Yarns From a Barn in France

KNIT YOUR SQUARE 2012

2012-01-17T08:23:00.000-08:00

Happy Christmas!

2011-12-21T12:17:00.000-08:00

Please don't faint! I haven't updated my blog for many months; things have been very hectic here (French red tape, of course, which seems to have taken over my life!).

I promise that I will blog more regularly once we are into the new year but, meanwhile, I hope you all have a very Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year. I will be sharing the holiday with my family back in the UK; it's our first visit there for a long time, so I'm really looking forward to it.

See you soon and thanks for reading!

Thermal Clothing will get me through this Winter

2011-10-06T00:26:00.000-07:00

All the signs are there that winter is on the way. Autumn gives us a hint of the lower temperatures to come but, generally by the end of October, summer clothes and lightweight strappy sandals have been consigned to the back of the wardrobe, and heavy coats and jackets, along with hats, scarves, gloves, and boots, are the order of the day.

This year I am determined not just to get through the winter but to actually enjoy it, and the best way I can think of to do that is to invest in some insulating thermal clothing.

I came across Damart the other day, and was surprised to see how many items of thermal clothing Damart now have available. Damart is a long-standing name that is tried and trusted having been around for a number of years, so the quality is second to none and, by choosing wisely, I will be able to make sure that I will stay warm and comfortable throughout the winter. The blog shows their current winter collection, and you can see that they have come a long way over the years, in terms of materials used, and they make it easy to keep warm without compromising on style. If you look at the second page of the blog, you can see the latest items on the catwalk, which show just how fashionable thermal clothing has become.

Looking at the winter collection, I can see that there is a lot to choose from, from underwear right up to coats, jackets and boots to wear when out of doors. There are even different grades of warmth now so that clothing can be matched to lifestyle.

Damart will tell you more about the brand.

I thoroughly recommend thermal clothing for winter, and Damart, that well-known expert, has a wonderful collection to choose from.

A Very French Wedding!

2011-07-30T20:54:00.000-07:00

Way back in March this year, we received a beautiful invitation to a wedding, our first in France! I did a bit of research so that we would know what to expect, but I more or less assumed that a French wedding would not be all that different from a British one. How wrong I was!

A French wedding lasts for around five to seven days!. It starts with a civil ceremony at the local town hall or mairie's office. The mairie is the local mayor, and even the smallest of communes in France has one. The civil ceremony is the officially-binding one; lots of couples choose to follow it with a church ceremony, but it's their choice.

The wedding we attended was that of our lovely neighbours, Mickael and Sonia. The civil ceremony was the first event, after which the wedding party walked to the local church ready for what we would call the 'blessing'. There was a sort of organised chaos to this; even when they reached the church, the bride and groom just wandered in with the guests, no solemn walking down the aisle with the bride on the arm of her father. The service itself was simple; there were no hymns, just a few responses from the congregation. The bride and groom had to answer three questions individually, then they had to recite something together, then they just ambled back down the aisle accompanied by a Chris Rhea song - no organ music, no 'here comes the bride', no nothing! It all seemed so, well, casual! There didn't seem to be a dress code, either; some people dressed up, others didn't, but it wasn't important at all!

Afterwards, the congregation rushed outside and waited for the bride and groom to emerge, with their gorgeous bridesmaids, Emma and Clara. Sonia's dress was really beautiful - a hooped silk skirt, on which had been sewn layers and layers of net, and a strapless bodice which suited her lovely figure.

Here is a picture showing the back of the dress

There was no professional photographer at the wedding itself.. The bride, groom, and bridesmaids had had professional photos taken at a venue on the Wednesday before.

Following the church service was the 'vin d'honneur' - a reception at a 'salle des fetes' (village hall) in a nearby village. We all drove there in a procession of cars with our hazard lights flashing and horns beeping , while passersby waved and cheered. The vin d'honneur was more or less four hours of wine-drinking, after which everyone piled back into their cars to drive to the next reception, which was held at yet another salle des fetes. This time there was a five course meal and a free bar that was open until 5am the following morning!

This being our first French wedding, we were unprepared for a lot of what happened! Every so often during the meal and afterwards, and before the tables had been cleared, some strange but manic fiddle music was played, and all the guests suddenly climbed up onto the chairs and tables, did a very strange dance which included a bit of air-guitar, and shouted a lot! It made us jump the first time it happened, and we could hardly believe our eyes! After four choruses, the music suddenly stopped and everyone sat back down again, until it all happened again about twenty minutes later. By the end of the evening, we knew all the moves and were joining in as if we'd been doing it all our lives. We learned later that this is done to keep the guests awake! After all the food and alcohol, there's a real danger that they will doze off at the table! It certainly kept things lively!

There was a great deal of alcohol consumed throughout the day, and most of the guests had brought their bedding so that they could sleep in their cars in the car park, even those with young children! We kept waiting for the evening to stop but, by 3am, there was no sign of that, so we sneaked out and made our way home - we simply couldn't keep up with the others!

