so role on wood fire expert, and role on Summer

blog 7 February

It is quite plain to see by the congestion in the court yard that Mike and I have too many vehicles for our own good without a mention of the soft top in the garage and the motor bike and tractors and mowers and I need not go on.  Yesterday morning we had a board meeting over breakfast to discuss the madness of being just us two and having so much transportation at our disposal, so we decided the Mondeo should go.  She failed her MOT for a few little bits but it is time for a change of Cam Belt and tyres and a silencer and bla dee bla dee bla. I stole the words from other French advertisers selling their cars and launched our sales pitch then sat back for about 15 minutes and the phone rang, so, Yesterday afternoon I had one guy coming the next day, another saying cancel him I’ll come now, 5 e-mails and 3 messages on the answer phone so we knew we were going to sell. The man came from Caen via the moon and called to say he was lost I asked him what he could see so I might try to figure out where he was and he said there is a farm some houses with red tiled roofs, there is a fence and sheep in the field.  I needed to be pleasant but wanted to shout…. doh, this is the country and you are describing every corner of Normandy but we got there the end  and  an hour later he arrived. He kicked the tyres started the car several times then made us an offer we had to  refuse but met  him half way .  He paid and we locked the gate as he left giving ourselves a nice tall high five.

 

 

 

 

 

I sometimes feel that Mike and I start a project just because we like having Lorries on the drive making deliveries with the promise of a new beginning. Mike loves the ordering of material and the planning and this is no exception.  We popped into Big Mat, a real workman’s DIY store with the thought of pricing up our next build but ended up making the order as we were there and in the mood. We have decided that I want raised beds in the allotment so we can keep the area in control of weed and pestilent  and I  want mike to see the garden as a hobby and not a chore so we came up with a plan to make concrete boxes and create the Monty Don of all raised bed allotments. 

 

 

This is the wood to make the moulds and as soon as mike has had his treatment for his headache and that happens next Thursday then we will begin. Through March and April we will create a concrete box every three days and that way within a month the job should be done…..well that is the theory and the delivery is the starting point.

 

HOSS is very relaxed and happy to be just him and is here sat in front of the switched off fire , I seriously struggle with this black cold hole in my kitchen so I light candles inside and it just takes the edge off the chilled anxiety of not having this  cosy focal point doing it’s job.  I had my new boss come visit today and she kept her coat on and mentioned that she was looking forward to going back to her nice warm fire ....

so role on wood fire expert, and role on Summer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

in our camper with HOSS just because we can......

blog 6 February

Mike started to feel better with a diagnosis of arthritis in the neck and knowing is half the problem solved so I talked him into letting me light a fire again as it makes me feel so much more relaxed, and happy, and for a few days all went well.  I thought we had cracked it and then on the fourth day we both came down with blinding headaches and were both very sleepy.  We have decided to shut the fire down again and have arranged for a wood burner expert to come in and look at our installation as Mike is now convinced we are being poisoned by carbon monoxide leaking in from the chimney. I will ke­­­ep you informed as I feel an epic in the making

We had another challenge to face this week and went to the private hospital in Caen for a consultation with a neurological surgeon our GP had referred Mike to. We arrived at this very shiny and muffled marble monument of a building with more open space and running water than Versailles and as we took the middle of the atrium bottle on a stick lift to the consulting room level I wondered just what we were letting ourselves in for. Our white haired consultant was very pleasant and although he laughed us back out of the office saying there is nothing wrong that a good massage couldn’t put right his gold dollar bed manner made him take the time to explain why Mike was OK but why he has headache, and was totally bemused as to why Mike had put up with it since 2009.  Mike is now referred  to a neurologist to try a cortisone treatment and then 6 weeks of massage and physio and as we had been bothering our GP for the past 5 years the consultant suggested that we need not go back to the GP and stick with a specialist and get it sorted. We came away believing we had been in the company of a medical god and then his secretary wrapped the paperwork up and took payment from as ordinarily as buying a baguette ...costing a cool 90 Euro …..well worth every penny…….

