We had
harrowing news from Australia this week and these two lovely dogs, pets to our
children died suddenly leaving the family in a state of shock. Events like
these are not about our life in France but our children’s lives can have
nothing but a huge impact on our French experience. We are now so many miles
apart that we can only offer our love and thoughts and that leaves us empty, helpless
and unable to be instrumental in a recovery after such an event. Both Deb and Jez have written their thoughts on
facebook and I have taken a copy and added them to our year book as this is a
sadness we will never be able to share with our children but truly feel.
In loving
memory of Tia and Jade
And it is
at times like this that we take stock of the animals we love and care for and
Mike caught these two having a little snooze together in the sun. We live in such relaxed and ordered chaos
where our pets potter around us filling our lives with joy. Until the day that Ducks are caught eating the cherished Gunnera
plant that we’ve neutered last summer
and all winter ready for planting in the pond area this year…..
OK, it is only a plant but Mike and I have had a yearning to have gunnera around the pond and it has taken us 7 years to get to this stage and the ducks have taken a fancy to it, which is not good…..
My answer
to all things plant tricky is to make a chicken wire collar and give the animal
that is eating my plants the opportunity not to fail and forget there was ever
a super tasty plant available to them. Throughout
the making of our garden I have made chicken wire collars to protect the
rabbits from themselves, if they don’t eat the plants I won’t trap them and
between us we have a win win no failure solution. Only problem is Mike has a
deep and meaningful hate of chicken wire to the point that I salvage all I can
and store it in the beach hut where it will not get in his way or cause offence
…..Deep and meaningful hates are taken seriously here ……it makes sense to stay
happy.
My very wow
factor butchers block centre isles in the Kitchen has now stopped shrinking. It
spent perhaps 20 years in the outbuildings before we realised that, what Mike
was using as a work bench had bigger value in the kitchen, so we hauled it in some three
years ago and let it find it’s way. We are now quite happy that it has settled.
Mike took off the metal brackets that hold it all together and then cut and
tapped and tapped and cut until it fitted without the gaping holes that were just
starting to get on my nerves, so good job…….
The vide grenier season has started in earnest
and this year Mike is looking for Morris car parts and I am looking for sewing
stuff as I am so enjoying my sewing Wednesday and have made a little scrapbook cover
piece, made a skirt out of a pair of jeans and made a jacket that was 10 times too small into something else. My
energy and passion for recycling is getting me into quite interesting projects
and the scrap book cover hobby is certainly taking my fancy. But on the tour of
this vide Grenier in Carentan, we past this clock. I inherited an absolute double
of this clock from Belgium and have looked after it for as long as we have owned
a home. It has moved with us and has always been on the danger list of things
that could damage so great care has always followed it about. I thought it was
priceless so took advantage of the dealer and innocently as I could, asked...
c’est combien ??……..well knock me down with a feather when he said I could have
it for 120 Euro, I wanted to say don’t you mean one thousand and twenty Euro….!
so my priceless clock is not worth a lot but I still love it and will still
take great care of it…
Mike lined
up his bikes to look for a new store place but until we have the barn empty
they will have to go back in the garage where he is really looking for work
space to rebuild the moggie. It seems however, no matter how many workshops,
garages and barns you have there is never enough space. I did carefully suggest
that perhaps one of the bikes could be rehomed but that suggestion most definitely
fell on Stoney ground so I won’t try that tactic again. Did I mention that we have a vintage bike parked
in the lounge, which is just part of the furniture, we forget it is there and
it is only when our visitors comment that we register it’s existence because
apart from the infrequent dusting we really have nothing to do with it, but as
with all things old it is better than spending their worth on things that have
no value or putting the money in the bank.
We have cut down trees this year that we
planted tree years ago and that is a gardeners delight, to reap the benefits.
These trees were a design error, planted in the wrong garden doing the wrong
thing so they came down and are quietly drying out this summer for the wood burner
in 2016. The garden area itself has breathed a huge sigh because it was the
garden who told me the trees are not welcome and the aesthetics were wrong….can
you believe that?… it’s true ….
Dessert at midnight is a bit of a culture shock
we Brits never get used to especially when
there is still coffee and calvados to come. We were invited to participate in a village
dinner and dance by our friend Ray whose son Robert is the head honcho of the
committee of fete and a very good job he made of it. For fourteen Euro each you are treated to a
four course meal served at the table which literally takes all evening to
complete. Early on in the evening the music was French traditional with
accordions and thigh slapping lyrics so everyone sang along and participated.
Whole families got up and danced in between courses, kids played hide and seek
in between their parent’s feet and the atmosphere was one of happy friends and
family sharing a village do.
The bar was good value and as the designated
driver I stayed alcohol free, well nearly, and had loads of fun and laughter.
Shortly after this photo was taken the lights went out and the village hall was
swathed in laser lighting and loud modern music which brought on a different
set of revellers …. The line dances hit the floor which gave us all the
entertainment we could want. Mike and I are disappointed that our village does not
have the fun element to want to have a
do like this. Our hall in Brevands is stuck in the middle of a field and is not
the centre of our village life. It is obvious that Roberts’s village has a
line dancing evening as so many of them just got up and danced all the same,
and in a line…. We will most definitely be looking for a village with a heart
if we ever make a move from here. Line dancing and craft clubs is looking quite
entertaining in our older years………
And finally, Mike and I have agreed to have the
annual pumpkin contest here in Brevands. Shirley and Mark held it last year so
we are taking our turn..
This year Mike and Viv are hosting the Normandy pumpkin competition
We have bought our seeds from Lidle this year and will be putting them in the soil at the end of April
There are 6 classes to participate in
1. best size
2. best shape
3. best Halloween cut out mask
4. best table decoration
5. best thing to do with a pumpkin after 31st October
6. best pumpkin pie
We will meet here at Brevands on Sat 31st October 2015 for a buffet lunch and pumpkin pie
Please let us know if you are growing this year and forward this onto anyone who would like to join the fun.
We look forward to hearing from you all and your friends and family who were so envious last year and want to join in this year.
Good luck and get planting.....
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