We were the only English couple at the wedding, but all the guests went out of their way to make us feel welcome, and we did have a lovely if exhausting time. The French can certainly put the booze away - I know they say that the Brits binge-drink, but I think the French probably drink even more; it's just that they drink all day while the Brits usually save it up for the evenings and drink it all in one go!

The actual event of the wedding lasted until the following Thursday morning but, luckily, mainly for the happy couple and their families. The Sunday was spent at the bride and groom's home in boozy contemplation; on the Monday the groom had to be taken to all the local villages, drinking in each one, and the Tuesday and Wednesday were additional excuses for friends and family to eat and drink all day. I don't see how a newly-married French couple have such a thing as a traditional wedding night to themselves; by Wednesday evening, Mickael and Sonia were completely exhausted!

All in all, it was a fantastic experience, but I am so glad that our traditional British weddings have such a lovely sense of occasion, and I'm certainly glad that they don't last as long!

Thanks for reading!

For fathers who are no longer with us on Father's Day

2011-06-19T02:08:00.001-07:00

To Those I Love
If I should ever leave you whom I love
To go along the Silent Way, grieve not,
Nor speak of me with tears, but laugh and talk
Of me as if I were beside you there.
(I'd come-- I'd come, could I but find a way!
But would not tears and grief be barriers?)
And when you hear a song or see a bird
I loved, please do not let the thought of me
Be sad... for I am loving you just as
I always have... You were so good to me!
There are so many things I wanted still
To do-- so many things to say to you...
Remember that I did not fear... It was
Just leaving you that was so hard to face...
We cannot see beyond... But this I know:
I loved you so-- 'twas heaven here with you!
~ Isla Paschal Richardson

I'm still here!

2011-06-08T19:29:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how the time flies these days, and I certainly can't believe how long it's been since my last blog post! If anyone knows how to get hold of thirty-six hour days, or eight day weeks, I'd be really grateful!

Meanwhile, here are just a few photos of life around here at the moment!

This is our building land, currently being used by the neighbouring farmer to graze his cows, so that his own fields can regrow. They've only escaped into the garden once which resulted in a hectic twilight rescue session, but they've got the hint now that the farmer has switched on the electric fence! They're making short work of the grass, and I just love seeing them there!

One of the beautiful swallows that have returned to the barn for the summer. He and his mate have already had four babies, and they are currently entertaining us daily with their Spitfire displays! They are very sociable, and often sit just a foot or two away from us, even joining in our conversations! When we're busy in the garden, they sit and watch.

The Husband found this fossil in the garden of a house he was working on recently, and the owner said he could keep it! I wonder just how old it is?! (The fossil, not The Husband!).

This is where that ugly old barn was. The Husband has tidied up the ground, and laid around three tons of topsoil, ready for re-seeding when we get round to it. You can see how the willow tree has flourished since the barn was taken down; now it gets much more light and space in which to grow. It has struggled since it snapped in half in heavy winds last year, but we are so glad we decided to keep it. The tree surgeon said it would soon start to regrow and I really doubted him, but he was right!

Now that the house is at the snagging stage, I will take a definitive set of photos to show what's been done (most of it by The Husband, mainly on his own with a little help from me!).

As for my crochet - well, I am doing some now and again, a mixture of charity items, mainly squares for various appeals, and presents for grandchildren, but it seems to be impossible to get more than half an hour to just 'be' these days, especially now that summer is here and the garden beckons, if only to sit and watch the swallows with a glass or three of what France does best!

I hope it's not too long before I post again. Thanks for reading!

The barn is gone!

2011-04-17T22:12:00.000-07:00

Since we moved into our house here in France, the lovely view has been partially obscured by a really ugly old barn. It was built many years ago when the house was a working farm. Made from oak and pine timbers and sheets of corrugated iron, it was huge and slowly falling into disrepair. One third of it contained bales of very old straw, and there were also lots of other bits of scrap that the previous owners should have taken with them when they sold the house. We used to it store our trailer, the cars when the weather was bad, and our neighbours' caravan, so it had some uses but nothing could take away from the fact that it was just so ugly! It also blocked the light to one side of a willow tree.

You may remember me posting about the willow tree last year - it had cracked in heavy winds and half of it had come down. We called in a tree surgeon who said that we could have it removed completely, or that it could be saved but would not look too pretty while it was recovering, but that it would soon start sprouting again. We opted to keep it - well, I've always wanted my very own willow! I'm so glad we did. It may still not look as handsome as it should, but the potential is there and, now that it is not being over-shadowed by the barn, it will have every chance to become a fully-fledged grown-up willow!

This was the barn; the tree next to it is the willow - you can see just how close it was to the barn.

Although it doesn't look too good here, the timbers were very good. A tree surgeon bought the barn because he knew he could make good use of them. It took three days to demolish because he and his helper could only work weekends. This picture was taken at the end of the first day - all the corrugated iron sheets had been removed, apart from the roof, and it was down to the bare bones. We could already see what a difference it would make to the space once it had gone, and the tree surgeon, despite the hard work demolishing it, was delighted with the timbers. He will use some of them to make a woodstore and a tractor shed, and his helper would have the rest for the house he is restoring, so we know they will all be put to very good use.

