fruit farm and bought abut 5 kg of fruit... different apples and pears, some good for cooking and others perfect for eating. I recommend a large apple called Golden Rosé for eating!
Yesterday, we had to go to the city on other business and witnessed the queues for petrol/diesel which affected the flow of traffic exiting from a roundabout! We paid 1.43 euros per litre once we got out into the countryside, having decided that we had better keep the tank topped up. Have you heard about the blockades in France and the manifestations of those who are protesting against the raising of the pensionable age to 62? It sounds bad in Paris where vehicles have been set alight! England wants to raise the pensionable age to 66.   Will that result in strikes, rallies and marches against such governmental plans?
In the house, I continue from time to time to scrape glue and paper off the cement floors and wrestle with the pain in my wrists! The reward is that I can scoop the paper crumbs into the waste bag!
The tongue and groove boarding is being removed. Now the rooms feel as if they can breathe.
I must paint! I must make shopping lists! I must do the paperwork! In addition I must decide for items for lighting, for the bathroom (floor, ceiling, walls, bath, shower, toilet, sink, towel rails, cupboards)
What lesson am I supposed to learn from owning a stone house with its once 18th/ 19th century beautiful 'to the modern eye' stone walls which suck up the damp from the soil, but which have been covered in plastered insulation board since 25 years ago, and today, we struggle to covert a 21st century look? I like the look of French stone walls on the interior so why do I have this house where not a stone can be seen as it is fully plasterboarded and hence potentially very warm inside? A message cries out to me to build or buy a modern home, a simple, unashamedly faceless practical residence of a Fairfax-type home with its joy of an almost 'maintenance free' lifestyle that it was!   But even that dream has its challenges. Modern sings to me... as does l'ancienne.    Pick me or Pick me.... the houses say!   Life is just not easy! My partner wanted me to do build a new house... but i wasn't ready. I felt I did not have sufficient knowledge, expertise or confidence. It is strange because now I know what I would do and how I would do it. The difference also is that we have some French friends who can help us and if I'd had the courage to approach them a year ago I am sure they would have helped us unravel the building regs for such a project!
For me, the wrinkles become more evident as the brain and wisdom grows. However, it is my oerceptions that we keep more fit in mind, body and soul by undertaking this project, now that the horrors of what I have undertaken appear to be a little more manageable and under control!
It has been a scary experience.... and I am not out of the woods yet....
MESSAGE:   KNOW what thy doeth when a French renovation project calleth, and even when one thinketh one knoweth all, be humbleth when knoweth nought!!!!!!!!!
As my French friends tell me ... when one buys an old house it can be aesthetically beautiful but one does not know the surprises that one purchases.   When one has a new build there are no surprises! I now believe!

Laurie Clement - pianiste

2010-10-08T13:55:00.002+02:00

Coffee and macaroons were enjoyed before listening to Laurie with her new recording of Asturias by Issac Albeniz. I am in awe of her professional ability, humility and her positive, motivating, welcoming personality.
She plays the piano with passion and so I am looking forward to receiving a copy of the CD as soon as it is available. Listen to John Williams playing the original written for the guitar. Exquisite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEfFbuT3I6A

Read about Laurie here.

The reason for the flurry

2010-10-07T23:40:00.000+02:00

of postings is because I found these all in draft, proof-read ... then published them, thinking that they would be inserted into their day... but NO ... now they have appeared in October just to confuse us all!

MUST get the AsA blog up and running!

Start the 4th Week of Home Improvements

2010-10-07T23:25:00.001+02:00

May 2010 Filling all the dinks in the walls takes time and patience yet it must be quite boring. It is definitely neck breaking to sand and fill the between the beams but oh what a beautiful result is being produced. Both men look like flour babies!

Wall paper stripping continues....the scaffolding is mine tomorrow to reach the top of the extremely high walls!

Our reward for today ... chicken legs pan fried, then roasted in the oval braising dish with orange juice, spiced cherries, onions and the last of the coriander leaves, served with carrots and onions in a honey sauce, accompanied by a Captain Sensible 'gratin dauphinoise' styled potatoes.

A Neighbourly Note

Rushed off our feet with the excitement and new physical exercise of home renovations, I failed to take a photo of the wheelbarrow full of Monalisa potatoes that appeared on our verandah about three weeks ago, from a very dear and kindly voisin, Monsieur Roland and his lovely wife Bernadette. We are still eating potatoes even though we have given some away. They are large, perfect for wedge potatoes, jacket potatoes, chippies, mashed and every cooking style imaginable. He offered us a second wheelbarrow full. Normally we would have said 'Yes please' but working flat out there is no time to see friends. In the shops are the new Ile de Ré and Ile de Noirmoutier new potatoes but we won't need them. Our crop of early and main crop potatoes seem healthy and soon we will be eating them straight from the garden!

Energising, Renovating, Reflecting, Meditating

2010-10-07T23:23:00.001+02:00

July 2010 Although I was energised by the owning of a property, evidently demonstrating vim, vigour and enthusiasm for wallpaper stripping, sanding down woodwork, clearing out junk, digging and filling trenches, rubbing down large beams, baking bread on a building site, helping to organise what might have been the start of a Midsummer ritual in my garden, after 7 weeks of what could be perceived as almost a kind of trauma about what I had done in buying my house, I decided to have a break and Do Something Different. So at the end of June and the beginning of July I decided to visit family and friends instead of or in addition to the months of March and November.

What wonderful weather is in England ... sunny days with privet blossom, scabious flowers and poppies by the wayside, cereals growing golden in their English gated fields surrounded by English oak trees and hedgerows. Yet though the beauty in the East Anglian fields is very marvellous I miss the French stone walls and lanes.

Reportage of the development of my new house has come to a standstill at the moment as I take stock of my life and review the goal which is to get the ground floor of the house ship-shape with running water, a bathroom, a better kitchen and all rooms painted and decorated and NORMAL. How on earth did I think it would happen in just a few weeks? "Ever the optimist" someone once said of me in my career when things were going awry and I had made some naïve comment akin to 'it will be alright on the night'.

So ... it will take a little longer than I thought and the plan on how to do it may change but that's OK ... and if I have to struggle a little more in life then "c'est la vie". It's my life and I'll have to do it my way even if I create a muddle as I go. I'll get there wherever that may be. I won't be beaten. That's another lesson that I learnt recently. Pick myself up... get on with it ... keep moving ... keep doing things ... don't brood ... think happy thoughts ... put the music on and dance, dance, dance to the Rolling Stones or reflect quietly with Chopin or Bach.

I am still energised and when I get back to 'work' I will enjoy it because life must be about working. I don't have time to be lazy anymore! I don't have time to waste! I don't have time to spend on negative energies. I want to be positive and happy. I don't want to experience any more horrid moments. I have things to improve and things to sort and dispose of or keep. I have places to go and things to do and people to meet as once my dearest friend once said.

There are some photos but it all takes time to collate and computerise and I want to write and I want to explain with photos but I'll have to get up earlier and be organised. Mrs Muddle has been too disorganised and she needs to get into ACTION and prioritise her goals.

Window measurements in France

2010-10-07T23:20:00.002+02:00

October 2010 We bought a window for the laundry room. It was 45cm by 45cm and is an opening and closing window to seal the gaping window hole which was more like a gap that archers would have fired through only wider, into what is called The Atelier. Captain Sensible did whatever was necessary to make it fit the hole which is wider internally than externally, and above it leave a gap for the ventilation grid, as in this room there is a central heating boiler! It looks really nice painted Lead White. We were pleased.
Then we move to the second window which already has brique verre on the outside wall. We removed the nasty yucky badly fitted gungy secondary glass on the inside. Captain S managed to improve this rather badly installed window attending to it from the exterior as well as interior. The required window had to be ordered because the dearly beloved Brico shop was out of stock. We waited because we are in France! We didn't want to travel there and back for almost 2 hours just for a window. In order "to get on" the window area including the beautifully place wooden sill was finished off.
Later, holding the window to the hole, we couldn't understand why it was too big!
The reason??? It is advertised as a window 75cm high and 60cm wide so we assumed that is the size of the hole. Mais NON!!! This is France.... please read the small print at the bottom of the window chart.... each window is actually 3 cm wider and 5 cm higher or vice versa, than the actual measurements advertised in large print at the top of the chart!!!
Our research tells us that this is the norm in Bricodepot and in Le Roy Merlin.
Does this happen in England?Therefore our hole is too small. Captain S is going to have to undo the neat work. We will have to return to the shop and purchase another window because we returned the one we had bought.

The moral of the tale is to scan and read everything not just what one wants to read!

Just a taste of things to do

2010-10-04T23:35:00.001+02:00

Just for starters to let anyone who is interested, know sort of in brief, what I am up against!
NEW WEBSITE and BLOG was created and prepared but has been on hold as I don't have time or energy to create.

Manual expertise has been on hand converting the rough and horrid to smooth and more beautiful. I help manually. I can use powered sanding machines and elbow grease!

Electrician promises to come in October to make electricity safe and install the water heater.
Menuisier for double-glazing of the many windows and doors in the house gave us a different kind of shock in his estimate! Others have also arrived to give estimates and we get different messages each time. Research on getting them made in UK and delivered to France continues.
Research continues into which woodburner to order and its installation. Again different messages come thick and fast. It is not as simple as it sounds!

Despite being worn out and cold weather approaching, we get up and do ... and at weekends collapse into a practically non-functioning unit!
Laundry room....damp walls have been dry-lined, the floor has been tanked up, cleaned, levelled and floor tiles laid and grouted with plinths. ceiling made good, windows made good, new space for plumbing and electricity created.
Next jobs: walls and ceiling to paint / two exterior walls to chip off the render, rebuild where we know there is just plasterboard covered with cement render, make pierre vue, all of which affects replacement guttering / build worktop with sink, taps and waste outlet, connect to water in and out / build cupboard shelves / install water heater, correct faulty electrics, purchase and plumb in washing machine.
Small room to be an office.... electricity to correct and improve plugs and switches / grind off paper and glue from cement floor ( done that ) / make walls flat / remove tongue and groove boarding around windows and doors and make good / level the floor where necessary, lay parquet floor and seal, add skirting boards / fill other woodwork / repaint all surfaces / make replacement doors for those missing on corner armoire / build cupboards to conceal electrics and water stopcocks / double glaze window and door (there are 4 units and to replace is more complicated than this note reveals), draughtproof door and windows / sand and repaint shutters / choose and install wall lights / install telephone point / replace radiator / find curtaining...
Oval room ....replace insulation boards on walls, remake chimney, purchase and install woodburner to replace what was there and instal with all that that implies for the chimney! make walls flat, repaint ceiling where necessary, make safe electricity and add plugs and switches, grind off paper and glue from cement floor, level the floor where necessary, lay oak flooring and seal, add skirting boards, fill woodwork or remove all tongue and groove boarding, repaint all surfaces, double glaze door , draughtproof door, create a wider and higher internal doorway and buy new door, choose and install lighting, replace radiator, find curtaining...
Kitchen ... to plan the change! It is being considered! Beams, ceiling between, walls and floor to be improved before kitchen units and equipment can be installed. Currently the fridge is a freezer and sited next to the oven which I try not to use. The hob is 'basic'ally good now I have discovered how to turn the gas down for a simmer! Before that I did not dare leave the hob for fear of burning the veg!