Our faithful van did it again when in a fit of pique with the weather and Mike feeling so rubbish we went to Cherbourg looking to buy a new wood burner and a therapeutic walk around Brico Depot the best DIY store in the area. We did not find a fire or any DIY to make us drawl so before going off to find a sandwich for a day out picnic we popped into one of  our most favourite depot vents and found this most fab sofa  for 120 Euro. It was 10 minutes to midday and when I asked the staff if we could get it off the staging to give it a try I could sense the panic of a transaction so near to lunch time but then relief when Mike sat in the bigger than normal chair and looked so right and comfortable I just said hooorah  in a French accent and it was out and in the van and paid for before lunch could be disrupted.

 

I have been a good recycler this week again and have continued to make wood chippings from  our winter pruning. I love the smell of fresh wood and the motion of chipping wood, it is noisy and I wear my ear plugs to protect myself so I am in a little bubble of comfort and neither Mike or HOSS can get in it…. It’s all mind.

 

 
 
What a joy to have flowers showing and I have started my front of the house display ,I brought out my primrose wheel barrow that gave me such a treat in the poly tunnel in the deepest winter and I thought I could risk putting them out on display on the drive and all of a sudden I can sense warm and long days ahead.

And finally our little pals say good bye. Cass stayed with us for 2 weeks and was just starting to make firm attachments to us and our life style and it was time to pressure a change to get him in a place for his next home. We met his original owners in a car park to make the transfer and he recognised them and they were resigned that actually he was destined to go home to them and then he would be taken to their daughter in Cornwall to live on a farm. The timing for all this was perfect as Cass was starting to get comfortable and both boys were wanting to put their paw down as to who was boss. If I was keeping Cass and HOSS I would have dealt with this but 2 hours before transfer time they had a barking growly set to  on the field over a bit of rope I had been paying tug with. HOSS is now very happy to be in charge again and to celebrate we have booked ourselves a trip to the UK in our camper with HOSS just because we can......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If only our poor old bodies were that efficient…….

blog 5 February

 

 

I am sadly a week late with this blog as I took this picture last weekend with every intention of sharing it with you all but here it is anyway as I still think I have the first daffs for 2014. The last of the storms have past and we are assured that we will now get a few days of dry and for that I am grateful as I have been wading about in the field coming in with wet dogs and wet me and damp motivation, I say dogs, because this week we had to rescue our friend Ann’s newly acquired sheep dog after she fell and broke her shoulder and Cass the dog was in danger of being left home alone , so we dogsnatched him and told HOSS to deal with it….OK

 

 

So for the time being we are an extended family but having spoken to Ann it seems that she will need to give Cass up as she rescued him herself and does not see how she is going to manage, and that makes me very  sad as I am starting to love this meek and intelligent dog but I know in my heart of hearts that Mike and I are really not able to take on another mouth to feed and have the complications of camper holidays and kennel stops.  I am therefore looking for a home for Cass unless we can talk Ann around but I think she  has realised that Cass is too strong and big for her little cottage and her slight frame.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Chateaux Beaulieu just outside St Saveur le Vicomte  and luckily for us we have got to know the owners of this lovely home and on a social outing just mentioned that we were off  to  buy a couple of chestnut tree  for our garden and both Sharon and Eddy said…. NO… we have a wood full of seedlings just come over and take what you need……so we did.

Luckily for me this all happened before Mike came down with shoulder ache and an explosive head ache   so I had trees lifted transported and planted before rain stopped play and mike became bed ridden in a darkened room.  We got mike in to see the doctor and he sent us straight to Coutance for a head scan. The appointment was at 4:30 and we were out of there at 5:10 having had an MRI scan of his neck and a regular scan of his shoulder, all the scan pictures and letters put in a folder and we were sent home to see the  GP again on Monday to look for solutions. .......If only our poor old bodies were that efficient…….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

good value, good food and good fun…..

 

4 blog February

A jolly start to this blog with us lot turning up in silly hats to wish William a very happy 90^th   Birthday. I am pretty sure I have a photo of us surrounding William for every birthday he has had since we met six years ago.  We bought corn on the cob dishes off Anna and William's car boot stall in Blossville six years ago and have not looked back,  so happy 91^st year and let’s hope it stops raining so you can properly enjoy it.

