and it’s all going well.

Blog 31 / December 2015

 

 

Although our life in France is mainly focussed on our garden, our home and our dog it is important to acknowledge that our children do fill the gaps. This week we got this picture from Australia. Our grandson Toby crossed legged on the floor hand rearing an abandoned kitten. Our daughter Debbie volunteers to care for abandoned animals at all stages of their lives and she seems to have new born kittens in house most of the time. There is an old dog watching Toby who Debbie has already repaired and cared for after he was abandoned and I believe he may find a home with her as he is so old and has slipped comfortably into the Pearse household. We love to get news from our children and although ­we can’t hug, and physically support we can still love and be proud.

 

An invite out to dinner at Carol and Trevor’s and at the end of the meal, which was delicious,  Trev wanted us to see his latest Christmas decoration.  Mike and I can be a little humbug at times, especially as December has only just reared its head, but this sort of yule tide enthusiasm is contagious and I did find myself loving the Christmas village all lit up with Christmas tunes to sing along to .

 

 

 

Mike got into full swing and I caught him talking about ‘the one that got away’….let’s hope he was talking about the fishing,  a good night out, full of fun and laughs.

 

 

 

St Mere Eglise had a Sunday afternoon concert at the Biscuiterie so we decided to show up and see what’s what with Graham and Ann.  We were however, certainly not disappointed as Mary and the Bugs were playing and a good crowd were there to appreciate the spectacle. We found a table and sat together on a blustery, grey Sunday having a hoot

 

 

 

My big boy here wants to know what we are going to do with these huge pumpkins because they make great play things. Sadly, the truth is, I have no idea.  We’ve decided we do not like pie or soup. Pumpkins are great fun to grow and we will collect seeds for next year from one of these but what to do now ? …….decorate with tinsel for Christmas seems like a good idea.

 

 

 

 

 

Mike made a good start on the new camper parking and dug his way into the potager to start preparing the entrance

 

Once he was through he cracked on to get the gradient right so we can back the camper in. As I watched him digging, it occurred to me that we would never have been able to consider this level of landscaping without the digger. Many years of mike’s pleading and convincing has come to fruition and I have nothing but good things to say about it.  Mike is now getting skilled up to face something big and beautiful and extensive in the garden in 2016…….

 

 

We can now see the space available to get the camper in and although Mike feels it will be tight, it will not be impossible. Come the spring, when we change the barn roof this job can be completed and give the covered area we need with all the vehicles Mike is accumulating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally I am back on the window painting game. I tried to motivate myself all summer to get the downstairs windows repaired and painted but it just did not happen….. Too many other lovely things to do while the sun is out. We decided to set up the middle bedroom as a workshop again and things are now rocking and rolling. These here will be done for Christmas and then I have two other sets to complete the house. There are two doors and my sewing room but a fresh strategy will need to be agreed before we can start those.  Mike has got a fundamental hate of white gloss paint and although he wants to help we have discovered that if he prepares I can finish so that is the way it is going, and it’s all going well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a good start to the plan, we thought ….

Blog 30 / November 2015

 

 

 

 

Here are our Grandchildren in Canada saying thank you for the clothes I stitched up on a sewing Wednesday. I was a little nervous that they would not fit but it seems all is well. It is perhaps a good thing that they are so far away as I would be sewing for them all the time and then I can foresee the day when they start to wish I didn’t.  Homemade clobber from Nona now and then, is good for me and fun for them. We posted a little parcel to Canada and Australia on the   17^th November and Canada was delivered on the 23^rd in less than a week, well done La Poste, good job…..

 

 

Mike started a little project that is turning into an epic. We are clearing the area that started off as the French style potager, then became the hen enclosure and now, about to become the camper park. We have had a plan to knock down a lean-to at the back of the barn to make a covered camper park but this new vision Mike has, of putting it behind the barn is a much better idea..

 

In 2013 we moved the chickens from their enclosure where they benefited from the best views of our garden into an area of potager that was not sunny enough for growing. Mike built them a lovely new enclosure with a weather proof top and a fox proof surround and we were all very pleased with it. Their old enclosure became our garden terrace so now, we benefit from the view. I am not going to replace the hens I have now and we are happy to keep them for their good looks and self-sufficiency appeal so we are ready to clear the area and make way for the camper.