Bathroom ...it's a shell... so to buy and install everything --- flooring, ceiling, wall covering and window, bath /shower, toilet, sink, towel rail / sand and paint door / extraction unit / replace radiator.
Bedroom... lay oak flooring and add skirting board, add lighting and extra plugs, double glaze and draughtproof French doors, repair door furniture, hang chandelier, replace radiator, consider how to heat this room if there is no woodburner next door and no oil fuelled central heating! Furnish and add curtains.
Living room.. Finish sanding and repair of doors, paint, double glaze and draughtproof. There are 4 French doors plus 2 French doors to the bedroom and 3 other doors. Its a large room! Sand and finish oak staircase. Pipes to paint or conceal, Skirting board to replace, Insert and chimney to be replaced with woodburner.... (this will affect chimney flue going through attic and up to the roof).
Gardens to weed and mow here and there... TICK   to order plants and plant! (Previous owner took alll except lots of sorrel, one white peony, two surviving roses (not yet bushes), Orange "Angel's trumpets" and another plant I know not the name of!

Tomatoes to conserve TICK they've been eaten so it's just the green ones to deal with!

Bonfires to light TICK

Waste wood to saw into usable lengths

Guttering external problems to solve
Roof to consider how much to re-roof and do what is necessary! New ideas abound.
STOP!! STOP!!   GO!! GO!!
What about the terraced courtyard, the atelier / verandah, the chicken shed and yard, the municipal toilet-block, and the rest?    Oh what fun has just begun!
Habitability is the required keyword!

A week of Orange history

2010-09-24T18:19:00.003+02:00

On Monday the telephone system was not working.
On Tuesday I received a letter to say they want my LIVEBOX returned.
On Wednesday the technician arrives bright and early 8h30... BUT I had previously cancelled him and have no wish to pay 99 euros for his intervention. However, he wanted to know the story..telephoned his seniors, explained briefly that it is complicated but that the LIVEBOX works and recommends I keep the LIVEBOX and ignore the request.
On Thursday I continued to have internet facilities.
On Friday there is no internet facility, orange light flashing!!
Maybe it is an interim period before France Telecom connects a fixed line and I can use the two phones at appropriate times?
BUT IN ACTUAL FACT I think they have disconnected me from Orange Net Plus.
I am on the verge of arriving at the shop with a picnic and flask of tea and insisting that I stay until they have sorted it to my satisfaction!
However on Monday first thing, I will telephone the distress number ... or is it the de-stress number or just 10 13 (think it in French please and not in English!!!!) as well as the telephone number of Orange assistance and try again.
The new conundrum for 'the dix-treize number' is that one must phone from the domicile (home telephone (hellooooo? I am not connnected!!!) ... or from one's mobile telephone ... ( I resist to have a French one as I have a UK one) . Donc, I will try from the telephone cabin as it won't accept the numero domicile for AsA from VdV. AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!

The best solution would be to cancel everything and start again and of course WAIT and buy a French mobile PAYE.... or maybe to go to another company!

Oh I am a jaded LIME!

iphoto

2010-09-18T21:43:00.000+02:00

More importantly than companies named after fruits, I think I have lost all my previous photos of grandchild and house renovation stored on iphoto.......unless they are still there in a different place and inaccessible, until I gain further knowledge to retrieve them. It is my own fault for not backing up.

We downloaded and opened Picasa and for some miraculous reason that made iphoto work when I tried to download more recent photos from the camera. However, I thought I had instructed Picasa to collect the iphoto photos before trying the camera download ...but alas No!

If anyone knows how I can retrieve them, then please let me know.
I have looked at so many forums and tried what they said. That is why I reluctantly reloaded the iphoto software and now wish I hadn't.
I feel inclined to return to hard copies and photo albums or at least put everything onto CDs. It will be safer! For some reason the back up machine I have has been rejected by applemac!

It is all so depressing and my energy levels have reached a low again!
More aaarghs in life!

Anyone for Marmalade

2010-09-17T21:05:00.000+02:00

Techno facilities appear to be stable apart from cutting off my telephone call....BUT I DO have to return to the Fort Knox Orange shop as they are billing me for something I had said I did not want and are invoicing me from the date of ordering the service and not the date of the LIVEBOX being activated. I must also cancel the technician... See... I can do it and did it. I cracked the Orange and Livebox and Apple codes. Sweet success but I never liked Orange...s that much! Oh let's make marmalade!

Success, I think, at last

2010-09-12T13:04:00.001+02:00

Last night I discovered that instructions from even that nice man at Apple were not clear. When I entered the port code (I think it is called that ..with numbers and fullstops) it opens with the word 'admin' (no guillemots) and I thought THAT was the password I was required to enter.   Silly me! ...what was NOT clear is that you have to enter the same word as the first password ... so there are two "admin' on screen and THEN one can proceed to configure the LIVEBOX. Having passed the first hurdle every thing I did suggested that the LIVEBOX was synchronised but not connected correctly and yet I had further confusion because another message said it was connected but the server could not be found. Further exploration discovered other pages I could not access before and it seems I have solved the problem of accessing internet and telephone accessibility by prompting the DynDNS. I don't know what it is but I am able to connect and create this post! Dindins or not I'll be able to have some lunch!

Oh is the future bright and the future ORANGE?
I will not think so when the facture/bill is asked for!

Interestingly, I discovered also that the dear ORANGE company have been leaving me telephone messages to ask me to confirm that I require the technician to arrive on 10 September 2010 at 10h.

Silly them!   How can I access the telephone messages or the voicemail by email (that's a new service I did not know we could have!) if the 'NETPLUS' is not connected and THAT WAS the reason for needing the technician.   Hello...... is anyone there??????

Does the right hand of ORANGE know what the left hand is doing? Does one part of this organisation know what is happening in a different department?   Evidently this expression / proverb about keeping matters separate from other matters is Biblical. Matthew 6:3

"... when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth."

Don't give "oneself credit for providing charity to others - just give and forget about it."

I suppose each person / department has given separate information but there is not any "joined-up thinking", workplace jargon for where the viewpoints/information of each department of the organisation have arrived at an agreement or compromise.

I will see what happens on another day when I have changed houses, internet services and returned to the house of renovation.

Then I must try to solve how to access my photos and download new ones.

Meanwhile I am off to hoover, that is to say, to vaccuum clean the building dust.

Fruit Salad and Ice cream

2010-09-10T17:18:00.003+02:00

I received from the Orange shop on 28th August a document that clearly states in black printed ink that a technician would arrive on 10th September at 10am if not previously cancelled. That was today! At 14h30 I take myself to the callbox where I can dial the free number to find out what has happened to the technician. He did not arrive. The lines are busy and a human being asks me to call back in 30 minutes. This time I am passed from a gentleman to a woman whose French if she had spoken it would surely have been easier to understand than her English! Evidntly, the technician came on the 7th at 10am; he evidently telephoned me and could not get a reply! I explained, when she did not want me to explain anything, let alone speak, that the reason they could not contact me was because the telephone is not connected to the Internet, and that I cannot access emails from that line, hence the reason for the technician's appointment, as well as the fact that my internet facilities have been made to go "up the creek" (I did not use that expression) because of Apple or Orange or both!

Ironically on the 7th we were at Village de Vaux waiting, waiting, waiting for the nice Apple man at Orange to telephone. He was Italian and as mentioned before showed me how to ditch Safari. The call cost me 29 euros and taught me that it is better not to bang one's head on the wall but to look sideways at the problem. Of course, easier said than done, and once one has a little knowledge one can take the first step on the road of being an expert!

I was also waiting for the Orange man in Greece to telephone but he never did.

No, I have not been smiling today. I have been speaking patiently but firmly, even having to interrupt and speak French as well as English and even laugh out loud at one point, because to laugh is better than to scream) explaining that it is ridiculous for me to have one date and for them to have another and that this scenario is like a farce and as if one were in a theatrical comedy! She was not amused! I am not amused.
I have to wait until 22nd September at 8h30 and pay 99 euros.
Will I get connected to France Telecom? Will I get connected to Orange Internet?
Will they let me give them my money?

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream, rah rah rah!

With a 99 if you please.

Anyone for Fruit Salad?

2010-09-08T21:04:00.005+02:00

I am not a big fan of raw apples unless they are a particular variety or texture BUT I do like cooked apples especially with chocolate and pancakes.
Oranges ... hhhmmm ..... I am always suspicious of what they are going to taste like and have not yet worked out which season or variety is the best as usually they are too bitter and sour for me .... and yet I am the Marmalade Queen!
Have you ever eaten oranges fresh from the trees in the Alicante region of Spain? .... they are to die for and I can easily eat a kilo in one go!
Bananas have to be slightly green and never baked or put into warm, yellow custard aka school custard! or even baked with blue cheese! I cannot stand raw bananas if they even go slightly ripe, yellow and certainly not brown or black! However, to do the fruit justice I do love a banana sandwich or fresh sesamine baguette with banana sandwiched in-between!

I have been going bananas over the last few days!

Telephone and Internet facilities have been down .... unavailable ...
I have managed to get a new internet system fixed at my new house and tried to avoid signing up for France Telecom .. but ... silly me... if there is a problem with the Orange 'net plus' I can't dial out as there is no landline and I have no mobile except one routed via UK! It is fixed that I am in a conundrum!

So after days of trying to make the LIVEBOX at AsA work, I think it is still unsuccessful plus the days of not being able to access our internet system at Village de Vaux, including of course the hours that I have spent at both houses/homes trying to access the world wide web!...., 'les plaisirs' were not here or there ... in fact, blue berries could be added to the fruit salad!

This evening the nice man at Orange has made my nice Apple mac pro educate me in circumnavigating the nasty Safari which decided not to work. Thank goodness that some months ago I downloaded Firefox and today as an extra precaution I have downloaded Google Chrome which is thankfully available to certain Mac models.