 

 

 

And on the subject of rain we have not started or finished a conversation with anyone without bringing up the issue of rain.  It is also at this time that you thank whatever governs these things, that we bought our home here in Brevands on the high side of our little back end of the village

After days of excuses about not walking HOSS I finally donned my sailing jacket and we hit the road.  For days now there has always been something going on and yesterday it was Hilary and Michel in for lunch that stopped me taking HOSS out for a proper walk but Hilary who understands dogs mentioned that HOSS had a sad and troubled look about him so I made a point of taking him out for his 30 minute walk no matter what today. This road is the bottom side of our one way system and you can see that the gardener has dug out trenches double sized and that is why I am so relieved we live on the top end where our rainwater drains off into the ditches that empty into the low end and with the relentless downpour we look to thank our lucky stars for just about anything we can thank.

 

 

Mike has been at it again on le bon coin and in his committed dedication found us the deal of the year. It is a brand new glass door canopy to go over our winter door to the house.  We have been looking for many years for something we could afford and these babies cost 500 Euro from the shops and we paid 50 Euro and met a nice man in the back end of Quettehou on a windy wet evening to add to the occasion,  Once again while we are thanking our lucky stars we managed to fit yet another odd shaped object in the van and bring it home without a logistic challenge so, good van, good buy and just good all around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally here we are with Graham and Ann on a date day. Georgina in Canada tells us how she goes out on a date with Al or the kids on their own, so we have decided to go out to lunch  once a month, all the other weeks we picnic and get out to do something together.

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This week it is a games night but last Sunday it was a walk around a garden centre and a lunch in Le Moulin Restaurant, good value, good food and good fun…..

 

 

afternoon tea with my afternoon tea, tea set…..

blog 3 January 

 

 

 

Disney has come to Brevands and our ancient lavery in the centre of the village has been adorned with a period dress mannequin to demonstrate how things were done. Our only concern was that historically this lady of her day is wearing marigolds and I am pretty sure that 100 years ago rubber gloves were not available to the paysenne of Brevands to  protect their precious little hands. Still, good effort, and although our Madame de La Lavery was only on display for the duration of the Christmas decorations I think she is a stake in the ground for us other Brevands Ladies to  fashion ourselves on

 

Our lavery is rare in that it has a fire built into the surrounding wall with it’s own little chimney  to heat  the water for a whiter than  white wash and whilst the Marie has giving us a glimpse of life in past Brevands  and  how the lavery might have been, I think the crocks by the mock fire just about finished this museum piece off nicely and if nothing else it certainly made Mike and I chuckle as we drove past on our way to the Boulanger.

 

 

 

Beryl, the yellow peril is not well and a vibrating steering wheel after a contra temps with a curb when we were in the UK in September,  we thought it was time to have it looked at so up on the ramp she went only to  discover that her near side front wheel is buckled and needs replacing. It was then time to go to the customer services desk to start the,  oh so predictable intake of breath, shruggy shoulders and  friendly banter that you know is going to cost you a Grand at best…..OK it was only a quote for 600 Euro if they can match the wheel and the grand if we need 4 new wheels and tyres, it just sends Mike in a tizzy as he is helpless to  banter back but I keep telling him that even the French don’t duck and dive with each other,  this is the price,  or go somewhere else…..please sir…

 

 

 

 

 

With all the rain and filling up of our water meadows we were excited to see that the Brevands gardener is back on form and has started his chore of digging out ditches in the most straight and perfectly executed manner. The mud trenched out is neatly layered on the side of the ditch and the whole event is a delight to see. Mike and I have often remarked at what sort of person you must be to be happy to dig trenches for miles and miles at the coldest time of the year all alone up to your knees in mud.  A perfectionist and artist in his own right and then you wonder what he does in his spare time…….although he waves as we drive  by not once have we felt qualified or worthy of a stop and chat as he is a league on his own.  I did once collar him at one of our social events and was far too gushy about his fab trenches because that is just what he does for a living and he shrugged me off as an eccentric Anglaise.

