Mud Walls & Beams

How lucky am I ???

2012-01-22T22:05:00.000+01:00

I may be in my PJ's, but who on earth cares? Not me. How many people can say they were dancing with their 93 year old father to let in the New Year? I love you dad.

I must plan to achieve

2012-01-08T16:41:00.001+01:00

Now is the time to start planning as to what I am going to make for gifts for next year. Clare had given me inspiration with her cross stitching and I loved doing it, so it makes sense to plan what to do next. The idea of just having one colour thread works really well for me so this is where I start. I also want to create something for over my fireplace and I have the idea of three framed cross-stitch words, but it is surprising how difficult it is to think of 3 words that mean a lot to Richard and me without being too obvious. Below are a couple I did as gifts this Christmas.

One version finished

Another version unfinished

What I need to do next time is make sure I stitch them the right size so I can get a frame to fit. I couldn't get one for either of these and it makes the gifts rather expensive to have them made!!!! Clare is the planner and I usually "borrow" her patterns, but this time I think I need to do it myself.

I am also going to do a quilting project with my friend in America and I am rather nervous about that because I'm not very proficient, but I am looking forward to the challenge.

We are going back to my parents for a couple of weeks now so I won't be able to access our computer again for a while. I do have my patterns and graph paper though so I won't be idle.

Take care all of you, talk again soon.

Every picture tells a story

2012-01-02T22:36:00.000+01:00

Looks like my dad telling one of his many funny stories

As the heading says, I am posting just one "Christmas" picture because this sums up our Christmas. It is always a worry as to how things will turn out, but the decision to take my mum and dad to Clare and Kenny's for 6 days was certainly the right one. You wouldn't believe, looking at this photo, that they are 93 and 91 would you? The day we went for a walk was Boxing Day and although not raining, it was very, very windy, but my dad absolutely loved it. They don't get out much any more and are rather worried about walking when on their own because if one goes down, they both go down, so to have the security of their granddaughter's arms was good. When they go out now, it's my sister who usually takes them in the car either to the sea or to the New Forest, so I'm not saying they don't go out at all, far from it, just the walking part and that was something they loved to do.

We had a really wonderful time when we were in Cornwall with lots of good food and entertainment and we even went to see the Christmas lights at Mousehole on Boxing Day evening. Beautiful and very festive. Again, my dad loved it and my mum stayed in that time.

We are now with Vicki and family and thoroughly enjoying catching up with the children. We went for a New Year's day walk yesterday and it poured with rain and we got drenched, but still managed to have a picnic and stop at a pub on the way back. There were about 18 of us so a lot of fun and as you can imagine, the children were very excited, all on their bikes and absolutely filthy by the end of it. So good to see children out in the open air in all weathers, rather than inside watching a TV. A nice warm bath for them when we got back and the end of a lovely day.

We will be going back to my mum and dad's soon and try and catch up with other family and friends. We are here in the UK until the end of January so we have a little time yet.

I wish all of you a very Happy and healthy New Year and I look forward to chatting to you all again soon.

Piccalilli, Packing and Presents

2011-12-09T19:23:00.000+01:00

Well, as the title says I have been busy making, washing and ironing and wrapping. We are getting ready to go back to the UK so I have to finish off everything here. The first thing we did was make some piccalilli and it is amazing how the colour changes during the process. Oh my goodness though, how it made my eyes smart while stirring the sauce. I assume it was the mustard and turmeric that did that. Fun though and now the shelves in my larder are beginning to groan under the weight of chutneys and jams etc.

Just with the vinegar

A little further on

Stingy eyes sauce nearly ready

Voila - 8 jars of piccalilli

I have to say I was surprised with the colour, because when you buy it in the shops it is very yellow and this is quite a lot darker. I suppose it's no colouring, preservatives etc. The only problem is, you have to leave it for 3 months before you try - well that's what they say.

I have now finished wrapping all the Christmas presents that I have here though I have a lot in the UK waiting to be wrapped, but at least I'm ahead of the game for once. Also, my head is buzzing with ideas of what to make for next year. I certainly need to start sooner so come February, I will start choosing what needs to be done. You heard it here ....... will it happen? Who knows. Good intentions though.

Slowly becoming friends

As you can see our little kitten Sooty has settled in really well. He is adorable and the two of them have a lot of fun together but also, the fur flies sometimes because he is such a tinker and keeps jumping on Sophie and play fighting. He has also got the hang of using the cat flap so we have no worries when we are back in the UK, they both now have a bolt hole and their own little french farmhouse.

Now I need to get my head around what I need to pack for over the Christmas holidays. We are staying for most of January as it is Vicki's 40th birthday so we need to take quite a bit of warm clothing with us. I hate and detest the packing part of going back to the UK, I seem to be doing it all the time.

Take care everyone, much love to my family who are reading this and see you soon.

Handmade Christmas??

2011-11-26T15:56:00.001+01:00

It has been such a long time since I have posted and now I have to try and remember what I have been doing. Well ............. the main and most important thing is me FLYING to the UK to stay with Vicki and the children for a couple of weeks. Not so important ??? It is to me because I am absolutely petrified of getting on a plane, but Vicki made a throw-away comment about how she would like me to be there with her while Bill was away and I thought, could I? I was very lucky in that a friend of mind was returning to the UK so I flew back with her but I came back on my own!! I am very proud of myself and would I do it again?? Watch this space.

Needless to say I had a wonderful time while I was there and one Saturday when Vicki was working at a Christmas Fair I had the girls to myself so decided that was the day to make the Christmas puddings. We had great fun and did a lot of stirring and flicking of ingredients all over the place and the kitchen was smelling wonderful. Of course the best part of making Christmas puddings is stirring and making a wish at the same time. We did this a few times and then we called Grampie, who was still in France, and William stirred while Grampie made a wish, the girls each had Clare and Kenny, they stirred while they made a wish. It was left then overnight to soak up all the ale and brandy and then daddy came home and stirred and wished as well, so you never know, next year could be a good year!! I did some cross-stitch while I was there, I also wrote all my Christmas cards and did most of my present shopping as well, so all in all, a very good visit.

Home now and back to the making of presents. I am trying to make as many as possible this year and to be honest I am enjoying it. I made a good start while we were staying with Clare and Kenny in September and since then I have made some more. Obviously I can't show you all of the things I have made otherwise it won't be a surprise for the recipients!!

2 cheeky little sock monkeys. One by me, one by Clare

2 little rag dollies, both by me

It's funny isn't, I did one of these dollies while I was staying with Clare and Kenny, it is Clare's pattern and she has the templates but how to make it up was in her head. While with her, I managed it, but doing one on my own back here was a nightmare, I just had a mental block. But ........ many phone calls to a very patient daughter later, I finally finished the one on the left today. Whew!! I didn't think one of the recipients was going to get one. Needless to say, I have now written down my version of the instructions and hopefully I will be able to make another one some time, should the need arise. Don't hold your breath Clare.

The weather here is glorious, very sunny and quite warm, but the mornings and evenings are cold. Just perfect for autumn. Both the cats are running about outside and the little one especially is finding his way about.

Is it a dove? Is it a Snowy Owl? No - it's a kitten, pretending to hide on a misty morning!!

Does he really think they are going to come to the feeders with him sitting there in all his glory? Bless him, perhaps that's what he wished for when I was mixing the puddings!!

I'm off now to make some biscuits, we are off to church in the morning for the first Sunday in Advent and we are all taking a bring and share lunch.

Take care everyone, will talk again soon.

Meet Little Kitten

2011-10-18T21:53:00.000+02:00

I thought I would post and introduce you to our new addition. Once again, this kitten was found in a friend's garden and although she was desperate to keep him/her/it, she has lost 4 already on the busy road she lives on before they reached a year old and she wasn't prepared to go through the pain again.

It was brilliant because we have just had very good friends staying here for a week and they are cat lovers so we were able to go and pick up "little kitten" while they were with us. As you can imagine, time is just wasted while watching the antics of the kitten and meeting our Sophie. Here are some photos for you which Brian very kindly took for us.

Little kitten about 8 or 9 weeks old

Very naughty - found some bread on the table. Not allowed up there!!

Mmmmm... licking lips, very nice

Peek-a-boo - who are you

Shall we play? Please don't hurt me

Haven't settled on a name yet, our friend had called her Lily, as in Lilliput, but we think she is a he. Could we still call her Lily if she is a boy? Such a cute name though. Others we have been given is Sooty!!, Snowy, Sacha and Putty as in Lilliputty....Clever though I'm SURE our vet here in France wouldn't get that at all.

We have had the most amazing week with our friends and nearly every tree and shrub in the garden has been pruned, chopped, tidied and made beautiful. Herb bed has been weeded by Di and they have loved it. You can't go wrong with friends like that can you? Just being yourselves and not having to try to be anyone else. I will certainly miss them and can't wait for them to visit again.

A bit of shopping at the local weekly market

Well, once again, that's it for now. Love to everyone reading this, especially my family. Will post again soon.

Chilling out

2011-09-26T17:07:00.000+02:00

I thought I would just post a few photos so you can see what a lovely time we are having here with Clare and Kenny. The weather hasn't been great so far but it hasn't stopped us from doing anything and I have got a couple of projects completed, which is amazing for me!!

It's strange isn't it how different your children can be and the different times you have when staying with them. Richard and I are very lucky in that way because we get to stay with them when we are back in the UK and have good quality time with them. With Vicki and family, apart from the lovely catching up time we have, we have of course got the children and they keep us on our toes and we absolutely love being with them; the cuddles in the morning and the stories at night time are not to be missed. We also go to church with them, as a family, and that's quite special as well. We feel very privilaged also to feel part of their group of friends, and they have lots of them and that always helps keep you feeling young. I even get to go on "girlie" evenings or lunches which is great fun. Then with Clare and Kenny, we have lots of walks, doing craft and mooching around "crafty" shops which I absolutely love, poor Kenny always sorts out our computer problems without EVER complaining and just being able to sit on the rocks or beach and watch nature at work. Brilliant.

Clare and Kenny's raspberries being made into jam

Catching up with breath-taking scenery

The power of mother nature

Well deserved treat after our walk

Clare trying out my sewing machine
A very old but wonderful Bernina

2 projects completed so far

Well, that's about it for now, should any of my family be reading this, especially the "Smith" family, I hope all is going well. Jess, I'm sure you are enjoying yourself at your new college, can't wait to hear all about it. Briony, good luck at Uni, I hope you settle in soon, knowing you, it won't take long. Clare and Kenny are looking forward to seeing you at their house. Charlie, I guess this is going to be a tough year for you at school so good luck. Hi to everyone else.

I am now going back to my knitting while Clare is working, perhaps I will be able to finish something else while I'm here!!

Cornwall and Craft - Family and Fun

2011-09-20T22:49:00.000+02:00

Well, here we are in Cornwall staying with Clare and Kenny and the rain hasn't really stopped since we arrived. Do I care?? No because Clare and I are having such fun crafting. The first project is a little rag dolly which Clare has made before but I have to take my hat off to her because all she got were a few bits of paper cut outs as you will see from the photo, but with no instructions whatsoever, so here I go .............

I suppose it's a start !!!!!

Off we go

2 arms and 2 legs for each of us

Always full of fun

Looking a bit deflated, dolly not me!!!!!

Enough for one day, more tomorrow

I am having the most amazing time and if I can pass on any tips to Clare that I have picked up at various workshops then that makes it even better. It is so good working together, more so because I don't see her very often, but the best bit is seeing just how talented she is and to be honest, Clare is teaching me more than I am teaching her!!

This morning we made a batch of raspberry jam and I made a taggy for my best friend's grandchild who is due in about 3 weeks. I wonder why it is you get the motivation to do more stuff when you have someone to do it with. I know I do "stuff" when I am with my mum and she certainly does more when my sister and I are about.

While I am crafting Richard is on about his 5th book!! How often do we take the time to "just read" and of course, to snooze every now and then.

Also I have just finished the 4 books of the Twilight series and Clare has the first 3 films so of course I now know what the characters look like. Perhaps not quite as I imagined but oh my goodness, I can't wait for the next film to come out. Who would have thought I would have enjoyed the books so much because, let's face it, they are targetted to the teenage females but I really enjoyed them. The escapism I suppose.

Time to go now and start thinking about colours, buttons, ribbons, threads and what to do next. So many projects, so little time. Oh by the way, I have knitting projects on the go at the same time. I find it easier to knit in the evening, not so hard on the eyes. Oh!! the joy of getting older........ Here's to tomorrow, bring it on....

Bizarre creatures - quilters

2011-09-02T21:04:00.000+02:00

I have a very good friend over here who loves to go to charity shops and the equivalent of car boots and buys up old cotton dresses, blouses and shirts, bedding also. She then takes it home, washes it, irons it and cuts it up. She then spends quite a few evenings cutting up brown paper into squares and the result is this .........

A huge pile of brown paper squares

A huge pile of cotton squares

So when we have lots of paper and lots of beautiful cotton squares, what do we do with them? We wrap the fabric around the paper and tack it on.

Part of the process

This is actually a wonderful part of the process because you come across so many different kinds of fabrics which have been dresses, shirts etc. They are quite faded with the washing and pressing they have had in their lifetime and you can't help but wonder who was lucky enough to walk around in the amazing patterns. Quite a few I recognize and realise that perhaps my mother-in-law had a blouse in the same fabric, or my mum has a dress in the same fabric. It really is quite nostalgic and very satisfying. What is even better is the fact that my friend has done the searching, the washing, the cutting and then realised she didn't want to do any more so I now have the task of trying to make a couple of quilts for my twin grandchildren.

The first 9-square of many

Squares tacked ready to sew together in piles of 50

A really nice part of the challenge is putting the colours together and blending them into quilts. Of course the girls are very different and Millie is going to want pinks and lilacs and Jaime will go for the lellow (I know that should be yellow, but she makes it sound so much nicer) and greens. I know I am going to have a lot of help with this when I go and stay with Clare and Kenny in a couple of weeks. All this is hand stitched so I think I may be doing these in my sleep!!! So much to do and I really wish I lived close to a friend of mine, Sharlene who would be able to quilt the end product for me with her special machine. So you see, quilters really are very strange, we buy fabric just to cut it up and stitch it together again. Surely there has to be an easier way?

Bird church time again

Away from quilting now and as you can see, it's that time of year again when all the swallows are gathering before emigrating. They fly in in their thousands and it really is an amazing sight. We are so lucky that they seem to do this within the area of our garden. Every telephone line is absolutely full when it's time for them to leave. When William was here, he saw all the birds on the wires and he called it "bird church" because he thought they were all sitting in their pews singing to God. How cute is that? It will always be bird church for us.

What a summer!!!!

2011-08-26T22:09:00.000+02:00

It has been ages since I last posted and I have to say my feet haven't really touched the ground. We drove mum and dad home after their fabulous stay with us, and then drove back with Vicki, Bill and family following us for an 18 day stay. It was so good to have them with us but now............. how sad....
The swing only moves in the breeze, the tree looks empty and there is no-one to call to say they have gone up too high and can't get down, occassionaly we find and tread on little plastic animals and shout because they hurt, but most of all it is so quiet. We think we are getting used to the idea of being without our children and then I find this......

I love you too my beautiful children

These beautiful little notes, we found beside our bed one night when 2 of the children were being rather naughty and wouldn't go to sleep. We kept hearing these little feet running about upstairs and poor mummy was getting rather annoyed. Anyway, when we went to bed, we all had these little notes beside each side of our beds. How can you be cross when you find these??

A couple more photos for you.....

Action man feeling rather tired

Our breakfast time now seems rather boring

The girls chilled a lot in the hammock

Thousands of pictures in my head that will stay with me always, and the children even got me swimming, and that is saying something. I really don't do water. All in all, a brilliant summer and I could say it has now left a huge hole, but no, we are now getting ready to go back to the UK and we will be spending a couple of weeks with Clare and Kenny in Penzance. Oh!!! I am SO looking forward to that. Clare has got lots of "crafty" things planned for us to do (that's Clare and me) and I can't wait. Richard will be keeping Kenny very busy with various computer questions etc. I know I won't want to leave. Clare and Kenny .........be prepared.

A time to cherish

2011-07-21T22:21:00.000+02:00

I haven't been able to blog for a long time because for some reason my password just wasn't being accepted and something was wrong. It has taken us this long to sort it out, but we would never be able to do it without Clare and Kenny. Kenny would make the most amazing teacher because he never says anything when we keep asking the same questions over and over again, he just talks us through it again without showing any signs of giving up on us. Thanks Kenny you are wonderful. We are so lucky to have both of them at the end of the phone, our very own help-line.

As you may remember we went back to the UK to celebrate mum and dad's 70th wedding anniversary and here is a photo of Richard and I with our family. Obviously mum and dad in the middle, Clare and Kenny on the left and Vicki and Bill on the right with our beautiful grandchildren on mum and dad's laps with William in the middle.

4 generations in one photo - very special

The second photo is of my dad on the first day we arrived in France. The shorts came on and he was getting to know Sophie. We are very lucky because Sophie doesn't hold it against us because we have been away. I know one cat we had didn't come near us for a few days after we came back from holiday, but Sophie takes it all in her stride and she just loves it when we get back here.

A happy dad and a happy cat

This last photo speaks for itself. This sunflower must have been planted as a seed from a bird or something because we never planted it, but oh my goodness, it is just beautiful. I wonder if I take the seeds and plant them next year, will they be multi-headed like this one or will it revert to a single flower. Anyone know the answer to that one? They are such happy flowers aren't they?

All these flowers on just one stem - lots of happiness in this one

I will stop this post now, I just wanted to make sure it worked again. I will be taking more photos to share with you. Much love to all our family and friends.

Aims, I hope you are doing OK. Will write again soon. Take care and God bless.

Last time for a while

2011-06-07T21:57:00.000+02:00

As the title says I will be going off for a while, going back to the UK to visit family and most importantly, celebrate my parents' 70th wedding anniversary. Should be a good party!! I thought I would show you some of the produce that we will be missing. Such a shame, especially my favourites, the raspberries. Our friends gave us these canes and they are golden raspberries which I hadn't tried before, but oh my goodness, they are amazing. Lots more as well but I won't bore you with any more photos.

Delicious lettuce

Redcurrant. We need more bushes of these, can't do much with the fruit of just one

Golden raspberries. One of the best tastes in the world

At least we will be back ready to harvest these beauties

I love the action of the grasses. I want to get some more varieties

In between the garden and nursing a very sore knee I have been getting on with knitting the blankie that I mentioned in my previous blog. It's fun to do and grows quite quickly really, considering I am such a slow knitter. Here is a picture of how it is coming along.

Blankie - such fun to knit

Such a good way of using up excess sock wool, but don't worry, I haven't knitted that many socks, my family aren't walking around with 10 pairs of socks on!! Most of this wool was given to me by my friend Gillie.

I will sign off now and not sure when I will be back as I can't get on line while at my parent's house. Enjoy this good weather, even though we need some rain I know. Love to all my family and friends and we will be seeing some of you very soon.

Aims, should you read this, I hope you are feeling better and that your hand is letting you get back to your craft. Talk to you soon. xx

Another good week with friends

2011-05-29T18:06:00.000+02:00

As the title says, we have just had another very good week with lovely friends who have never visited us here before and the weather was amazing. I only hope they enjoyed themselves and feel they would like to come again one day. They were very generous and we had some fabulous meals out and some very yummy food bought for us. I really should have taken a photo of one of the meals which I wasn't eager to try. Globe Artichoke!!! Actually I still think it is an awful lot of work for the amount of vegetable you get at the end of it, but the truth is, I liked it. Whether or not I would cook it for Richard and I, who knows.

Robin and Gillie after a wonderful lunch

A rare photo of me and Richard

When I was in the UK Gillie and I used to craft together, in fact it was Gillie who started me with my quilting. We spent very many happy hours stitching, sometimes without having any conversation at all and it didn't seem to matter that we sat in absolute silence, concentrating and just enjoying the moments. You can do that with good friends can't you? While she was here she was showing me how to knit a blankie which seems to be all the rage at the moment and a lot of fun. Gillie is into knitting beautiful shawls so I thought I would make her a couple of stitch markers. First attempt and she loved them, I may have to make myself some.

