trim some bushes and crop those trees.....

Wow, it has turned cold again. I have just got in from choir practice and the conversation is all weather and how chilly it is...who said only the British talk about the weather, this crowd I sing with, average age of 70, were wrapped up like Eskimos but it did liven up discussions about what's happening in the UK and how is my mum coping.........! We did a first attempt of Handel's Saraband and it is every bit as lovely as I hoped it would be but the other two tunes were dia, so roll on more practice sessions. Mike and I stayed in this morning, I wrote up the blog, late.....and then blanched the sprouts and they look good, I had them frozen and in bags by late afternoon. I put the leeks in my largest pot with just about everything you could imagine that goes into soup, the house smells like my grandparents house in Brussels, boiled leeks and cress soup, every house should smell like it except that Mike hates it and I need to seriously air the kitchen after a cooking session of that magnitude. We went out to the post office with letters to Australia and Canada, the post mistress is now full of chat and interest about who I am sending to and of course then she wishes she had never asked once I launch myself into the explanation. We visited my friend Anne for afternoon tea and sat by her roaring fire, she is a retired art teacher and also has a great voice, we sing together and now we have a plan to paint together so I am looking forward to a bit of tuition. Mike and I both have hurt hands today from being spiked and battered by the hedge yesterday but it all feels a lot better this evening so tomorrow I hope we will be able to go out to trim some bushes and crop those trees.....

We will fill the day, and that will move us on a little further.

I am a fraud.....I sit at my mac before I go to bed and send you a little taste of what has happened today but as I sit here at 9.57am waiting for my porridge to thicken I can only give you a taste of yesterday, doesn't that happen so automatically and without warning. So, yesterday, we had a bright and warm invitation to finish the hedge, Mike cropped the top and pulled out the brambles at one end and I just pulled out brambles starting at the other, theory being that at some point Mike's job gets easier at the point where he may start to feel he is doing all the work.........good theory, and it worked. I then man handled all the dechete from the hedge 20 yards down to the bonfire site which it is looking very 5th of November so as soon as the wind is in the right direction, because we do care about our neighbour's washing, we will have a fab fire. After lunch we went back onto site to clear up and I pulled up the last of the leeks, only good for soup now, and I picked a huge basket of Brussels for the freezer. Oh, and I am blanching those as I write.........I will get the soup pot ready to boil up on our half price electric that clicks in at midday. Here we go again, another not so bright day, we haven't decided what to do today yet, but we will fill the day, and that will move us on a little further.

Not playing games yet, but maybe looking at the challenge

What a lovely day off, I prepared a roast lunch for Peter and Sarah and HOSS got to run around the field with his little doggie friend Dana. A couple of weeks ago Leclerc was selling their Pork at half price and I cooked, carved and froze 4 joints. Putting a roast dinner together has become quick and simple, but oh so good. I picked the brussel sprouts on my walk with HOSS before breakfast and all the other veg were from stock even the apple source was bottled compote from the orchard. We sat down at midday and as Mike and I were not driving anywhere in a hurry we let the wine flow and chatted about all and nothing. Peter and Sarah have been in France five years longer than us and we always manage to learn a little from each other about the ins and outs of surviving the french system, it is never an ex-pat reunion, just good mates sitting at table enjoying lunch. We all got up at four o'clock did a turn around the field and then said our goodbyes. The end of the day was in true "day off" style, curled up on the sofa. I am reading a book based on the story of Pompeii and it is gripping stuff so I wrapped myself up in my favourite blankets and had a good read. Mike is enjoying his new laptop, it is fast and he is surfing the Internet like a real youngster. Not playing games yet, but maybe looking at the challenge

back to the grindstone, Brevands style...gently.

We seem to have a new routine these days, which suits me as we both get a little work done before lunch, during which we can then deside what's to be done next. In the winter months we stay tucked up in the warm until the sun is up and that, at the moment, is 8:30. During our 33 years of married life we have had a cup of tea first thing and I can honestly say that it is a rare day when that has not happened, so, tea, bit of french news on the TV and it is 9:30 before HOSS gets his walk and then it is too late to go shopping and beat the midday shut down. We are more relaxed about this phenomenon and I am much happier that the work is done in the morning so we can play in the afternoon. Today we cleaned out the grape vine in the poly tunnel. We now know that to get good grapes you need to slash and burn the vine all year round to keep the growth in control and I am looking forward with our new found "vine skills" to a good crop this year. I finished trimming the geraniums of which I suspect I have lost over 50%. Mike noted that the tunnel got as low as -7 during the cold spat. We have a thermometer that logs the highest and lowest temperatures and it has proved to be very useful even if it gives you bad news...... This afternoon we went to Cherbourg to Brico Depot for a stroll through the tool department and a saunter down the electrician's aisle, we talk about what we should have and what Mike needs and then we make mental notes of prices and availabilities and come home. We did stop at a furniture shop on the way out of town... well, more like a posh MFI store, I say that because while Mike was looking in the bargain corner I witnessed a queue of people bringing things back and talking about bits missing and it all just rang a bell in my mind. We did however find a solid teak cabinet with white round sink and chrome mixer tap at a cool 60% reduction, not flat packed as it was ex display so we thought it was a fairly safe purchase for the bedroom sink unit we have been looking for. Mikes jobs are starting to back up now, we are due a day off tomorrow with friends coming for lunch , then back to the grindstone, Brevands style .......gently.