 

 

Every day I try to do one big job in the garden. We are 2 years behind so it has to be a methodical and committed approach.  So I put on my best garden coat my gloves and set off with croppers, choppers and lots of energy to get the buddleia back in control and as I go I see plants that need pruning, tuning and plain old pulling out. The worst bit of this operation is the clearing up and at a certain point before the dew  falls or the clouds cover over the blue sky you have to make the decision to load up the cuttings into the trolley and dump them on the rough compost heap. This day I did 5 trips to the end of the garden where we dump our left overs and by the time I had finished I felt like I had put in 5 hours flat out in the gym and  completed all of my 10000 steps for that day…..

And finally a nice little story. In 2000 Mike and I packed up our family home of 17 years and moved into a smart marina house in Port Solent. It was contemporary  and modern and everything that our family home was not so as we packed I asked Mike’s Mum to look after this tea set that was a wedding present as I didn’t think these oldie worldly crocks had a place in my modern and upmarket new life. 14 year later when we were going through a few things when Mum died I found this box and blow me, it turns out that she kept her word and did keep it for me. A few years back our girls were doing a car boot and their nanny had given them a few things to sell and they mentioned an old tea set and I thought she may have forgotten this was mine and let it go, so I let it go, and thought no more about it but now it fits in our home and I am ready to invite a friend to have afternoon tea with my afternoon tea, tea set…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

well not quite mountains, but most definitely mole hills.

 blog 2 Jan

This is a very unusual photograph because I am working in the pond enclosure chopping wood and raking leaves and swanny is with me and is calm and happy to be sharing his bit of space. Mike and I decided that this year we must play catch up as we both feel we have had 2 years off and now is the time to get back on track and get our place looking good and feel active and productive again.  Sadly we are now two years older and a day grubbing out a persistent lilac tree and dealing with the left overs has left us sore and battered but as with everything the more you do it the better it gets

 
Every day I walk through the poly tunnel  after I have fed the hens and keep and keep eye on  my tender young plants.  I am at a crucial point because it  is  now that I find out whether they are going to make it or not. It is then so very exciting when I look into a wet and grubby pot to find bright green shiny shoots showing me that everything is good and the roots have taken. I am very glad to say that I have a good success rate so far and I am quietly optimistic that I will have plenty of young plants to start the season.

 

 

 

 

 

Mike has decided to make more of the pond area and we are looking to make a water feature that looks a little more designer than a farm pond with a grumpy swan on it.  A couple of weeks ago Mike found a lady selling gunnera cuttings and has potted them up to give them a chance to develop some roots before we move them into place and the purpose of the getting into the pond enclosure is to clear out over grown trees. It also gives us a chance to do a bit of wood collecting for the fire and that always feels good and wholesome.

 

 

 

 

Having spent the afternoon pruning buddleia and making sure all the left overs are cleaned up I trudged up into the hay loft and flopped into the sofa and asked Mike if he loved me even if I look like this and he said I love especially because you look like that.  that one little one liner is all the flowers and chocolates I wish for in a year.

 

The reason Mike was tucked away in the hay loft was that he was installing the karaoke machine that came  from a quick click on Amazon to have the machine purchased and delivered to us here in Brevands and that is only the beginning because then you have to have a TV.  A quick trip to our favourite second hand shop and we walked out with the biggest TV we could carry and that cost us 20 Euro then we needed a table and a trip over to the other second hand shop found a very Normandy style table for 30 euro and voila the singing corner is set up and ready to go.

 

 

And now Mike has set up the play station game as well so all our toys are in one place. Now Mike has the feeling that he wants to make the barn a little more secure and is eyeing up a door that has been kicking around for that past 7 years and will try to fit a new door and put a lock on it to keep the sheep out

 