The pink angel has clear glass wings, shame you can't see them here

The weather here is still very, very hot and would you believe we have lost most of our lawn, we just have a sort of brown short hay. So bizarre for so early in the year. We are starting to get ourselves ready for going back to the UK as we are celebrating my mum and dad's 70th wedding anniversary on the 28th June, then hopefully if they are both well enough, we will be bringing them back here for a few weeks.

That's it for now, much love to my family and friends, especially my children. Vicki, have a lovely half term with our beautiful grandchildren. I wish we could have them here.

More photos than words

2011-05-13T19:33:00.000+02:00

I can't believe the time has gone by so quickly. No excuses for not posting except that we have had our wonderful friends Sue and Jim staying with us for a week, and we have had the most amazing time mainly relaxing, catching up and Sue and I have been crafting as well. The weather was perfect and we had every single meal, including breakfasts, outside, so what more can I say. Our next guests arrive on Wednesday so I will be madly cleaning again in a couple of days!!!

Now for some photos. The first one is of a beautiful little lamb that our nephew and neice have and because they had her at 3 days old, she goes everywhere with them and she is certain she is a dog and follows Nat wherever she goes. I had the pleasure of bottle feeding her, what a poppet.

Margurite (or Maggie) Just adorable

Sue spotted this little chap in the garden one evening. Sorry about the quality of the photo as it was pitch dark. Not sure what is going on with his back though ???

I just love hedgehogs

Picked this morning and loads more just waiting

A couple of needle cases

Inside of needle cases

Some lavender bags, left on a pillow for my guests

I will leave it at that today and hopefully will come back later on in the week. Take care one and all, much love to my family and friends.

Spring

2011-04-14T14:22:00.000+02:00

The call of the cuckoo, the buzz of the bee

This is the sound of spring to me,

The smell of the lilacs, the leaves on the tree

This is the meaning of spring to me

I was reading in bed, very dark, past midnight

Was amazed at the moon and the stars, how bright,

But as I listened, something seemed very wrong

Then realized I was hearing my first nightingale's song.

This morning the mountains are in their best gowns,

The sun glinting off them, how can I feel down?

We are preparing now for our friends to arrive,

Yes, spring has burst forth, time to feel alive.

So life doesn't always go the way we would like,

Bad decisions, ill health, any time may strike,

But on a day like today when you feel the sun's rays

Just sometimes the "yeas" outweigh the "nays"

The tulips my sister gave me
in the box my girls gave me

Perfection

1st April and the magic begins......

2011-04-01T21:47:00.001+02:00

What a day it has been today. Apart from the fact that it is the 1st of April it has also been very, very warm so we have been out in the garden most of the day. The first amazing thing was, as we were sitting by the pond having our morning coffee, a kingfisher flew over the pond. Two thoughts came into my head, the first being the fact that it is the most incredible coloured bird and a shame I could never take a photo of it because it is just too quick. The second was, oh dear, we have been so happy this week because we have baby goldfish swimming about. How long will they stay in the pond once the kingfisher visits us? The second thing was ........ I saw our first swallow so they should be appearing in the near future. As we were watching all this the cuckoo was cuckooing most of the day. How much better can you get than that and not a penny was spent - all free. Then of course there are all the flowers and shrubs coming out. Here are just a few..

Tulips our good friends gave us for our ruby wedding anniversary a couple of years ago

A cowslip - one of my favourite flowers and I thought I had lost them

I have to go out every day just to get a fix of the perfume of my favourite shrub

This acer which has come into leaf in the last week

Oh dear, how many favourites can I have. Being a lacemaker, this is the lacemakers emblem

We have had two super bits of news this week, firstly our beautiful twin girl grandchildren got a place in the school they wanted, so that is a relief all round. It is such a stressful time for parents with this school placement, when did it all change when children just went to their nearest school? The other piece of news was William telephoning us this morning to say that he had won an award at Beavers. One for being good and polite. How proud were his grandparents?????? Yes, very. Well done William, we love you all very much.

Well, my eyes are beginning to droop so I think I may stop now and take to my bed with a good book, another wonderful thing to do that doesn't cost a penny. Night night everyone.

Garden Time

2011-03-24T19:24:00.000+01:00

We have been really busy in the garden again trying to get on top of things as the weather has been absolutely wonderful and beautifully warm. The grass is growing so quickly and needs mowing every few days and that is taking so much time. The first thing to do when we walk into the garden is stop to look at and take a really good long smell of this fabulous shrub. We brought it from the UK with us and it has never looked as good as it does this year and it is one of my favourite scents, just amazing.

Viburnum Carlesii

The next thing to do is bring out my lovely garden bag that my mum and dad bought for me for our wedding anniversary. Richard got a new end for the hose pipe. Strange gifts but much needed. I love my bag and kneeler because it is so girly.

Lots of pockets for all sorts of goodies

Yesterday we planted about 70 onions, some of which are for keeping so hopefully we will learn the french art of plaiting the onions and perhaps I may be able to hang some on the handlebars of my bike!!

Not a good photo, all lying down, wait a couple of days and I will show you again

The last thing to do after a day in the garden is to stop and look at the sunsets, they are amazing at the moment.

I hope you are all well and I will talk again soon. God bless.

Gosh, here's me back so soon

2011-03-15T18:38:00.000+01:00

I can't believe I'm here again so soon, but it started drizzling with rain just after I had planted some strawberries - good for the strawberries, not so good for our gardening afternoon, so here I am. The two photos I have here are certainly different and I just hope you can see the second one clearly enough. After being away from the house for so long we are desperately trying to rip out brambles and get rid of pots with dead plants in. You will see what I mean from the first photo........

Why on earth don't I throw this away??

Bless their little hearts, this is the reason. A large family of tree frogs

Now for a couple of things I have finished and which I am working on. The Debbie Bliss wash cloth is such a lovely item to take to our craft group because it is small and you don't have to think much while you are doing it. I have made one already and I think they will make a lovely gift with a special hand-made soap.

Gilet - A finished item for myselft - very unusual for me!!

I was very pleased with the way this turned out except for the fact that it makes me look even bigger than I am, but the yarn is fabulous, it was James C Brett - Marble Chunky. They produce this yarn in different colours so I may be tempted to use it again. Also, I have been asked by 3 different people if I could make them one, but I have declined even though I loved knitting this particular garment.

Love the texture of this moss stitch

Well, I think that's about it for now, can't go too mad!! Need to go and start our dinner, we need to make it a bit special as we have been married 42 years today, my, how time flies when you're having fun. Talk to you again soon.

Spring is nearly here

2011-03-13T22:33:00.000+01:00

I haven't really got my head around posting lately so this will be quite a short post and then when I have taken some more photos I will try again. Also, the book on my bedside table has changed quite a few times since the last update on my side bar and believe it or not, I have finished a few little projects, since that scarf so whatch this space as they say. A huge thank you to Clare who has changed the background for me again, aren't I lucky having a daughter who indulges her mother so?? I will now start taking some photos and be ready to leap into spring with a new look etc.

How beautiful - needs a better photo really though

How beautifully fluffy, you can almost smell the wonderful scent

My first little tulip. Doesn't it give you warm and fuzzies?

Oh, just a little taster of what is to come, along with the sunshine. Talk to you all again soon. Hello to all the Smith family. Love you guys.

Faith * Family * Friends

2011-02-24T21:55:00.000+01:00

The title of this blog is lovely and these three words are above the french doors in Vicki's lounge and they mean a lot to our family. Faith, we have had to have a lot of that this last year and it has paid off because last week, once again, Richard got the all-clear and we don't have to go back for any more blood tests for 6 months, so all is well. Also, while we are here we are able to go to church on a regular basis which is great as it is something I miss when we are in France.

Family, well as you can imagine we certainly enjoy our time back in the UK because we catch up with all of our family. The only massive disappointment is the fact that Clare lives in Cornwall and we just can't manage the 5-6 hour trip there when we are here for only a short time. Guess what?? Clare came to see us when we were staying at my mum and dads and she stayed for a night so how lucky were we?? The photo is lovely and is of Clare and my mum trying to teach Clare how to crochet. Not easy when Clare is left handed and mum isn't!! These times are precious when your child and grandparent are together, especially when my mum is 90 - bless. I can't believe it, but it is their 70th wedding anniversary this year. Isn't that amazing? They are so happy together as well and always have been, I know I'm very very lucky.

Learning the craft of crochet

Of course the other side of family comes with Vicki, Bill and our beautiful grandchildren, and today Richard (Grampie) was able to teach the girls to ride "big bikes" without stabilizers and oh my goodness, how much did he enjoy that as you can see from the photos below.

Jaime on the first solo ride

Look at that little face, thrilled or what??

Millie's turn, well done Grampie

A very proud brother with his sisters

Where on earth does the time go, we have to enjoy every second don't we? By the way, don't be alarmed, our road is a cul-de-sac so no traffic comes down there!

Friends - we have been able to catch up with quite a few of our friends while we've been over here, perhaps not as many as we would have liked, but with the hospital visits, it hasn't been easy this time, but what special times they are. Hopefully a lot of them will be able to come and visit us in France this year.

Well I think I have gone on enough but just to let you know that we are back at my parent's house again next week so no access to the computer again. Before I go, I would like to wish Cyndy a fabulous time when she heads off to her quilting retreat. Oh! how I wish I was able to come with you. You never know, one day.... I think I will have to have a special pot in which to put some "holiday" money as I have two special quilting friends now in the USA, Cyndy and Sharlene and I can think of nothing better than spending some time with them just quilting the day away and being able to buy cheap fabric!!! Did I say that?? No Richard, I know I have a big enough stash.

Thanks for popping by, talk again soon.

More ramblings from France

2011-01-21T22:22:00.000+01:00

Since Richard and I have been back here in France we have had the most amazing weather and also very bizarre which seems to be the same for everyone. We have sat outside and had our lunch in the garden, in January!!! and today it hasn't got much above freezing but with the sun and blue sky the trees look absolutely amazing. I only wish I could do them justice when I take a photo. These are a couple I took.

Bare branches against the most amazing blue sky

I loved the way the trees were mirror images in the lake

We have been trying to go for a walk every day, mainly to help my cholesterol problem, but to be honest, with the weather the way it is, it has been lovely. It doesn't always happen of course because we get tied up with doing things in the house and garden but we are really trying very hard.

This is the time of year as well when the tulips come out for an airing again and I have made some for Helen, who looked after us so well at Christmas. You can tell by the photos in my earlier post that she has a beautiful home and one of her bedrooms is "the black and white room", quite stunning and she said that she would really like to make some black and white tulips for it, well I made some for her and I was very pleased with the outcome. I only wish I had taken a photo of them, but I will when I next visit because they will also be in situ. She was thrilled to bits, almost brought a tear to her eye, and it was so good to be able to give her something I had made, a lovely feeling.

Hopefully there will soon be real ones in the garden

For Christmas Vicki gave me the most amazing book called The Knitter's Year and it has so many gifts to knit within its pages that I don't know where to start. I have taken it along to our little sewing group and so far 2 of our group have ordered it and I know a couple more want it. The projects in there are all pretty easy and quick and as a group we have decided that when we meet on Tuesdays we are trying to make gifts and make cards so that when Christmas comes and birthdays as well, we will have a little stash. With us all doing this it gives us motivation and it's fun seeing what all our friends are making. Long may it last ..............

"Spring" into action

2011-01-13T20:53:00.000+01:00

The weather today was amazing, so much so that we had our lunch sitting in the garden and we were only in our t-shirts. It was then time to start getting the garden into some kind of order and we found these little beauties. Surely they are everybody's favourite as they are truly the first sign of spring.

Just a few with more to come

Don't you just love them?

After a walk around the garden we started digging the vegetable patch so that we are ready to do a bit of planting. As you know we have been away from here for 6 months and the weeds weren't too bad but it was full of couch grass and oh my goodness we have never seen so many roots in our lives. We would pull one piece of grass and it would go on for about 2 feet. Of course when you are digging you are splitting it up as well so I think we have the wretched stuff for a while yet. Anyway while we were digging, pulling, cursing, raking and saying "ouch, my back" we disturbed this little poppet. Isn't he adorable?

So cute but they are very loud en masse

Well, we have an early start tomorrow and as it's Richard's birthday we are going out for the day with friends and then back to their house for an evening meal. He is so excited bless him, we are going to IKEA!! OK, perhaps not the best destination but he really doesn't mind and we know we will have a lovely meal in the evening because it is with Helen and Rob who looked after us so well on Christmas day. We are really looking forward to it, and let's face it, it is the wife's duty to enjoy her husband's birthday treat with him, so I will try my very best!!! Why is it that whenever you go to Ikea, you don't need anything but always come home with tons of stuff and always candles and serviettes are tucked into the blue humungous bags.

That's all for now, I look forward to seeing my family and friends in a few weeks. Briony, keep that handbag safe for me, I know what your mum is like with a new handbag!! Take care.

Happy New Year Everyone

2011-01-03T21:56:00.000+01:00

Just a couple of pictures and me wishing you all a very happy and healthy new year. Thank you to all who have wandered in to my blog to read what has been going on in my life. I just hope and pray that it will be more interesting this year with lots more pictures of the craft I have been doing. I will try very hard to finish projects that I start, because I am really very, very bad at doing that. Also to try and make gifts during the year so that I have a head start on birthday and christmas presents. I did say in my last blog how lovely it was to receive hand-made gifts, so that is my new year's resolution. Oh dear, did I really put that in black and white?? Oops, looks like I'll really have to try now. Anyway, here are 3 pictures, all very, very different but I'm trying out a new camera so please, any advice would be helpful.

Looks like we found where the pesky mice are coming in. Even made their own front door!!

Good to get back to healthy food after the festivities. Amazing colours in this lettuce

Came across this lovely little family on our walk this afternoon

Talk again soon. Take care and God bless one and all.

A change is as good as a rest.....

2010-12-29T22:03:00.000+01:00

As the title says, this Christmas was such a change for us and of course we missed all of our family, but we didn't realise just how good our friends were. We were invited into their beautiful home for Christmas and we stayed the night so that we could have a little tipple without worrying about the drive home. Below are just a few pictures of our stay with them, I'm sure there will be more Christmas photos to follow on another day.

Table set and ready for the feast

A beautiful hand-made gift waiting on my pillow

A gift for Richard and me - a Christmas cross-stitched picture

For me - hand knitted socks in amazing bamboo yarn

Richard also received some hand knitted socks, (not in the bamboo, but wool) but they are in the wash so I couldn't take a photo of them, but they are so warm and snuggly. The bamboo yarn is amazing, it feels almost like velvet.

The beginning of the most amazing meal

I have to say that this Christmas Helen has been an inspiration to me because the hand-made gifts were so special I really do need to do more myself. New Years Resolution is to try and make some during the year, although I'm sure I have said this before, but really, can it be so hard??? Watch this space.......

The next photo is just to make you smile because our little Sophie climbs onto the window sill in the kitchen to try and get closer to the birds that feed on the bird feeder attached to the window. One day she will learn that they are the other side of the glass!! Now, our Sophie wears a collar with a magnet attached so that she can get in and out of the cat flap and no other cats can. We have had a problem with the neighbour's cat, and seeing we have been away for a long time, we wanted her to feel safe in her own home. Well on this particular bird watching day, she managed to pick up the lid of a Haywards pickled onions jar and she wore it proudly for a while - my little medalion cat.

I think she was quite proud of this!!

I hope you have all had a very happy Christmas and I look forward to catching up with everyone in the new year.

Sun and Friends

2010-12-19T19:51:00.000+01:00

What a fabulous day today although very, very frosty this morning which looked very pretty. I'm afraid I didn't get a photo of that though as Richard and I were listening to the Archers drinking our tea sitting in our bed watching the birds on the feeders. Well, it is Sunday after all. Oh! before those of you who listen to the Archers think we were still in our beds at your 10am, our 11am, we were catching up with the Omnibus from last Sunday on the computer, before I listened to this weeks. I know I'm sad, but hey ho!

After lunch we went over to some friends and took advantage of the lovely weather and went for a walk, we stopped to wave hello to you all.

Just thought we would stop and wave hello

The views round and about are just stunning and my friend Helen went armed with some scissors and a bag because she knew where there were some bushes with loads of lovely red berries on them. Unfortunately when we got there, the birds had had them so we just had to make do with the greenery.

Caught in the act!

Beautiful countryside

Back home then after a lovely day of sunshine and good friends. You can't really get better than that can you? These friends have invited Richard and I over to their home for Christmas day and we are really looking forward to it. We will be stopping the night so at least we can have a drink and the 4 of us can raise a glass and toast both of our families back in the UK.

Once again, keep warm, stay indoors and snuggle under blankets. My lovely William, I do hope you are feeling better, Nannie is still sending you virtual hugs and kisses to you and your girlies. I love you all.

OK my girls, it's done

2010-12-15T20:39:00.000+01:00

Well we have finally got around to looking out our Christmas decorations and seeing what we have got here. The trouble is, since we have been here in France, we have never put up any decorations because we have always gone back to the UK to be with the family, so it was a bit of job and even now, we haven't found all of them. As I am typing this Richard is trying to fix the old lights we have, I say old because they were from when I was a child so HUGE sentimental value. I will be so disappointed if we can't get them to work, but because they don't at the moment, we haven't put up a Christmas tree but we still have some twinkly lights as you will see.

Nativity scene in the bread oven

Twinkly lights over the fireplace in the lounge

My very own choristers made by my lovely friend Di and myself

Fireplace in the kitchen, excuse the aprons

At least it looks a little festive and to be honest I wasn't sure I was going to put anything up at all because this year is rather strange for us, but at the end of the day, it is still Christmas and needs to be celebrated. Perhaps tomorrow I may even make some mince pies and crack open the mulled wine, I will let you know on that one.

I have to tell you, I am so excited, but I have won the most adorable present and you can see it here http://bigbluebarnwest.blogspot.com/2010/12/one-last-giveaway.html Thanks so much aims I can't wait to receive it. Now I just have to decide what to do with it.....

We are slowly getting the house back to normal again but we still have mice. They are very clever little things and avoid the trap and go straight for the food!!! Can't blame them really because secretly I'm quite relieved they live to fight another day, just not in my kitchen!!!!!!! or bedroom!!!!!

Well I will say cheerio to you all and much love to all my family and friends. Thank you for all your good wishes for my birthday which was on Monday and I had some really scrummy presents. Of course, being a "nannie" I particularly loved having Happy Birthday sung to me by my grandchildren. Talk again soon. God bless one and all.

Oh my goodness, what a mess

2010-12-08T19:08:00.000+01:00

We plucked up courage today and went into our barn to see the damage that happened while we have been in the UK. We were told a beam had come down but oh my goodness, what a mess, where on earth do we start. The beam is HUGE and we were so lucky that it missed our sit-on mower and various other bits and pieces in there. We had to go in because when my dad was over here a couple of years ago, my dad and Richard moved all his tools and benches into that barn and made it into a wonderful workshop. Since we have been back this time, Richard has wanted to do various little jobs and of course, he has no tools that he can find so we had to brave it and go in.

Where the beam had rotted and snapped

What a mess, where do we start

We are so lucky to have such wonderful friends and neighbours around us and 2 of them, Paul and Ester came round today and helped Richard clear out a lot of the rubbish that had come down from the first floor and also make safe the beam. We are now able to get at the mower and this is used all the time with the trailer to get rid of rubbish etc. I think there may be quite a few trips down to the tip in the next few weeks. To be honest we had never been up onto the first floor of the barn so had no idea just how much rubbish was up there. So much straw so very, very dusty and an awful lot of other junk. Just our luck though, nothing worth anything. Why do other people find "stuff" that's worth hundreds of pounds?? Wouldn't it be good to have a lot of money, if we did, we would fly our son-in-laws out and some friends who are fit and strong and get this barn into shape in no time; that's if they were willing of course. Ho hum, there you go

Last photo is of the peanut butter cookies I made for us all to have with a well earned cup of tea. An industrious day and probably the busiest one we have had since we have been back. Poor Richard is rather tired, but the trouble is, being back here there is such a lot to do and he is like a pig in muck when he is doing something. Still, slowly slowly.............

Mmmmm..Yummy

Take care one and all, keep warm. We were lucky today and were able to be outside in t-shirts. Long may it last.

Oh by the way, we caught a mouse in the bedroom last night so that's another one. I wonder how many more of the little blighters there are.