Therefore APPLE has been able to access the lovely ORANGE and my BANANAS have not gone quite so bendy and so brown!

It has been False Economy because in order to save I have incurred the loss of time and humour... as well as pennies from the purse (the VERY nice man from Orange who knew all about my Apple was not a gift). One cannot beat the telephone system (Misters Bell and Edison would turn in their grave!) so I have changed the contract and changed to a France Telecom line with an Orange internet line at extra expense per month but with the added security that if one system fails (as I continually do!) one can hopefully use the second option! PS. It will take up to 3 weeks. But the horrible Orange lady who out the phone down on me without answering my questions would not tell me this and would not tell me that, so I have been told by a different Orange customer services agent that I may continue to use my current system (hohoho if I can get it to operate tomorrow/demain!).

I regarded (looked at) the LIVEBOX to see if it was alive today! From red blinking 2nd light of three days and apart from one day then the 7 days before that! it has all by itself turned to orange blinking light..... but it should be a fixed green light and not clignotant!

I have had 3 visits to the ORANGE shop and subsequently learned how to negotiate with the managerial person who stands centrally to allow or disallow persons to enter or not the hallowed Fort of Modern Telecommunication! (N.B. not jut F.T. but F.M.T.)
I am not allowed to change my package, my contract, my livebox, my annuaire details or my line parametres! However, when I asked most politely for a chair, given my age, she did get me one! There are few chairs for those who wait!
I, of course, WAIT, for I live in France, and in France one waits patiently and in order to progress more quickly one must improve one's command of French and try to sooth with soft, negotiable, smilingly, encouraging, complimentary words those with whom one wishes to succeed more quickly!
I would rather have a fruit salad ... but shall we add some other fruits?

Sounds and Sunsets

2010-09-03T21:19:00.005+02:00

The grasshoppers are strikingly chordant at 21h of the evening, radiating their chirruping as a form of Morse Code as I stop to listen and look at the mass of ivy on the stone wall from where the sound is loudest.

French Poney is annoyed with me! She trots over to greet me whilst I climb the dry stone wall -- I couldn't reach to stroke her nose as the width of the wall plus another width before the electric fence prevents this gesture. It is one of my
favourite places where I can look over the fields and woodland to the east and westwards uphill to the sunset. I have a handful of hay from "Le Paradise des Chévres". That's the name of the field in which G's very large flock of sheep graze from time to time. I don't know how old the hay is but neither poney nor sheep were interested. In fact to show her discontent French poney turned tail towards me, did a long pee and a loud passing of wind and trotted off without looking back. Now I know my place!

To everything there is a moment

2010-09-02T23:30:00.002+02:00

Slowly ... pas a pas ... I am making a little further progress with renovations in MY house.

One would not believe me if I were to say how long it takes to find suitable flooring, a door handle, a bathroom suite....and how to get it back to base!!!! ... and how and what to negotiate with the electrician, plumber, sander, painter, decorator, general builder, stonemason, etcetera! I have such a lot to learn and assimilate.

Do I need this week's problem to accompany the problems I have brought upon myself?

In the last week I must have spent at least one whole day in terms of time trying to connect The New House with internet and telephone facilities, to orange.fr only to discover that the account, now 7 days old, isn't yet activated!! Oh, so frustrating! frustrant!

In addition 3 journeys to the BIG CITY near me, to see if I can at least get into the shop called Orange which is so bulging at its seams with people making complaints, changing equipment or buying new resources and contracts, that they cannot squeeze through the automatic doors without the alarm being activated, takes almost two hours as I am passed from one helpful French person to another, in varying degrees of those who can understand me and those who do not wish to want to understand me. Ho hum and only last week did one of their staff congratulate me on my level of French competency. It just shows one can never be complacent!

Orange ... the future for me, hopefully, will be brighter next week! GGgggrrrrrrr!

What a difference it makes

2010-09-01T20:52:00.004+02:00

to have no sheep and no pony. The difference is that there are far fewer flies and it is not necessary to achieve 'seven in one blow' as did The Valiant Tailor.

It makes dining on the porch, even if there is a wind that has a chill about it, a much more 'agréable' event. However, it is getting quite cold in the mornings and evenings. It is 22 degrees Celsius outdoors at 21h but it was evidently 8 degrees Celsius this morning, so I have been told! The clear skies are a bonus even though the temperatures appear to be dropping earlier than usual.

And what of the eight sheep and one French poney (notice the spelling in French has an e)? Their owner has moved them to pastures new down the lane.

Poney, cat, hammock and me

2010-08-21T23:23:00.004+02:00

Poney, cat, hammock and me

Poney's field seems so parched. Her ruminant 'ovis aries' friends and she have eaten all the fruit and leaves that were accessible and now eye the plum and poplar trees on our side of the fence. I feed the French poney prunes that were plums but two days ago, for in this heat they have shrivelled to quite an edible state having fallen on the lawn. Cat comes to the wired fence and sniffs at poney as she bends her head to greet cat but cat pulls back even though the fence is in between. Cat is sensible. Friends cannot always be trusted

Poney is intrigued as I attempt to lay in the hammock under a cloudless sky as stars slowly make their appearance at 10 o'clock at night. She stamps her hooves on the ground and whinnies to gain my further attention but lulled by the rocking of the hammock I push my foot against the floor to rock some more. I close my eyes as the cat pummels amd whiggles and snuggles up to me. Opening my eyes I see a falling star and wish quickly a wish. Poney still watches cat and me in communion. A poney cannot snuggle up in a hammock with a human being. I would rather have a cat than a poney!

Songs of crickets fill the air and whilst I sing a lullaby I am thinking that it would be nice to be here throughout the night. However, I realise the warm air has a chill about it and think too soon thank goodness those dogs are not baying. An owl is heard: tu toooooooooo repeatedly. Separately a strange sound never heard before flies across the night unidentified. Then those wretched killing dogs start up. Other dogs of neighbours have also been barking from time to time but nothing like these kennel hounds.

Cat is alert and disappears to investigate some 'thing' unheard by me and then returns all warmth and furry friend that she is.

I want to stay but these story words are in my head. I think of fetching the sleeping bag… the sleeping sack ... and staying there all night under the stars. Oh, lazy mortal am I. Oh the creature comforts that I seek.

It was like this about the same time last year…a hot evening brought about by stunning daytime sunshine. Oh, how I love it… and need it… to bring warmth to my soul. Earlier in the evening I had managed to rescue plums fallen on the ground all at once, (some had been boiling on the ground in the sunshine), gather wallflower seeds, weed part of the gravel drive, iron linen from the line, sit and eat a simple meal of haricot verts in tomato sauce with cheese on top, boiled eggs in mayonnaise and fried wholemeal bread with mint leaves chopped and sprinkled on top, followed by Reine Claude plums gifted by a neighbour.

I love August in France.

I love the poney, the hammock, the cat and just sometimes like this evening I feel positive about 'me' but nearly not often enough! I have loved being alive today.

AFTERNOTE:

It stormed with lightning and thunder and at one point as the storm was immediately overhead the lightning and thunder almost simultaneous, I quickly sat upright as adrenaline kicked in. I am not afraid of storms but the fierce loud bang and bright clap of light makes one jump!

Good job I was not in the hammock!

More poeticism

2010-08-18T22:33:00.006+02:00

Written some while ago, another poetical moment:

Homage to sheep, stones and solitariness.

Sheep are like Stones….except that the latter do not move.

‘Twixt sunrise and sunset one can almost meditate whilst observing these herbivores grazing on the grass in fields and one thinks that their movement is imperceptible.

Let one’s mind drift, look away or dream, and look again and one becomes aware that they have all changed places, surreptiously. However if sheep feel threatened or intimidated by a clap of the hands for example they bleat furiously and run ensemble.

Eating machines are what sheep are… unlike stones in walls and stones in fields that existing since creation perhaps have not moved far from their original place over thousands, nay million, billions, trillions of years.

A sheep born as a humble lamb soon learns to get on its feet to avoid danger, to move on and to eat.

Does luck come into it if it should it be killed as a lamb or as mutton? This does not seem to worry me anymore as I gave up being a vegan and vegetarian of over 23 years.

I climb upon the wall, the dry stone wall, over one metre high.

I could not have done this five years ago!

How wonderful to have such a commanding view over sheep and stones.

I am as strong as this blade of grass… oh drat, it has bent a few centimetres from my thumb. Breaking it off, again it stands tall and strong again. I will not weaken as before, I say!

I stand in this seemingly special place that I have learned… yes learned to love, this wilderness where one hardly ever sees a soul except of the woolly variety.

I have been back in France for less than 24 hours. It is now twilight as I overlook the barren sprawl of countryside, the trees … and SHEEP .. or are they STONES?

I stand up high on this stone wall with a view, up and down the lane before me. Behind me in another field are more sheep and their friendly poney and beyond to the west are the layers of sunset rays, amidst the darkening blue skies and streaking, fluffy-white darkening clouds.

Oh, marvellous moment to remember, this exquisitely warm evening when cities are far away, as I stand here solitary in wild, deserted countryside…not a soul to be seen, save sheep and stones... alone in France, with beloved England far away... as all souls are always all alone.

Waxing Lyrical - and not sanding down

2010-08-17T23:14:00.003+02:00

The River Anglin

In the August shade I sit solitary against a tree trunk.

Summer into Autumn, roots bare and brown writhe like snakes upon solid brown earth on this Isle of L’Anglin.

When Winter comes tree roots will be submerged beneath the surging waters moving from higher to lower levels.

Tall poplars, their leaves mirrored in the looking glass create a meditational water garden wavering constantly and continuously. Diamonds grow like deep dark glossy jewels on the surface of the water as ripples meet ripples, to and fro, from bank to bank.

Lilypads on the quieter side of this isle invite demoiselles and dragonflies to flit in a different garden of delight.

Willow weeps and wails, whilst a dozen ducks without drakes form a flotilla floating downstream.

Quiet voices, peaceful movement, disturb the potential silence of tranquillity as they prepare for the fête.

An artist’s heaven, a writer’s haven, a beautiful work of art, a public garden. I long to stay.

