without too much of a fuss…how fab.

Blog 4 / February 2015

 

 

 

Just to keep you up to date with the development of the manoir in Catz. Over the Christmas period the brave owners covered the roof with blue tarp and made very conscientious attempts to fill in the wide open gaps where the windows should be. The wind has blown and the rain has lashed and we watch with very concerned enthusiasm to understand what the plan is and who it is that has this great imagination and commitment

 

 

 

 

So I will keep taking pictures when we pass on our way to Carentan so at least we are full of hope and enthusiasm for the future of this lost monument of a home that has been this derelict since the day we moved into Brevands in 2007

 

 

 

Mike and I were 39 years married on Valentine’s day and we celebrated as always with a few buddies sat around the table until late in the night just talking, putting the world to rights and sharing the how to, of living in France

 

 

 

Shirley is a blogger like me and is much quicker at getting the camera out and it is thanks to her that we have a lovely picture of us on the day to mark the occasion.

 

 

 

 

 

We were splashed on facebook and got lots of good wishes and banter and it made for a lovely celebration weekend.

 

 

 
 

 



I was able to justify to myself the cost in time and Euros of putting all our digital photos on paper and into albums when we were proud and a little smug at being able to lay our hands on the 1976 album with all the everyday pics of our wedding and the honeymoon. I also got our 39 year old wedding album still with its tissue wrapping and copper plate written guest list. It felt like the event only happened last year and having these beautiful pictures to flick through I know I am doing the right thing to get our albums up to date. We all swooned and laughed at what we were then, and who we are now, and it is good therapy to getting old to see that actually there is so very little difference and we are all basically the same despite a whole lifetime under the bridge.

And then life gets very serious and Mike has at last found his investment in the guise of a 1936 Morris 12/4. The Owner and seller is a pure blood enthusiast and has an interesting background in restoring old cars and oozes mechanical knowhow. Mike and John just clicked and they were off on a friendship we hope will last of ever talking about old cars and bikes…. right up Mikes street.

 

Monty …..cars name, is a French registered Morris and is in lovely condition, we intend to use her for picnics and meetings with likeminded folk but we really intend to  look after her during  our ten year plan and hope that by then she will be even more rare and there just may be a little profit. Certainly better than putting the money in the bank, you can’t have a picnic with the chaps at the bank

…..oh no you can’t.

 

 

My garage is the best place to park such a gem so we had to bite the bullet and empty 8 years of collected junk and 300 bottles of cider.  We cleared out the woodshed to house the cider and had to break down a mountain of boxes that were stored in there for no apparent reason….why do we store boxes?  Is it just in case we need to take the item back one day? Well if it is then we need to have an annual clear out because there were boxes of items we no longer own, utter madness. I had to rehouse all the spares we carry for the mobile homes and in the same cupboard I found a hoard of jam jars that I did not have the heart to ditch.  At the end of a growing season you never quite know how or what you are going store so keeping a collection of jars and caps is essential, well that is how I explained this daftness to Mike.  There was a very nice desk in the garage that I took a fancy to and it is now my sewing machine table leaving my work room table empty to have yards of fabric thrown over it on sewing day.   

 

 

The cider was all stacked by date, 2009, 2010 and 2011 we have actually drunk all of 2008, but   I still checked with a true Normandy cider drinker that you can still drink old cider and she smacked her lips and said of course you can.  I emptied the iffy looking bottles and gave our amber stock a new home and hopefully before we die we will have drunk all of this stufffff.

 

 

We now have the fire, kind of, under control at last. When we had the new chimney liner put up last year the installer insisted that we have a new and obligatory trap at the bottom of the down pipe which enables the fire monitor,  i.e. Mike, to open the bottom of the pipe  and empty the hard soot and muck that has collects there.  Mike had a dreadful headache in the week so we did without the fire for a day but when I did light it as the night temperatures went into the ones and twos the fire was not drawing well and as I opened the door it billowed with smoke, so the to-do list, was to clear the trap and hey presto I am sitting by a roaring fire that is most definitely behaving better than yesterday.  When it’s time to put a log on the fire we say up up HOSS who reluctantly, like a very grumpy old man vacates his position on his rug at the foot of the wood burner.  He does not however tolerate any romantic moments for looking into the flames because it is good for the soul, and barges his way back into position even if Mike is not quite finished and claims his right to his rug and his position of supervisor and Head Of Sight Security

 

 

 

And finally.  The photo project is back on track after a small delay when I realised that originally I had not downloaded December 2006 onto disc and consequently did not make prints for that month. It was at the end of putting all of 2007 prints in the album that I realised my mistake. I took all the 2007 prints out of the album, ordered the lost December photos and had to wait for the postman before I could get started again. With all that done, and I was feeling very pleased with myself and started to prepare 2009 but the first CD did not work and was corrupt.  I needed to go back to the Apple Mac which is set up in the back kitchen only as a photo store. My Mac is very old and is totally unusable as an online workhorse due to the fact that it is now unsupported by Apple and is deemed to be redundant.  My Mac no longer reads CDs so I went with my memory stick in hand started her up to much steam and kerfuffle with messages about dates and times and things not loading but finally she hunkered down and started to reply to my requests to export photos to the memory stick. This Mac never played to her full potential with me as I bought her in a fit of misplaced need to return to a career as a Graphic Designer way back in 2004. I was not that good at in the first place but coming back to it with new technology really made it quite obvious I was not up for the fight.  No regrets on the purchase as she taught me a lot about computer functionality  and she now sits in the back kitchen holding the backup of 14,000 photos of our life since 2004…….and she still replies to my request to export to memory stick without too much of a fuss…how fab.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

end of the Phone waiting for our call ……phew !!!!!