Home at last

2010-12-02T16:43:00.000+01:00

We have made it at last and now the fun begins. We had travelled through the night, something we said we wouldn't do again, but pleased we did because the snow may have stopped us otherwise had we not got through when we did. After a very quick look around and unpacking a few things our time was spent cuddling our little Sophie, who, after just a few minutes, couldn't leave us alone. She is such a people cat and to be honest we thought she would ignore us for a little while, for leaving her for so long, but no, she was fine.

I had put the electric blanket on for the bed to air, and once we had a bite to eat we decided to go to bed very early and catch up with our lost night's sleep. It was quite funny really because we walked into the bedroom and apart from there being quite a few flies to sweep up, we moved a piece of furniture and a mouse ran out. Welcome home!!! Never mind, we will face those problems tomorrow. We were lying in bed and started to giggle because we had forgotten just how dark it is here. Not a light for miles and of course where we had been in the UK, all the streets have lights in them. We couldn't see the hand in front of our faces. The same kind of thing happened in the morning when we woke. We said, "What was that?" Of course it was nothing, absolute silence and that hadn't happened to us for quite a few mornings. Richard made us a cup of tea and coffee and we sat in bed and looked at the mountains in all their winter splendour and noticed that the birds were sitting waiting for us to fill up all the feeders.

On close inspection after we got up, our poor house needed quite a lot of TLC, after all, we have been away for nearly 6 months. With having mud walls and floors, the damp comes up through the floor. When you are living in the house all the time, the house seems to breath and you don't seem to notice it, but not being lived in for that long, quite a lot of our drawers and cupboards were rather mouldy and musty. Food thrown out, drawers washed, windows cleaned etc and it is starting to feel more like home although there is still such a lot to do. Slowly slowly we need to take our time. On the second day, the chimney in the kitchen blocked and the log burner had to be taken out and the chimney cleaned. Of course we had taken the whole of the previous day cleaning the kitchen and washing all the pottery to put back on the dresser, so very pleased it happened the day after that............... !!!!!! Eeek! Are we still smiling?? Only just. On a good note, Sophie caught a mouse in our bedroom so that is one problem solved but I'm sure there are a few more. I lie there at night time and hear a few things but luckily I'm not scared of mice, I just don't want to share my bedroom with them. As you can see from the photo, apart from the fact that Sophie is very pleased to have us back, she is in the right place to listen out for the pitter patter of mousy feet - that's if she stays awake long enough.

At the moment we are taking a break and I am typing this sitting in front of the fire in the lounge, after having a lovely walk at lunchtime. It is very cold but the sun was lovely and we promised ourselves we would try and go for a walk every day. I need to get my colesterol down and Richard needs to build himself up again and of course I am fighting with my weight all the time so the more we can do to help that situation the better.

Well I had better stop now and get on with some more work. I hope all our friends and family in the UK are keeping safe and warm. The snow looks dreadful, so mum and dad, should you read this at Hilary's, please stay indoors and keep warm, I know what you are like dad, you will be out there clearing the snow away so you can feed the birds, but please don't. Hopefully I will be able to blog on a regular basis again now so I hope to catch up with all of my fellow bloggers in the next few days. Bye, talk again soon.

Last post for a little while

2010-11-21T20:53:00.000+01:00

As the title says, this will be the last message I post for a little while because Richard and I are off to my mum and dads again tomorrow, so no computer access. We are going over to my mums because on Friday Richard GOT THE ALL-CLEAR and we are heading back home. The cancer in his blood was undetectable which is fabulous news and we don't have to be checked again until the end of February. As with all these big decisions it has been a hard one to make. On the one hand we are desperate to be in our own home again, but we have never had a Christmas without any of our family around us so it will be quiet, restful, peaceful but very sad without our children. Time for us to be rather selfish though and I know my mum wants us to be here for the holidays, but dad understands that we need time to heal and rewind our batteries. My mum knows that as well, and I quite understand why she wants us to stay here because I want to stay for the same reason but................. Back again in February.

We looked after our beautiful girls today because their mummy went to Brighton to run a 10K and William went with his daddy to cheer her on. She made it and did really well so we are very proud of her. The girls behaved for nannie and grampie; they couldn't go because they have horrid coughs, and we had a pyjama morning and watched Bambi, Dumbo AND Snow White. How cool was that??

Well, now we are planning when we return home and hopefully, this time next week we will be back. Very strange. It will be so good to see all our friends again and our little Sophie, so the next time I will be blogging it will be from home.

Light at the end of the tunnel

2010-11-09T15:57:00.011+01:00

Like the title says, there is a small light at the end of the tunnel. Richard is coming along very well and we are just waiting to see what his PSA count is in his latest blood test. Should it be good we are thinking about going home. We have been over here for such a long time, living with family at 3 different locations, that we have forgotten what it's like to be on our own. Don't get me wrong, we have been incredibly lucky and we have managed so well, but not having our own space and not being able to do what we want when we want is very difficult. The up-side is, we have spent such good quality time with all of our family that we just wouldn't have done, it has set us up for a long long time. I am sure as well, that Vicki and family will be pleased to have the house to themselves especially our William, because we are in his bedroom and he is in with the girls. I have to say though that I will miss the little bodies, albeit cold, first thing in the morning coming in to snuggle beside nannie, perhaps not the 5.45am ones!!

At the moment we are staying with Clare and Kenny in Cornwall for a few days and Clare and I have been doing some craft. While I am typing , Clare is knitting away and she is making such a good job of it considering this is her first attempt at what she calls "proper grown-up knitting". We had seen some wrist warmers in a shop and would you believe she looked at them and the price and said "That's crazy, they look so easy to make". Who would have thought I would ever have heard my daughter say that. I was tickled pink. From there we went to her lovely local knitting shop and 45 minutes later we came away with - wool for 3 pairs of mittens for Clare (and that's without even having a pattern - that's my girl) and 3 huge balls of wool for me to make a gilet - with cabling and everything grown-up. How scary is that?? I haven't knitted anything for myself for many, many years apart from socks and scarves.

Richard and I are now talking about our home in France and wondering how it has fared while we have been away. We are very lucky to have wonderful neighbours who have been going in and airing it and generally keeping an eye on everything. The lawns have been mowed, but the weeding will be a bit of a challenge!! We went through some photos just to remind us what it was like and what we have been missing, I will share a couple with you. You will notice the one of little Sophie and she has been looked after and loved by our wonderful neighbour David who has cats of his own so we know she is well loved. Would you believe he has been known to take his lunch round to our house just so that he can sit with her to keep her company for a while. How perfect is that, she just couldn't have anyone better taking care of her. We originally thought this stay would be for a couple of months but we have worked out that this year, we will only have been in our own home for about 3 months.

Our little Sophie

Getting back to normal

We were hoping to have a few good walks while staying here but the weather has been too wet and blustery so we are keeping our fingers crossed for tomorrow. I suppose it is November. Oh and talking of November, can you believe that I have done all of my christmas shopping and even wrapped most of them, because if we go back to France, we will be staying there until Richard's next hospital appointment mid February so I have had to get organised. Talk about having to be focussed, it really worked - brilliant. We are so looking forward to going back to our home but at the same time, I have never had a christmas without my family so that is going to be very strange. They would all love to come out to us but the flights are such a lot of money at that time of year that it's not possible, so it will be just us, though we have had an invitation to one of our friends out there, so although very different this year, I'm sure it's going to be wonderful. At least we are here to tell you about it because a few months back when the word "cancer" became part of our everyday conversations, it could be a very different story.

Well, my knitting needles are beginning to call me so I will say cheerio, but before I go, Clare and I had watched the new TV series of Kirstie's Homemade Home and there was this part in it that made some baskets made out of crochet using garden twine. I thought they looked fabulous but I have never crocheted anything other than a blanket, going round and round and round and round in circles. Still haven't finished it as far as I know, not sure how!!! Anyway, Clare had a bit of double knitting wool, I bought a crochet hook from her lovely shop and I had a go. This is the end result, very wonky and obviously the seams aren't pressed, but it would pass wouldn't it? I seem to lose stitches though. I start with 22 chains and end up going across about 17. How do I do that??? I just don't seem able to make a true square.

A not-quite-square but OK container?

I am definately going now. I won't be back for a while because we are off to stay with my lovely mum and dad. Will talk again soon though. Bye.

PHEW!!!!

2010-09-23T15:06:00.002+02:00

Well the day finally came and Richard had his operation for prostate cancer yesterday and we have been told that all went well, so now we are on the (rather long) road to recovery. I saw him last night and while I was there, he had a cup of tea and a sandwich which must be a good sign. It was a 3 hour operation, longer than I thought it would be so he needs to do a bit of sleeping, which he has always been rather good at, to let his body mend. Various bags are hanging off him which he has to drag along with him wherever he goes but he has got used to that recently because our beautiful twin girl grandchildren wrap themselves around our ankles and we have to walk with them hanging on. Very good for the leg muscles!!

Not sure I can write any more at the moment, my head is spinning, but thank you to everyone who has called, emailed or texted with best wishes, thoughts and prayers, they are much appreciated.

Take care and talk again soon.

It's been a while

2010-09-04T20:50:00.006+02:00

I can't even begin to say what has been going on in our lives and where we have been but I will give you the good bits with just a few medical bits, but mainly, what we are doing now. So, at the moment we are in Cornwall staying with Clare for a week's visit to get some rest and relaxation to boost Richard before his operation for prostate cancer which is due on the 22nd September. The first picture shows you the reason we are here, the footprints in the sand, the walking and dreaming on the beach with our family..... just being.....

Walking and chatting, catching up, just being mum and daughter

Having a giggle or two

Having a paddle which I love because when you come out of the cold water, your feet feel really warm and soft

Walking and talking until the late afternoon turns to the most amazing sunset

This brings me to a roundabout way to the first photo on this post which is an embroidery that Clare gave to me one Christmas about 10 years ago and at the time it only had just a few stitches to do to finish it off. Being here this time, Clare has now given it to me and isn't it worth waiting for? There is a photo of the whole thing but it doesn't do it justice so you can imagine the rest of the verse. I'm sure you all know the verse well enough, and I just hope and pray that Richard and I are being carried at the moment during our troubled time. I'm sure we are.

We leave here on Tuesday to go and have a couple of days with some very good friends who we haven't seen for a very long time. The husband has already been through prostate cancer so very reassuring for Richard, and Gillie is a soul mate with regards to craft, quilting, knitting etc. In fact it was Gille who started me on the quilting trail. We saw a lot of each other before our lives took us all to different parts of the world/country and I just know that once we get together again and start chatting and laughing, it will be as though it was only yesterday that we saw each other.

After that it will be back to our other daughter and family to stay and begin to get Richard ready for his operation. Certain tests need to be done but we will be with our family and grandchildren who will keep us laughing and taking our mind off the nasty bits. As a bonus, it is our twin girls 4th birthday on Saturday, so needless to say that is going to be a fun-filled day.

Well, I think that's all for now, I will try and post more often now to keep you all updated. Talk again soon.

The Pied Bird Catcher

2010-06-06T16:00:00.009+02:00

Can you see me mum? As you can see from the "spot the cat" picture, she just loves it when we fill the bird feeders. Before you all go "Oh no, that's really cruel", she really is too silly to ever catch one. I have seen her catch one bird and she brought it to me as pleased as punch into the kitchen, put it down to show me and it flew off thank goodness. I know it's only nature, but you hate to see them catch things don't you, although it's all rather small fry with Sophie. Anyway, this is as far as she gets and that's OK with me.

In this post I have just posted some photos so while we are back in the UK we can look from time to time at what has been going on in our garden, the roses this year have been amazing and at least we have been able to see them. We are going to miss all our fruits, the potatoes, the onions we are going to dig up and take with us, the cherries have been and gone and to be honest there weren't very many of those this year. Never mind, there will always be another time.

The next photo is of our pond, specially for our friends Di and Brian who were with us last year and helped us clear it out and get rid of all the bullrushes. Just look at it now, you wouldn't believe Di was standing about halfway down, still with no water around her.

Now for our flowers. Sorry to all the photographers among you, I only wish I could do them justice. One day I am going to get myself a decent camera and have some lessons. The first being the most perfect white rose, the second is for my sister who bought us this pineapple tree, the name being because the flower really does smell of pineapples. The next is of the roses on the side of the house. These were already here when we bought the house. Amazing.

Well, our time is nearly up here and we have nearly caught up in the garden, but of course, at this time of year, you never really finish do you because the next day, the weeds are back. We have dug over the flower beds and loaded them high with the grass mowings hoping that it will keep the weeds down and also the moisture in. I am going to start putting the crockery that is on my dresser away so it won't be such a mammoth task when we get back to wash it all again! The problem is not knowing how long we are going to be away. Little Sophie is going to be well cared for by our neighbour David. I did wonder about asking someone if they would like her, not knowing which was the best for her, but David said she will be fine and we know he loves her and gives her as many cuddles as he can. He will be rather busy though because his cat Pica has just had 2 beautiful kittens. So this is it, on to our next adventure, what do they say, Life is a tapestry, it just seems our stitches have gone a bit wrong at the moment, so a bit of unpicking and re-stitching is required and we have the most amazing family and friends in the UK waiting to give us all the support we need.

I will try and post again before we leave but if not, I will try when I get back to the UK, but remember I'm not able to get on the computer when we are staying with my mum and dad. Be patient, we will be back. God bless, talk again soon.

Lost in France ........

2010-05-26T19:06:00.005+02:00

As the title suggests we are Lost in France, but not the country, our garden, amongst the weeds that have grown since we have been away. What is it they say, if you can't beat them join them? So I picked some for indoors. We were very lucky and our lovely neighbours mowed the lawn for us, but the weeds were waiting for us on our return. Still, I suppose it is the growing season so we can't expect anything else. Our little cat Sophie has been very well looked after by David our neighbour but she hasn't left us alone since we have been back and I haven't had the heart to tell her we won't be here for long. Bless her, she is such a poppet. David says he gives her lots of cuddles, but obviously he can't be here all the time and they are never enough. Of course we don't know how long we are going to be away next time so it will be hard leaving her again.

We have been keeping very busy since we have been back so not much time to think of the horrid few months ahead of us. Enjoying the sunshine and getting warmth on our bodies and building up our fitness for the next adventure in our lives. We will be leaving here 2nd week in June so it is a matter of closing the house down and tucking her up for a while. Worst case scenario, it could be 6 months, so a long time to be away from our home. I am madly trying to put together craft work that I can take back with me, although mum and my sister always have lots of projects to do. I will spend many a happy hour with them while we are back in the UK.

Dad is getting along a little better again now with his leg, but he has had to have another injection in his eye. Yuk! I can't begin to imagine what that must be like. Bless him. Lots of love mum and dad and see you soon. Keep the B&B open for us.

I will try and post again before we go back, but I will say cheerio and God bless for now, talk to you all again soon. Thank you to everyone for all your good wishes.

A message to the Smith family, "Sorry if there are some spelling mistakes or typos, but I'm sure you will tell me about them when I get home"!!! Lots of love.

Good friends, good walks

2010-05-09T20:09:00.003+02:00

Richard and I spent a wonderful couple of days staying with our very good friends. It's lovely when your friends give you the chance to really chill out, talk when you want and feel really comfortable. We spoke about the dreaded "c" word the first day, then it was banned with a small fine if it was mentioned the next day. We had a couple of fantastic walks but one in particular at Virginia Water where we walked for about 6 miles, passing these amazing rhododendrons and azaleas. If you are reading this, Brian and Di, thank you for a really good couple of days. Let's hope we will be able to repay you in September when you are booked to come to us. It's doubtful we will be back in France for then, but who knows??

That's all for now, off to my mum and dad tomorrow and get ready to return to France to close the house down ready for the next, not so good, adventure in our lives. Take care one and all, talk again soon.

A Wonderful day

2010-05-05T17:41:00.006+02:00

This is going to be our last day with Clare and Kenny in Cornwall and we have had such a wonderful day. The sun is shining, lovely and warm so we decided to go to Godrevy Lighthouse, picking up a really yummy cornish pasty on the way for a picnic on the beach. Such fun clambering over all the rocks and looking in the crystal clear rock pools. Even better, just after we had finished our lunch Richard's mobile went and it was the hospital saying that the CT Scan on his kidneys was normal. I have never seen such a change in a person in so short a time.

This photo is me lifting the heavy load that his been on our shoulders while waiting for that phone call. The next photo is Richard with the most amazing smile and shouting into the wind and huge YIPPEE!!!!!

We were making so much noise, these two little characters popped up to see what was going on. We stayed and watched them for quite a while and I was surprised at how large these seals were. This day was just getting better and better and what a good job Kenny had taken his camera with him so I could share everything with you all.

Always good to have good news when you are with your family.

Tomorrow we are off to stay with our very good friends before we say goodbye to Vicki and family and my parents. We are then hoping to get back to France for about a month before we go for the MRI in the middle of June and then decide with the consultants what the best treatment is for Richard. By the way, this is where we were this morning, not bad eh?? Talk to you all again soon. Take care

Good Times and Bad

2010-05-01T16:19:00.004+02:00

It has been a long time since I last posted and to be honest, I'm still not in the mood for this but here goes. As you know we came back to the UK for 2 weeks over Easter, we are still here. Firstly we had a brilliant time with the children and my parents during that time and as you will see from a couple of piccies, we had a fun time with the grandchildren when we took them to a wonderful enchanted forest for the day. Lots to see and explore and we didn't see it all in the time we spent there so we will need to go again. The first photo is where we found this huge "giant's hand" that we could sit on and have a bit of a snack. The second one is where they were trying to say that nannie looked a little like the goblin??? Personally I don't see the resemblance do you? Good job there isn't a close-up here.

Anyway, when we went back to stay with my parents my dad was in a bit of a state with his leg and we took him to the doctors, only to have him whisked away to hospital with a suspected blood clot. He was in there for 3 days and although he is out now, he is still in a lot of pain. That was the first part of the holiday and we should have been going back to France by then but........... Richard had a bit of a scare and went to the doctors, was referred to the hospital for various tests, (I am NOT going to go into details here but rather invasive) and the outcome so far is, he has prostate cancer. We are waiting for the results of the CT Scan on his kidneys and then he has to go for an MRI in 6-8 weeks time. We will probably go back to France to set things in order there and close the house up as we will carry on with the treatment for Richard, whatever it is, in the UK. As you can imagine, we are in for quite a few rough months so forgive me if I don't blog very often.

Take care one and all. God bless.

Happy Mother's Day

2010-03-13T12:18:00.005+01:00

In the UK it is Mother's Day on Sunday, so if my sister looks at my blog, I am sending the photos of the flowers for my mum. Happy Mother's Dad mum, I love you very much and will see you in a couple of weeks. I can't wait. We saw this little clump of violets when we were out for a walk and I couldn't get very close to them, and I get very frustrated because I know if I had a slightly better camera I could zoom in to them and you would see them better. Still, they were still wonderful to see. The others are a little clump of daffodils we have in the garden and one of the stems has 3 heads on it. Just beautiful.

I have no idea where the time has gone since I last posted. It was glorious sunshine then and spring had arrived, but since then we have had a day of snow and it has been rather cold, so we haven't done much outside. We started weeding the beds and just when Richard wanted to mow the lawn, the snow came and it is rather wet again. We were hoping to get the grass mowed before we go back to the UK for Easter.

I had a wonderful surprise yesterday because the most amazing bunch of flowers came to the door for me for Mother's day. These were from Clare, so thank you. I have a card from Vicki and I know that I have a special "day out" organised for when I go back so I am really looking forward to that. I keep making guesses as to where we are going, but she keeps telling me off, I have to wait and see :-) It is also our wedding anniversary on Monday, 41 years. It only seems a few months ago that I was telling you all that it would be our ruby anniversary and here we are another year on. It's quite frightening isn't it?

Should Tracy read this, we wish you a very happy birthday for Monday. I bet there will be another super handbag somewhere in the presents!!! We look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks time when we are back.

That's about it for this time, I wish you all a good weekend and for my family, I love you loads.

Spring is sprung, the grass is ris, I wonder where the birdies is

2010-02-25T16:24:00.008+01:00

As it says in the heading of this post, spring is sprung..... well after a fashion. As to "I wonder where the birdies is" we saw them flying over this week, must have been a couple of hundred cranes, what a sight and the sound cannot be mistaken for anything else. You hear that first and then you are searching the skies trying to find them and then this skein appears and there they are. Our neighbour got in his car and followed them for quite a way, he was having trouble keeping up with them at 50-60km ph and then they stop and circle as if taking imaginary photographs so they can find their way another year. Quite amazing.