 

The chickens are still able to scratch around and they are now extremely happy as I have given them the poly tunnel for the winter and until we have finished our work out here they can stay there in 5 star conditions

 

 

 

 

 

I always give the hens the tunnel for the winter and they have their very own little winter entrance but this year we have put their house in as well, ao everything is tropical, dry and comfortable. Their only job now is to clear the beds, eat up all the fallen tomatoes and be happy

 

 

 

We’re moving the pepper shed over beside the poly tunnel and this area becomes surprisingly big. This will also give Mike a dry and useable area once the port is in place should he want to work on his cars outside in the summer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had an invite to lunch with Graham and Ann and decided to take a walk up to the chateaux at the top of their road to see a bit of real live filming going on.

 

 

 

The filming was for a documentary about the activities in Neuville as the Germans came in from the DDay Beaches and all the actors and extras were dressed in period with military vehicles, children and cars to make it look extremely authentic.

 

 

 

Ann and I had our eye out for a bit of dressing up inspiration as we stood and watched the action as it happened. The director came over to ask us to move out of shot and when he realised we were English he shook our hands and we had a short chat about the film that was for the discovery channel and will be out in about a years’ time, I felt like I was on a Spielberg set, and so did he, but it was fun and a jolly nice thing to do on a Sunday pre-lunch walk.

 

And finally another bon coin special. Mike has been looking for a concrete BBQ to go up in the trolley bay garden but as always didn’t want to pay a lot, so, when he saw this for 30 euro he jumped. It was actually only the bottom and the chimney for sale and Mike was prepared to make up the missing bits but when we arrived all the bits were there and although a couple are broken Mike is going to mend them and we will have our BBQ for very little money and a lot of fun getting there. You will notice the scaffolding up on the barn and that is in prep for a roof recover now scheduled for April but getting the access built, was a good start to the plan, we thought ….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

how we were, and what we have become. ……

Blog 29 / November 2015

November certainly came along and snapped us up, but the sun is still shining and we are not cold yet.  On the 11^th we took a ride out to Ranville to do our act of remembrance in front of the grave of Mike’s Uncle Bill.

 

In 1989 Mike and I brought the children for a holiday in Normandy never imagining that we would be living in this area 26 year later. Mike knew that his Dad’s brother had died during the D-day invasion and went to the Wargraves Commission in Maidenhead to see if he could find out where his uncle Bill was buried. It meant nothing to me at the time but Mike came home with a scrap of paper with the place and plot number and said that if we could, we would pop in and see what this was all about. This is a picture of our first serious camper, called Rog the Dodge, and we had a few great holidays except that it was a bugger to start and we would all sit with our fingers crossed in hope that he would start just one more time. You can see how young the children were and I am showing far too much leg for a mum of three but we really did enjoy our camper days, and this holiday to the Normandy beaches developed a great interest in the D-day story for us, that has drawn us back to this area over many years. And every time we passed through, we made our visit to Ranville.

 

 

 

So 26 years later here we are again paying our respects and this year we scanned a picture of Uncle Bill and took it along with us. It is such a shame that we look at all these names of fallen heroes and never really know the man, so for a little while or at least until the gardeners turn up those passing will know what William T Baker actually looked like

 

 

 

 
 

 

Uncle Bills son Terry came to visit  us here in Brevands from New Zealand in 2008 and we always think of him on the other side of the world and perhaps we are dutiful family representatives keeping the memory alive, but is it not a  duty for us, it is a privilege.

 

 

 

 

Well that is it, the end of the season, I picked the last of the tomatoes and we are drying the walnuts and after the chickens have had the run of the poly tunnel to clean  out then we will close down and wait for spring

…… not long now …..

 

 

I do have a little corner of the potting shed for new growth over winter and I have cuttings from lavender, geranium and pansies started from seed for the spring. I do have the most amazing challenge on the go this winter though.  On my birthday our friends Shirley and Mark, who are in the antiques business, gave me a paper envelope containing seeds with a beautiful picture of sweet peas printed on the front.  Shirley had dated this find to anytime in the 1930’s and although we laughed at  the prospect of sewing ancient  seeds I took the laugh one step further and I have planted them fully expecting  at least a 20% germination rate. I also went out in the garden and picked this year’s sweet pea pods and planted a few seeds  in a separate pot so I will not be too disappointed, but wouldn’t it be fantastic to bring 80 year old seeds to life….