Angles sur L'Anglin - an exquisitely beautiful village

2010-08-10T17:02:00.003+02:00

Angles sur L'Anglin is an exquisitely beautiful French village. I am not sure what providence will bring. Perhaps those who wish to be kept in touch with this beautiful landscape of France can understand some reasons why seven years ago we sought a house in this particular village but were led to a pretty fermette. There have been continuing contacts in Angles sur L'Anglin. We missed many opportunities as houses were not advertised where we were looking or indeed if advertised at all. We saw several that weren't able to meet our needs or terribly overpriced. I jumped at this opportunity. A website is prepared. Some bloggings are being created. The course of life and subsequent computer problems have prevented progress as I try to find solutions to unexpected "angles" on house renovation. Village de Vaux continues.

Creativity of Text and Image

2010-08-03T23:32:00.006+02:00

Creativity for blog text and image publishing appears to have taken a back-step as different styles of writing are produced - sometimes on paper to be kept for a little while and sometimes on paper that is screwed into a ball to reach the fire and burnt to ashes, sometimes as a poem and sometimes as a story or sometimes as letters, mostly as just a letter to myself.

Iphoto seems to not be working despite technological help from Apple so I need to contact them again so that I can download whatever images are stored on the camera.

"Entre les deux" ... that's me at the moment ... trying step by step to do what needs to be done in home ownership .. instead of being overwhelmed by the daily minutiae of life's unexpected little surprises!

One would have thought that with all my practice of searching for a house to buy I would have spotted the house renovation requirements ... but No ... and oH .. there is so much to do and to comprehend with practical aspects and restrictions that I seem to have lost the urge to write in the manner that is being produced here right at this moment in time.

I am sure it will return. Of course, I do it for me and not for anyone out there in the beautiful world of bloggers, BUT it has been nice to know that some people have actually read and even been interested in this potentially " normal" human being inside my shell.

I can be STILL .. ACTIVE .. REFLECTIVE .. LAZY .. TIRED .. STRUGGLING .. ANIMATED .. ENTHUSIASTIC .. LACKING POSITIVITY .. EMBARASSED .. ASHAMED .. OVERJOYED ..OVERWHELMED .. SAD .. HAPPY .. and so many other conditions of JUST BEING that appear to fluctuate seemingly incessantly .. coming and going... as I wait for each 'pas a pas' and 'step by step' to tell me what to do. And increasingly I know of people who are unwell and I think that whatever happens I have my health ..and it is evident that life should be celebrated and not reduced to negativity, inner injury and tears.

With regard to the house .. my very own house .. it feels like a kind of secret .. I have had a range of unexpected feelings - trepidation, fear, anxiety, excitement, energy, enthusiasm, a kind of shame and embarassment about how much rubbish has been required to reach the décheterrie (the recycling yard), and also stillness and calm, as I try to understand how the house wants to be looked after. I am feeling quite content there .. as I listen to the silence and the sounds within and without the stone walls and imagine times gone before and times to come.

I am enjoying 'le chaleur' et 'l'ombre' - at least 29 degrees celsius today, which I really cannot get enough of because it makes me feel HUMAN and NORMAL I watch the harvest coming in and see the bare, exposed fields with the crows or rooks cawing cavernously, making me nervous about Winter. BUT to think positively Sweetpea, the Autumn is yet to come and she who loves the colours, smells, mists and moistiness, she enjoys October.

On a practical note I am feeling more optimistic .... and I have to plan ... I have a lot to plan even when planning makes no difference and I have much to do.

So that is where the energy goes... I will return maybe on a different path soon.

Happy Birthday to Sweetpea in France

2010-07-11T19:54:00.003+02:00

I had an interesting Magical Mystery Tour all by myself ... sleeping, resting and gathering thoughts. It is the very first time I have ever spent my birthday 'toute seule'.

What else is there to do when one is a pensioner and dealing with just a few unexpected challenges that life throws at the 'normal' human being? Ah ... 'normality'. The word arrives again. I get in touch with that word when I go out into the great world and see it all around me and when I am with all manner of people ... my children and my grand child most especially. She is not afraid and neither am I. I can do it! So she says and I agree to.

No photos yet ... no time.. no inclination to paint a picture.

Happy Birthday to me and me and me! You bet it will be different next year ... no party with 60 candles ... no cake with solitary candles .. no cake .. but maybe I'll just go and splash out somewhere fantastic!

RAIN

2010-06-17T05:04:00.002+02:00

My daughter phoned to see how we were as there was a UK news report of flooding in the Var in the South of France and she could see that the meteo was showing a large swathe of blue across our region of France. She knows we don't have television and so alerts us as and when necessary.

I have not been measuring the rain fall over the last 2 weeks other than reaising that empty buckets in the garden are filling rather dramaticallly. It's not the weather for camping!

am glad that we ate not at river level anymore. Our previous house was in flood plain. We're lucky, so far,and even though. I feel for the terrible experiences that flood victims endure. Lives have been lost due to the force of water and mud. This is a BBC link to the video.

It looks awful.

Who is a normal human being?

2010-06-12T08:00:00.002+02:00

I wonder if there are any persons in normality?

If so, what constitutes normality?

OR better still, how does one identify anormality?

Normality will be resumed shortly

2010-06-08T00:10:00.003+02:00

I am just too exhausted with trying to blog at the same time as renovating property. I'm not feeling relaxed, there are too many tensions and decisions to make, there is shopping to complete and it's all go, go, go whilst I have help and assistance and attempt to face the problems that choosing a house be it the right one or the wrong one throws at normal life. The decision was made and I have to face the consequences of my actions which were taken for the very right reasons.

Life seems to throw me several lessons all at once just for good measure! I appear to be a slow learner and do not learn from experience so sometimes have to have several lessons before I begin to take heed. Repetition though is part of the learning process as I used to tell those I taught. Awareness and observation, courage and confidence all help!

Please forgive the lack of postings on the airwaves until I feel that I can produce something of value to those who read this public blog of my personal life.

Nature's Poetry Standing under the old oak tree

2010-05-27T00:18:00.006+02:00

The following is intended to be read slowly.

Captain S saw a fox two evenings ago,

on the triangle of La Balade des Plaisirs.

At dusk, as the bedroom window closes, a hare,

a grey shadow in the twilight, looked up briefly

before he sped from the gateway to the vines beyond the hay-cut field.

A special moment.

Yesterday evening, the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

delighted us whilst landing high on the telegraph pole.

Snails venture out to the rain filled puddles

and probably to the surviving lettuces!

Standing under the old oak tree,

still, silent, listening, absorbing, being, living.

To the right, an open field

where goat manure is piled high each year before muck spreading.

To the left, a stone wall

marks the boundary of the field we lovingly call the Triangle.

Be part of a world that time has not changed.

Yet, anew the kennel dogs create an awful din.

My complaint mounts in my head.

However, I have not yet done any more than two or three years ago

when their newly presence sounded unacceptable.

Sounds of dogs barking, yelping,

screaming all day and night is still unacceptable.

Two new lambs have been born to the fold of fifteen.

So young, they make merry with their elders.

Bleating behind hedgerows is a comforting sound.

The cuckoo cucks and coos and cuck coo coos

as it begins to change its tune for June.

Pigeons are no match for their cooing.

Walk a little further and black rooks caw their cacophony

to match the incessant song of the grasshoppers and crickets.

Stand still and silent.

Listen, to the sounds of tranquillity, but not of silence.

Be alone, but not alone.

Be comforted, but not take comfort.

Nature provides poetry,

yet is not so gentle or so kind

when the weather changes

its temerity.

Week 3 is progressing quickly

2010-05-25T00:08:00.008+02:00

As Monday was a National Feast day we had a morning visit to a Brocante - Vide Grenier where a pretty 1930s mirror frame was discovered. It's just another small job to cut an oval mirror. Also acquired was an anglepoise lamp and a prize purchase of two very weighty brass, nickel and wood 'block and tackle' for the steel vessel.

The week promised to be more constructive as the bathroom and bedroom began to take shape with walls, ceilings, electrics and plumbing being considered whilst the sun smiling strongly in the courtyard garden forewarned us of rising temperatures heralding thunderstorms and warm, welcoming rain! The working Monday ended with a frolic in the River Anglin to cool down.

Then home to Captain Sensible's version of Salade Nicoise, an important task of baking bread, a myriad of low level domestic duties, piano practice, search for materials, and a 'catch-up' on writing! Did I say I was tired? NO!!!!!!! The weather then deteriorated with necessary rain accompanied by thunderstorms and wind.

We met an absent neighbour who appeared today in their barn next door. We discussed the problem associated with the higher level of ground on their side of our wall which is above our internal floor level. I like French people because mostly they are always very amicable... donc, voila! ... we have permission to dig a trench to replace the soil with gravel to help the walls breathe, mais bien sûr we will leave it neat and tidy and evacuate the rubble! Later in the week, this proved to be difficult.... one foot below the soil level is cement and sometimes higher so no wonder the wall by the chimney breast was very damp! Drills are insufficient --- we have to hire a specialist tool to dig away the cement.

The top layer of stringy brown wallpaper revealed the paper firmly stuck to the plasterboard below. It looks like it will be a long and painful endurance test to expose the bare walls. Several soakings with water and washing up liquid then using the steamer kettle seems to make the paper easier to remove even. Little by little we will achieve!

The 'sheds' have been swept so we can store the 20 or so bags of used and dirty sand generated from blasting the beams which look so much more friendly. Eventually it may just get sprinkled on the garden.

The chaps are about to start plastering the ceiling between the beams having completed the prep work. Their backs are taking a toll from digging ditches, distributing rubble in puddles in our lane, cutting a door hole in a French breezeblock wall and reaching high to the ceilings. I am enormously grateful, I really am.

My level is that of a skivvy and remarkably it brings me enjoyment to provide coffee, tea, lunch and sometimes cakes or ice-creams but more importantly to sweep the site clean, several times a day. Sanding woodwork is not so pleasant ... but I am ready to lift buckets of rubble, problem-solve and add ideas for project management. I am not confident with buying bathroom furniture, nor considering where the electrics should go, nor calculating tiling or paint, but over the last 12 years I have become well-used to house renovation and the inside of DIY stores. My patience and interest has had to grow. I fully respect builders in ways that I know my colleagues never did. So many people in the UK appear to criticise builders - but in France the artisan is respected. A builder has to be intelligent in order to create a house of beauty out of inflexible materials; he has to be strong in mind and body; he also has to endure dusty, dirty and unpleasant conditions. And they make jolly good cooks!

Growling at the garden

2010-05-21T10:54:00.006+02:00

We put a lot of effort into adding composts, manures, sands and removing stones for the vegetable plot. The onions that haven't been stolen by the birds are struggling, the leeks too, no peas and beans have germinated, nor my sweetpeas and runner beans even though they are planted elsewhere, some of the potatoes and all 6 tomato plants have been caught by the recent frost, 2 lettuce plants struggle whilst 4 have died, other lettuce grown from seed are performing poorly, the radish appear to be growing, the beetroot has not germinated.