You can see from the 2 photos below how exciting it all is with the bulbs. The snowdrops in fact have nearly finished and the crocus are out in their best frocks now, all yellow!!! No idea where my purple and white ones went, I think the mice underground had a field day. Our very good friends came to see us last September and brought us some tulips so they were planted up in pots as you can see - not having the mice chewing on those little beauties. Well they are doing really well as you can see and if you are wondering why they are covered with wire netting, if you have a cat, you will realise the reason. She just loves using the pots as toilets. Little darling!

At this time of year the garden will begin to get out of hand so we need to get out there every good day there is. Yesterday I took about 15 hardwood cuttings of elaeagnus which is a shrub with the most beautiful perfume in all the world, to me anyway, so fingers crossed they will be good to plant out as the start of our hedge come next Autumn.

In the evenings it is still on with the knitting, I finished the scarf in the photo and it is really soft wool and such wonderful rich colours, though you can't really see that in this photo. I'm not very good at photo taking, I would like my son-in-laws skills on that front. Still knitting socks, yes Di, still knitting them. I say that because when I told my friend I was knitting them she almost wet herself laughing so the pair that should be winging their way over to her will now be held here. You wait till you see them Di, you'll be sorry!!! :-) They would keep your feet so warm in your riding boots when out with Zeffie.

I have just spent 2 days clearing out my sewing room, oh my goodness, you know what it's like when you start a job and wonder what on earth you have done. Well I was surrounded by wool, fabric, patterns, frames of all sorts and enough cross stitch kits to keep me busy until I'm about 200. Why on earth did I buy all of them and when am I going to do them? I should have had my mum and sister with me when I was doing it, we would have had such a laugh and I could have sent them home with some. I have a massive bag of wool to take along to the sewing group on Monday for anyone who wants some. Full balls, little balls bits and bobs but they will be useful for someone surely.

Today Richard and I went to a town called Condom (I know, don't say anything) which is about 40 minutes away from here and went to church. It was a lovely anglican service all in english and the people made us so welcome. We are thrilled to bits to have found a church for ourselves because we have really missed it, we were very involved when we were in the UK. They hold a service on the last Thursday of every month so we will become regulars.

Oh well, time to go and do some dusting, we have friends coming tomorrow afternoon so I better show willing. Take care family and friends and fellow bloggers.

Before and after

2010-02-12T10:13:00.005+01:00

Sitting here with the snow falling gently outside the window with the sun shining on the mountains showing off their wedding gowns, it's easy to know why we are here, but yesterday when there was more drilling in the walls and we were looking through a fog of dreadful dusty mud from the walls, you often wonder. I ask myself will it ever be finished and did we start this much too late in our lives, but being realistic we couldn't have done it before because we were working. To make myself feel a little better I thought I would look to see how far we have come. The first photo is when we were viewing the property.
The next one is a closer look at the work that had to be done. Perhaps another day I will show you some of the inside.

The last one is of the outside and taken by a very good friend of ours who has the knack of making our house look very nice indeed. Sorry about the car in the drive. If I was clever I would be able to take that out, but ho hum..... you have the car!!!

So now I have looked at these and realise just how much we have achieved in a short time, it makes me feel better.

Cat's cradle/bed socks

2010-02-03T14:06:00.009+01:00

I am not allowed to mention the fact that I don't have much to say, on strict instructions from my girls, because when I do I tend to ramble on a bit, so now I will start my ramblings. Really it is just to tell you how clever my little kitten Sophie is, as you will see from the first photo, she is taking serious note on how to knit.

Once she had mastered the technique she thought she better have a go at getting the knitting pins in the correct position, this took a little more effort and drove me insane as you can imagine.

There was more than one time when I was busing knitting away and suddenly, whoosh! the damn needle had been whipped out of my hand and into her little paws. She is very quick. Look at her, butter wouldn't melt would it? So after a few days, look at what WE have achieved, isn't she clever?

These are now winging their way over to Vicki, so I hope they fit you OK and keep your feet nice and warm when you are out walking Mabel in your wellies.

Now, can someone answer a question that came to mind, and I'm sure the person to answer it will be aims. When knitting socks on 4 needles, you only use the knit stitch, because you are knitting on the outside of the sock, though it looks like pearl on the inside. I don't quite know how this happens but is this where the words "stocking stitch" came from??

Well the lovely sunny weather is calling so I am going outside for a while. Thanks for stopping by and hello to all my family and friends again, especially the Smith family who I don't see very often. I hope all is well with you and that school/college is going well for Briony, Jess and Charlie. Pete, you shouldn't work so hard, take some time to stop and smell the flowers and Tracy, let me know when you get fed up with your handbags and throw them in my direction!!

Knit one, purl one, graft some

2010-01-28T10:07:00.003+01:00

Not a lot to talk about today. The weather has been rather nice, very sunny during the day but frosty early morning and night. We have been trying to do our walking every day, it's not always possible but as you can see from the photo, there are 2 old age pensioners out for a stroll enjoying the sunshine.
I think I told you I have posted off the pair of socks I knitted for Clare and I can't wait for her to get them to see what she thinks. They are very addictive and I have finished another sock and half way through the next one. They certainly knit up very quickly and I can even graft the toe now, thanks to my good friend Helen who is a genius at any craft. Whatever she tries, it always turns out perfect and she makes some stunning things, I suppose I shouldn't like her really but she is so generous with her knowledge and time that she has become one of my best friends over here :-) I have just spoken to my eldest daughter and she is desperate for a pair of socks to wear with her wellies when out walking the dog so I think I better get back to the clickety-click of needles, little Sophie permitting of course.

Well I am certainly achieving some of my new year resolutions, the walking, more time for my craft and trying to be better at keeping in touch with all the people who matter to me.

Time for a cup of tea I think so I will say cheerio for now and hopefully there will be more photos to show you another time. Take care one and all. God bless.

Things I've been doing

2010-01-20T11:57:00.016+01:00

Not a lot of chatter today, I just thought I would show you a couple of things I have been working on and some I have finished, which is very unusual for me because I have so many UFO's. The chairs - we found quite a few of these in our barn when we bought the house and I thought it would be a good idea to learn how to re-seat them so I went to a class with my friend Clare, who speaks french. To be honest, not speaking the language very well, it was hilarious and I soon learnt when the tutor said, in french, "Stop you fool, you are doing it wrong". That's how I understood it anyway, she didn't really call me a fool, I just felt it. It was a brilliant class and I learned a lot but having said that, I'm not sure I could do one on my own, the starting off is very, very difficult, so I would need another lesson. The end result though, for a first attempt, I was really pleased with. Richard had to go in my place for the last lesson because I was in the UK and he enjoyed it as well.

As for the socks, while I was in Penzance with Clare and Kenny over Christmas, I think I said in my last post that there is this wonderful wool shop. Well the assistant in there said she had found a pattern for knitting socks on 2 needles and it was easy.............. Not for me it isn't but I have now completed one and I am rather pleased with it. Now half way through the next one so hang on for a while Clare they should be with you in a couple of weeks. I suppose I was a bit naive because I didn't realise there would be so may seams and I hope they aren't uncomfortable when you put your shoes on. I have sewn them as flat as I can. Has anyone else knitted socks on 2 needles? I have to say, knitting them on 4 needles, although more difficult for me, they are a much better looking sock.

Well I think that will do for today, seeing as I said there would be no chatter. Will let you know how I get on. Take care everyone. Love to all my family and friends who take the time to read this.

Home again

2010-01-16T13:01:00.005+01:00

Our travels are over for a while and we are back home in France, so no more suitcases to live out of. I love going back and being with my family more than anything, but the nomadic lifestyle isn't for me.

We had a fantastic visit and managed to stay with all our family, my parents for the longest and they are really well though struggling a bit with the snow they have had since Christmas. We were actually very lucky because if we hadn't left the UK when we did, we would probably only have got home a couple of days ago, the roads were completely impassable. We had a wonderful week with Clare and Kenny in Cornwall, with no snow there and it was good to be able to walk into the town, looking at the sea and just enjoying the amazing scenery. We even managed a walk on the beach. We were spoilt rotten while we were there so thank you guys very much. A bonus for me is the fact that there is a lovely knitting shop in the town and they are so nice in there that I could spend hours just feeling all the loveliness of the yarns and looking at all the patterns. Clare was very patient though. This is the name of the shop.

On the 14th of this month it was Richard's 65th birthday so I am now married to an old age pensioner, not forgetting that I'm one anyway when I became 60. I find it very scarey when I think about how old we are getting, I don't think I like it at all and everything that comes with it, I really need to get into a positive mind-set and do something about it. We have started walking and try to get out every day. We have just got back from one and it was an amazing view of the mountains today, they look very close and they have certainly got their wedding gowns on and the sun was glinting and making a myriad of colours of pink and purple and silver. We said we needed our friend Brian here because he takes wonderful photos and , having the correct lens, which we of course haven't. We also saw deer in the fields, it was all rather magical and makes you feel alive. Anyway, going back to Richard's birthday, our little cat, Sophie came up on the bed and decided she would help him open his presents. She was so pleased to have us back, though she has had a lovely holiday with a friend of ours up the road, so much so, that we can't get her to go outside now, she prefers living indoors in front of the fire.
We are now of course missing our beautiful grandchildren, we spent some lovely days with them and Vicki and Bill and managed to see a few nativity plays at the schools which was an added bonus. I am so pleased we were there to see them. Thanks so much for having us stay for so long, I do realise it's a bit of a squeeze having us all there and as William says, I do snore when I'm sleeping in his room with him. Bless him. Out of the mouths of babes.........

So now, back to some kind of normality and I want to do some more of my craft so hopefully you will be able to see some things I've made on here over the next few weeks. I have just sent off a couple of scarfs for the girls and they phoned me this morning to say thank you. Though they seem to be using them as reigns, belts, superman capes, anything except scarves. Still, never mind.

I'm still here

2009-12-21T16:13:00.005+01:00

Hi everyone, just to let you know I'm still here. Since the 1st November I have been over in the UK and staying with my parents so of course I have had no access to a computer as Richard stayed over in France. He was supposed to be coming back here on the 17th December, but as a surprise he arrived early on the morning of the 13th which was my birthday. A lovely surprise and I really had no idea. I spent a lovely day with Vicki, Bill and the grandchildren, and my oldest friends, Sue and Jim came for the day as well, so all in all, not so bad getting a year older.

Richard and I are now in Penzance staying with Clare and Kenny for Christmas and we have just come back from a lovely walk where we fed the birds, ducks, swans and squirrels. The cheeky squirrels climbed up our legs to get the monkey nuts so it was a lot of fun. Very cold though, but we were wrapped up warm.

I am going to sign off now but will write more another time. It's good to have the puter back again. Everyone have a lovely Christmas, may you all receive the gift you wish for, and for me that is health, peace and happiness, (oh and perhaps a new handbag!!). Gosh, how cheesy does that sound. God bless you and your families.

2009-10-12T09:58:00.005+02:00

Richard, me and my mum and dad outside Clare and Kenny's house in Penzance
Millie's "pink" dolly dress
"I love pink Nannie" so did I have a choice of colour, no I don't think so

My mum enjoying the dolly

Friends leave, summer ends

2009-10-09T16:41:00.004+02:00

It has really been ages since I have posted and that is because we have been back to the UK to spend time with the family and also we have had visitors here. The first item there, the trip home to the UK was a brilliant trip. It was our grandchildren's 3rd birthday and we took my parents to visit for the day and I'm not sure who had more fun playing with the dolls the girls received, them or my mum!! She absolutely loved them and was jiggling them up and down and making the dolls giggle, then feeding them, hearing them suck, then burping them and helping them go to sleep, cuddling them when they cried. You name it, mum did it and loved every minute as you can see from the photo. With my mum being 89, when you think of the changes she has seen in everything, she must have been thinking about the dolls she played with as a child, no less loved of course, but so different. All for the better?? I'm not so sure.

After that we took mum and dad to stay for the weekend with my youngest daughter Clare and Kenny in Penzance and the weather could not have been better. The sun shone and we managed to get mum and dad down onto the beach and I was clambering on the rocks with Kenny and Clare and worrying my mum. It never changes does it, you always worry about your children, whatever age you or they are. We had a fabulous time with them and it was the first time my mum and dad had ever seen their new house, so a treat for us all.

We spent 2 weeks in the UK and managed to pack a lot in, Richard doing various jobs with dad in the garden. Dad was in one of his "building" moods and has made some lovely trellises for the garden and has worked really hard. It's all looking lovely. We did some shopping and went to Windsor for the day and basically had some good quality time with them. I miss them.

Back to France and we had some friends coming to stay so we had to get certain things ready for them. Di and Brian are really good friends and we see them when we are back home but have never had the need to stay overnight in each others houses so you always wonder how it will go when you are all living under the same room for a week. I needn't have worried, there was never a moments tension and it was a lovely relaxed week. We laughed a lot, chatted a lot, drank a lot, Brian likes Irish whiskey like me and Di and Richard were on the red wine. We did lots of jobs during the day and Di was an absolute star and helped Richard clear the massive pile of wood that needed sawing and stacking. Believe it or not, she enjoyed herself. We also had a clear out of the pond which had become over-run with bull rushes. Thank you both of you. The weather was perfect and we sat outside in the evening having dinner until about 10pm. Really hot during the day. Can you tell we enjoyed their stay. We loved it and feel very sad that they have gone home. Can't wait for them to visit again. Please don't wait another year both of you.

Now it's getting back to normal again, with summer ending and the evenings drawing in and all our friends have been and gone. It has been a wonderful summer, though the lack of rain is still a problem. I can now get back to my sewing and knitting. I am busy making dolls clothes for the girls for Christmas so that's keeping me busy at the moment. I love it though.

For some reason I can't post any photos so I will post this anyway and try and post some photos later on.

Back to sewing - finally

2009-09-06T19:35:00.008+02:00

As you can imagine I have been rather "down" since the family went back and I have felt the need to do something for myself. With renovating the house and Richard always busy working on it, I don't feel as though I can go up to the den and sew because I feel guilty at leaving him working on his own. So, all that has been happening is that I have been doing "stuff", not of any importance and feeling thoroughly fed up. We have talked about this and he said he would love it if I went up to the den and did my quilting, he would much rather I was happy. Of course, I knew that's what he would say, but bless him for making me feel better about it. So...... I have started sewing again and I didn't realise just how much I had missed it. Would you believe I've even forgotten how to do a lot of the basics so it's back to the books again. I couldn't even thread my sewing machine without getting the manual out, that's how bad it was. I have been putting together a little lap quilt which has a cat theme as you will hopefully see from the photo, but the main fabric, which I have taken a photo of, doesn't do anything at all, unless I did a lot of "fussy cutting" (to those of you who don't know that term, it means cutting out each individual picture you want) and of course I would waste so much fabric. Sharlene, if you are reading this, what do you think, I think it would be much too busy to put a border of the lovely cat fabric and I'm just thinking of backing the quilt in. Such a shame not to see all those lovely cats on the front though.

We are off to the UK on Tuesday and I will not have access to a computer because we are staying with my mum and dad, but I am taking a lot of sewing with me and mum and I are going to have some fun sewing together, something we haven't done for a while. I'm really looking forward to it. I am even going to go to some fabric shops and quilt shops, those we don't have in France, at least anywhere near to where I live. I really miss them. Not that I need fabric of course, but it's good to see the latest designs and to stroke the odd fat quarter. :-) Oh well, a little might find it's way into my bag. Oops, who said that??

We still haven't had any rain here and it has been hot again today. Most of our trees have lost their leaves now and the pond is almost dry. The cracks in the ground you can get your fist down, so it will be interesting to see how many of the trees manage to recover from this drought.

Well, I can hear my sewing machine calling me again so I think I had better go and see what I can be doing. I won't be on here again for a few weeks so I will catch up with everyone when we get back. Take care one and all and talk to you again soon.

Oh yes, the other thing is, the swallows. You will see from the photo that they are all gathering, getting ready to migrate. They do this for a few weeks and we were talking with our neighbour, David the other evening and we decided they collected on the telephone wires to "chat" to each other and decide when they were going to leave and what route they were going to take for their hundreds of miles journey. They will gather in their thousands before they set off, an amazing sight.

2009-08-24T16:09:00.005+02:00

While Richard has been away I have been picking our produce, plus the goodies our neighbours have given us, and cooking and freezing like there is no tomorrow. The tomatoes have been fantastic and some of them are HUGE as you will see from the photo. When you cut them open, they are so fleshy and so sweet, just yummy. The garden looks dreadful because there

hasn't been rain for ages and we have lost so many trees, especially the fruit ones. The peach trees have lost their fruit and leaves so are standing naked, same with the apple tree, apples still clinging on but not growing at all, the pear has a few pears but they seem to have stopped growing as well. Even our massive lime tree has lost most of it's leaves now, the ones that are left are brown; we are kicking up leaves as we do in the autumn when we walk across the lawn, well I say lawn, there is NO green at all and it is being blown away. How very sad it all looks. The forecast has said we could expect storms tonight, going into tomorrow so perhaps we will get the rain we so desperately need. We just can't water everything because it comes from our mains water and we have a hosepipe ban now so it is a matter of watching everything close down before their time.

Richard is due home on Wednesday about lunchtime and I can't wait. I have to say I don't like being here on my own too much and with being scared stiff of storms, I'm not looking forward to tonight at all. What a whimp I am.

The family have all settled down back in the UK and Bill has completed his bike ride from Edinburgh to London, (525 miles) he arrived back yesterday evening (Sunday). Well done Bill, a real achievement, we are very proud of you.

Well, that will do for now, I seem to be rather boring at the moment so I will try and get some cheer in the next post for you. I will take some photos of Smokey and Sophie playing. They are an absolute delight though Sophie is such a tinker, a bit like a puppy because she chews everything, dives at ANYTHING that moves, especially my bare toes (ouch!) and her teeth are like little needles. Clare has advised me to get a spray bottle of water out and give her a little squirt when she does wrong which is a brilliant idea but I think I may get through a few gallons a day!!!! I will have to do something though because my body looks as though it's been through a war zone I have so many scratches on it. Bye for now, will talk again soon.

The Aftermath

2009-08-19T11:43:00.003+02:00

I suppose I should be pleased that I can join the blogging world again, but I'm not because it means that I have access to the room where the children have been sleeping for the past 4.5 weeks. How quiet it all is. The beds are taken up and stripped of their bedding, a few toys still scattered across the floor because I haven't the heart to pick them up, books left ready for me to read to them, but they have all gone back today and I am rather sad. Richard has gone back with them to help with the driving and he will be away for a week, so as I look out into the garden and see 3 empty swings gently moving in the air and a child's hammock lying empty I will wallow in my sadness for just a while.

When you read this Vicki, I have loved having you here with the children and only hope that you enjoyed it too, enough to come back again next year, hopefully with Bill being able to stay a while longer. I do realise it was too long for you and the children without him, but thankyou. God bless, I love you all. See you when we come back in September.

2009-08-08T11:13:00.005+02:00

The second picture is of the children "helping" Grandpa to clean out the pond. What a dirty smelly mess we all were and what fun we had, so many beasties to find and Mabel the Springer Spaniel they brought with them was in seventh heaven with the smell and mess. A good shower with the hose pipe was lots of fun though.

The time is going so quickly and the children seem to be having a lovely time. We are very lucky to be able to use a friend's swimming pool so we have been going there most days and everyone loves it. We take a picnic lunch and spend most of the day there and Jan (our friend) baked us all cakes yesterday so we are being really spoilt. As Vicki says, what is it about being by the side of a pool in gorgeous weather having tea and cake brought out to you? Just wonderful.

The girls weren't sleeping at all which as you can imagine was very difficult for Vicki, she was so tired, but the last 2 days they have slept right through, so fingers crossed it will happen again for a few night. A bit of bribery is going on, but as long as we sleep, who cares??

We have had our old car out as you can see from the picture and the children think it's great going out in her, they just love it and of course Grampie loves taking them out in her.

I need to go now because the swimming pool is calling and the children are in their costumes ready to go, so I will try and post again another time.