 

Blog 3 February 2015

 

I put a picture of my ducks in this week’s blog just because I love them and they make us laugh every day.  The girls have started to lay eggs so I went  into the pond enclosure and spread straw in the places I have seen them settle, leaving  a  white wooden egg behind  to give them a clue as to what is expected of them. Now that swanny is no more I can walk freely in the pond area and play at being mother duck as they quack quack about my feet and follow me where ever I go, these are truly fabulous pets.

 

 

 

 

The ceiling went up in the Gym and was made a million times easier with the loan of a plaster board lift. The last time we put up a ceiling was in the back kitchen and I swore that I would never do it again. Mike and I divorced each other after each board went up and when Mike suggested we use the same method in the Gym I told him to talk to the hand and find a better way to do it or I’m out.   It’s really amazing how a gadget can change your view on a job and Mike and I worked as a couple of odd job blokes manhandling these large sheets up a flight of stairs onto the lift and then while one ratchets up the other manoeuvres into position and then Mike had his hands free to put the screws in with a  calm and rational approach ……et voila ….perfect

There was a melancholy moment as the boards started to cover up the view into the eves of this wonderful barn roof, but you can’t have everything and although we can still see the structure from the other side of the hay loft it did break my heart to see the straight above view, gone. To get over it though, I got on the treadmill walked for 10 minutes got my heart beat up to fat burning speed and all the melancholy disappeared along with the view of the roof

 

 

Mike and I have been watching the weather forecast as I have been waiting for a dry spell to attack the lawns. I saw that we were going to sit under a pleasant high pressure zone with a promise of no rain for a week so I started to make urgent enquiries about how we take the collecting box off the new mower and bodge the on off switch so that I can just drive at high speed and scatter all the cut grass high into the air and distribute it. I was in heaven when after 2 hours the lawns were mowed. The first cut of the year is always a knife and fork job and we were not disappointed but I have just come in from a walk around the garden with HOSS and I feel another shorter cut coming on tomorrow, if the rain stays away. The morning after a cut like that is the best experience as I opened the shutters to that sweet smell of newly cut grass and the promise of spring in the air despite the morning temperate holding at 3 degrees.

Mike joined me with his mowing deck attached to the tractor and did the outer edges of the garden and the wood and later I went out to see what else he had found to do and I thought I had caught him multi-tasking and rolling as he mowed but actually the deck was lifted as the roller has a mind of its own and needs a keen sense of direction to get it to go where you want it to go…..bit like reversing a trailer which Mike manages to do with irritating ease.

 

 

 

This picture is not strictly about our life in France but it has a real impact on our happiness and wellbeing. Here are our grandchildren with their Daddy and their beast of a dog in Canada. We talk to Georgina and the kids every week on Skype and sometimes twice if there is something special to say. We have got to know them and their lovely ways despite the distance between us. Little Alex asked us when we were going to come to his house so we have decided to make the trip and it is all booked and arranged for Spring. We are looking forward to living with them to get a real hands on appreciation of their wonderful life on Vancouver Island.

 

 

And finally, we popped into our depot vends and  found this very average side board with  mirrors  and it is  exactly what I was looking for to house the music centre and store all our party equipment that we leave in the barn like plates, cutlery and glasses. This gym area has given me a hygienic environment to have the party food in and have the games and partying in the open roofed area. I am very pleased with the Gym and I go every day, I don’t work out to the point of destruction as that would be silly but a little bit of muscle toning every day is good. I put the treadmill on programme 7 the other day and ended up running for 3 separate minuets and for one who never runs or sweats without good reason this is a good start. The very average sideboard weighed a ton and it took all of Mike’s appliance of science and strength to get it up the stairs.We feel that strength and stamina is sometimes just borrowed for the day and returned by taking three days in front of the TV, but we managed to get it up to the first floor against all odds and the worry that our friends and extra muscle are away and not at the end of the Phone waiting for our call ……phew !!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





a million times better than graffiti on the front door……

Blog 2 / January 2015

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 60^th 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 July last year, family, friends,  campers and a lot of fun and laughter makes all the difference

 

We had a very unwelcome visitor and his family come to munch and poo in our garden this week. I had a bit of a shock when I skipped into the garden to give HOSS his happy 15 minutes to find we had squatters with attitude, and this boy was asking me who I thought I was coming into  his garden!!

 

 

 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……

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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…