Now I'm really annoyed that the 20 seeds of 4 different varieties of tomatoes that I planted individually and tenderly in special thumb pots ( not sure of exact name) had all germinated and now only two are left. One night as they were happy sitting on the floor of the warm verandah something nipped off their cotyledons! Later I found the culprit - a caterpillar type grub had somehow invaded the special seed soil I invested in! Gggggggrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Anyway I'm off to buy a soil tester kit to see what's wrong. It's the worst year ever!

Day 8 Demolition

2010-05-21T09:58:00.009+02:00

It was a very good stroke of luck that we decided to have Le Sableuse delivered and collected for almost 100 euros in addition to the hire of the machine and the sand! Our little Clio with its small remorque would have been laughed out of town!

A French neighbour has already remarked to a friend that this machinery is "industrielle et pour les specialistes" but fortunately, my son knows all about sandblasters having had specialists remove 25 tons of rust and dirt from his steel vessel. He also is extremely strong. We would not recommend this for others but if you want a challenge then go ahead!

COMMENTARY OF IMPRESSIONS:

1.It is BIG.

2.It makes a lot of noise.

3.The very loud humming drone of the compressor with its rising tones sounded like a factory signal calling its workers to work in the morning, take lunch or go home at night.

4.The phwishshshsh of the sand being sucked into the tubes to be spattered against the beams.

5.The pop of the sand eater when it needed to digest more.

6.The trickling of the sand hitting the walls and glass panes of the doors before it fell to the floor.

7.It was a sight to see and we all needed to wear protective masks whilst on site.

8.The clouds of dust inside the house.

9.The men could not see what they were doing whilst wearing the protective headgear with breathing apparatus and protective clothing. Look at the stylish Captain Sensible.

10.The men needed to take the utmost care whilst standing on the scaffolding.

11.The dust billowed out from the dusty room, covering the roses climbing on the wall.

12.The silica sand on the skin started to softly tingle.

13.The dirty sand on the floor was like a beach.

When silence resumed we scooped up the sand into the empty sacks and any buckets we could find. "Oh I do like to be beside the seaside".

Several sweeps later the grit was beginning to disappear.

It was one days work but spread over a day and a half because the machinery was not delivered as promised for an 8 o'clock start plus another half a day to clean the house and courtyard.

325 kilos of clean sand blasted into dirty sand.

Now before finding a use for it... we must ensure no rain gets into the bags of sand or it will be impossible to move each one!

We certainly deserved the warm baths to wash away the grit and tuck into glasses of Saumur accompanied by duck with onions, apples and orange in a cognac sauce plus haricots verts beans.

The next day the job was completed and the machinery collected by one man! We had to help him push the compressor out of our garden and along the road where it was hoisted onto his lorry! Another job done and more work created. What is the meaning of life?

Western Whip Snake found dead in lane

2010-05-19T07:53:00.010+02:00

I took some photos of the snake when we discovered it one evening in the lane, but the next morning it had gone. Perhaps another animal had cleaned up the site and ate a feast for supper or breakfast.

It is a Western Whip Snake or Coulevre Vert et Jaune. I had thought it was a Smooth Snake but a 'blogging friend' with a wealth of knowledge about the natural environment has corrected me. She has recommended this website for the facts about these beautiful creatures.

The first Springtime of living in the wilds of Central France I opened our kitchen door to see and hear a HUGE snake scrambling back into the stone wall. It seemed to make a whipping sound. I was quite frightened and dashed to our neighbour Jean-Louis who identified it as a Coulevre, a Grass Snake. He told me not to worry - our cats would be safe! To this day, no one believes me, that it was more or less all one colour (I realise that 'greenish-greyish-yellowish' is not a clever description) and well over a metre long being as fat as a large orange. It seems that he was correct and possibly I might have exaggerated its fatness in that flash of a second, in fear and surprise but I know what I saw and heard was an unusual sighting even if they are common in France.

I know that not all snakes are poisonous but recognise that caution is completely necessary, yet, having only ever seen a few live snakes in the wild, I would hate to injure one.

One time, there was a viper basking in the sunshine on the grass on the side of a dyke in Suffolk. Passers-by told me to swish a stick in the long grass in front of me as I walked. On another occasion my friend's dog attacked a viper and was killed. She was naturally devastated because she could not get her Jack Russell to receive the antidote in time. Life went downhill for her after that. It was such a terrible tragedy. On another occasion, I held a snake at a wild-life park - the fashion was not to call it a zoo! As a teacher I tried to demonstrate to some afeared children that some snakes were a safe risk to hold if the zookeeper was giving permission and the snake had been well fed before our introduction. It was also about me setting aside my fear of snakes and trying to help the children face their own fears. I think it was a boa constrictor as it was very heavy when the animal keeper wrapped it across my shoulders. I like holding frogs and toads with their cold, smooth skin but the lively Western Whip Snake or Coulevre can stay in the long grasses and damp stone walls of France.

www.herpfrance.com

www.herpconstrust

www.francethisway.com

www.planetepassion.eu

Is this really my new house?

2010-05-17T08:05:00.017+02:00

This is the front of the house. It consists of two buildings - the original long house with central chimney / fireplace but now it has three small rooms and the barn conversion has a large living room, bedroom and bathroom. There are large French-brown gates which we can close on the outer world for privacy in the courtyard or open wide and to 'be on show' if we want! At the moment they are firmly closed whilst the demolition process takes place. I have discovered that the house decoration and barn conversion was made in 1985; the date under the removed wallpaper confirms this! The maçon also renovated the house next door but one with the same materials!

This is the back of the house. It was a barn. It is the building on the left. The neighbour's garden is behind it. The dishevelled atelier could re-incarnate into a verandah. The small building behind that is the boiler room and is like a cellar at the moment. In front is the fuel container enclosed by old house doors!!! The pointed building on the right is not mine, but to the right and out of the photos is a gate with a right of way to the street and some shed-type constructions. Do I have the inclination to keep chickens? No, not at the moment! A dog-leg shaped corner is taken out of the garden. There is a small barren field to the right and at the rear of the garden, behind the camera, is a breeze block wall dividing what once was the garden belonging to the next door but one neighbour. No one overlooks the garden excepting for the one neighbour who is absent at the moment.
I bought this house for several reasons but the carrot was that down the lane is what could become a very beautiful ancient-cum-modern small bijou residence. I have already visualised myself sitting in the front of the house reading my book, listening to the nightingale. There is an aura and gentle ambience there.

Stop dreaming girl, there is work to do before you can relax!

This big house is giving me some anxiety .. but my son is telling me to think more positive. He says it'll be ok and that I must tell myself I CAN make decisions and that I am NOT worried about this and that! There is a lot of work to do and already we have had the obligatory surprises that will probably consume the available funds! To begin with we are only updating the ground floor.

The demolition commenced! We removed a wall which separated a long thin bathroom from the large bedroom, removed the nasty shower cubicle and vanity ware. Why is it called that?

Then the chaps revealed the oak beamed ceiling continued from the living room next door. The same beams will be hidden in the bathroom to keep a lower ceiling.

The mountain of rubble, polystyrene, plasterboard, bedding materials and cardboard debris created in the garden from stuff from the attic, kitchen and elsewhere was removed before a photo shoot. It was too embarassing to show.

There is a lot of rubbish about! And we are creating more! No time to blog..... so posts are being written. put into draft to complete when I can!

The week at a glance

2010-05-16T10:41:00.004+02:00

It's been a roller-coaster of a week. What are we doing at our age?

I have owned this new old house for two weeks but during the first week I pretended it was not mine. THEN assistance arrived in the shape of strong arms and expertise. So....wake up SweetpeainFrance!

Whilst demolition of a wall and ceiling and the replacement of the same in different positions, and the sanding of walls, doors and windows have created dust and rubble, I have been stripping wallpaper, clearing out mountains of junk and dust from an attic, the kitchen and around the house, creating a pile for the dechetterie and bonfire, and supplying refreshments to the workers.

Also another novelty is that I am required to make decisions! This I have been not very good at for about 6 years and so am on a steep learning curve. It was bad enough trying to decide for 4 years on which house to buy. Possibly future decision making will be easier now that I have bought something! A fireplace was revealed on investigation of why a wall was damp... but as it has been ruined by a rendered 'yuk' coating of a substance that will not be removed, I am trying to decide whether to replace it with a reclaimed model, whilst taking note of my budget. When renovating a house in France, maybe in any country, it is all too easy to go over budget with one's dreams and excitements and "ideas above one's station" (as my mother always said) when the unexpected is revealed!

It's very strange to own a house after 6 years and to take responsibility.

It has also carved into our life, physical exercise waking up the unused tired muscles and creaking bones with a long disciplined working day. Poor Captain Sensible really does not need this challenge as he is older than me! But we only have a few weeks to make a big dent into what needs to be achieved.

The week has also prevented our leisure and social activities. The building trade is a dusty business and the plumbing is not connected at the new old house so we have to come home to soak in the bath. Already we have been unable to attend an apertif soirée and life has become what it used to be. That is, fall out of bed, rush to work, be active all day, rush home, cook meal, beaver away at domestic duties and fall into bed....late! Incredibly, I love it! I had really slowed down and now I feel I am speeding up again! I also seem to be getting a good night's sleep and not waking up worrying! That is oh so GOOD!

Shopping for building materials has also re-entered our lives combined with the frustration and waste of time that goes hand-in-hand with travelling, purchasing and transporting goods in central France!

When buying a house in Central France, make sure you have the Brico store nearby! I forgot about this on my list of criteria for house purchase!

I have come to write for my therapy and a rest. So back to it SweetpeainFrance.

Back to the paperwork, cooking, house cleaning, gardening, new old house renovation and practice my piano! Other activities are off the agenda!

Welcome to the Nightjar

2010-05-06T23:15:00.008+02:00

It was 5 years ago that our current guest stayed with us when we first heard the Nightjar and we haven't heard it since. However, tonight it arrived just after our guest did. How strange!

The weather is playing tricks on everyone as it alternates between Winter and Springtime.

The crickets have been singing on tonight's warm, balmy, still evening following the several days of bitter wind and temperatures requiring the donning of winter attire.

[About a week ago, it was almost Summer when 'Mary Manique', who is French but speaks excellent English having lived there for some time, laughed at my arrival at 'le cours de poterie' because she and I were wearing sandals without socks, whilst the French ladies were wearing shoes with socks! Never cast a clout until the May is out! Wintry weather has returned and although Hawthorn blossom (May blossom) is in flower, the month of May is of course unfinished. I deviate!]