Sun, water melons and paddling pools

2009-07-27T12:13:00.007+02:00

I can't believe the family has been here for a week already. Poor Bill went home yesterday after a wonderful, hot week playing with the children in the paddling pool, they have had a whale of a time. Because it is so hot, we play outside during the morning, then come in for lunch and we either play inside or they watch a dvd until it gets a little cooler. They think it's great being able to eat breakfast outside and tea, but not lunch, it's too hot. William quite likes to "chill" with little kitten upstairs and he has taken ownership of her and he is being very responsible.

Today they have gone to visit their cousins and play in the swimming pool though it is a bit cooler today. Not a bad thing, a bit of a relief. I have taken loads and loads of photos but quite honestly most of them are of the children with wonderful little naked dimpled bottoms so not to be put on here, but you can imagine. It is so good to see them running around our garden at long last, and to think we have about 4 more weeks of this. We are enjoying ourselves so much.

A couple of the photos here are of the children enjoying some water melon and us all out on a walk/bike ride with Mabel the dog. I have to say, the dog is being very good which is such a relief because both Richard and I were so worried about having her here, with having no fences and she has no idea where our boundaries are, but so far, no problem apart from her having a fettish about paddling pools...........

We loved one comment that William made, you know the telephone lines are 4 in a row, like music, well there were loads and loads of swallows sitting on there, a classic picture, and William comes and tells us that he has been watching "bird church". Apparently they were all sitting in their pews singing to Jesus. How cute is that. Children's minds are wonderful aren't they?

I will go now and have a quick tidy up while everyone is out now that I have caught up with emails, blogging etc. The trouble is, the computer is in the room that the children are sleeping in so I'm not getting on here very much, so apologies for not commenting. Back to normal in a few weeks. Bye for now, talk again whenever I can sneak in here....

Just Boosting our Batteries

2009-07-13T18:19:00.006+02:00

I don't know where the time has gone since I last posted, but wherever it went, it was good while it lasted. We had our very dear friends Sue and Jim here for a week and it was lovely to just chill with them and catch up with what has been going on in our respective lives. I hate to say how many years I have known Sue, but if I say it is over 50 will that suffice??

I thought I would let you know how little kitten is getting on. Her name is Sophie, a little french don't you think? We obviously have her for all time now because there is no way that Richard is going to let her go. We did ask around at the beginning if anyone wanted a kitten, but it's too late now, she is ours. Smokey is so good with her, though he bats her every now and then just to keep her in line, but all in all, they are doing great together, beginning to play as you will see from one of the photos. The other photo I have put there is of Smokey's eyes, aren't they the most beautiful blue?

As it says in the heading, Richard and I are now filling our reserves, boosting our batteries, ready for Vicki, Bill and the 3 grandchildren to arrive this Sunday. We can't wait, but we know we are going to be absolutely knackered at the end of the month. One of the problems we may have is the fact that it is so hot during the day, so what on earth do we do with them, they certainly can't be outside all the time. I am getting crayons, books, glue and anything else I can think of ready to play with. A friend also gave me a recipe for home made play doh. I won't make it until the children are ready to help.........I wonder if that is a good idea? Yes, I'm sure it is. I only wish they were old enough for other crafts like sewing and knitting but William will think it's a bit girlie I'm sure and the twin girls are only 2, well 3 in September so a bit young yet. Never mind, we'll think of something.

Hopefully I will be able to post while they are here and I know Vicki will want to as well so we should have some lovely photos later on. Till then, time to take deep breaths, relax and panic getting the house ready. It's funny because until you know you are having small children to stay and you look around, you don't realise what an unsafe environment we live in. Richard has various tools, saws, knives, chain saw!!! hammers etc. which I'm sure William will love, but not quite the toys he should be playing with. Bye, talk again soon.

Cute or What

2009-06-26T19:54:00.005+02:00

Just a couple of lovely photos of Little Kitten. Smokey is being so good and doesn't bother her at all, hopefully I will be able to get a photo of them together soon. I missed my opportunity today when they were both playing with the same piece of string, I didn't have my camera with me. You will notice that the photos are with the "big stern man who isn't soft at all"....... Yeah right!!
The first one is of Little Kitten and one of the Pirates of Penzance!!!

Just some lovely pictures

2009-06-22T17:36:00.010+02:00

I am going to let the photos speak for themselves. They are, and not in the right order I expect, Smokey stopping me from finishing a "taggy" I had made for one of Clare's friend's baby. They are such a lot of money to buy, but great fun to make. The babies love playing with all the little tags and buttons. A rose that a friend gave us for our Ruby Wedding anniversary in March, it is called "Ruby Wedding". A wild kitten (Hissing Sid at the moment) that we found in the garden, very, very hungry but wouldn't come near us a few days ago. Today, he came close enough to eat a little meal off a saucer, so fingers crossed. A hibiscus which I bought from the market today, fantastic colour and looks so good in the anniversary present my sister gave to us. I just love the idea of the big cup and saucer and what a colour that flower is, look at the stamens close up. Perfect.

Back again

2009-06-20T11:24:00.004+02:00

Well, here we are back in France after our visit to the UK for 2 weeks. The reason we went mainly was to help our youngest daughter and her husband settle in to their new house in Penzance. Firstly though we stayed with Vicki, Bill and the children for a few days and of course that was wonderful seeing them all again. Luckily we see them fairly often so now they just run straight up to us, I would hate it if they were a little shy at first. Mind you, having 3 children running full pelt at you can be rather disturbing, you have to brace yourself so they don't knock you flying!! Also while we were staying there, we all went to my mum and dads for a day and they are in good health. The children were really good and the weather was marvelous, so much so that we hooked the hose pipe onto the washing line and the children had great fun running through it. Mum and dad love having them there and it was a really good day.

Richard had a list of jobs to do at Clare and Kenny's so it was a matter of putting them in order of urgency. The kitchen was first and he set to cutting, chopping and changing cupboard doors around so they could fit their cooker and fridge in. This was done and it will be down to them now to do the decorating, but it is a nice size kitchen with lots of potential. Richard then did a lot in their bedroom and various other jobs. Clare and I did a fair bit of shopping but really, I couldn't do an awful lot and I felt a bit useless, but there will be other times no doubt. We walked into Penzance which is only about 15 minutes walk and it is a very pretty town and the views of the sea of course are wonderful. I have to say they have chosen well, it is a very practical house for them and close to all amenities and I hope and pray they are very happy there. At least when I talk to Clare on the phone now I can imagine where she is, it always helps doesn't it? They have a walled garden and a friend of theirs who lives close by and loves gardening, has great plans, so I think they are going to have lots of fun doing that. That is something I can at least help with when I next go down.

Now we are back it is getting the wretched garden back to how it was, the lawn and weeds have just gone mad because it has been very warm and wet. That is the only trouble with leaving it at this time of year, we just don't know where to start on our return. We have our oldest friends coming to stay on the 1st July for a week and I can't wait. Jim has been before in a "working" capacity and always when it has been freezing cold, and Sue hasn't been at all, so I am really looking forward to having them here so we can just chill out and enjoy each other's company. First though we have to get a room ready for them so I had better go and do some more work.

Take care everyone, God bless and talk again soon.

Bumper Harvest

2009-05-25T20:39:00.004+02:00

Just a quickie, but I thought I would show you some of our cherries, they look so good, shiney and waiting to be eaten and sitting in my hand made basket. I would never have thought in a million years that I would be picking my cherries, off my tree and putting them in my homemade basket!!! What fun. Sad though we are heading back to UK tomorrow and there are hundreds of cherries waiting to be picked so we have told all the neighbours to help themselves; we can't let them go to waste.

I can't wait to see my family, take care and I'll chat on my return.

A Sad Day

2009-05-23T21:00:00.006+02:00

A very sad day for me today because we have got rid of our beautiful ducks. Poor Poppy went off looking for somewhere else to make a nest and she just chose the wrong garden by going into a neighbours, and this neighbour wasn't very happy about it, and told us so!! We were told to fence in all our garden which we can't possibly afford to do, put them in a pen, or someone will end up killing the ducks. As you can imagine, I don't want them in a pen, I can't see the point, the whole enjoyment we have had is watching them dibbling about in the garden. They have given us hours of pleasure but no more. We called the friends who had given them to us in the first place and they said they would have them back, no problem, so now we are duckless and very sad. At the end of the day, we don't want to cause any unpleasantness because we have got on very well with everyone and we don't want this to change, I just hope she realises how many tears were shed this morning.

Anyway, enough of that, Richard and I were taken for a walk in the mountains, our first real walk up in them and oh my goodness the views were amazing. The first walk we couldn't do because it was closed due to risk of avalanches so we went for another one. Unfortunately this was a lot harder than the first one our friends had planned and Richard and I both found it very hard. The good thing about going now is that the snow is melting and the waterfalls were out of this world. Also, all the wild flowers are coming out and how on earth do they grow out of rock. You will see from the single flower picture that it has no earth at all, just this beautiful violet. You will also see from the next photo that my poor hubby was very tired, as was I but you can't see that because I was taking the photo :-) We had a lovely picnic and a really good day but oh did we sleep well that night.

I may not be posting again for a couple of weeks because we are back in the UK next week because our youngest daughter and her husband are moving to Penzance so dad needs to do a bit of DIY. Keep well everyone and I will chat with you all on my return.

Warm weather and flowers

2009-05-17T20:53:00.005+02:00

The weather here has been glorious for the past few days and when we walk out of the door into the garden, firstly there is the wonderful smell of the philadelphus (orange blossom), and then you are aware of the quite loud buzzing and you realise it is all the bees in the acacia trees because the blossom has just come out on those and again, they smell pretty good. Everything in the garden is really coming on, the roses, all the trees are out and the fruits are appearing on the trees, in fact, there are some cherries that will soon be ready for picking. Very strange, I never thought I would ever be able to talk about picking my own fruit etc. yet here I am planning my chutneys and jams for this year. Also Vicki and the grandchildren are coming out and hopefully they will be able to pick the figs, peaches etc to eat straight off the trees. Poppy has given up on her nest so we think this year we won't be duckling grandparents. Should she lay again, we may take the eggs away and incubate them ourselves. We'll see. She is very young yet, not a year old until July so there is time. It's probably for the best, but still a shame I was really looking forward to having little babies.

On my last post I said I would post a picture of my socks. There hangs a tail....or not... I wish I had taken a photo of them now because when I took them to our little sewing group to get advice on how to graft the toe (you see I had got quite a long way) there was something that was not quite right so we had to unpick a few rows, then a few more, then a few more, and wouldn't you know it, the WHOLE DAMN LOT was unpicked and I was left sockless. I was absolutely gutted as I really don't know what I had done wrong. So Hilary (dear, dear sister who I love loads and who sent me the wool, pattern and needles) I am really sorry to have let you down. Helen has now taken them home and she is going to knit them for me, BUT, I have another ball of wool and I have started again on another pair, I'm not going to be beaten. I will go as far as turning the heel, then sit with Helen and she can see exactly what I am doing. I am determined to have a pair of socks that I have knitted myself. I have actually taken a photo of the ones I'm doing now so I may post it next time. It is so hard knitting with so many flaming needles but I suppose I will get used to it. If Hilary and Mum and are reading this they are probably having a little giggle by now.

I have copied out the next celtic design onto my block so I will soon be starting that. I can't wait, I don't seem to have done quilting for quite a time and I do miss it. I need now to cut out the bias and get that all prepared ready to stitch on, I have chosen the fabrics so it should be all systems go.

Well, it's time for our hot milk and honey (with a little whiskey) and off to bed for a read of our books. Market day tomorrow so we will be up quite early, something we have got out of the habit of...He! He! Talk again soon.

Good to have you back Dad

2009-05-03T21:08:00.007+02:00

As the picture shows, Smokey was very pleased to have us back, although we did have a friend staying in the house a lot of the time so he was very well looked after. In fact, Geoff was saying what good company Smokey is, more like a dog than a cat because he follows you everywhere.

The ducks are still OK although the first nest which had at least 7 eggs in, they were all eaten, so she made another nest in a very exposed place, and they were eaten. Now, since we have been back, she has made another nest somewhere else, I won't tell you where because it's a secret!! and so far we have 5 eggs in there, so we will wait and see what happens. If you remember we had 2 drakes and one female so we had to get rid of one male, and would you believe the original pair, Thomas and Poppy's mum and dad, the owners called today to say that their male has been taken by a buzzard!! Their mum is sitting on eggs at the moment and if she abandons her eggs, they will bring her over to us so we will be back to 3 again but this time the ratio will be right. I hope you kept up with all that and that it made sense, I did ramble a bit didn't I? I knew what I was saying.

We had a lovely 18 days in the UK with the family. First off we stayed with Vicki, Bill and the children and they were all fit and well and in very good form. Oh how I miss them, the girls are doing so much now and chatter all the time. Just delightful. William is getting to be a proper little boy and went on his first "grown up" cycle ride with his daddy and managed to do 8 miles. Amazing. Just a photo to show you the children and their daddy. After that we went to my parents and stayed with them for the rest of the holiday, which of course they really enjoyed. Dad is slowly improving with his back but he is still having these injections in his eyes, so until all that is over which should be about June/July there is a lot of back and forth to the hospital. I went with him last Saturday and they did say there was an improvement so that's the main thing. While staying with my mum we spent time with Clare and Kenny because they live close and they are getting themselves ready for the move to Penzance. No moving date as yet, but shouldn't be long. We will then be going back to the UK stay with them and see where they are going to settle down, also I think "Dad" has a few jobs lined up like putting up shelves etc. Not to worry though because he loves it and we enjoy staying with them.

The day before we came back to France we went to London to have lunch with Richard's eldest sister for her 70th birthday. We had a lovely day with them and also Richard's cousin and her husband so all in all, a wonderful family day and so good to see them because we don't see Susan very often.

Well I suppose it is back out into the garden tomorrow to try and tame the foot high weeds and grass. We can't believe how much everything has grown in just the couple of weeks we have been away. The pond has over flowed because they have had so much rain, but in between it has been warm, perfect weather for growing!! Next post, I will show you how I am getting on (or not) with my socks.....or should I say sock. In this last picture it shows how quickly a man can get back into the swing of things. He! He! Three men here, I think they call themselves the Musketeers, putting the world to rights over a beer or two, or three, or four!!

Guess What??

2009-04-08T16:29:00.004+02:00

Where has the time gone since I last posted? I haven't a clue though we have been very busy getting ready for an old school friend of mine coming to visit. They were only here for a couple of days on their way through on holiday but it was lovely to see them. They haven't been here before so there was so much for them to see and good that they will get the before and after in a lot of the rooms. We are leaving for the UK tomorrow morning (Thursday) so that has kept us pretty busy as well, closing the house down and arranging for the looking after of Smokey and the ducks. Mostly though, our time is taken up looking at the ducks, they are so amusing and make us laugh a lot and guess what???........

By the time we get back from the UK, I could be a grandma to ducklings.... how cool is that? All the neighbours are on "duck watch" while we are away because while Poppy is sitting on her nest, Thomas stands guard on the wrong side of the hedge so he is in the road!!! We have tried herding him back but he just goes back there. I can't bear it, these children are such a worry aren't they? Surely he won't stand there during the night will he, can anyone answer that question for me? Deborah perhaps you will know. I just hope and pray he will stay on the pond during the night. Poppy has chosen a good place and is hidden, you just wouldn't know she was there unless you knew, she is amongst brambles.

Last week my sister sent me a "present" which came through the post. How lovely it is to get something unexpected in squishy jiffy bags. I opened it and it is 1 ball of wool, with 4 needles, double ended I have to say and a pattern. Now according to the pattern this ball of wool makes one pair of socks and a lovely little gift pouch to put them in. Oh how I could do with aims here because I have started these wretched socks quite a few times now and pulled them off the needles. I have NEVER knitted with more than 2 needles and never attempted socks or anything like that. and every time I got to the second "round" I had all the stitiches on one needle, how on earth do you join them up to make a round? It's beyond me I'm afraid. By the way, did you know that when you throw knitting wool out of the window in anger and frustration it doesn't make a noise :-) I will take it back to the UK and get some back up from there. They look beautiful but when I read the pattern and it talks about "grafting" the toe to finish off, I sort of go cold. I bet Hilary, my sister, is laughing her head off reading this, she found it quite easy so be ready for when I come back Hilary, I need you.

I will probably be quiet over the next couple of weeks though I will be reading everyone's blogs, you kind of get addicted don't you. Take care all of you and I will chat when I get back. I can't wait to see the family again, my mum and dad, my daughters and their husbands and of course the grandchildren, not forgetting my sister and her family, knitting needles at the ready. I will come back totally tired, knackered and happy with batteries re-charged. Happy Easter everyone, God bless.

The lure of a female in Spring

2009-03-24T20:16:00.004+01:00

Yesterday morning, from about 4.45am, our darling little duck!!! Poppy was calling and calling and calling and calling until I almost got up and made some orange sauce. We were quite expecting the neighbours to come and hammer on the door to make us stop the noise....... When we got up, Richard shouted, "they're back", and yes, we looked out and there were THREE ducks in the garden. Poppy obviously knew what she was doing when she was making so much noise, and it worked. I'm not sure if you can see from the first photo, but one of the drakes was always being chased away so we had to do something. We called the friends who had given us the ducks and they said they would call round in the afternoon and we would try and catch the drake and he would have to be re-homed. Bless him, it seemed such a shame but we knew it had to be done, they do say that a good ratio is 5 ducks to 1 drake. Out comes the big fishing net again and it was time to catch a duck; in actual fact it was very quick so he was popped into the cat carrier and later taken away to our friends house to find another home. So...... harmony reigns at the moment with a very content pair of ducks, one of whom has been clipped (Poppy) and I have to say there is a lot of "activity" if you know what I mean, so perhaps there will be some nest making soon. Once Thomas has settled we will catch and clip him as well, but we will let him just enjoy himself at the moment. (Lucky little duck I hear you say) He! he!

The weather here has been fantastic, shorts and t-shirts in fact, but today it has changed for the worse. We have been preparing the vegetable patches and we have planted 6 raspberry canes, a redcurrant and blackcurrant bush, plus a rhubarb; again the first time for us, so fingers crossed. We are harvesting the leeks so it's quite exciting. At the market on Monday, we are going to buy some lettuce and more herbs so slowly we are building up the food we can pick from our garden.

One of my oldest friends, (Vicki's godmother in fact) is coming to visit with her husband just before Easter. They are in a camper van and travelling through some of France and asked if they could come and see us and we can't wait to see them. They haven't been here, they just saw the photos when we were buying the house. Vanessa did make me laugh when she asked if we had finished the house.....they will soon find out that we haven't.

Vicki has her in-laws to stay for a couple of weeks as from tomorrow and I hope they all have a wonderful time. They haven't seen the girls and William only when he was 2 so they are in for a very busy, fun time. Enjoy your grandchildren Bill and Cindy.

What a weekend .........

2009-03-17T19:52:00.005+01:00

Words cannot even begin to explain the joy of having our daughters here with us for the weekend, but I will try. It started on Friday morning when we picked them up from the airport at Toulouse at 10.30am, so it gave us most of the day. Clare had asked if there was a particular shop in Toulouse, so we looked it up and there was so off we went. Richard and I have never been into the city so it was an adventure for all of us. What a wonderful surprise, it is beautiful with a lot of very quaint streets. Where are the pictures I hear you ask, would you believe we were so taken with having a good time with the girls that we didn't take photos. We found this amazing square with lots of cafes and the weather was so warm everyone was spilling out onto the pavements, so of course, it was lunchtime and people watching time. What a start to the weekend, superb. After we got home, the girls were shown their room, which they loved and they oohed and aahed in all the right places when they saw the bathroom and the shower curtain :-) The next morning was absolute bliss when we could go into their room after Richard had made us all tea and just sit on their beds and chat. Vicki was in seventh heaven, not having to get up with the children, though of course, being a mum, had to call to make sure everything was OK. It was. We chilled during the morning and some friends came to bring us a surprise for our anniversary, which was a song and a beautiful plaited willow tree. A lot of fun with them and of course the kind of gift you cannot buy. We had the girls' cousins for a BBQ in the evening, well not them you understand, and again, the weather had been so hot we ate outside even after dark. We put the fairy lights on and lit candles and it was very magical.