I am a total wimp when it comes to injections.....

The barn staircase is complete and while I did the ironing, ...(oh yes, it does not get done on it's own, unless your mum is over to stay) Mike swept out the loft area and we stood there with a cuppa in hand, faces looking into the big barn roof wondering "what next" it is so beautiful. While I was ironing today listening to radio 7 on the Internet, some play about a lady and a fox, I pondered at how many items of clothes I have ironed in my life time.....not a whinge, I actually enjoy the whole process but as with the dish washer...hate putting things away. It was damp and miserable after lunch, Mike was tired, so we hunkered down in the lounge for the afternoon. I did take HOSS for a walk on the roads around the house. I want to start getting some discipline on the lead so I took my walking stick with me and rested it on his back so that we were in contact with each other. I have seen a chap walking his dog doing just that and wondered what effect it would have and it did remind HOSS that I was there and he was much more attentive. A good bit of training accomplished and we both had a peaceful walk. Two letters arrived with the French Government logo on the envelopes and my heart skipped a beat as to what they might want now......!!! but today it was good news and we are both invited to have the swine flue jab. It is called "grip A" here as the pig farmers got very upset complaining that if you make reference to pigs people will stop eating pork...they have a point, As this is a giveses, I think we will go to St Lo and queue for the privilege, although, (Mike will confirm this).... I am a total wimp when it comes to injections.....

You just can't help taking a deep breath

The smell of spring is in the air, it is only if you live and work out of doors that you might recognise the sensation and I am so very privileged to be able to put my hand up to that . I had the feeling of having just moved in here this morning, the air was new and refreshing like your first day on holiday...... We both set off on two different paths this morning with the vigor we wish we had every day but you have to be realistic and enjoy it when it actually knocks on your door . Mike spent all day finishing off the stair case in the barn and it is a fantastic job done, He uses his stocks of material and brings out tools I never knew exisisted and know why moving his workshop is a thought we do not want to visit, ever again. I have a need to check in on him when he is working with electrical tools and ladders, I try to send HOSS in true Lassie style, to see how his master is getting on but I get this stubborn wide open face asking, why...."you're the one who feeds me"....but checking in on a regular basis gives me the chance to look objectively at the job in hand so I can ponder on the possibilities of the next project, and with this fantastic attic space now so accessible, I am visualising a summer house and hobby room........thoughts for the future. In our lifetime we have seen the development of the Internet and the computer we all have needed to become so very expert at, and today I ordered a book from an Australian bookshop paid for it on my card to be delivered in the next 7 days to the Pearse house hold...how utterly amazing is that, we use the internet for an amazing amount of reasons, I must google for something or another every day, we had a Ford Explorer car manual delivered yesterday and I got an e-mail this morning to say that our printer ink cartridges are being despatched tomorrow. We both feel that life is thrashing ahead and developing on one hand but the other hand has to hold back to allow nature to recover and come to terms with itself. We are happy to hold both hands up and take advantage at every level where technology meets our "good life" living, and a quick visit to google earth to look at the bigger picture of where we are ....well .......you just can't help taking a deep breath...

In true Meldrew style, I don't beleeeve it.....

It has been a day of two halves, Mike was up and atom with a plan to start trimming the front hedge but put his Victor Mildrew face on when he noticed the rain dancing off the pond. I always have stuff to do and just got on with something else like bringing in the wet washing I forgot to bring in last night......I switch Mike's PC on every morning to check that Australia is active, it is a bit early for Canada but Debs is breakfast and George is Lunch if we need to talk. Mike had a play around on French e-bay which is dia! then the sun made an appearance and we set off with all the cutting, trimming and lopping devices we own. Looking at an over grown hedge full of bramble and rambling rose is enough to both be Mr and Mrs Meldrew and the first fifteen minutes is just purgatory finding the confidence to handle the hedge without getting pricked, bringing on a bout of tetanus....it's OK we got ourselves protected last month....however the anticipation of pain brought out the whimp in us both, we then found the way to work and pulled out yards of runners strangling the trees and bushes beneath. We got half way and had to stop for lunch, because that is French Law, and as we set off for the second half an hour later the heavens opened. We stood in the barn doorway hoping it was a passing shower but Mike started to look at the stair case and within 3 hours had the boards up the rafters cut, the engineering considerations dealt with and I just watched in awe that he can tackle such a big job without a cooked British Breakfast inside him. I have always been a little wary of the barn loft, it is very dusty and unfamiliar place, not my domain, but with a hole in the ceiling and a clear view to the cathedral space up there, I am now wondering how to find the cash to re-tile the roof so we can use this wonderful space. .....But we have access now and that is a great start. With the light failing we've had to leave the finishing until tomorrow but job well done and in true Meldrew style, just have to say...... I don't beleeeeve it.....