 

 

Mike’s old tractor was giving me some concern because it had not been started for many months and I had surrounded it with pot plants and made it look more like an ornament than a garden tool.  I laid down the challenge, cleared the plants away and mike applied himself as only Mike can and got the old fella chugging. I don’t know why I get despondent and worried about these events as Mike always gets things going and this old tractor is no exception. I have now put it on the list of machinery that has to be started once a month, and besides, I just love the sound this old work horse makes, and I think I will ask Mike to leave it where we will use it, so we don’t lose it

 

 

 

 

And finally …… I have finished my Canadian holiday blog….well not a blog more of a trilogy, but it is written and now in its first proof reading phase. When we are both  happy with it we will then send a copy to the people I have written about, put a copy  in the year book with all the maps and memorabilia  we brought home with us and then not look at it for at least 10 years. All this blogging I do is for us to have a written memory of our life in retirement, and for us, when the sofa is the best place to sit in all day, to have a good read that will evoke great memories and thoughts of how we were, and what we have become. ……

 

 

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I promise to try harder in 2016….

Blog 28 / October 2015

 

 

 

 

In 2006 we bought 100 leylandii trees to form a hedge  between the car park and the ponds at the Relais in Watten, Nord, and when our business plans took a tumble and we decided to move on, we transported  20 little pot plants in the removal lorry and planted them in numerous places in our new garden, that was still a farmer’s field . Some have been left to develop but most have been grown and cut down in the 8 years that we have been here. These monsters are now on their way out for being far too independent and totally unruly to the point that we have been afraid to trim them, in case they take offence and put double growth on, out of spite.

Mike set off with all the tools required for the job and it was all over in a little more than an hour.  We have loaded all the dechete in a large pile and will leave it till the spring, leaving nature to deal with the bulk and perhaps offer some wild life a nice warm and dark place to bed down if it should turn cold.  We are always a little sad to chop trees down that we have planted and as the years go by we are doing this more and more.   But now that our farmer’s field is a mature and established garden I should think we will do this rejuvenation on a regular basis.

 
 

 

So there you have it, the allotment is now bathed in light and my strawberries are no longer dodging  tree shadows .We have a wider view to the house so all in all a good job done. Sadly this wood is no good for burning indoors so it will all go to the dump if we don’t think of something fantastically artistic to use it for during those long winter evenings planning the next garden project…

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkinalia was fun but many of our friends were away and what was billed as the event of the year was frequented by a few enthusiasts and we all had a jolly good time

 

I made a pumpkin pie, and although I followed the recipe to the letter it really was not fun to eat, so the chickens finished it up which made them happy for a little variety in their diet…no extra eggs in way of thanks

 

Mike bought me a selfie stick and I had such a good time just being silly, Mike and I have struggled with our double chins and wonky faces so this will make our together photographs nicer to keep…….

 

 

 

In the evening of  Pumpkinalia day and after the Rugby world cup….goodness what a full day we had…Mike and I joined our friends at a 1940’s dance in Blossville. We dressed up best we could as Mike and I find it hard to get into character but since our trip out in our 1936 Morris in June we are not so self-conscious. We had a really good night out with WW11 re-enactor enthusiasts and watched with interest at the jiving and dance floor fun had by all.  We are now rethinking our outfits, Mike will never put a uniform on but is happy to go civilian and that is all very good and acceptable, In June we did the D-day parade dressed as Free French so perhaps we can do a bit of research and head in that direction.

 

We did a 1940’s conga, an okee kokee, and there was such great, big band music played that we could not resist hitting the floor for one of those anything goes waltzes we had to do when we were young and out with our parents…….

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am determined to learn how to jive before the next Stage Door Canteen dance is organised ….I know all of you who know Mike will understand the mountain I will climb to get him on the jiving end of my arm…but  I will try …….

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the promise of a few good days we took the opportunity to get the last hanger-on apples down and Mike got his trusted gouly pole out which he used during our cider years and rattled the apples to the ground. I will now make apple juice for the freezer ready for those  cold dark winter days when you need the taste of a bit of autumn to cheer you up…

 

 

 

 

Job well done, and if this weather keeps up we will be ahead of ourselves at this busy closing down time when all the hatches are battened and anything that might damage in the garden is brought in for protection from the cold winter months ahead.

 

 

 

And finally, I had another great day in the sewing room and made a dress for Victoria and a waist coat for Alex in Canada.  I am looking forward to having more time during the winter months to lock myself away to be creative. It is a good job I put Sewing Wednesday in the diary  or else I would never find the time, but being retired is all about making the time and I am not very good at that as the garden always seems to take priority ……but I promise to try harder in 2016….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see the weather was extremely kind to us and we sat out in the sun as though it were July enjoying the unexpected joy of sitting out in the garden at the end of October.