to be surrounded by lovely people all over again …….

blog 29 / October

I broke the news to Mike that the Poly tunnel needed closing and that meant a huge ‘mend’ job on the doors. We took the doors off in the spring in a tattered and sorry state and thought we had months to think about how to get them back into working order for the winter, and blow me down here we are already. Mike set to, as he does, clonked and bashed away whilst I was picking and prodding at the beds and in a morning’s work got the poly back together. Now all we need to do is re-cover it completely and we have months to go before spring, when that job will need to be done, and before you know it ….!!!!!!!






I know I have been bleating on about the odd unseasonal sequence of growth in the garden this year but a gladioli in flower on the front drive on October 16^th is ridiculous……but lovely. My only fear is that this bulb is now spent and will not make it into flower again next year, but I will just have to keep an eye on it and keep you informed.

 

 

It was my turn to celebrate my 60^th birthday and I wanted to sit around my table in the kitchen and just be with friends and that is exactly what we did. A very sing song evening not all in great tune but a funny and rowdy night is the only way to start the next phase of one’s life, and I was delighted especially as Mim and Dick had made the trip from the UK to be with us as well

 

Mark came with his violin and after a little home spun concert between us we sang ditties and told jokes and I laughed till I cried. Thank you all my friends for making a difficult birthday, for a lady, seem like a walk in the park……

 

 

And then after a day of rest I was sat in the garden with Shirley and Mark just passing by to say hello when a car rolled onto the drive and I stood up saying oh flip…. who could that be……..I had the surprise of my life to see our boy Chris get out of the driving seat and brother Billy closing the gate behind them. Chris, Sam, Billy and Maxine had started off at 5:00 that morning to take the channel tunnel and drove all the way to my house to take me out to dinner for my birthday. It was not good enough that I had Mim and Dick with us for the week now we were a family gathering and I was touched to the bottom of my heart that everyone around me including Mike had been plotting and organising to give me such a wonder full surprise.

 

 

I was whisked off to Grandcamp Maisy for a fab meal thanks to Billy and then everyone just went to bed, and I  realised just how much Mike had been up to, cleverly getting the spare room ready and warming up the camper so everyone had a warm bed.  Sam did make a comment that Napoleon the cockerel had to die, they were very tired and we all know that Napoleon starts his cockadoodling at 4:30 in the morning, and knowing we had guests made sure he was in full voice for the occasion.

 

 

 

Before I could appreciate the impact of this group of very special people being in our home for my birthday it was all over and the house was quiet and empty and ringing with the sound of happy people doing wonderful things for me. Mike was a brick and made sure there was no way I was going to miss my surprise but  I am now on my guard, as I don’t know what he is capable of in terms of lies and deceit, but  I love him to bits  for making  it happen. I am also amazed that Mim and Dick were able to keep their lips tight shut and not let the cat out of the bag and I am just delighted that this birthday was made extra special despite living on the other side of the channel…….

 

To avoid the sound and feel of an empty house,  I had planned  to get away for a few days in the camper. Every time we have company I go into a melancholy state and I am so glad I anticipated this trip as I was on a double dose with all our friends and family there one moment and gone the next. So we set off for a trip to Chatres to rediscover a bit of art I saw 10 years ago on our long leave trip of Europe

 

When we got to the cathedral I was reminded of the architectural marvel but was more excited about the choir screen that I had seen all those years ago and never really understood what I had I been looking at. I did my research so I more understood when in front of it again, and Mike walked me around the 40 sculpted deep relief panels dating from 1510 to 1720 twice. The rest of the cathedral is in the midst of a very French style restore and I took this pic to show the beautiful ceiling and vaults and the screen section already restored and I now await with bated breath for the screen to be cleaned and restored  like the rest of the building. Mike is a bit of a groupie as he has to follow me anywhere there is a statue as I am a complete nutter for an ancient figure in any medium as long as it is telling an ancient story ………

 

 

 

We took the guide book’s advice and found our way to a street where an artist had been let free to create this trompe d’oeil as they call it. The entire front of this building is painted and the windows were very convincing. We stood in front of it for ages and it seemed to me we were the only ones looking up but I guess it is out of season and the people passing by see it every day

 

 

