On a spectacularly wet evening, we set off with
Shirley and Mark to join the throngs at St Marie du Mont for a night of Baroque
with harpsichord and violin. These two wonderfully talented musicians played
for a full hour and a half for our pleasure in an inspiring church atmosphere, taking
time to introduce the music and explain the instruments. There is a government ploy to make sure all French
people can have access to the classics and a free concert is just the
ticket. Sadly, and as usual in France, the
advertising was poor and there were only a small core of interested people there but we happened to bump into
our friend Ann and my friend Veronique and other expats who have a musical interest.
But, all the better for me, as the background hum of people was at a minimum
and I was able to tune in to the music with hardly having to squeeze my face
into a, can’t hear you expression….so that was good for me and we enjoyed
the experience.
Mike and I had a bit of a silly day at the beginning of the week and thought we
might like to buy a small strip of ‘terrain de loisir’, which roughly translated means, a bit of land you
can only use to have your holiday on .
In the past it has been an important part of
the French culture to own a strip of land by the sea so that you can take off
for the whole of August with your caravan using well water and dry toilettes and
have this idyllic wild and earth grounding holiday to remind you of life’s few
requirements to have a good time. But it
did not take long for us to realize that this, oh so French culture is dead in
the water. We were escorted around 4
sites by a fresh faced enthusiastic estate agent who had to admit to us that
the French no longer want these wild holiday destination and we only saw
derelict strips of land and the access to the beaches difficult through lack of
use. We realized very quickly that what we wanted now is what the French have cottoned
onto and we have been financially squeezed out of the market but we were happy
we had a look and now understand why there are so many ‘terrain de loisir’ on
the Bon Coin. A whole generation of French families are now trying to get the best
price for the old wild style site so they can afford the all singing, electric
and water with wi fi sites you find in
the beach resorts that are now setting up throughout our local bits of sea
side
And what better way to get over a project fallen
flat on its face, get some friends round for aperitifs in the garden and supper
in the kitchen and a jolly fine time we had at that
Some weeks ago we were having lunch with
Sarah and Peter and did the usual stroll around the garden to discuss progress
and changes. Sarah mentioned that she so needed to get rid of these tree trunks
so I bit her hand off up to her shoulder blades and said …..we’ll have them… Mike looked a little confused but I just said……stumpery…..and
he fully understood and we were making plans to get the trailer over there to
clear their garden and create another garden in our garden. So we did lunch
again and the chaps loaded up the trunks and I am so very excited to have
another garden in planning. As we were
chatting over lunch Peter asked if we might like his old abri all fancy metal
work and round shapes and I said YES we
are now building a stumpery with an ornate metal work abri in the middle, what
fun.
HOSS came with us to Sarah’s and we chatted
about his difficult molt this year and how it is a problem as I never seem to
get to the end of it and with our up and coming camper trip I was dreading the
hairs in our confined space and Sarah jumped up out of her seat disappeared
into her arriere cuisine and came out with this amazing gadget. She scraped it
across HOSS’s back and we were gob smacked at the amount of hair it pulled
away. HOSS did not bat an eye lid so she offered the loan and when I got home I
filled our drive with dog hairs that will now not end up in the carpet under
the furniture and in every nook and cranny of the house. The even better thing is that HOSS is not
phased and I have been scraping away a few minutes at a time and he just walks
off when he has had enough but the difference is staggering and he is looking
very dapper and sleek with no fuzzy clumps that made him look an old dull
doggie….
We are
blessed once again with a great apple crop and we are already starting the big
harvest. I made a English Brambly Normandy tart for our supper guests and I started my
epic juicing program as I have just now
used the last of the apple juice I made and froze last year. We had a very strong
wind whizz through the garden so harvesting was easy….just rake ‘em up…..
And lastly, after all the wall to wall blue
sky this year I find a dark sky with the sun on the trees fascinating a quite beautiful….and
then it rained and I hit the ground running for shelter…..ohh dear
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