When we first heard the weird gobbling sound of something over at the barn and saw it fly past our house, then, not knowing its name, we described the sound as a jarring, jerking, spooky sound ... and of course this description led us to identify the bird. It was August into September then and now being early May it is the time when the European Nightjar migrates from Africa. Wikipedia provides the photo above and tells me that the Nightjar has also been called "Flying toad." "Nighthawk" and "Fern-owl" from its habits as well as "Dorhawk" and "Moth-owl" from its food. Its peculiar nocturnal sound and silent ghostly flight have earned it the names of "Lich (corpse) Fowl", "Puckeridge"and "Goatsucker". I'm not sure which moth it was, but perhaps a kind of Hawk, Gipsy or Tiger Moth was fluttering by the verandah window trying to reach the light... it was possibly in danger of being eaten by the Nightjar! There are some heathery patches of woodland but quite far from here so perhaps they are nesting in the coppiced woodland areas.

Orchids in an Orchard

2010-05-04T23:00:00.011+02:00

First of all I must add a disclaimer..... I am merely interested in many things. I love nature and am fascinated by orchids but am a humble peasant when it comes to exact scientific knowledge.

I stand in awe of those who have expertise.

I felt very privileged to be in an orchard where the Early Spider Orchids (Ophrys Sphegodes) have appeared somewhere near us in France. Evidently they flower for only a few weeks at the end of April or at the beginning of May. I read on the internet that in England they are rare and the best sites are in Dorset. I stood tall against these tiny plants, some taller than others, between 50 and 120 mm in height. We had to tread carefully so as not to squash the little beauties. I can't quite understand why they are called Spider Orchids when to me they look like bees, but I suppose that in some ways the flower, which is brownish-purplish in colour could look like a large spider! When the petals are pink the orchid is a Bee orchid. It is the male bee that attempts to copulate with the bee-like flower that allows the pollination of this orchid in the orchard. In the centre of the flower there is a marking that looks like a letter H or an X. It was difficult to get this part in focus for the photographs.

Susan from Days on the Claise also had a Lady Orchid (Orchis purpurea) in flower. She, the orchid, posed much more happily for the photo shoot.

This rare orchid looks very different with lots of flowers on the single stem. In England they are more common in Kent. The dark sepals and upper petals make a shape like a lady's bonnet, below which the lobes look like two arms and then the dress of a crinoline! You need imagination! The colours are a dark, reddish-brown with pale pink lobes covered in crimson spots. Sometimes these flowers can be white.

You could try this site to discover where orchids in the Indre et Loire region of France may be in flower and read more at Loire Valley Nature where you can read about Orchids in this area from a very knowledgeable expert.

We have also confirmed that the orchid that we rescued from being chopped in its flowering period by the community verge cutter is an Early Purple Orchid (Orchis mascula).

It has dark spotted leaves with a lot of pinkish-purple flowers in a loose spike. Of course it is wrong to move orchids as they grow on specific terrain, but in our case we felt justified because every year our verges are trimmed for the annual AccA baltrap (clay-pigeon shooting) competition, and in this case the orchid has flowered every year after we rescued it instead of being cut down in its prime.

Orchids are fascinating plants. I remember one time going to a field where Suffolk Wildlife Trust had invited the public to view the rare orchids flowering in that particular year. It was a long time ago so I cannot remember the name of the orchids. In those days we had no camera capable of macro photography but the Orchids were numerous and beautiful and the weather was hot, hot, hot, unlike that of today, yesterday and tomorrow, when the Northerly winds blow strongly to remind us that Winter hath been and will come again and that Spring and Summer are but fleeting memories to lure us into optimism!

I can recommend this extensive website to discover more about Orchids in Great Britain... which is really not so far from France!

Sunday - hardly a rest day

2010-05-02T19:37:00.003+02:00

It seemed imperative to plant the baby leeks, tomato seeds, the last of the maincrop potatoes called Pompadour, some sprouting salads, and generally WEED and tidy the gravelled area of pots. Some pots have bulbs in them. Lots of pots needed to be emptied as whatever was in them was alive no more! We have been waiting for the rain but only a few showers, enough to prevent mowing the lawn, have arrived. Captain Sensible has had to water the crops from our well.

We'll be lucky if anything grows as the soil is parched dry! The weeds and grass grow whatever the weather!

The First Day of May - Labour and Leisure day

2010-05-01T21:50:00.009+02:00

In France it is the day when the Lily-of-the-Valley (Muguet) flower is given as a gift of the actual flower or symbolically as a card or photograph. In Pagan times Flora the Roman Goddess of flowers was celebrated. The Celts revered this day. Later the Maypole and the crowning of the Queen of the May was a traditional event for this first day of Summer. In Catholicism May is Mary's month. In France in1561 King Charles IX gave flowers for a good luck charm to the ladies of the court and thereafter every year the tradition continued. Since 1941 and the German occupation of France, the Vichy Government hoped to rally their workers and so a day of unemployment was offered. Six years later the French Liberation declared the day a paid workday. There are many countries in Europe that celebrate this important day but not always on the first of May. It also re-iterates the demonstrations of 1890 when workers wanted 8 hours sleep, 8 hours work, and 8 hours leisure in their day.

For our leisure we went to La Roche Posay "Les Medievales"... we were not "les gueux" on this occasion but enjoyed the other side of the fence as members of the public. Knowing the format we dashed ahead of the Italianate flag throwers and ensured we had a spot for The Assault and for The Archery Tournament. Our French friend François, the 13th century weaver, explained carefully about the weft and warp of his metier (craft).

I felt the Fear and did it anyway!

2010-04-30T13:27:00.010+02:00

I have had to climb the mountain a little bit and face a few monsters to try and overcome my fears.

The reason is because I have been searching for a house to buy for 5 years on and off and last year withdrew from two properties, one in UK and one in France, for good reason. I didn't dare withdraw on this one just because I was scared and it wasn't perfect!

Last year I made myself sick with worry and caused frustration to my family because they didn't understand me. Neither did I understand myself! I have tried writing about it but it seems so self-indulgent to share it here.

However, today I have signed an Acte de Vente for a French house. No, not a horse, not a swimming pool, BUT a house. I have bought a house. In fact I have bought one house with a courtyard and a garden on one plot of land and a garage / stable building with planning permission to convert and extend into a dwelling on another very small plot of land. It's more than I need and more than I can afford to renovate ... so how foolish is that???

What have I done? I have committed myself to a house that might make a home. You see, before today I didn't own any property... it had been sold in England 5 years ago! The last 5 years have been an anxious time, watching property prices rise , then fall, then start to rise again in some places, watching the credit crunch effects on money in the bank and oh being so worried in addition to not knowing what I want, what I was looking for and where I want it! There were so many options... too many choices.

This morning I looked around in despair at the buildings and the gardens, thinking about what I have committed myself and others to and worrying about all the work and responsibility ahead. However, when we start to tidy the mess that is there, then the project will become more clear!

Meanwhile Village de Vaux continues to be a haven of peace and tranquillity. No that is not quite true! There is the garden to maintain, seeds to plant and tend, boxes of belongings and photographs to sort that have been patiently waiting for 5 years or more, things to write, piano music to practise, amidst the daily chores of housekeeping and domestic management and so LIFE goes on!

I have a home already, with my partner ... but I wanted the 'security' of having my own bricks and mortar! Silly me!!!

You may be disappointed that SweetpeainFrance has only bought a house - nothing more exciting! If so, I apologise that your expectations were raised!

Here she is with the 4 vendors and the estate agent after the sale and purchase of the property. Here also is the atelier, which needs to be pulled down but in it's place could be a lovely verandah.

Here also is one view of the house in

Angles-sur-L'Anglin, un des plus beaux villages de France.

There is a website and further blog coming soon ... which will document the town and the house and our lives as "we walk along a Balade Anglois and enjoy a new and different life."

ZEROZONE

2010-04-30T00:09:00.006+02:00

In the last few days I have attempted to write from many different angles about what is going to happen today and I have attempted to describe the reasons, emotions and rationale behind the 30 day idea of a blogger COUNTDOWN. So, having expended enormous time and energy from a writer's point of view, I rejected the sentiments as inappropriate for the time being, rejected the postings as too personal, too emotional, too sensitive, too revealing. Then, more recently, I wrote something I felt happy with.

I was even sufficiently confident to post it to the "whole world waiting" at a few minutes after midnight. Perhaps, like even the most truly brilliant writers using the mysterious technology of computers, I just inadvertently wiped it! Oh woe!

So anyone too curious will have to wait for later in my day time hours for the result!

How annoying! For you? or for me?

COUNTDOWN: days expired. The event is today!

Amusement and Creativity found on a walk in Angles-sur-L'Anglin

2010-04-29T14:51:00.006+02:00

Maybe you shouldn't all get quite so excited about this COUNTDOWN!!!!

BUT ... I, me, myself, personally am beginning to get excited even though a little nervous of all the work that will be required.

Maybe it shouldn't be quite so mysterious .. but hey.. you're all guessing wildly, and you're all so curious, so that's fun!

Isn't this postbox hilarious! It's a pity it's not like one of the nodding donkey toys one could once upon a time obtain.

COUNTDOWN: 1 day to go!

All the beauty is as gentle as silence

2010-04-28T09:15:00.006+02:00

Fields await their crops. Mist floats from the lake. Sunshine beams brightly. Sheep graze safely. Church bells clang. It is 8 in the morning. The restaurant owner who lives opposite the church bell tower rallied against the early morning peal making such a fuss that the appointed hour was delayed! See what power important individuals have in their community.

Down the lane, nightingales sing incessantly, but to identify them in the hedgerow is nigh impossible, so private are they. Cuckoos and other birds challenge the chorale performance. Frogs croak, herons quark, dogs bay, cockerels celebrate the day, tractors churn in distant fields and far in the sky, the blue is criss-crossed with flight paths of planes transporting people to their destinations. We note there is more air traffic than usual and ponder on people who live near airports and how the sound levels they normally endure ceased when the Icelandic volcano ash cloud descended over Europe to halt all air traffic. Inhabitants had a brief, spooky respite as they marvelled at the sounds of bird song and bees humming in an ostensibly silent world but now subjected again to the deafening onslaught of giants in the sky how many of them are wondering whether they could escape to the tranquillity that is here? Sometimes our silences are deafening and one can become irritated by the sound of dogs barking at the kennels!