Mike and I are discovering that driving through France is a hit and miss event. You just don’t know what is around the next corner and as all the regions only deal with what is in their region anything we picked up in Chatres office of tourism would not advertise interesting sites to see next door. As we approached our third way point on the gps on our way to Villiers Bocage we noticed a huge wall that seemed to go on for many kilometres and we became more and more curious about what might be behind such a wall, as  it went  the village of La Fert Vidame and out the other side until suddenly the road opened up and to our left was the ruin of a palace. The gardens were still outlined, the water features in place. We drove past but we knew we had to go back and parked up to take a look and this palace that had been derelict since the French revolution. In the 1920’s Mr Citroen bought the estate and built his development track in the grounds……well we were so very excited about this find that when we got home we goggled the village and found that this pocket of amazement is a public park open all year and just around the corner is a camp site that is closed now until May, but guess where we will be going as soon as the season starts…….can’t wait.

So I had a wonderful birthday and I will put this week in the blog file as a truly memorable time and to add this to the rest of the year with Mikes birthday party in May and our family gathering in July here in Brevands,  I can now gather up an armful of happy memories to keep for every.

It is not all over though, we will close this 60 years with a new year party and the chance to be surrounded by lovely people all over again …….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a virtual market stall and see where it takes us.

Blog 28 October

 

 

Sometimes Mike and I are shot through when the most unexpected happens and especially when it involves French culture and the approach to a concept. Mike received a voucher to get into the international faire in Caen ( like an ideal home exhibition with lots for the garden as well ) We decided if one of us can get in for free then perhaps we could make a day of it, so  we queued with our voucher in hand and spoke English as we went up to the ticket office but I asked for one ticket and presented our voucher in French. The lady asked if we were foreigners and I explained that we were English but lived in France thinking that perhaps the voucher was not valid for visiting foreigners. The cashier asked if we had British passports and we said we did so she thrust a form through the window to fill in. We felt a huge bureaucratic situation coming on and huffed and puffed a little until she explained in her slowest and loudest French that all foreigners get free entry, so we filled the form in, using an English address and both of us got in for nothing  and it is written on the ticket gratuit  etranger…. Foreigners free…..what a turn up, and that is a concept gone silly as I honestly think that the offer is for visiting foreigners and not foreign residents, but who are we to argue the point so we  spent our entry fee on a little lunch and even smaller beer for the money….but we had a good time as we are committed to do a bit of home  improvements in 2015 and we made contact with a few companies for quotes and information so it was a good and interesting day out

Autumn is truly with us although the days are still balmy and warm, the ducks are enjoying a gentle entry into the winter season and as they are so young we are not too worried about protecting them, every day that passes in this warm and sunny October takes us nearer to winter in the nicest possible way. I had to rush back for my camera on my walk with HOSS in the garden as I saw that one of  our pear trees was strung with dew covered webs looking autumnal and crisp but at the same time there were four  unseasonal blossom flowers. We have daffodils showing their green leaves in the back yard and new growth on the apple trees, we need a cold winter to cleanse the bugs out but this  out of season growth effort is all going to go to waist….shame

We finally got around to laying out our stumpery and as usual Mike brought out his toys to take the effort out of the work. I always kick myself for giving him such a hard time when he was buying all this kit all those years ago. Every job we do is calculated for least amount of effort and it always involves a Mike have-to-have bit of equipment.

 

 

 

So the stumpery is in place, packed around the bug hotel in the damp and dark part of the garden. We now have a place to dump any misshaped trunks as this is the season for tree chopping, and we have earmarked at least 4 trees that will come down before the winter sets in, so we are well prepared, and I can’t wait, chopping trees down is such a lot fun and groundingly productive ……

 

In 1990 or there abouts I had a year of excellence. Mike trained me to take my motorbike test and I spent a year taking piano lessons to prepare for my grade one piano certificate.  I achieved both my ambitions and I rode a Honda 100 to work and played my piano every day. Mike then bought me a Honda 500 and I took it three times to the office and realised that girls just don’t look great with helmet hair and the prospect of riding home on a wet day left me cold and unnecessary. With a perfectly good family car sitting on the drive, it did not make a lot of sense . I can therefore, honestly say, I have not ridden a bike in 15 years so when I saw the moped on the drive having its run up, I bit the bullet, donned my very funky helmet, and went for a wiz around the block. Mike stood at the gate in horror as he is intolerant of my car driving and riding his bike just took the concept of unconditional love one step too far….. But it was fun, and I was forgiven
 