Sunday morning was our anniversary and we went into their room again, drank tea and opened all our cards and presents. Again, words cannot express how wonderful that was, just chatting, drinking tea and not having to get dressed straight away. Then it was time to go to my sister-in-laws for a family lunch. Fabulous. The weather wasn't as warm as it had been but still wonderful. The girls caught up with that side of the family and we generally enjoyed ourselves. We called in to some friends on the way home, had a drink with them and a game of skittles, then it was home for them to pack and an early night. Would you believe we had to set the alarm for 3.30am to get the girls to the airport.

I believe I told you we caught Poppy and I have now clipped her wings and today we let her out of her enclosure and she is on the pond. Oh how good to see her there, dibbling and eating all the green slimy stuff and tucking into the frog spawn. I just hope and pray she will still be there in the morning. Watch this space. She makes a lot of noise in the mornings and we are hoping that her "boys" will hear her and she will bring them in. Well, we live in hope, what other options do we have, we certainly can't catch the other two, little tinkers. I would hate to think she has to stay on this pond on her own though. Smokey keeps stalking her, but so far, she has been smart and heads for the pond. Keep doing that I say Poppy. I will let you know what happens during the night. Fingers crossed now.

Up, up and away....oops

2009-03-11T19:58:00.006+01:00

In the comments on my last post you will see Vicki made mention of the "pond incident" and I was asked what it was, well............. Yesterday, Smokey (bless him) brought me in a lovely present of a pidgeon and plonked it at my feet. I thought it was dead but, as cats do, he started playing with it and I realised it was still alive. Smokey was very good and let me take it from him and I took it outside. I held it for a while and stroked it and talked to it trying to bring it around. It was trying to flap its wings and the only damage I could see was a weepy eye, so when the cat wasn't watching, I put the pidgeon where he would be able to fly away if he was able. Minutes later, off he went flying into the air and I felt very pleased with myself for saving him,then.... you can imagine my horror as he dive-bombed straight into the pond. There I was racing indoors to get the net (this was worse than trying to catch the wretched ducks) but by the time I got there he was obviously dead. I hooked him out, only to have Smokey pounce on it again, so this time I let him have it. Just as I was going out later, he had brought it into the house again, plucked it for me all over the floor, bless him, and buried it in a dust sheet!! He was very proud of himself I have to say.

I have been making the beds up for the girls coming this weekend and you should be able to see Smokey has made himself comfy, just to check it out you understand. The weather today was glorious and we took a walk over to the ducks again and would you believe we caught Poppy, so now we have the female, we are hoping, if she calls, the boys will come looking for her. We live in hope. This is beginning to be a really long saga isn't it, sorry about that. Well, that's it for another day, one more day before our girls come, (not that I'm excited you understand). At least when I talk to the girls they are really looking forward to it as well, we haven't been together like this, just the four of us, for a very long time because of course, there is family always around, so this is going to be very special. Weather forecast looks good so far.

A wonderful gift for us

2009-03-10T20:45:00.004+01:00

Just to let you know that we had a wonderful surprise yesterday. The couple who gave us the ducks, (you know the ones that flew away!!) they came around to our house to deliver this most beautiful lemon tree for our wedding anniversary. It is something I have wanted for a long time but never had the nerve to get one because we do get heavy frosts here, so it's knowing when to bring it in etc. To make the gift more special was the fact that we really don't know these new friends very well, only for a couple of weeks in fact, so a truly wonderful thought. You should be able to see that one of the lemons is ready to pick, so when our two girls come to visit on Friday, we will be able to go and pick our very own lemon to go with our gin and tonic, how cool is that?

The ducks are still on their "new" pond and we go over to feed them. The little tinkers come so close sometimes, but I just make a move and they are off, so do I just give up now? It would save a lot of heartache. You can be sure that if we get any more, their wings will be clipped and we will get them as ducklings. Life is just one big learning curve isn't it?

Richard and I are very busy getting The Den ready for the girls visit. Almost there, and I know it doesn't matter if it's not all finished, but I do so want it to be nice for them. Our eldest daughter hasn't seen the house since we bought it, so hopefully she should see a bit of a difference. We are now keeping our fingers crossed for the weather to be kind to us, if only for the weekend. Talk again soon.

Getting ready for our girls

2009-03-06T11:32:00.003+01:00

Time seems to be running away from us as we gather up speed trying to get things ready for our girls coming to visit. This time next week they will be with us and we can't wait. At the moment, Richard is tiling the bathroom, well he has finished tiling, and now grouting, then once that is all cleaned off I can get in there and do some tidying and prettying up. Not that we have much to go in there yet, but I am rather pleased with myself as I made a shower curtain and used some new gadgets, the rings that go through the rod. I didn't know you could buy them, but that is because I HATE making curtains, in fact, I don't do it. There is something about having all that fabric and making a mess of it. I know I quilt but that is fun, making curtains to me is just scarey, it has something to do with getting the fabric straight. Anyway, these rings turned out to be really easy and I am very grateful to my friend for recommending them to me. I personally hate shower curtains, but needs must. It may be replaced down the line by a glass door, we will see.

The ducks are still on their new pond, not ours, and they can be seen from our bedroom window, so you can imagine what it's like having them so close. We go over to see them every day and take a very large fishing net with us so they get used to seeing it, but don't ever think ducks are stupid. You can almost hear them laughing at us as we try and tempt them close. No chance.

Well I need to get back upstairs to my chores, so I will talk to you all later on.

Yes, you've guessed it!!

2009-03-02T18:16:00.003+01:00

It has taken me a while to post because I have been rather upset because the ducks have flown away. We have been driving around the village and walking to all the nearby ponds, (of which there are hundreds) trying to find them. As you can imagine, the french neighbours have been wetting themselves, because they can't understand the "strange english" looking for their "pet ducks" who can fly away if they find them!!! When I see it in black and white it is rather funny, but we have found them. They are on a pond, all three still together, just over the field that is attached to our garden, so we can almost see them from where we are. Any ideas on how we can get them back! At the moment, we are going over there every day, with some food and a net, so they get used to seeing both, and we will try and get them in a few days. If it doesn't work, we know we have tried, and should it work, they will have their wings clipped straight away. Keep your fingers crossed that I can get Thomas, Poppy and Duck safely and soon. Having said that, they have found the most wonderful pond, HUGE. Why would they want to come back to ours, apart from the love we can give them?

I am now counting down to when our two daughters come to visit us. They arrive here on the 13th and leave very early on the 16th, so not long, but oh how I'm looking forward to it. What a way to celebrate our 40 years married. We will make sure we enjoy every moment.

Hello to all my family and friends in the UK, especially to my sister Hilary who is an angel in disguise. She is doing so much for my mum and dad, and even though I know I shouldn't, I do feel guilty that I'm not there. We are going back again and staying with them in April, so not long to go. Dad is feeling a little better with his back, but still has various tests to go through, so he is feeling a bit low. Talk to you all again soon, I will keep you posted on the duck front.

It's going to be a long night

2009-02-24T19:38:00.003+01:00

Just a quick post to let you know that we have now released our ducks and they have been exploring their new home. Not getting on the pond much and now it is dark and we have tried to get them in again, but no luck. We are having to leave them out all night and hope and pray they are still here in the morning, I can't stand the thought of losing them before we get to know them. Smokey of course looked at me and said Oooh mummy, new toys!! We have been assured that they will find their way onto the pond and stay there during the night. Oh well, we are in for a long night I think, listening while we are sleeping, if we get to sleep that is. I will be going to bed thinking.......clip their wings or not clip them. I will be letting you know if they are still there in the morning. Goodnight Thomas, Poppy and Duck.

"D" Day has arrived

2009-02-22T16:26:00.004+01:00

Well the day has arrived and today we went to pick up our 3 call ducks. We thought it would be very difficult to catch them, but in fact it only took us about 20 minutes. You have to realise that their wings haven't been clipped so they could have just flown off. Bless them they didn't, so we now have Thomas, Poppy and Duck installed in their enclosure for the next 3 days so they can get adjusted and know that this is their new home. They are so pretty, we just know we are going to spend a lot of time just looking at them. My son-in-law and a very good friend of ours, Brian is going to look at this photo and cringe because they would know how to take the photo without having the wire netting showing. I don't know how to do it so sorry guys, I will learn from you later. My 3 grandchildren, who named the ducks, I'm sorry I can't tell you which is which from this photo, but once they are outside I will try and do better. We will soon get to know them hopefully.

Apart from getting ducks ready, I have been busy making tulips. We have been invited to a birthday party and it is a friend who lives in the next village. We have never bought each other presents before and not even cards, and I didn't want to go without anything at all, so I thought I would make her a little bunch of tulips. Here they are, and they are such fun to do, I hope you like them. In fact I took them along to the sewing group I go to and they loved them so we will have a little workshop making them.

Smokey's leg is now completely dried up and the fur is beginning to grow, but we think he is going to be a high maintenance cat as he is always getting into scraps. Does it make us love him less, not on your life.

Now for the really BIG news. In my last blog I said that I was getting rather depressed about our Ruby wedding anniversary which is on the 15th March. We just didn't know what to do to celebrate, it just wouldn't be the same without my family. Well...... my girls are coming over for the weekend, they arrive on the Friday and go back early Monday morning. You should have seen us when we got the phone call, both weeping, great big softies. Now that I have written this I am wondering if I told you this in my last post, if so, sorry, I'm just so excited :-)

"D" Day is coming ... Ducks

2009-02-18T17:28:00.006+01:00

Since I last posted, Spring has come, gone, come back again and is now teetering on the edge somewhere. The day after I mentioned SNOWdrops this is what happened. Everything looked beautiful of course, including this wonderful iris, bless it and it is still going strong. The trouble is the ground is now so waterlogged we can't do anything. I stood on the lawn and you can see what happened, I thought I was going to sink, my poor wellies were going deeper and deeper. Having said that, it is beginning to get better, sun is warm though there is a biting wind which chills you through, the answer is to stay in the sunshine.

Richard has been busy getting ready for the three ducks a friend is giving us. For people who know about these things, they are call ducks and are so cute, I can't wait. I asked my 3 grandchildren to name them, we have 2 males and 1 female, which I realise might prove a problem but we will cross that bridge when we get there; anyway, Vicki called this morning and said the children had the names ready, wait for it........ Thomas, Poppy and Duck. You have to remember that the twin girls are only 2 so they chose Poppy and Duck. I love the names and wouldn't change them for anything. You can see the floating raft that Richard has built for them, this way they can get away from predators. It's brilliant and is attached on both sides of the pond so we can reach it whenever the need arises. We have made a feeding station for them and they will be shut in there for about 3 days so they know where they live and who is feeding them. This is all so new to us, to please keep your fingers crossed for us. Later on in the summer when the pond has considerably gone down, Richard is going to sink 4 posts in it and build a house with a ladder, keep them nice and snuggly.

Over the last couple of days I have been busy making some tulips, I know this sounds strange, but it's all to do with quilting and craft etc. Cut flowers in France are really a No No because they are so expensive, it is one thing that I really miss, I always had fresh flowers in the house in the UK. Anyway, they are nearly finished and I will take a photo of them and post them later on in the week. I hope you like them.

We are both wondering what to do in March because it is our 40th (Ruby) wedding anniversary and we feel we should celebrate it in some way. The problem is, I don't really want to do anything without my family around me. I could get quite depressed about it. I think we shall just wait and have a party when we go back to the UK. If only I could win the lottery, I would fly them all out so we could celebrate in style. Ho Hum ..... dream on. Perhaps I should buy a ticket first.

Spring is here - oh no, it's gone

2009-02-11T10:43:00.002+01:00

We had a few lovely days, warm enough for us to eat a snack lunch outside and I have a couple of snowdrops out and a lot of crocus and even a miniature iris. They just make you feel so good don't they? Having said that, the sun didn't last long and we now have high winds again and sleety rain coming down in stair rods!! Great!

Smokey is certainly feeling better, his leg is healing nicely and we are just waiting for his fur to grow, then he will look normal again. He is into such mischief and is a joy to have around, we were so very lucky to have him walk into the garden and say "Would you take care of me and love me?" No! Really, he did, I heard it :-)

My new year's resolution is to make more time for my quilting so there may be a few pictures later on down the line. I have decided which celtic knot block to do next, I just need to draw it out on the fabric and get going. The sewing room is rather cold, so once it is drawn out, at least I can then bring it downstairs to do in the evenings. I was asked in my comments by Jacky about quilt shows and shops in the Gers. Don't hold your breath Jacky, I haven't found a fabric shop yet that I would say sold "quilting fabrics". That is one thing I really miss. Thank goodness for internet shopping!! As for quilt shows, NOTHING at all in this area. Should you be in our area though, we would certainly make you most welcome for a cup of tea and a chat about quilting. I tried to look you up by clicking on your name, but assume you don't have a blog?? If you leave me another comment, there must be some way we can get in touch without putting personal information on here.

My dad is still on the road to recovery and I am so grateful that my wonderful sister lives close by to them because she does so much for them. Thanks sis. I love you. I hope Ron is feeling better, did he get to the dentist?

I promise I will try and take some photos and make this more interesting, but for now I will say cheerio. Take care one and all, much love to my girls, their husbands and of course my beautiful grandchildren.

Smokey - Little Tinker

2009-02-03T18:30:00.003+01:00

I thought I would update you on Smokey. After our trip to the vet we were keeping him in until his wound started to heal and dry over. For those of you who have asked, we have no idea what bit him, but he loves putting his paw down holes, just to see what is there, so it could have been anything. Very nasty bite though. The first 5 days of keeping him in weren't too bad, but then that evening, oh my goodness he just went mad. He was running all through the house, jumping up on every bit of furniture, every time we walked past him he would jump out at us and cling to our legs. Luckily he doesn't play with his claws out!! We had out every toy we could find and tried to keep him amused. We managed to keep him in for that night and then the next morning it all started again and to finish it off he really disgraced himself because, when Richard was sitting on the sofa talking to his sister who had come to visit, Smokey jumped up beside him and tiddled on the sofa. How bad was that??? Needless to say, he went outside. He survived out there but we didn't see him until about 8.30 in the evening and I was beginning to panic. He came back and his leg was fine, so we have let him out again today. Now waiting for him to come home, again. I half expect this little figure to come down the road with a stick over his shoulder and a red and white spotted hankie carrying all his worldly goods. He is very loveable but also terribly independant. Just adorable really.

Outside and in the surrounding area at the moment you are greeted with the smell of bonfires and the sound of chain saws. Everyone is clearing up after the storm. So much damage and all the trees that were lost. Such a shame. My dad should be here at the moment because he loves a bonfire. What is it with men and bonfires, the bigger the better as far as they are concerned.

I will soon get into the swing of things and get some photos taken but in the meantime, it is just getting into the habit of posting again and enjoying everyone elses tales. Still haven't caught up with everyone yet, but I'll get there. Take care all of you, talk again soon.

Christmas? What Christmas?

2009-01-29T20:18:00.003+01:00

First of all may I wish you all a very Happy New Year. I can't believe it is nearly the end of January but I will try and let you know what has been happening. As you know we had to leave France early to take my dad back because he was so unwell. It was a very long....... long drive home because dad was so uncomfortable bless him. We made it and managed to get him to the doctors next day and basically, he has been through all the various tests, x-rays, consultancy with a back surgeon, physio etc. firstly, with him not getting any better. Since he has been home, he couldn't even go to bed in a bed, luckily we had a special chair which flattened out and he has slept in there until 2 weeks ago which isn't the best thing is it? After a couple of weeks with the physio, we realised that exercises weren't doing any good at all so we went down the route of acupuncture. What a difference, he is obviously one of the lucky ones who responds well to it and he is now walking without a stick and as I say, he is able to lie down in a bed. Fingers crossed he will continue because he is desperate to come back out here again.

Christmas was very difficult, poor dad was in absolute agony and I did think of calling an ambulance at one stage. Every time he moved it brought tears to his eyes, so instead of going to my youngest daughters, Clare and Kenny came round to mum and dads and cooked the most delicious meal for us all. Not the most exciting day for them but needs must. They were both wonderful and we just had to make the most of it. Very strange because Vicki and the grandchildren were away for Christmas in Guernsey, but as it happened, it was all for the best because it would have been impossible with the children and very boring for them and even more difficult for my dad.

On top of all this, .... yes, there's more...... I had the most awful cough and I just coughed day and night so wasn't sleeping at all. It would go for a day, then a cold, then back again. Three trips to the doctors later and a course of antibiotics and staying at Vicki's with the poor grandchildren wondering why Nannie was shut in Williams room, I thought I was getting better. I called my mum and asked if I could go back there as I wasn't infectious any more and they jumped at the chance of having us back. When I got there, my bed was made up with a water bottle in it, a bowl of grapes on the side table and she fed me with lemon and honey, and milk, honey and whiskey to go to bed on. Mums are wonderful aren't they, but I think I have the best. I have just got rid of the bad throat and cough and it has taken 9 weeks!!!!

We finally got back to France on the 20th January and as you can imagine, with being away for so long, the house was very cold and rather damp. The beds were horrid so we had to wait for quite a while before we could go to bed, giving the blankets time to warm it through. The fires were lit the next morning and we found out we have something wrong with the chimney in the kitchen, so back to one log fire in the lounge. This hasn't been out since we got back.

There's more.......As you may have heard, we had a tempest / hurricane come through here and we were pretty lucky with no damage to the house. Trees down all over the place, part of the roof off the church in the village, and majority of houses have lost a certain amount of tiles. The outcome of the storm was, no electricity for nearly 4 days and no telephone or internet for 7 days. We are now slowly trying to catch up. Reading this post, you have to laugh it's so awful, but needless to say we are glad to be back and are now getting into some routine. Oh by the way, did I mention we had a puncture which needed a new tyre. Oh and the cat has been bitten and we had a trip to the vet. What else.............................

I think I had better stop there just in case I think of anything else but again I would like to wish all of you a very happy new year and I look forward to catching up with everyone's blogs. It is going to take me ages but I will make it in the end. Hopefully I will be blogging on a regular basis again. Oh by the way, I found my first two snowdrops and some crocus yesterday.

Whirlwind visits

2008-12-02T12:12:00.003+01:00

Once again, just to let you know what is happening with us. My mum and dad came back to France with us for a month but unfortunately my dad was really unwell, we think he may have slipped a disc so we came home early. Since then it has been rather hectic, getting dad sorted with a doctor's appointment first which has now been done. He is seeing a consultant on Thursday where he will be assessed and see what can be done for him. His doctor was brilliant and said she didn't want to send him to a back specialist because they would see his age of 90 and write him off. This consultant he is seeing specializes in the elderly and he tries very hard to keep his patients as fit as they are able to be which is much better. Fingers crossed now. I am so lucky to have my sister who lives close to them so she always keeps an eye on them while I'm in France, otherwise I wouldn't feel happy staying there for such long periods. Thanks Sis.

We are now at Vicki's spending some time with them and our beautiful grandchildren who certainly keep us on our toes. There isn't much time to "relax" while we are here, but we love it. Relaxing time comes when we visit Clare and Kenny tomorrow, we will be staying with them for quite a while and we are close to mum and dad there as well, so we can keep an eye on things and do stuff for them. The stays with our daughters is so different, so next week will be more relaxing and catching up with personal jobs, as Clare works during the day so the time is our own. Having said that, Clare has taken a days holiday on Thursday and she is taking me to a Christmas market at Bath which I am really looking forward to. Christmas shopping to be finished off, a lovely lunch, and a special time with daughter just browsing round the stalls, especially when it gets dark and all the fairy lights are on. Tastings of mulled wine, Mmmmmm.

I will blog again when I know what is happening with my dad and let you all know. I will have to try and take some photos as well to make it more interesting. Bye for now.

Just to let you know

2008-11-02T22:50:00.004+01:00

I just thought I would let you all know what we are doing at the moment. We were supposed to have been in Morocco this week, but the day before we were due to leave, we heard that a very dear friend had died in the UK. What were we to do? No contest really, we can go to Morocco any time, you can only say goodbye to a dear friend once. So, we are in the UK at the moment, due to travel back to France on Friday and would you believe we are taking mum and dad with us again. I hope they are going to be OK, dad is really looking forward to it and I only hope the weather won't be too cold for them.

We have had some good quality time with the family so that was an added bonus. I will be posting more when I get back home.

Flora and Fauna

2008-10-21T11:30:00.005+02:00

Things have been reasonably quiet here and we have been busy working in the garden, tidying and planting onions and cabbages. We are like a couple of children as we plant them, this year being our first attempt at vegetable growing, we are so excited and can't wait to dig them up and try them. We have no idea how long that will be, I suppose we just keep looking and guess???