And finally, there is trouble in the wood. You can ohh and ahh at big boy just looking gorgeous on his walk out but in the back ground you will see that there are very nasty looking brown lumps in the wood lawns and that means moles and moles need catching. It is now too wet to even think about going out to lay traps and clear up but it will need to be done hopefully when it dries out the moles and their families may just toodle off to next door but for now it just grates on our sense of tidy and clean to have these monster mountains of mud around our tree,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

make a start on 2014……. Happy New Year

An automated phone message came the day after the last blog to say that the gas tanker would be with us the next day. I then had to juggle the money and logistics of having the tanker dump a thousand Euro worth of gas in our tank.  In the pouring rain the tanker backed onto the drive and I had to explain to the driver that I only wanted half a load as I was not given enough time to get a money transfer over so he obligingly gave us half a load and much like when the wood arrives we had that comfortable feeling that it can now snow until March and we will be OK.  The driver left me a delivery note and drove off to his next ­customer leaving me with no idea how much I owe so  I looked forward to the invoice to notify me of the price  to make sure that the money was in the bank ready for the standing order that Butagaz insist on if you want to buy gas from them.  You can imagine my alarm when I checked the bank on-line for a completely different reason to find that Butagaz had taken their money without sending me notification…..mad ?…I was spitting feathers but Mike just looked at me and asked if they didn’t do this every year ? don’t I always have a gripe like this every time they deliver. He was quite right.  Butagaz upset me every time they deliver and like snow I am never prepared and will never learn that I need to call them and tell them to go away until I am ready for  them to make their expensive visit.

 

Our Hens were so pleased to have us home and as soon as I opened the poly door they ran in like possessed poultry and hunkered down into the dry mud and cooood and clucked in a huddled group until they had completed their beauty program.  One of my girls is behaving and we have had one egg a day since coming home and for that I am grateful.

  

 

 

 

 

Mike and I found a few jobs to do  in the poly and HOSS just keen to be with us found a dry spot out of the wind and rain to watch over our activities and be a gorgious and attentive doggie. The cat and the Hens just carry on around him and at one point we were all in the poly and it just made us chuckle at the harmony we manage to surround ourselves with…without trying.

 

And then it was New Year’s Eve all over again and this year we were rescued from needing to keep the sofa from escaping by friends Trevor and Carol who called to say they were having a bash and we were cordially invited. We set off at 5:30 in the camper to park up and stay over. As we trundled along the N13 we were aware that cars overtaking us were flashing and waving at us so we pulled over to discover that we had no lights showing except the number plate light and on such a blustery wet night we decided to go home on the intensity rear lights. I was ready to abandon our night out but once mike has a fault to find he is unstoppable.  We then started scrabbling through the French owner’s manual to try to suss out what they might call the back lights fuse and where it could be.  You might think we were looking  for feux arriere , but no, they were marked up as feux de possition , oh my goodness it took us an hour to find that out by elimination. I called our hosts to say we might not make it but mike decided we had until midnight to get there so off we set out again. Three hours after others had dutifully turned up we got dressed in our best bib and tucker as the dress code was very smart and I smeared  a little makeup on and Mike put his blazer and tie on. We felt great and stepped out to have a good time.

The Karaoke machine came out and as Trevor and Carol are ex pub landlords  were  specially skilled at getting us all up to sing our hearts out , even Mike got up to do a group song with the blokes and frankly though it was appalling singing,  it was a lot of fun. 

 

We did the French bon annee at French midnight and filled our glasses with champagne again an hour later for the English midnight and we would have gone on all around the world but that can get complicated.  At 2:30 we all traipsed over to Trevor and Carols neighbours who were having their reveillions and were all sat at the table with the main course just finished at 2:30. We all wished each other happy new year and at 3:00 we sat down with them and shared their dessert. I did whinge a little and say that I could not possible eat at 3 in the morning but the French have an uncanny way of suggesting they would be very offended if we turned them down so we ate ice cream washed down with white wine and I sat at the top of the table and Mike and the other end of the table until I could not make any more small talk and our hosts wanted to dance. It was at that crucially embarrassing moment that Mike and I made our excuses and went back to the camper to apologise to HOSS for leaving him unattended for so long and then we cuddled up in our camper sleeping pod until 11:00 on New Year’s Day.  We woke up to a serious storm and whilst our hosts slept off their fabulous party we broke camp and came home to get the calendar up and the diaries updated the fire lit and make a start on 2014……. Happy New Year

 

 

 

 

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