I have at last got my act together and have taken over HOSS’s old kennel room as my own. Up until recently it has been a  Beema stuff storage place  and slowly Mike has been reinventing uses for all this equipment we had on board. Finally, there was space, and I claimed it for my sewing room. Mike asked me what I really, really wanted for my 60^th birthday and I said without hesitation that I needed a new sewing machine as I had been muddling along with my 36 year old Singer and more recently I have been trying to make sense of Mike’s Dad’s tailoring sewing machine which does not have enough gadgets for my liking. We did a bit of research and It seems you get what you pay for and as I prefer to buy from a shop that I can go back to, if things go wobbly, we set off to St Lo to the Singer Sewing Machine Shop where I was advised and cajoled into spending much more than I expected  to spend, but Mike reminded me that I am launching myself into a little cottage industry and you can’t do it half-heartedly. So I am now busy every day on catch up to produce these unique one off cushions.  I have stitched  them, unstitched them and stitched  them again,  researched different backings, inserts  and closures and I am now happy with my end product, that  I would not hesitate to buy myself .

Mike is there supporting me in my decision making, and when I see a needlepoint tableau I think I can use he always makes me stop and consider. The latest purchase is the three horses tableau that I have had my eye on in our local second hand shop for over a month and today, I offered the owner what I thought it was worth to me and he accepted with a huge melancholy sigh. I never pay top dollar for my needlepoint as I have a lot of work to do before I can sell on.  Mike and I are now using our car boot events (vide grenier) and our weekly visits to the depot vents with a much more open mind on interesting vintage  items,  We will soon go online to set up a virtual market stall and see where it takes us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

duckiwucks, they make me laugh…….

It’s been a week and a half since I frogmarched Mike to market so I could buy some ducks to fill the pond. We visited our duck and hen breeder who we have been buying from since 2007 and he always has a kind word and asks with interest about our French experience and is genuinely glad to hear we are happy and settled in France. I let him know swanny had passed over and he commented that at least now we can go in the pond area, such was swanny’s reputation that even the hen breeder knew of his antics. So I asked for three  female and one male duck and he plunged his hand into the cage and grabbed, in no uncertain terms,  what he promised were trois fille et un garcon, I even asked him to make sure and he reluctantly had a look and assured  us we  had what we had asked for.  Remembering however, that my four  baby hens ended up being a mixed coup  with one extra cockerel and one less egg layer, but hey ho,  we are obliged to  put our trust in this man, who then , threw my darling little ducks in the box, turned the box upside down and punched an air hole with his knife leaving me padding about like a quacking  mother duck complaining at his rough handling. I grabbed   my 16 Euro worth of traumatised, but cute duckiewucks and headed home

 

 

 

As always, I mentioned to Mike that the Babies will need a new home and in his wonderful way he revamped the old  duck house into a comfy house for four and I am hoping that we can train them to go to the house to lay their eggs. Now that we can use the pond area collecting eggs will be less of a life threatening event and duck egg breakfast is no longer a dream.

 

 

 

 

 

Mike and I went to the local vintage car show and spent an interesting morning  pottering down memory lane and I could sense that Mike would really like to  own a little honey like this, to care for, and take out,  on a Sunday afternoon, he has been on the bon coin ever since our little outing showing me  everything that is available …mmmmmmmm

 

 

We are making a real habit of sleeping on other people’s drives, and this has to be the grandest to date.  We were invited to a 30’s theme dinner with Ray and Marianne and we turned up dressed like lord and lady Bracknell with dog in garage, had a wonderfully long evening in palatial surroundings eating and drinking to our hearts delight,   then all we had to do, was throw ourselves to bed and sleep, sober up, and go home safety in the morning. ….. wonderful……

 

Our good friends Ron and Pauline came to visit on their annual Spanish camper holiday and stopped off to see us on their way home. Their camper has parked on our drive every year since we have been here and we always look forward to sitting at table and catching up with their news. In March this year we camped on their drive so we have set the scene for years to come and looking forward to our next camper fest 

 

 

 

HOSS is so used to having this camper on his drive that he let Ron and Pauline drive through the gate while we were out and then promptly felt he had the right to get in and make himself at home. He is a softy when it comes to campers and if I say… get in the camper… he is at the door before you can say …..only joking…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike and I have been in and out of the pond area clearing up and have now decided to turn on the fountain again. We are still not sure about the water quality but can’t see how it would be polluted as the top well is good and the water level is so low in the pond that we need the well water to top it up. Mike usually has to don his waders to go to the fountain but as there is so little water he donned his wellies and cleaned the fountain head which sent the duckywucks scooting off for the undergrowth until they got brave and then came out to play