I thought I would show you this photo of Smokey, he had crept up to our bedroom and climbed up onto the bed and he had somehow knocked teddy down, or did teddy just go there for a cuddle. I couldn't resist taking the picture. Personally I think teddy just got cold and needed a warm from a friendly pussycat!!

I have now finished sewing the bias onto my latest celtic knot block so that is another toward the quilt! Only about 30 more to go!! Have I taken on too much I ask myself, probably is the answer but I do enjoy doing them and I will just have to break it up with doing other things in between. There are quite a few projects that I want to get on with, I just need to give them a bit of thought first. This is what I miss being here because I need to have a "like-minded" person to come around so we could "play" and get some ideas on the best way to do things. There is one particular thing I would like to make, and I can't say what it is, but I'm just not sure how to start. Oh Sharlene, I wish you lived a bit nearer :-)

The weather here has been fantastic, about 25 centigrade and the sunset the other night was beautiful. We went to Spain the other day to do a bit of shopping and when we stopped for a picnic there was this amazing grass hopper. I took the photo but he was about 3" long and had a lovely Jiminy Cricket face.

It Always Happens........

2008-10-16T12:13:00.002+02:00

Today I had to go into my last post and read some of the lovely comments there saying how gentle my lifestyle is, and to be honest, it very often is even though we run around like headless chickens sometimes not knowing which job to do first, the thing is we can usually do the jobs in our own time which makes the differene, but..........

This afternoon sees the visit of the sewing group to our house and using "The Den" for the first time and when we do this, the person who is hosting usually bakes a cake or something. Well, I made some shortbread yesterday which turned out OK, but today!!!!! Why does it ALWAYS happen when you bake for someone else. I made flapjacks this morning (little oaty biscuits) and would you believe I couldn't get the damn things out of the wretched baking tray. While I was wrestling with this, my french neighbour came in, "What are you doing?" "What is that?" Well the taste of the crumbs were OK and she is a very brave lady and has asked me for the recipe. I'm sure I will have to leave the baking tray in soak for a week to get all the stuff off. I rescued enough of them for this afternoon and the birds can have the crumbs so if you see sparrows flying over not making a sound because their beaks are stuck together, you know they have come from my house!! Next on the agenda were cheese scones. Yes you've guessed it! These little blighters have come out like miniature ice hockey pucks and I have no idea what they taste like, I haven't been brave enough yet. Perhaps if I put enough butter on them they will be OK.

What I didn't say at the beginning was, I was going to make a sponge cake and I got all the ingredients together and realised I haven't got any eggs. Disaster! Richard is out all day helping a friend so I have no car to go and buy some, and my friend who has chickens is too far away for me to get on my bike. All cakes need an egg, hence the flapjacks and cheese scones. BIG MISTAKE. I can do no more, it will soon be time for them to arrive. Gentle lifestyle?? Not today it isn't.

Bonjour mes amis

2008-10-14T20:05:00.006+02:00

Hello again. Now what can I talk about today? I will firstly show you some photos that I have taken, of various things because we have been flitting from job to job. First one is of this beautiful little lizard we found when we were digging over our little vegetable plot. I haven't seen one like this before. The line down the centre of his back was really very red. I will also show a photo of the squashes we have, quite a few of these red ones (kuri squash). Not a clue what to do with them so if anyone has cooked them before I would love to know. Also, while we were digging over the little plot, Smokey thought we hadn't got quite enough "manure" in there so he gave us a hand, or is it a paw? My leeks are doing really well and on Monday, at the market we bought some greens so they have gone in today. It will be interesting to see how we get on.

Today saw another french lesson and my goodness this was hard. We had to make up names and pretend we were going on a flight so had to give and spell our names and flight numbers and seats. Richard and I thought we would choose our family names, so I chose my eldest daughter's name, BIG mistake as it has 16 wretched letters in it, and Richard chose our youngest daughter's husband's name and we weren't sure how to say a double "n". We got through it and we learned a lot, but ..........

The weather here has been glorious, misty in the morning and a bit chilly but really warm during the day, so just perfect. Tomorrow sees Richard out helping a friend put a ceiling up in his barn so I will be doing a bit of cooking ready for the sewing group who are meeting at our house this week. I can finally show them my sewing room and if the weather is kind to us, it will be nice and warm because of the big windows. That's it for now, talk again soon.

Just a little chit chat.......

2008-10-09T20:29:00.002+02:00

It has been a strange week really with not a lot to talk about. Richard has been very busy trying to get rid of all the draughts in "The Den" because we tend to spend all our evenings in there and it is rather cold at times. His finger has been rather painful and yesterday we went to have the stitches out and to be honest, it looks a mess. We are taking the next 3 days off just to see if he can get it looking a bit better than it does at the moment. Of course, if Richard is taking the time off, I have to as well, so I may have some photos of my quilting to post in a couple of days. I went off to my sewing group this afternoon and did some more and my latest block is coming along very well.

Here is me saying there is nothing to talk about, but some wonderful news, we had a hedgehog in the garden last night. It's the first one I have seen in the garden since we bought the house 3 years ago, so you can imagine how excited I was. I put out some cat food and now I am going to make up a "hedgehog house" to see if I can encourage him to stay. I am calling it "he" because he was very big. You can imagine what I will be doing this evening with my torch!!

If Jessica is reading this, Happy Birthday Jess. It is also my lovely mums birthday on Sunday and I am very sorry not to be there to share it with her, but hopefully they will be coming out to see us again, I can't wait. It's just a matter of finding the best way of travelling because mum doesn't like any kind of travel, and I can't blame her for that because I don't either, so sea crossing is out, we think plane is out, so what about a train??

Well I had better stop now because I have to admit that I have just written a whole lot of twoddle, and I don't want to bore you any more than I have to. I tried to take some photos this morning because it was stunning in the garden, the cobwebs were dripping with diamond dew drops and the mist was coming up off the field, in fact I think it was steam where the sun was really warm on the dew, but when I looked at the pictures it just didn't do it justice, so please imagine the picture for me. It is such autumn weather, chilly in the mornings and evenings but really warm during the day, so much so that I got a little burnt a couple of days ago. Talk again soon.

Oh to be Quilting Again

2008-10-02T19:42:00.009+02:00

How very exciting to be able to write about quilting again. It seems such a long time ago that I mentioned anything about my hobby. The last couple of nights has seen me at my sewing cupboard in "The Den" (My daughter has named the room) and I have finally started another block for my quilt. If you remember, I am making a celtic knot design and I thought I would rave about the gadget that I use to make the bias tape. How easy it makes it.

The photos show the cut fabric being put into the gadget, then you pull it through and it folds into itself, you then iron as you pull the fabric through and you end up with a bias tape that you can make beautiful patterns with. I love doing this and find it very relaxing, though I think I won't hold my breath waiting for the quilt to be finished!! Well, it's time for the Archers so I will say night night, talk again soon.

I am so lucky

2008-09-30T16:50:00.002+02:00

Just a short post today, but I just had to tell the world how very lucky I am to have such wonderful daughters. My eldest, Vicki, had blogged yesterday just saying due to family circumstances she couldn't get out to keep a hair appointment which she desperately needed. One of the girls was unwell and couldn't go to nursery and this was the only time she could get to the hairdressers. That was all, just stating a fact.

This morning she got a call from her sister, my youngest Clare, at 8am to say that she was on her way and that Vicki should get ready to go to have her hair done. To anyone not familiar with the roads in the UK, this is a trip on the M25, in rush hour when it is usually a car park, so I'm sure Clare would have had to leave her house probably before 7am, though I don't know that for sure. Vicki kept her appointment and Clare went straight back home to work. Sisterly love, there's nothing like it. Just thinking about what she did brings a lump to my throat.

Thank you girls for being who you are and just know that I love you both very much and I'm very proud of you.

A new family member

2008-09-29T18:44:00.004+02:00

We have had a good weekend and today started really well until lunchtime. We went to the market this morning and then a bit of shopping and back to a snack lunch and Richard was cutting the cheese and managed somehow to nearly cut off the top of his finger. After quite a while of trying to stem the red stuff we decided a trip to the doctor was needed where he had 3 stitches!! The doctor, who could speak a little english, said that seeing he had been such a brave little soldier, he was going to present him with a poupee (little doll), our new family member for a while, which you can now see in the photo, good having a doctor with a sense of humour. Joking aside, it was very nasty and we are just hoping that he won't lose the feeling in the top of his finger. I've heard of different ways of getting out of the washing up, but this one takes the biscuit.

Well, tomorrow sees us going for another french lesson and we have been busy doing our homework this afternoon, sitting in the sunshine which was glorious. The sunshine, not the homework! We have been learning our verbs and it will be interesting to see if we are tested on them in the morning. Ho hum..... all in a good cause.

Progress on "the room" is moving along but to be honest, we sit up in it every night as it is so comfortable and there is a wonderful view of the sunset from one of the windows. We are wondering how we are going to warm it in the winter though as it is very chilly in there in the morning and late evening. We are also putting our thinking caps on as to what to call it. When people come to stay we can put a bed in there and there is an en-suite bathroom, but just for the two of us, it is just our "hanging out" room. What do you call a room like that? I am usually doing my sewing and Richard is working on his family tree and we have a radio going with various stories being told or of course the Archers. We don't have a television so it is just a lovely peaceful space.

Today I took a photo of this cute little tree frog and I am amazed how they change their colour at this time of year. I didn't know that. When I looked closely he still has the beautiful bright green on his underside and on the inside of his legs. Can anyone tell me, do they hibernate during the winter, I would assume so. I will miss all the noises they make. I keep promising myself that I will keep a notebook and jot down all the different birds, creatures and animals we see in the garden. Why don't I do that? We were looking in the pond today and there were quite a few footprints which we are taking to be deer. I suppose it could be wild boar, what prints do they make? Anyway, it certainly wasn't Smokey.

Talk again soon everyone, I hope you and yours are well.

Into the Lions Den

2008-09-26T21:10:00.003+02:00

Just a short post today, but I thought I would give all my family and friends at home, also anyone else reading this who can relate to my tale, a really good chuckle. I even called my mum and dad and my poor dad nearly peed his pants he was laughing so much. I told them that I have now been accepted into the village because I had just come back from a tupperware party held at the mayor's mother's house!! Tupperware is really "the thing" over here in France at the moment, and when I was living in the UK, it was "the thing" in the 80's and I have a cupboard full and probably a couple of suitcases full as well. After running to the loo a few times in the afternoon, I finally plucked up courage and made the walk to Josette's. I couldn't even say the car broke down because she only lives next door; a little walk, perhaps 100 yards, but nevertheless it seemed miles to me that afternoon. I knew there was no-one there who could speak english so I learned how to introduce myself, say I was Josette's neighbour, pleased to meet them etc. After that I was stuck. I understood a fair bit but just couldn't get the sentances together to have a good old gossip and it is so annoying. Roll on the next french lesson.

It turned out to be a very pleasant couple of hours and they certainly had fun and laughed a lot, perhaps at me, I don't know, but they were desperate to include me in everything. When leaving I was told there was to be another type of party next month, so we'll see!! I had never heard of this one so perhaps I should just go along to check it out. Hopefully after that experience I may have earned a few brownie points just for walking into the lions den.

Talk again soon everyone, the Archers has finished, everything is shut up for the night so it must be time for my book.

A week gone by? Surely not

2008-09-22T21:02:00.003+02:00

Here I am again and I can't believe that a week has passed since I last posted. I was telling you we were going for our first french lesson, and here we are, madly doing our homework, dreading another lesson tomorrow. Although to be fair, it was good to be finally at lessons, albeit letting us know just how little we have improved since we have been here. This was made very obvious yesterday when we were at a village lunch, at the invitation of the mayor and trying to understand just a little of what was being said around us. The day was glorious, very very hot and we were all seated (about 120 people) in the meadow behind the church next to the river and under the trees. Oh!! if only we could have joined in more of the fun and laughter that was going on, how very frustrating for us and for them when they were trying to talk to us. We will improve but my goodness it is going to take some time.

Richard and I sit up in "our room" in the evenings and I usually sew or prepare my blocks for quilting and I even tried out my sewing machine last night and managed a very respectable satin stitch, and Richard reads or, at the moment, he is going through a lot of his family's papers and documents. It's wonderful because we even have letters written by the family and they are dated 1765 and the way of writing is just glorious and the handwriting itself beautiful, although we can't decipher all of it. I think we may have a document or two for our son-in-law Kenny to scan and put into the family archives. We are so lucky to have him do this for us because they are then put onto discs for safe keeping and of course the rest of the family can have copies.

Today I made some Pear Chutney. Very strange........... Not sure I want to try it because it looks so odd, but I did as the recipe told me so we will see. Tomorrow I am trying Spicy Apple Chutney so perhaps that will look a bit better. The trouble is you have to keep it for a while before you can try it, to let the flavours come out (so it says). Oh yes, my leeks!!! they are all standing up like little soldiers to attention. If they have only been in a couple of weeks, when can I pick some, anyone tell me? You can tell we haven't done this before can't you?

Well it is now time for an early night because we have to be up at 6.30am ready to be picked up at 8am to go for our lesson. The trouble with an early night is, I get to reading my book and I can't put it down and last night it was very late when I turned the light out. When you have a good book and are tucked up in bed, it's the best thing isn't it? Goodnight and God bless to all my family and friends and anyone who is good enough to come by and read my blog. Thank you.

Nearly There

2008-09-15T19:56:00.005+02:00

We have had a few really hectic days preparing, staining and waxing floors in the room, and finally picking up my sewing cupboard. It was like a jigsaw puzzle for Richard to put together, there is rather a lot of it, but we managed it in the end. Then was the problem of finding all the boxes that have been in store of all my craft "stuff". I call it "stuff" because I had forgotten just how much I had got. Where on earth was I going to put it all........still, first things first, to make a start. The pictures below are 1) of the cupboard closed with bookcases exposed. 2) doors open to reveal lots of drawers etc. but with the table still packed in and 3) with the table down ready to go. There are still a few more bits and pieces to it, another little table behind me, for ironing etc, and where the sewing machine is, there is a light box that fits into the hole there so it is flat with the table top.

The very sad thing is, I have forgotten how to use my sewing machine. I bought it just after I had left work, ready for my retirement and it has a few bells and whistles, but, not a clue what to do with it. I think it is going to take rather a lot of time to get used to it again.

Richard and I are going for our first official french lesson in the morning and we are rather anxious about it. We have got to do something, because although we muddle through, I would love to be able to "chat" with our neighbours. Wish us luck.

Leek and Potato Soup Anyone?

2008-09-09T19:19:00.007+02:00

Gosh, can you believe I'm here again. Weeks of not posting and now I seem to have verbal diarrhoea. Still a woman has to do what a woman has to do. I'm very excited because we have got a coat of stain on the floor in "the room" and Richard has cut most of the skirting boards so a little further forward.

Today has seen me planting the leeks that we bought from the market yesterday. So far I have planted 70, I chose the ones that looked the healthiest and thickest and I must still have about 30 left. The question is, do I plant them or not? 70 leeks ........ Hmmmmmm. I hope I have put them far enough apart, 6-8" and I did as they said, popped them in the hole and just watered, that's why they look all floppy. Well, I THINK that's why they look all floppy!! The significance of the old football is the fact that this is the bed where we buried our lovely border collie Dizzy and I swear her spirit comes out at night sometimes because we find the ball all over the place :-) I had a word with her and she is going to look after the leeks for us, so fingers crossed. Another of life's challenges which we will overcome I'm sure. Anyone for leek and potato soup in a few month's time???? While I was out there Smokey came along to keep an eye on me but I think he got rather bored. He just follows us everywhere and even while Richard was staining the floor he was in there with him.

Because I have posted a few times in the last week there isn't an awful lot more for me to chat about so I had better go and catch up with everyone elses news. See you soon. Hello to all my family who are reading this. Miss you guys and love you lots. Jess, Smokey says hello.

A surprise for the sisters

2008-09-08T16:26:00.003+02:00

We have just had Richard's 2 sisters here for lunch and the eldest of them lives in London and has only had a short stay over here, so it was really good to be able to show her what we have been doing to the house. We told them we had a surprise for them and they just didn't know what to expect. Well................. to say they were pleased was an understatement.

While we were back in the UK last time, we were going through some boxes that we still have in store at Clare and Kenny's house up in their attic. There are things like old family photographs etc. but there was also a very old tin which had an old cine tape in it. We brought it downstairs and Kenny and Richard looked at it but we couldn't tell what it was, so thought nothing more about it. When Richard was at my dad's birthday party (you know the one I couldn't go to!!) Richard was asked to go into another room as Kenny had something to show him. Would you believe that he had sent off this film, only about 40 seconds of it, and it was the marriage of Richard's parents!! I'm not sure you can imagine the reaction of Richard's sisters when they saw this, but Kenny, if you are reading this, they have looked at it over a dozen times so far and Sue recognized more people than we did. We can't thank you enough for doing this for us, especially as we had no idea it was being done. How lucky are we to have such a thoughtful son-in-law. I know it is his business, but to see what he can do with old photos, negatives and slides is just amazing. Let's face it, my sister and I wouldn't have had such a lovely gift to give to my dad if it hadn't been for his expertise. We also showed Sue and Judy a lot of old photographs which Kenny had put on a disc for us, so now Sue has taken her discs back to London with some wonderful memories of her parents.

It is very hot today and Richard is sanding the floor in "the room" reading for staining and polishing, then it is moving my sewing cupboard in there!! I will take some photos when it's in situ. I can't wait because now there are a lot of things I could make for the house, curtains, cushion covers etc and it means I can have my sewing maching available at all times. Actually, forget the curtains and cushion covers, I really, really, really want to get back to my quilting. If my friend Sharlene is reading this, she will completely understand.

On another subject completely, I bought some leek plants at the market today, so when it cools down a bit I am going to have a go at planting them. Never done this before and I have read that I make a hole with a dibber, place the plant in, water but don't fill in the hole ??? Strange but there you go, that was in my Country Living magazine which my lovely daughter buys for me as a Christmas gift. Is there anything nicer than having a monthly magazine plop through your letterbox for a whole year? Christmas for 12 months......... bliss. Must go, need to hoover "the room" of all the dust.

Catching up at last

2008-09-07T20:14:00.004+02:00

At last we are catching up after being away. This week has found us doing various things in the garden, tying up tomatoes, chasing squash around the lawn where they have crawled like triffids!!! What is it with those things?? We have never grown them before and it is amazing just how big they grow. They get everywhere. We will certainly know for another time. We also didn't know what type they were and they turn out to be kuri squashes, I, of course, thought they were "curry" squashes!! I need to look up now what to do with them; they are the most wonderful deep orange/almost red colour so we assume they are ready. Has anyone grown these particular ones, if so, what do I do with them?

We also had to tackle the mar (pond) which is so overgrown with bullrushes again, even though our friends had taken a lot out before we went back to the UK. Richard put on his waders again and we had a good clear out of weed and rushes. Our neighbours had put 2 goldfish in there quite a while back and so far we have only seen one. Yes I know it could be a different one each time, but I'm sure we only have one now. We'll see. We now have the task of cutting up the weed and rushes and getting it ready to go onto the garden and compost, as it's been on the side of the pond long enough for all the little creatures to crawl out. It's hilarious watching Smokey while we are working because every time a frog jumps out, there he goes and if he catches it, they obviously taste foul and you should see his face. Bless him, he is an absolute joy. You will see from the photo that the pond is rather deep but luckily the water has dropped a lot and it slopes away. Richard is going to the deep end there. It starts ankle deep and then it goes up to the top of his legs and he is 6' 4".

Today we had a few things going on in the village, a vide grenier for one. Sorry if I have spelt this wrong). This is like a large car boot sale and the atmosphere was fantastic, there is music playing everywhere, and there was lunch being cooked which was €7 for 3 courses and wine, and everyone is laughing and joking and generally having a brilliant time. While the musicians were playing, a lot of people were dancing and it was incredible just watching them having such fun in the freedom of the lovely sunshine. I will put a picture up but I don't think it is going to do it justice. The french certainly know how to enjoy themselves and music is a great part of that enjoyment.

