It is fair
to say that January has lived up to its reputation of being the worst month of
the year. We are still feeling the emptiness of losing a friend and on top of
that the wind has howled and the rain has poured and it is cold and utterly
miserable. We do however have to count
our blessings and although the house is draped in grey hues at least the
upstairs windows are standing up to this wretched weather and the ducks in
their unseen wisdom actually don’t give a hoot, or even a quack.
Our beige
headed female duck finally found her voice and is enjoying the freedom of
expression at six in the morning and one
of them has, today, given us the gift of
an egg which I have already put in the mix for sponge cake which is delicious. You will see that the daffodils have baggsed
their position for this year, and just that alone brings a tinge of good cheer
and optimism for warmer brighter days ahead
Mike has
thrown himself in the not very necessary, but fun project of boxing in the Gym
area in the barn. My lame excuse for not using the gym for the past 2 years has
been that it is cold in the winter and dirty after a wind storm as a 100 years
of dust plummets to the floor and there is need to vacuum clean before you even
start with an exercise session. The Box is built like a second home and will
give us a very plausible spare work room should we decide that actually we are
not gym people after all.
Two weeks
on and the second hand set of internal doors we bought for our Bar in Watten 9
years ago have at last found a home. Three sets of windows we picked up for
nothing to repair our potting shed have also been used to make a wall of
glass. Mike has been truffling through his
stocks and has been able to build and apply elements of bodge in the most
professional and satisfying way. We have had to do this job together because it
is a design as you build project and every application seems to have three
options and we set up the boardroom table and agree with a solution before
moving on. It is very satisfying but I might just like to add very cold and
when I excuse myself at five o’clock to
light the fire and start on dinner I am very pleased to be coming back to the
house.
It
is hard to believe we had 25 people sat at table up here in July for our 60th
birthday party, it seems like an age ago but the fun and joy of having our
family and friends around us is still ringing in the rafters…..so much better
than hanging from them at this dull time of year
The grass is trying
to express itself and wants to be abandoned and unruly and we are going to let
it go on for a little longer. I wish with all my heart I could take the tractor
out and top it off but Mike sensibly tells me that it will recover and by June
we will be wondering what the fuss was all about
This is the third time that we have had
escapees from the next field and I know not to go near them and just rushed for
my camera. I took a stance with legs apart, hands on hips and gave them a dirty
look which eventually convinced them that Madame was not happy and they strolled
back through the hole in the fence they had so carefully made to make their
great escape. Mike came out with a mend fence kit and we knitted a convincing
string and wire fortification in the hope that the cows will take the hint. They
stood on the other side watching us and we swore a bit and made it clear that
they were not the sort of neighbours we normally mix with. It is true that
these animals are wonderful in their own right but they weigh a ton and the
lawn is now pitted with hoof sized holes about 6 inches deep and we will not
really know the extent of the damage until we cut……put your earplugs in, I know
a gardener who is not going to be very polite and British stiff upper lip about
it when the facts are out.
On Christmas day I called my French friend Genevieve
who lives in the village and apologised for being such a rotten friend. Since I
had to give up choir due to my hearing loss I have not really spoken to her, and we used
to meet every week put the world to rights on the way to practice, have a good old sing song, and do it all over again on the way home. I therefore
promised to visit her every week on Wednesday at 4 o’clock and all this month I
have been taking the walk up to her house and we sit for an hour chatting about
whatever comes into our heads. I have learnt more about my neighbour across the
road in a month of chatting to Genevieve than we have living opposite him these
last four 4 years. This week I told her about the cows in the garden and she
truly went into one and said I was to go straight to the Maire of Brevands and tell
him. This is obviously the way to deal with a dodgy French farmer who according
to Geneviève is a loose cannon in farming circles and needs pulling to one side
for a Marie type scalding. I did try to calm her and felt I needed to explain
that we understand we live in the country,
and it is a million times better
than graffiti on the front door……