 

And finally, all is cute on the pond, the old Duck has now accepted the young interlopers and is not quacking them off at feed time. By now, ten days later she is showing them the way to go, and they are an entertaining clutch on the water keeping me clucking around them.  They now  come waddling or paddling up to see us when we go past,  and I know I am a softy but I like waddling and paddling duckiwucks, they make me laugh…….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOSS can come too, so we are out, en famille.

Blog 26 September

We had a bit of a time team moment last week during the digging of Swanny’s grave when Mike dug up a really old coin. He put it in his pocket whilst he buried the swan and came in later to investigate what we had found 2 feet down on the banks of our pond.   It was not hard to pin the coin down as we had the date and the inscription and it turns out we have a 1792 Louis 16^th 2 sols bronze coin, in bad condition and worth all of 10 euro. For us however, it implies that there was a man with money in his pocket walking around our pond at that time and as our home is on the house register dated 1750 it all made sense and gave the dating of our home some street cred.  We won’t be selling our booty and will keep it as our party piece at dinner parties, so all you who dine with us, please promise to look surprised and amazed every time it comes out again and again….and again

I have started the apple juice process and as a small exercise in yield I laid out the elements for your interest. So, one basket of apples through the juicer leaves one bowl of dry apple pulp and 7 litres of pure apple juice, I freeze these bottles and we have juice right through the winter. It makes good use of the apples as we have stopped making cider so this makes me feel wholesome and productive again. And juice is better for you than cider…..!!! ….Isn’t it ?

 

 

 

 

The gas tanker called unexpectedly, presuming I had a grands worth of Euros stashed away for said delivery but I pat myself on the back as I had just organised a transfer of funds and Mike looked at me with concern to make sure I knew what I was doing loading a thousand euros of gas in the tank, but this year I predicted the situation and all was well. Whilst I was on a winter role I called the wood man and he delivered two trailer loads, depriving us of a tractor delivery as his brother was using it, but hey ho, a wood delivery is just that, and we have to manhandle it whichever way is turns up, I just like big tractor deliveries.  When I called to make my wood order the nice Dominique asked if I might need more wood during the winter, but as we burned less last year and still have a good stock  I confirmed one cord  this year  would be OK and he then said that he was giving his regular  customers first dibs on his wood so if I didn’t need the 2 cords I ordered last year he could offer the spare to a new client and for that I felt valued and considered, who said customer service is up the wall in France…..oh yes, that was me, so I take it back.  Before he left I mentioned that we were looking for a bail of barley straw to put in the pond and he popped back to the farm in the next village and brought us back a huge round bail delivered in place for 25 Euro… delighted,   ...…..I was jumping for joy as Mike has been searching for a supplier on Bon Coin and it seems that the only farmers who advertise their bails for sale to the likes of Mike and I live miles away, so mission accomplished on all counts.

 

 

 

Our sailing friends Flick and Cliff were on their way back to the UK from a summer out on their boat so we packed up our camper and met them in St Vaast for the night.  Mike and I set up camp in the air de camping car in the centre of the town. We all met up and had a fabulous Moule frites just like the olden days when we would sail in from Portsmouth, grab a local dish then sail off home again. We had not spent this much time   together for many years and it was good to catch up and re-establish the bond of many hours at sea together with Port Solent Yacht club. We met for coffee the next morning and then hugs later we wished them safe journey and good sailing until the next time

I promised myself that we would go out more this year and take in a bit of the local history, so we set off with Graham and Ann to the Chateaux Colombiere not too far from Bayeux.  We were met at the door by a young man who then proceeded to take us, and a group of French locals on a tour of this wonderful monument, and, to our delight, translated his presentation into English for our pleasure.  The history of this once defensive castle was dripping in English intervention with lords and English Kings owning it and losing it since the days of William the conqueror.  One of the French ladies found it charming that the guide was translating for us and talked about the French and British alliances and I wondered why we ever gave it back to them but it was not the place to start such a debate, and just enjoyed the history and historic implications of our two nations visiting an age old chateaux in La Manche.