Tomorrow is market day and while we are there I am hoping to be able to buy some leeks to put in and just see what else there is I can have a go at. No idea what you can plant at this time of year so I will just have to learn as I go along. We have Richard's sisters coming for lunch tomorrow and I am chuffed that I will be able to pick some tomatoes to put on the table. I will have to pick some figs for pudding which will go with the shortbread I have made. Oh yes! I have made some fig and ginger jam and some apple, pear and apricot chutney. Perhaps I have told you this before, if so, I'm sorry. Must go now, hope to talk again soon

Bless him

2008-09-02T20:42:00.003+02:00

I thought I had better post something but to be honest it is very difficult because Smokey just wants to be cuddled. so this is going to be short and sweet. Firstly he isn't micro-chipped so we can call him ours. He is about 1 year old so just a little baby which we had guessed at anyway......................................... Ooops, he is trying to get on my lap again and doing a bit of typing at the same time. He was still very wobbly when we brought him home and we can't feed him till tomorrow. To be honest, I'm not used to little boys and he looks a bit of a mess in his back end, but I'm sure that's what it is supposed to be like? Don't want to get too personal but I thought his bits would have gone? Does that take a few days? All he wants is cuddles so guess who didn't cook the dinner?? I will write more later and perhaps have a photo or two. He seems OK though. Bless them, they soon become your family don't they?? I will keep you posted. Night night one and all, just going to cuddle my cat again.

Back Home Again and He's Still Here !!!!

2008-08-30T19:44:00.005+02:00

Here we are back in France and although very sad to leave family and friends behind, it is good to be back home where we have our own space and we're not living out of a suitcase. Having said that, our girls always give us drawer space but you know what I mean. It was lovely staying with Vicki, Bill and the children and we spent more time with them this time, then we went to stay with Clare for the last few days. Brilliant. The really good news is Smokey is still here and he looks very well and has grown quite a lot. As you can see he is back to feeling at home. I whispered to him tonight that he is booked in to have his "little operation" on Tuesday as we didn't manage to get it done before we went away. I don't know what this does to a cat, apart from the obvious of course, because he couldn't be more loving. Perhaps it will stop him roaming very far?? Perhaps to the garden for a pee and then back to the rocking chair??

The visit to the UK didn't go quite as well as it should have done because, if you remember, the main reason we took my mum and dad back when we did was because of my dad's 90th birthday. We got back and my sister and I did various planning and printing of photographs, finding a book to put them in, buying cards, food etc and all the usual planning for a birthday party. That was the first week, all was well. Well............ the day dawned and I was ill!! I had a sore throat the previous day but thought, OK, it will be fine I just won't go too near my parents, but on the Saturday morning, I had ulcers all over the back of my throat, I couldn't speak at all and my legs wouldn't work, so after all that, I missed the whole thing. Everyone else went and my dad thoroughly enjoyed his day and would you believe it, it was the ONLY DRY DAY, the whole three weeks we were back there?? August in the UK has been the wettest on record and still more to come!! You can imagine how we felt just now as we were sitting outside having our dinner at 7pm and it is still 85f. Also while I was there I had been called for another mammogram and I am still waiting for the results 2 weeks later!! When will all this end I ask myself??

Today we have visited some good friends of ours, mainly to see how Sue is doing because she fractured a bone in her foot and can't put weight on it. I lent her some english crutches because the french ones are really hard to use so Sue, if you are reading this, have a go with them!! They have loads and loads of fruit trees in their garden and we went scrumping. We came away with apples, pears, figs, plums and blackberries so you can imagine what I am doing in the next couple of days. I have frozen some but I want to make some jam and I have found a recipe for apple pear and ginger chutney so I am looking up more recipes at the moment and on Monday when we go to the market I will have to buy in some sugar and hopefully I will be able to put something on the shelves of my store cupboard for the very first time. All very new to this so wish me luck. The figs are amazing and Richard just loves them so not many will go for storing or preserving as they will be eaten. We have some coming on in our own garden but they are the beautiful white flesh ones and they aren't ready yet.

It's good to be back talking to all my blogging friends and I am slowly catching up with all your news but if I don't comment, I'm sorry, I am reading them as quickly as I can. Take care all of you and talk again soon.

Back in the UK

2008-08-10T18:52:00.002+02:00

Well here we are back in the UK (the very wet UK) for a while and already my mum and dad are wondering whether or not to put their suitcases back up in their loft or keep them out "just in case we need them again". It took a little while for them and us to recover from the journey which wasn't particularly pleasant, with lots of thunder, lightening and rain and we travelled through the night, thinking it wouldn't be so hot, but never again.

We are now looking forward to the celebrations for dad's 90th birthday on the 16th of this month and as you can imagine, there is lots of "whispering" and sneaking peaks of different things and photographs, ready for the surprises. Hopefully I will get some good photographs and will be able to post them for you to see.

At the moment we are staying with my youngest daughter and her husband and on Tuesday we will be going to our eldest daughter's house where we can get our fill of our beautiful grandchildren. I can't wait, I have missed them so much. It has only been 6 weeks since I have seen them, but no doubt, they are doing lots of things I haven't seen before and the girls vocabulary would have grown lots.

Talk again soon, take care everyone and God bless.

Birds and Cats.........Hmmmmm

2008-08-01T21:00:00.005+02:00

Gosh here I am again so quickly you will probably be getting rather fed up with my news, especially as it isn't very interesting. My first bit is:- I saw my first Golden Oriole today!! What a sight. I have heard them every day, but they are rather shy birds and you are lucky if you get a sighting, but he sounded so close this morning so I just waited and it paid off. I didn't see him for long but it was enough to be able to make out the beautiful dark buttercup yellow and black. A silly thing to get so excited about but I was really chuffed. Also we have this dear little cattle egret that has adopted us, he has been in our garden now all week and just walks about, mainly in our pond as you can see. He can't seem to fly very far, he goes a bit like a chicken, up in the air, flaps and then down, luckily enough to get out of the way of cats. He is obviously damaged or hurt in some way, but nothing that we can see and he seems quite happy to be with us in the garden. It's a shame because you can't see him very well in the photo.

Today we took my mum and dad to a festival in a nearby town, it is Jazz in Marciac and we were rather lucky because the day was overcast and not too hot, it would have been unbearable if it had been like yesterday when it went up to 37 and the humidity was very very high. The town is full of stalls selling all sorts of things from musical instruments, clothes, jewellry, special food etc but none of it is what I would call tacky. There is music playing all the time, mostly jazz of course which I have to admit I really don't like, mainly because I just don't understand it. The people selling instruments all get together and they have jam sessions to demonstrate their wares and the atmosphere is electric. Loads and loads of different places to eat, it seems every other house and shop has a table and chair outside and in one street, you can eat from almost any country you like to choose. When we went last year we walked passed the beautiful church and there in the grounds was a grand piano with a blind pianist playing and it just made you cry, the sound coming from that instrument and the feeling with which it was played was amazing. It is like that there, around another corner, there were 5 teenage children who are studying at the local music college, and they were playing rock (more my scene) but again, they were brilliant. Should you ever get the chance to go, it's well worth the visit. It is on every year from the 1st to the 15th August.

When we got home, after the cuddle with Smokey he decided he would check out the little house that my dad has made for him. We have put a little bowl of food at the back to encourage him to go in and he was there for quite a while bless him. Cats being cats, he wouldn't turn around for me to get a better photo, but I thought this was rather cute and it shows you how clever my dad is at making the little cat kennel. It has to be painted yet but we want him to get used to it before we go back to the UK next week.

That's all for now, lovely chatting to you.

Oh Jess, you missed it!!!

2008-07-31T11:46:00.005+02:00

What a fantastic week we have had with my sister and her grand-daughter here; Richard took them to the airport yesterday morning and they are now back in their own homes, but mum, dad, Richard and I miss them already. Jess was such a joy to have, she can come back any time she likes. The reasoning behind the title of this post, you will see from the photo. Jess loves animals of any kind and we were looking for all sorts while she was here, but would you believe we found this beauty this morning. Well, my dad and Richard found it in the barn. I have put a mobile phone by the side of it otherwise you don't realise the size of it. I should mention that this model of phone isn't one of the teeny tiny ones either. I'm glad I didn't find it, because I was scared enough just taking this photo, never mind putting my hand on it!!! Yuk!

Last Monday we all went to the Donjon des Aigles, which is an original presentation of the most extraordinary collection of birds of prey (over 45 species) and every afternoon they have a show of international fame performed with a background of music and arousing deep emotion. FANTASTIC!! Eagles, Condor, Vulchers, Owls, Parrots and the like, a secretary bird which was my favourite, to name just a few and at the end, they have them all flying together!! I would never have thought you could have these magnificent birds all in the same air space, but they have them swooping through the crowd so you can see just how huge most of them are, especially the Condor. This picture doesn't do this bird justice, but it was sitting in the tree just above us for quite a while. They must be quite happy doing what they do, otherwise, what is to stop them just flying away?

Of course, I can't leave this post without a photo of Smokey, just to let you see how settled and laid back he is. Mind you, we haven't told him he is being neutered this week!! It seems as though we have had him for years, he is so much part of the family here. Please God, let him be here when we return from the UK. We are making everything as comfortable for him as we can, he is going to have his own "room" outside, with a cat flap, a chair and cushion and the little kennel that my dad has made for him, and the neighbours said they will come in and give him a cuddle for me, he is such a person cat! Well, it is time for me to go get lunch, so I will say cheerio till next time.

Surprise, Surprise

2008-07-25T22:09:00.005+02:00

I wish you were here to see the faces of my parents on Wednesday. We got up and Richard had already left to "go somewhere". We told mum and dad that he had to go and help a friend and would be back before lunch when in fact he had gone to the airport to pick up my sister who was coming to visit and bringing her grand-daughter with her. He walked into the garden with one on each arm and my dad did a double take and then we went upstairs to mum who was dutifully mopping the stairs bless her and promptly shed a few tears. It was fantastic to have them here and even more special to have family being the first ones to sleep in "the room". It isn't finished but it is certainly comfortable enough. In all the excitement I haven't taken any photos of the room with some furniture in it, but I will do it later. Here is a photo of my great niece, my sister and me at the window of the room.

Our little Smokey is still being as good as gold and just loves being cuddled. I'm not sure what photos to post because I have taken so many. Perhaps this one which is really cute because it seems to show how young he is, because when you cuddle him, he finds a crevice and suckles, perhaps looking for his mummy's milk? How cute is he though?? We had a bit of a panic last night because when it was time for bed he was still outside. There we were out with the torch looking and calling but nothing. We carried on looking for him until nearly midnight and then decided it was time for us to go to bed, because in the end, when we are back in the UK for a couple of weeks, he shall have to stay out, the same as most cats in France. He is already catching various wild life and I can't get upset about it because it is only nature after all. I hope and pray he will still be here waiting for us when we get back; as usual the timing is really bad because we haven't got him here long enough to settle him properly before we go back on the 6th August. All our neighbours have promised to feed and cuddle him, so I'm sure he will be OK. We haven't had him a week yet but I would be heartbroken if he wandered off. I called in to the vet today to buy some Frontline and ask about him being neutered, also to check if he is chipped. The last photo is of my great niece with Smokey, she is having such fun with him and he is loving having a young person to play with. Well I will sign off now and I promise not to go on about Smokey again next time, it must be getting rather boring by now.

Smokey - Settled in Nicely

2008-07-22T20:45:00.004+02:00

Oh my goodness, this beautiful little boy has come into our lives and it seems as though he has been here for ever. I will show you a photo of how settled he is and how much my parents have taken to him, not only us. He just melts your heart. It seems there is no-one in the village who has lost him and I have been to the vet and nothing there either, so fingers crossed, he will soon be ours. I daren't raise my hopes just in case. We are waiting to have him neutered (or is it spayed) because we don't want to spend out the money just yet, in case he is claimed. He uses his dirt box all the time, even when he has been outside all day, so we are thinking he may have been a house cat, he is so loving and so trained. Very strange, but very lucky for us. By the way, does anyone know if there is a way we can age our cat, I am guessing he will be about 9 months, but it would be good if we could age them with their teeth perhaps like a horse!!

Also this week, we had some friends come over because they wanted to pull some bull-rushes out of our pond as they wanted to dry them for making more baskets. It was quite good fun getting them out of the pond and Richard was up to his hips at one time. Phew, the after-shave he was wearing was a bit off though!! It's amazing how many rushes we have because we haven't planted any, where on earth do they come from. We still have so many more, I suppose you just keep pulling them out?? Any advice on that one? It was fascinating poking through all the rubbish, weed and roots on the side of the pond and just looking at all the life that is there both large and small. I love it and could waste quite a few hours just watching.

More has been done to "the room" today and I think most of the painting is finished. We have to stain/oil the timber and also the floor and tile the bathroom, but as it is, should anyone arrive unexpectedly, they would be able to sleep in there. I have to say, it is the most beautiful room for light, amazing in the evening because the sun sets and shines through one of the big windows. I can't wait to be able to use it all the time. Oh dear, I'm sure I have said this before, I'm getting rather repetative (is that how you spell that?) I'm going on rather a long time now so I had better go and catch up with other people's blogs. Talk again soon, goodnight from us and goodnight from Smokey.

Could we be this lucky?

2008-07-19T21:31:00.005+02:00

I'm afraid I'm not finding much time to write my blog but I just had to make the time for this one. Would you believe what happened to us today?? Look who arrived on our doorstep in need of a home? How very bizarre but isn't he beautiful. Our neighbours have asked around and no-one seems to know him, it seems as though he has been "dumped". He is very friendly and snuggles into your neck, he appears to be about 6-9 months old perhaps, he hasn't been neutered, so that will be the first job, but oh, how adorable. We are trying to keep him indoors at the moment to get him used to us, not easy when you want to open all the windows in the evening because it is so hot. We will not do anything for a couple of days, just in case someone claims him, then hopefully, he will be ours. He looks pure siamese, how could anyone dump him? Fingers crossed because we haven't got long before we have to take my parents back, we have 2 weeks for him to settle and the neighbours have promised to look after him when we go back to the UK for a few days.

The next photo is of "the room" which is coming along nicely. One more coat of paint, then we have to oil the beams and wax the woodwork, then stain the floor with a walnut oil and linseed which will give it a more "lived in" look. We are very happy with it and can't wait now for it to be finished. I wonder why all the finishing touches take the longest, when all you want to do is move the furniture in. Still, we have waited a long time so............... One of the good things about having this room finished is the fact that we can get rid of some of the excess furniture in all the other rooms and I can finally get my sewing cupboard out of store in a friends house. I wonder who will be the first guests to stay in there. The room is so lovely and bright I think Richard and I may use it as our room, the views from the windows are superb.

Mum and dad are still enjoying themselves and I can't believe the work my dad is doing to help Richard. Bless him, we have it planned out now that he works and does bits in the morning, then after lunch he has a sleep. We don't really want him to do anything else after that, but if he wants to we can't stop him. It is usually watering or something like that. At around 6pm, after he has had his tablets, we sit and have a "shangri-la" as dad calls it, Sangria to everyone else, and we sit and look at the mountains and he says, "I could get used to this". I can't tell you how good it is to have them here. Oh! Perhaps I have told you that already in a previous post, sorry. I will keep you posted about the cat, we need to think of a name for him, my my suggested Smokey which is quite good for him, what do you think?

Goodbye Little Friend

2008-07-12T16:00:00.005+02:00

Very sad today because we have lost our little Marmalade, the cat we inherited with our french farmhouse. We don't know exactly how old she was, but the neighbours seem to think she could have been about 17, and all I can say is, we gave her the best we could in the 3 years we have had her. We have given her a couple of operations for cancerous teats, and she was always wormed and front-lined for ticks and fleas. I am happy to say we never found a tick on her so we were much luckier than my friend Debra. I have a photo of her here soon after we arrived and we were "camping" indoors and it shocked me to see how healthy she looks, very different from the last few weeks. Animals seem to know don't they because she hasn't eaten for 5 days and she kept going off and hiding. We did think about taking her to the vet, but I would have hated her to die on me while battling to get her into her carry box. Very hard to watch, but much better it was done nature's way. If only they could speak, she could have told us so much about this house and the people who lived here before us. Goodbye little friend, only known for a short time, but loved just the same.

A Couple of Days Off

2008-07-11T19:30:00.004+02:00

We have taken a couple of days off, 1) to give my dad and Richard a break from all the clearing and taking trips to the tip, and 2) we have been visiting family and friends. Yesterday we went to see Richard's sister and brother-in-law in their newly built house. It is beautiful and in a breath-taking position with a view of the Pyrenees almost all around the house. They live in a very remote part and not what I would want at all, nevertheless, to be able to walk about bare-foot and not worry about the mucky floors was a brilliant feeling. We had a lovely lunch with them and it was good to catch up and mum and dad really enjoyed themselves. The only problem with the day was, it was SO HOT. I know we shouldn't complain, but oh my goodness I thought my mum was going to melt, it was about 106F. (Can't do the "c" I'm afraid). Having said that it was lovely and cool in the house, so perfectly lovely all the time we were there.

Today we went to some friends who live about 17 miles away from here, once again for lunch, so mum and I are pretty lucky on the cooking front at the moment. The day was cool and overcast, amazing how quickly the temperature changes, but very pleasant to walk around and look at their garden and what they have done. The picture is of mum, dad, Richard and myself at their well. They are getting on really well with their house and it is looking lovely. The garden is perfect and never a weed to be found, not like ours at all!!! While we were there, we went scrumping and ate a lot of their cherries, they were tiny but oh so sweet. Once again a lovely day and fun showing my parents all the different houses, some new but mostly all of them being in some state of renovation, so hopefully if they come again, they will be able to see the difference in them all, especially ours.

On the way home, we went a different way just to see some more of the countryside and we saw this field of cows and just look at this one, what a lovely face it has, I just had to stop and take a photo. Mum and Dad can't believe the lack of traffic, we now count the cars on the way to somewhere just to see if we can get into double figures. Also, in one part of the journey today, near our friends house, there is a view which I would love to make into a patchwork picture, the fields of different greens, browns and hedges etc. Superb. Will I ever get time to do that I wonder? Probably not, but it's good to dream. While in the garden we have been watching the birds, my dad made me a lovely bird house, (I will have to take a photo of that tomorrow) and they are already used to it and having great fun hanging off the fat balls and eating all the little titbits we put on there. I really should write down the different types of birds we have in the garden, it will be interesting to see how it varies from season to season. One batch of our swallows have flown and the second are now hatched and coming along nicely. We are going to start work again tomorrow, perhaps on "the room" so some photos of that will be coming along soon. Hang on Brian, you will see them eventually.

Parental Approval and Enjoyment

2008-07-06T14:39:00.005+02:00

We have all settled down now and mum and dad, especially mum, have got their bearings and know where they are in the house and garden. Dad never had any problem, but mum, oh dear! I can see where I get it from :-) We have spent most of our time trying to get to grips with the garden, although the lawn had been mowed for us once while we were away, it was still very long and even though Richard went over it on the sit on mower, the dreadful task of raking up and wheelborrowing the mowings to the bottom of the field were a nightmare. I think we have finally got on top of that, but today it is overcast, rainy and warm. YUMMY!!! says the grass, we'll have some of that then, let's grow very quickly and come out and play!! You will see from the couple of pictures I am putting in that dad is in the "french official gardening uniform" bless him and the other one is of us sitting outside first thing in the morning with our first cup of tea and they are getting to know the cat, Marmalade, who was very pleased to see us back.

Yesterday we went to our village dinner and we had a great time even though the language was a bit of a problem. Mum and Dad can't speak any french at all but that didn't stop people coming up and making them very welcome. My dad was the oldest one there and really, you would never have known that, he looks so young. Everyone was amazed at how young they both look and I was very proud of them. The lunch lasted from 12.30 to about 5pm and then anyone who wanted, went back for the evening to finish off the food and drink, so we walked back and watched the men playing boulles, which was great fun. I would love to have had a go, perhaps next time.

Today we are taking it a little slower because we don't want to wear my dad out before the end of their stay, there is too much to do!!!!!!! :-) For any of my family and close friends reading this, mum and dad are absolutely loving it and there are no problems whatsoever, certainly no talk of coming home early, so sorry Hilary, you have their cat for the month!! I am now going to go outside because I have just peeped out of the window and Richard and Dad are sleeping and my mum is reading her book, so I think I'm missing out somewhere. Take care everyone, talk again soon.