Returning home we find the swallows wheeling and chattering, swooping and streaming, chasing each other around the lilac bush, speeding along the roof ridge, near the smoke from the chimney, to follow the gentle downward curve of the roof as they dive into the passage at the front of the verandah. We’ve never experienced this before! They usually stay by the barns, soaring through the skies, then twitter on telegraph wires.

One can stand in the midst of a ploughed field and imagine times past and times to come and always in the middle of this field it was and will be the same and that there was and is no one else on earth! Stop still and listen . . . . . . . . one can hear humanity amidst the natural environment. All the beauty is as gentle as silence.

COUNTDOWN: 2 days

The colours of the French countryside at the end of April

2010-04-27T08:44:00.006+02:00

Bees love mustard seed rape for the nectar which makes a peppery flavoured honey, often blended with less stongly flavoured honeys or used in the bakery trade. I also love the smell and am transported to heaven by the sight and smell of the fields .... I could inhale the aroma all day long just to be inspired. I lament that we are surrounded by sheep, wheat, maize or sometimes sunflowers. Oh, that I should lament with such joys around us!

However, the translation between English and French can be a little muddied or muddled... I think it's "les faux mots". So when discussing this topic with the French I have had to use the verb "aspirer"... they were not happy with "inhaler". I aspire to being fluent in the French language but know that my "langue" (tongue) will always be "bancale". But I won't "donne sa langue au chat" meaning I won't give up or I won't speak like a cat! You see how difficult it is to learn the French language.

To breathe in = aspirer

To aspire to = aspirer

Aspirer = to breathe in, to inhale, to aspire, to suck up in a straw, to draw up,

To breathe in = inhaler

To inhale = inhaler

To breathe in = inspirer

Inspirer = to breathe in and to inspire

S'inspirer = to be inspired by

To inspire = inspirer

The mustard seed rape is a member of the Brassica family and is related to the turnip. Voila - one learns something everyday!

Countdown: 3 days

Emma Thompson the actress - I admire her talents

2010-04-25T22:55:00.010+02:00

and her beautiful, distinctive voice.

The lovely Emma Thompson has always fascinated me in her acting roles and no less so than coming by chance upon Desert Island discs a few weeks ago when I listened again and again. She says she is slowing down. How come? At the age of 50 she has a long way to go yet! She has achieved so very much more than me, and oh so much more perfection than ever I could ever have achieved, so how can I feel as if I am slowing down? I need to run a marathon to catch up!

It was wonderful to listen to a recording of her father singing for the Magic Roundabout which I remember so fondly. As soon as the music started I was ready to listen and watch.

She referred to a quote from John Ruskin.

"Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness." -John Ruskin (1819–1900)

I would like to reduce my acquired belongings ... but here I am about to acquire something that will cause me responsibility. Oh dear … more anxiety in my life. I am like Florence and need to dust and clear. Certainly there will be a lot of that to do in the near future.

COUNTDOWN: 4 days (I wrote this posting on Sunday and posted it on Monday)

Leftovers for Lunch

2010-04-25T22:39:00.004+02:00

This was a recent lunch when we thought we had little in the cupboard! I seem to remember we had no eggs, but some Fromage Frais scattered with Herbes de Provence, some uncooked pastry, a can of red beans, an onion, a little mayonnaise and part of a lettuce. There is a great sense of pleasure in not having to go shopping for yet again just one more day!

COUNTDOWN: 5 days: perhaps a little excitement is creeping in.

Spring flowers in Angles-sur-l'Anglin

2010-04-25T21:14:00.010+02:00

We've had a splendid 13km afternoon trek with our French walking group "Les Sentiers Vagabonds" exploring the chemins of Angles-sur-L'Anglin to the south side of the river. I found so many splendid spring flowers.
The Purple Toothwort (Lathraea clandestina) is a parasite growing on the roots of alder, poplar and willow trees. I have only ever seen this plant in Angles-sur- L'Anglin!

Then there were numerous blankets of Greater Stitchwort. With a very pretty white flower it is a kind of chickweed and can be eaten in salads though I haven't tried it.

However, I have eaten Wild Garlic before now and it makes a very tasty substitute in a salad. I can't believe that I have found this in France.

There were just a few patches of Wood Anemone, the name of which I have had to identify as I did not know this wild flower at all. Evidently it is poisonous and is a member of the Buttercup family. Wood Anemones in meadows and hedgebanks indicate the site of a vanished woodland. This could well be true although there was woodland nearby but according to folklore, this flower is a woodland ghost.

Lots of Lesser Celandine, also a member of the Buttercup family, is also poisonous and has been known to kill cattle if eaten by them, but as a herb it has been used to treat piles!!

If I have any of my facts incorrect then please let me know.

COUNTDOWN: 5 days: I am getting more confident.

The sound of frogs croaking fills the air

2010-04-24T22:39:00.006+02:00

A few days ago, after we had tried to see the elusive nightingale near the ornithological lake we sat eating our ice-creams by the side of the pond at the Maison du Parc en Brenne. Whilst we sat motionless, we watched the frogs, also motionless, until the ribbet-ribbet resulted in the little balloons at the side of their heads. They were singing their 'love serenade' pushing the air through their larynx. The elastic membranes (vocal sacs) distend so that the sound is amplified. They were so sweet. There were some very pretty white flowers near the edge of the water ... maybe the 'Cuckoo flower' ... I know it is not 'le coucou' (the cowslip in French) This year the cowslips have been more magnificent than I have ever seen. Oh, to be nearer the Brenne!

COUNTDOWN: 6 days - Already anxious about a number of things!

St George - a Saint for England and for many other countries

2010-04-23T17:17:00.009+02:00

William Shakespeare was born on this day, April 23. In his play, Henry V, the king rallies his troops with a battle cry, "Upon this charge, cry God for England, Harry and Saint George!" William was not canonised but George was and I love the fact that he is the Patron Saint of many countries. In the Middle East Christians ask for his help to get rid of demons, in some countries he is the guardian of animals and in some parts of Spain this day is celebrated with feasts and presents. Why not? St George is also associated with fertility and his Saints day is said to mark the beginning of summer, though today is quite overcast but warming as the day goes on.

But here is a different kind of dragon - it is my first attempt at making a lizard at my pottery lessons. I took this photograph before the 2nd glazing process, but I think I might reglaze the lizard a better green as the glaze is much darker than I intended and although I wanted it to be camouflaged I now think I would prefer it to be highlighted. It will hang on the wall of the verandah.

COUNTDOWN: 7 days

Jolie Pretty Parc Éolien at Saint Genou

2010-04-22T22:17:00.008+02:00

A short while ago on a not very windy day, we went with our villagers to look at the Parc Éolien at Saint Genou amidst cereal fields, so that we could experience the sound impact on the environment. This wind farm was one of the first constructed in the department of Indre, 36, in the Centre region of France. The young men employed by Volkswind were extremely knowledgeable and able to answer questions in great detail. The 6 éoliennes give 25 millions kWh per year and on average they give electricity to 11ooo people.for heating and lighting.

I am not against wind turbines. I think they are quite beautiful, making less impact on the environment in terms of sound than cars, planes or trains. I'd rather live near a wind farm than an auto route! However, they are expensive to build Saint Genou cost 17 million euros) and 15 years seems to be a projected lifespan. It is a cleaner way to generate electricity than nuclear power, although they are expensive to build and the land has to be strengthened to support them. I understand that there may be other technologies that could be more efficient in producing electricity. Nevertheless, it could take some months or years before the go-ahead is approved for the Parc Éolien at Leigné-les-Bois, not far from where we live.

Most of those who came were pro the wind farm being proposed in our commune. Most of those who are against the idea spoke angrily and vociferously at the public meeting some weeks ago but didn't come to learn more from standing under these immense structures, 100 metres tall and 80m in diameter.

They missed out on an unexpected fine lunch organised by the extremely hospitable company of Volkswind. First a large mixed salad with crabsticks (not keen on those) and smoked salmon. Everyone had an enormous grilled pork chop (I had beef) served with frites and ratatouille (I could eat platefuls) followed by pancakes with a chocolate sauce!

There was plenty of wine and water on the long dining table. No fromage but coffee or tea was enjoyed before the coach party headed home. I would recommend the grill bar just outside Saint Genou where the two proprietors cooked and served efficiently and speedily!

Thankyou to Volkswind and the Maire of Leigne-les-Bois for organising this event. I learned a lot and continue to support the proposals.

COUNTDOWN: 8 days

Messing About on Wendy Ann 2

2010-04-20T16:27:00.010+02:00

I'm very proud of my son and I read in his blog that he's back to recycling reclamation material into usable products for the internal renovations of his tug, the lovely Wendy Ann 2. A little ditty came into my head, the lyrics of which are replicated here, with thanks to the instant encyclopaedia of the world. If you search on the www you can singalong with a youtubevideo whilst reading this blog posting!

MESSING ABOUT ON THE RIVER by Tony Hatch / Les Reed, sung by Josh MacRae - 1962

When the weather is fine then you know it's a sign
For messing about on the river.
If you take my advice there's nothing so nice
As messing about on the river.
There are long boats and short boats and all kinds of craft,
And cruisers and keel boats and some with no draught.
So take off your coat and hop in a boat
Go messing about on the river.

There are boats made from kits that reach you in bits
For messing about on the river.
Or you might want to skull in a glass-fibred hull.
Just messing about on the river.
There are tillers and rudders and anchors and cleats,
And ropes that are sometimes referred to as sheets.
With the wind in your face there's no finer place,
Than messing about on the river.

There are skippers and mates and rowing club eights
Just messing about on the river.
There are pontoons and trots and all sorts of knots
For messing about on the river.
With inboards and outboards and dinghies you sail.
The first thing you learn is the right way to bail.
In a one-seat canoe you're the skipper and crew,
Just messing about on the river.

There are bridges and locks and moorings and docks
When messing about on the river.
There's a whirlpool and weir that you mustn't go near
When messing about on the river.
There are backwater places all hidden from view,
And quaint little islands just awaiting for you.
So I'll leave you right now to cast off your bow,

Go messing about on the river.

Great song for the Spring time!

I'm off now to mess about in the vegetable plot!