 

So with a fun picnic and a guided tour we had a jolly afternoon out. On the way down the drive an old chap came up to me and asked if we had found our visit interesting and I asked if he was the owner and to my delight, he was. I shook his hand and said we were so interested in the English part of the history of his beautiful home and we chatted about the land around and I for one was a tad star struck and felt I had just met royalty. This house has been in the same family since the 1700’s and for the French that really nearly is royalty, but I did not find my  manners enough to curtsy ….an we both just wished each other bonne journey, and that is good enough for me.

 

 

 

 

 

And finally…..I am happy when I am camping, we are so enjoying our time away, even for one night,  it is great, and HOSS can come too, so we are out, en famille.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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quite good fun and very satisfying

What a sad day that was, Mike came into my sewing room and said, bad news, swanny is dead.  I cannot express in words  how upset and bereft we  felt at that moment, that, after 26 years of just  being there, grumpy and beautiful  in one  descriptive line, and now he is gone.   I went to get a bag to wrap him up and move him on but Mike had decided that this pet deserved a full burial and not the back to nature hedge chuck we give to our hens. We walked around Swanny’s beloved pond area and chose the spot and Mike started to dig, and dig, and dig.  Swanny had been a little off colour these past few months and did not go into his most grumpy phase and we were able to get into the pond area all this year as he was not aggressive and I took this picture of him earlier in the year standing next to him …so he had lost his mojo this year and finally decided his time was up.

 

Mike was concerned that the water was contaminated as we have had an oily film on the water and Swanny was struggling keeping clean, we were just getting ready for a water change from the top well but he died before we could implement that project. Since then Mike has been airating the water by pumping it around and we are not using the bottom well. Our neighbour across the road has a dodgy cess pit situation that he has been given 3 years to put right 4 years ago and we are concerned that the grey water from his bathroom is getting into the well water that feeds our pond…….or are we just looking for a scape goat whilst we grieve the loss of our pond pet. ??  You can see the grave on the other side of the pond, we put my swan vase on top so the passers-by who stop to look at swanny will know why he is nowhere to be seen

 

 

When we viewed this house in 2007,  Mike was impressed  by the owners  grandfather clock at the front door and has always fancied having one for himself and knew exactly where it should go. We have had a pine open shelved cupboard there since we moved in and one of Mikes little gripes in life has been the gradual development of this bit of furniture into a general dumping ground, looking homely, but unsightly and chaotic. So, in with the big dinging clock in the kitchen by the front door and the dumping ground is in the lobby where it looks at home and in the right place.  It has taken a few days to stop jumping on the hour and on the half hour but  we are not disturbed at night anymore  and in the quiet of the kitchen there is a gentle tic tock,  tic tock that reminds you that there is not a moment to waist and time is racing off without us …..not pressure then

 

 

Once again we have been reminded that we live way out in the country as we were confronted by Monsieur Roulette’s sheep in the road on our way out of Bucaille. They stood their ground and were not to approached or worried.  Mike tried to creep around them but they took flight and started to run in the wrong direction so he drove herded them into a chemin out of harm’s way and then we drove around to M Roulette’s to let him know his sheep were stampeding off into the marshes……cute though.

 

 

 

 

We are now coming to the end of the tomatoes, and I for one are not that sad. What a crop this year, I have filled the freezer with passata and now I am making soup and bottling it up as I am running short of freezer space. I cleared a space today for the apple juice and that starts tomorrow, we collected a barrow full of wind falls and I will juice them down, filter out the froth and freeze the juice in mineral water bottle so we have apple juice all winter.

 

 

The pumpkins are doing OK but Mike is overwhelmed with the growth and utter takingoverness of this crop.  We only need one big fruit for the competition we have committed to but we are going to have to change the rules at the last minute and say it is about quantity, not individual size, otherwise we don’t stand a chance of winning, and then, I have 10 pumpkins to deal with. I watched Mike cut back the overspill growth and it occurred to me that instead of backing research into cosmetics and shampoo  why can’t some bright spark find a way to put some nutrition into pumpkins and feed the world……..

 

 

And finally our virgina creeper that was given to Mike by Sarah and Peter as a birthday prezy 4 years ago has decided it likes where it is and is now in true form and rushing off to take on the fence as well as the 1000 litre water butt.  I hoped it might just disguise the white blot on the landscape water butt, I never imagined I would lose it completely, but that is gardening for you and actually it is quite good fun and very satisfying