left in the gardens as rustic decoration…

Blog 1 / Jan 2015

Our New Year started like any other and friends Trevor and Carol invited us around for the final roast, the final big desert, the last of too much wine and a chance to enjoy the last of the Christmas decorations. The evening was full of games and fun and as always it ends up girls verses boys and inevitably becomes a race to the finish in true girly style with plenty of screaming and banter










Mike and I tried to get back into normal eating after that Sunday fun in Trev's bar but failed and promised ourselves to empty the fridge and talked of building a box around  the gym in the barn so that we have a good place to exercise every day,  but in our not sure what -to -do -next mood decided to concentrate on replacing the lounge floor but news that we have two set of friends visiting from the UK  in March gave us permission  to put that project on hold until the weather warms up . The New Year weather has been appalling and it has not stopped raining so far, so the get-your-pecker-up jobs like cutting a tree down or digging over a raised bed are not possible.

 I have been making progress on my digital pics to prints project and have now completed up to 2005. 2006 is in the post and I have just downloaded 2007.  The process is simple, open up the cd with all the digital pictures we have taken and choose a selection to tell the story of that year.  Using hindsight it has become a lovely trip down memory lane and I have been able to be specific about what is important in terms of achievement and occasion.  The plan is that I complete a year a month and that will get me up to 2014 in time to put 2015 to print and I will have a complete set of proper albums of our life since the day we met in 1970.


 Mike has had our trusted trailer in the garage drying out waiting for a coat of paint and with the cold weather grappling over the horizon I suggested that perhaps it would be better to have  Beryl our  yellow soft top in the garage in case it does snow and that prompted the paint job and although  Mike had anticipated  upgrading  the electrics and replacing the side panels this will be enough for the old trailer, that owes us nothing, to see the winter through in battle ship grey fighting off the effects of rain and snow….should it come.






2015 took an unbelievable downturn with a Saturday morning phone call from our friend Ray to say that his wife Marianne had passed away the night before.  The shock and horror of such news puts life on a different schedule and our hearts are broken at the loss of a dear and close friend.  Marianne and Ray have been to all of our parties in Brevands in the past five years and we have spent many suppertime hours just us four chewing the cud and putting the world to rights.  We  were, however, mostly discussing the French way of doing things as we have all of us felt the full strength of French bureaucracy and  logic and to have an equally balanced debate  where we were able to placate and admonish all at the same time, made  for a good night in around the table.

 It takes less than a week for a funeral to take place in France and we gathered  with Ray and his two sons in a packed crematorium to say au revoir to Marianne, with heavy hearts and fond memories of a smile we will never forget.

The days go by and Marianne and Ray are in our thoughts, her, for leaving us all too soon, and him, support to continue a life here with us in France.

 

 

 

 

To show us that life must go on, can I be the first to say that I have daffodils in my garden in the middle of January. We always laugh about the silly seasons we have seen pass by and I have a very lovely memory of showing Marianne my gladioli growing at the front gate in October last year.

 

So the new year begins, with many projects on the to-do list and many hopes of a good and satisfying year for all our friends here in France sharing our lives

 

I am still hoping to have a little cottage industry selling my cushions but sadly the French Post office have changed the tariffs and made it that a  20 Euro cushion will now cost  85 Euro to post  outside of France and 30 Euro  inland. It has therefore prompted a time of re-invent and re-evaluation as to how I continue. It is a good job we were looking at this pastime as a nice thing to do and eating less cheese and drinking less red wine would balance the books just as well.  We do also need to remember where we are and enjoy what is around us at a price we can afford. That is one thing we have become quite good at,  so instead of the central heating on, the fire is roaring and we will now contemplate bringing in the wood we have cut this year and left in the gardens as rustic decoration…