COUNTDOWN: 10 days

Offline and out of touch for a few days

2010-04-14T17:20:00.002+02:00

I will not be posting for a few days in April. Circumstances dictate and indicate that I must try and do without the computer and internet and do other things in my life instead. Please note there will be withdrawal symptoms as I readjust to a life without the laptop. I don't think a glass of wine will fix it.
Hopefully I will be able to resume connection before the end of the counting days expire to inform anyone who happens to be reading what I am waiting for. What could it be?
COUNTDOWN: 16 days

Not long now

2010-04-13T16:55:00.001+02:00

COUNTDOWN:18 days

Tales of Remboursements

2010-04-12T16:10:00.004+02:00

TASK ONE:

After much agonising and continual repair of our 6 year old Briggs and Stratton motored lawnmower we have succumbed to spending money on a replacement, despite the fact that we now think our old one can be repaired once Captain Sensible has the time to dismantle and clean the carburettor. We acquired our first petrol mower from the local car mechanic on recommendation of our neighbour who we employed to cut our lawn and meadow when we were non-resident. Six years ago we were ignorant about garden machines and the repair costs that could be incurred in France – we just said about how much we wanted to pay and that’s what we got. It once had to be repaired by the car mechanic, the cost of which was about half the value of the mower as new. Since then, Captain Sensible has earned 10/10 plus a gold star for his determination to learn about lawnmower mechanics, so saving us professional repair costs!

Nevertheless, it has been a good machine and if it can be repaired, then all to the good especially as Captain Sensible is cutting the meadow grass between his willow and poplar trees until they become established. However, if it was October we could cope but now it’s April, the grass is growing too fast! We didn’t wish to go a distance to the major towns in case the new lawnmower needed future repair. So, having made our research, investigating value for money (our budget got extended) and comparing machines, we decided to buy a Honda motored mower at Auchan. That was Thursday 7th April. The grass dried out sufficiently for Friday and the lawn was cut with celebratory cheer, we had it under control! On Saturday, it was used again. When there was a knocking sound from the mower, we telephoned Auchan who advised us to return it for repair.

Today at 9h, Mr Apres-Vente, malcontent and miserable, was quite definite that the mower had to be sent away to be investigated and repaired. “Madame, Monsieur, il doit aller être réparé.” We were polite but insistent that we should have an exchange or a refund. Then Captain Sensible explained that our French neighbour insists we must have an exchange or refund and that we would like to see the Manager……at which point there seemed to be a change in Mr Apres-Vente and his attitude! Voila ... we could have what we wanted. Mais, malheureusement, there was only the display model left…we agreed to have it and when we asked for a reduction we gained 30 euros! Magnificent! We wheeled it out! All done in less than an hour!

TASK TWO:

We discovered that we did not have Civil Responsibility on our House Insurance. As this is obligatory, it appears to have been an error on the part of our insurance company that it was not included, although we did inform them when we became permanent residents 5 years ago! After making a low-voiced enquiry to senior personnel, the ‘very-nice-man-behind-the-desk’ offered us an immediate reduction of 25 euros on our house insurance and this includes the addition of civil responsibility insurance. Transaction agreed … he hurried to his French lunch.

TASK THREE:

In between the two tasks, we had a wonderful hot choc and coffee in an ignominous bar in downtown Chatellerault. Captain Sensible had been here before and thinks it hasn’t been decorated since the Gestapo were in occupation. The old tables were most inviting. Mother had her slippers on… Father sadly suffering from senile dementia stared at us… but we were served graciously and most politely.

One of the marvellous things about today was that everyone we spoke to (apart from Mr Apres-Vente), smiled and was most polite and welcoming. Oh... and the remboursements!

"Oh to be in France" .................. reminds me of Robert Browning's Poem

HOME THOUGHTS FROM ABROAD

Oh, to be in England
Now that April 's there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England—now!

And after April, when May follows,
And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!
Hark, where my blossom'd pear-tree in the hedge
Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
Blossoms and dewdrops—at the bent spray's edge—
That 's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture!
And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,
All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
The buttercups, the little children's dower
—Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!

COUNTDOWN: 18 days

An evening of French style Cabaret

2010-04-11T17:49:00.012+02:00

Last night the village presented a cabarét soirée. Unfortunately only about 50 villagers attended the excellent concert of acoustic comedy and chanson Française from Kass Muzet with piano accordion, double bass and percussion. The three musicians were accomplished performers and adept at relaxing the audience. We knew some of the tunes and I was surprised that I could translate some words though not understand the French verbal humour, although some humour needs no words at all. In fact sometimes we were laughing when the French weren't. Oh calamity... the camera needs the battery recharged so this photo was taken by Claude.

The singers had marvellous voices for singing and speaking but sometimes dialogue between them was lost because they did not project their voices. Perhaps in street theatre their voices carry better. The one in blue reminds me of when I stood on stage with a short skirt and a large accordion!

At the end of the evening when eau de vie with pamplemousse could be purchased at the bar we exited to Winter and a clear sky with the star constellations clearly visible. Only in France.

COUNTDOWN: 19 days

Hyla Arborea-European Tree Frog

2010-04-10T09:29:00.009+02:00

10-04-2010 All photographs are the property of Captain Sensible and should you wish to use them then please contact us through this blog site.

This amazing little amphibian surprised me when I was clearing collected rainwater in a bucket to water plants in pots. I gathered him up with two cupped hands one above and one below, tapped with my elbow on the kitchen window to Captain Sensible who was preparing the evening meal and excitedly called him to come quickly with his camera. At first I think he was thinking of his stomach but soon he was prostrate on the ground marvelling at the creature who seemed very pleased to perform for the photo shoot!

I'm not sure if this one is male or female but it lives in our lilac trees. I have been listening to it and its friends for a few weeks especially on the warmer evenings. One year we found one living in the spout of an old metal watering can and took a pre-digital photo. They have remarkable pads on their feet so that they can climb trees. They eat insects and lay their eggs in damp vegetation and then they metamorphose like other frogs. If you would like to learn more then go to this website which is very informative.

They appear to be called RAINETTES in France ... but perhaps this is because they often croak when the rain is about to arrive! I see that they have been introduced into England.

For other people's text and photographs go HERE and HERE and HERE

COUNTDOWN: 20 days

It's good to dig and mow

2010-04-09T10:06:00.008+02:00

Thinking of the crops that we will sow, plant, reap and eat makes digging and weeding more satisfying! It makes back pain bearable! In addition to half the potager dug and weeded a few days ago, two smaller plots, plus beds either side of a stone wall are ready for seeds or plants.

A new lawnmower doesn't have to be repaired every so many minutes and within no time the lawn has been tamed to make us THINK we have the garden under control. Looking around one thinks about all the other jobs in the garden to be achieved.

But bliss is to sit beneath the blossoming plum trees imbibing a glass of beer whilst the evening sun's rays set in the west!

COUNTDOWN:21 days

22 days to go

2010-04-08T21:12:00.001+02:00

COUNTDOWN: 22 days

The temperature has plummeted

2010-04-07T16:36:00.007+02:00

Spring came and went for the second time! It's 22h and the sun has not beamed as the cloud and rain have masked its smile .. the temperature struggles at 13 degrees C and is apparently warmer now than earlier in the daytime, so don't get envious if you think we are warm! But go outside now and we can hear the frogs croaking. Earlier the cuckoo was still calling in the distance.

COUNTDOWN: 23 days

Taming the garden and chaos of Life

2010-04-06T21:19:00.008+02:00

Aujourd'hui .... there has been plenty to do including

shopping for hosepipes and food,

seeing friends and their children,

afternoon nap in hammock,

digging and weeding the potager plus the raspberry plants (one out of 5 has survived),

planting lettuce plants that were desperate to see soil (they are now under the polytunnel),

moving the sheep from one field to another as 'un petit service',

moving cardboxes and debris of hedge cuttings and fallen trees to the bonfire,

lighting the first very large bonfire since Autumn,

dining in the evening on a salad of vegetables and chicken with raisins, mayonnaise and lemon in the warmth of the setting sun with the reward of some red wine.

As our posteriors were warmed by the embers of the fire, two bats ( the first we have witnessed this year) zoomed by.

We heard one or more cuckoos calling more strongly, a wood pecker, frogs by the lake, blackbirds in the woodland, other unidentified birds, chickens and cockerels, and very annoyingly the dogs at the dog kennels. We endured it last year having complained the previous year and now it is time to complain again. Not even the dogs in the village bark incessantly.

Then of course there is the growing list of things to do and that MUST be done and must be prioritised urgency is the essence. What is the meaning of life? Today it has been to tame the garden! PS It is 21h30 and 20 degrees Celsius outside.

COUNTDOWN: 24 days

Decorations for a Simnel Cake

2010-04-05T15:56:00.006+02:00

Tristement, there are no visitors to enjoy my traditional making of a Simnel Cake. Never mind, just for fun I experimented with a choice of decoration! Apart from the sugared eggs in the basket which Captain Sensible will gobble if I don't monitor consumption to ensure there are some for me, I shall store the cake so that it matures! My son is coming soon and evidently he likes marzipan and the only fruit cake he likes is with the marzipan centre. When I serve it I shall find a beautiful ribbon to go around the edge.

I rather like the idea of using natural violets or pansies... and in future I'll not bother with Cadbury's products ... really I should not have bought them this year. I understand that they are moving their factory out of UK! However, there is something rather nice about the sugared coated eggs ... the creme eggs will be a no-no ... French chocolate is better!

PS The cuckoo has returned and the temperature is rising significantly. Yesterday and today heralded the digging and weeding of half of the potager; the edges are looking trim, and the soil is beginning to dry out. It is a bit late but we pruned the vine. More tussocky lawn was cut once the mower was repaired. The back is getting used to travail!

PPS Why did the cuckoo stop singing when the weather was so inclement? I hope he did not have to go back to Africa!

COUNTDOWN: 25 days

Angles sur l'Anglin Brocante

2010-04-04T22:06:00.013+02:00

We did not arrive as early as we would have liked to and just missed the purchase of garden furniture, but we did buy a pretty though not perfect mirror, an interesting embroidery of maybe a wedding procession possibly from Alsace, and some boots for my granddaughter. We also saw a house martin or swallow emerge from an open lucarne in the haute ville.

Reward: French chocolate eggs

Our Picnic was made ...... Saffron rolls stuffed with cheese and Serrano ham with a flask of tea or coffee by the river, followed by an afternoon snooze in the warmth of the sunshine, spotted by rain drops. Ducks for company, literally eating out of Captain Sensible's hand.

Reward: Cadburys ( oh no... ) Creme eggs

Home again to tackle the garden which we have avoided on account of the weather... Some of the long tussocky lawn manhandled by the lawnmower has received the first cut ... and part of the potager to be planted with seed potatoes has been weeded. Our neighbour says to wait 10 days for the soil to dry out and warm up!

Reward: a glass of Amontillado and a long hot bath for back treatment!

COUNTDOWN: 26 days