puts a great big smile on your face, every time…..

bog 9 March

 

 

 

I am very excited to be starting the car boot season with a focus because I am collecting handmade tapestry pieces that mean nothing to their owners anymore.  These lovely hand stitched pictures take forever to make and I know that because I am coming to the end of my own that Mim bought me and I realise the time and effort taken..  I saw this one on Sunday and walked past it twice but knew I just had to ask combien ??….the little French lady who I hoped had stitched it said with a shrug, cinq Euro, so  I shrugged back, will you take three and she said mais oui, so I walked away feeling very content

 

 

And this is what I do with all this wonderful handmade magic….I make cushions and I love every one of them, Mike is just as interested and keeps an eye out, we are browsing the depot vends one day and he saw a very wide framed tapestry and suggested I could cut it in half and I have made a matching pair.  I am now waiting for a rainy day as I have five cushions to make and I am looking forward to setting up my little cottage industry just for me…..

 

 

 

 

 

Mike went for his bit of treatment for his stiff neck and headaches and we were quite surprised when a prescription came through the post from the clinic. We went to the pharmacy and came out with a complete kit including the rubber gloves injections and swabs.  Mike suggested we could bypass the clinic and do a bit of DIY but I just said NO…seriously NO. We turned up dutifully at the clinic in Coutance kit in hand and were in and out in less than an hour. Mike had the treatment lying   in a scanner and we have a lovely set of pictures of the procedure.  Mike  can’t wait for our next dinner party where he can get his pictures out and discuss the procedure with our  guests….I don’t think so….

 

 

The allotment is getting an overhaul after 2 years of neglect.   I have managed to grow veg on this difficult area we call the  veg patch but the weeds takeover and chaos developes and I have become  over whelmed  and  swore never to grow another veg if mike did not help me . A few years ago we halved the grow area to help me out and now mike has come up with a cunning plan to build raised beds so that the weeds can be given the short sharp shock about leaving my veg alone but more importantly we can clearly see what is grow land, what is cut land, and what is  the sit down and have a glass of wine land

 

So there you have it, one mould good for 8 beds set in place filled with concrete and a day later a raised bed…..simples

 

The row of stones on the gate represent the amount of barrow loads of concrete we needed to fill one bed and as they started to mount up we started to wonder if we had not bitten off more than we could chew but as the job came together and the plan started to progress we decided it was within our capabilities and 14 barrows, 2.5 bags of cement and 70 shovels of sand and gravel later we had our first bed complete and ready to strike in two days’ time.  The next problem is where to find the soil to fill 7 raised beds but we have mounds of waist soil  that I have been trying to plant manage and now I can just un mound them and get down to normal and average gardening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally we got Beryl sorted. We found a man selling a set of old alloy wheels and tyres at the right price on the bon coin and we can now finally drop the top and get out in the good weather, so we put our sunnies, jumpers, scarves and gloves on and set off to the sea side for a little blatt in the fresh bright Spring sunshine …..Does you good and just puts a great big smile on your face, every time…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

both stall holders did well today.

blog 8 March

 

 

 

It is totally shocking when you walk past a calendar one day and the very next day it is a month later, Georgina treated us to this fantastic calendar with our Canadian twins looking in on our kitchen and putting a smile on our faces every time we pass…..except on the day you realise that a whole 30 days has past and you're onto the next picture.  You can see that despite this being the quiet time we have things going on and as age catches up it is sooooo important that the event is logged…..or forgotten.

 

 

 

It is Sunday and we are really pleased that the vide grenier season is slowly getting under way. Today we took a trip out to Torigny sur vire. Torigny is a bit of a trek for a boot sale but Mike and I have our best discussions and decision making moments in the car, probably from the days when we each of us drove for miles in our working lives making decisions and running our businesses on the go, and to this day, we feel comfortable putting the world to rights dashing off, somewhere.  I have been practicing my vide grenier NO NO NO with Mike, but today I failed with all guns blazing. Here he is laden with remote controlled helicopters and stuff, and then he was looking at an ancient sit on scooter and I just shock my head and said NO, but I needed to capture the moment as I feel sure he might have shown keen interest had I not put my foot down. Mike has a lifelong need to own a violin but has no idea how to play, and even today, he saw his heart’s desire and had to ask how much? …..and I said…..how much….enough said

 

I wish my blog   could give you the sound that was coming out of this old gramophone. To make people stop and look, this stall holder was playing old French traditional Eiffel Tower music, the sort that just says France and I could not resist a picture just to remind me of how lovely it was.  I overheard the stall holder on the other side of the ally say how great the atmosphere was today and he was selling shabby chic French brick a brac and I  for one wanted to get stuck in and take an old French trinket home with me and then Mike bend over me and whispered in my ear….NO …. But  I do hope both stall holders did well today.