The willow tree! Doesn't it look sad? You can see that it is resprouting from the side that was over-shadowed by the barn. It is healthy and this year's new growth looks very good, so I'm glad we saved it, although it will be a while before it looks as good as it should! I'm sure now that has light all around it, it will start to grow well. I shall try and remember to take a photo at the same time each month to chart its progress.

The straw that was inside the barn has been taken by two local farmers to be used for animal bedding. I was worried that it would be mouldy and rotten but, because it's been kept dry all these years, it was perfect for animals. Our neighbours' caravan is in another part of the garden; he will be using it shortly, after which it can be stored in an old stone barn we have, alongside the trailer. There was also another pile of timber in the barn that was no good for building but ideal for burning, so our friendly local pig farm took it away in their horsebox to be used in a woodburner. On Friday morning it was busier in this little hamlet than it has been for years - two tractors and a 4x4 with a horsebox all busy emptying what was left of the barn!

Well, that's the saga of the barn - we still have to make good the area that it was standing on, which means finding five tons of topsoil and planting with grass seed but that will be an ongoing project. The worst is over!

I will post again soon - I have been crocheting so I have photos to post of the things I have made so far this year; not many because there aren't enough hours in the day or days in the week!

Thanks for reading and I hope you all have a lovely day! Me? I've just looked up at the ceiling here in my office - now where did all those cobwebs come from? I'd better go and deal with them!

It's been a while!

2011-04-05T20:24:00.000-07:00

This is my first post since the start of the year! I have no idea where the time goes but go it certainly does! Life is more challenging now than it's ever been, and we've been so busy working on the house (which is very nearly finished), dealing with the world-famous French red tape (which will never be finished), and work. Squeezing in time for the things I REALLY want to do, like crocheting, photography, reading, writing for leisure and pleasure, and so on, is very difficult because there will always be the essentials such as cooking and cleaning - not the most interesting of occupations but it would soon become noticeable if they didn't get done!

I have lots of photos to sort through - of the house, things I have just about found the time to make, and places and people that matter to me.

My very best news is the arrival of my fourth grandchild, a beautiful little girl called Megan, who weighed in at a very bonny 8lbs 12ozs three weeks ago today; her big sister, Summer, is bewitched by her, and her cousins Sam and Lucy now have a new baby to get to know. I can't wait to get back to the UK to see them all, but the French red tape has put a hold on plans. We have nearly overcome that particular problem, and will soon be on our way. Meanwhile, via the wonders of Skype, I can at least see them all.

Oh, and some more news - we've been invited to our very first French wedding! Our lovely neighbours will get married in July and it looks like it will be an eventful day, with the first ceremony conducted by the local Mairie, followed by the Benedictine Nuptiale in the commune's church (which is gorgeous and situated right next door to our beautiful local chateau), then there will be a vin d'honneur at one village hall, and a further reception at another village hall, with dancing which could run long into the night - I wonder if they'll be putting on a mini-bus?!

For now, here are some recent photos

The blossom on this old plum tree in the garden, set against a lovely blue sky, looks like a big fluffy cloud.

Some gorgeous daffs that had naturalised themselves in the garden - aren't daffs the most cheerful flowers, especially after a long cold winter?

Yesterday's beautiful sunrise which developed into a lovely warm and sunny summer's day.

Well, that's my post for today. I really do hope that I will be able to post more frequently from now on!

Thank you for reading and have a great day!

A Christmas wish from me!

2010-12-24T22:06:00.000-08:00

I haven't been on here for quite some time, for various reasons - some good and some not so good, but I simply couldn't let the day go by without sending Christmas greetings to everyone, along with my hopes that you all have a healthy and happy 2011.

Although I am missing my family, the Husband and I will be spending Christmas day in very good company, and I will raise a glass to Blogland and bloggers everywhere - this virtual world is a wonderful community, and the blogs I have followed this year have made me laugh, made me cry, taught me new things, reminded me of things long forgotten, given me somewhere to share my life, and allowed me to share in the ups and downs of other people's.

A big 'thank you' to all those who have followed me this year , especially as I know I don't post very often! Here, by way of a Christmas card to you all, is a photo of some of the lights that have been put up around our little corner of France!

Happy Christmas!!

Thanks for reading!

Time at a premium, and a beautiful entirely unexpected gift!

2010-11-18T05:30:00.000-08:00

Busy, busy, busy! That's me lately! We've been very busy working on the house and the work is well and truly coming on now, especially the kitchen. It still needs painting and tiling but is now organised enough for me to have proper baking sessions! I never thought that day would come! Today's efforts are two loaves of bread (mind you, that didn't stop at all no matter what state the house was in - we just don't like shop-bought bread, not even here in France!), and one Victorian sponge. I suppose I should take some photos but there's already a piece out of the sponge - maybe next time!

The Husband and I have been helping out at a nearby farm, an English-run pork farm which breeds Gloucester Old Spots and Berkshires, and produces the most fantastic meat - including things that we just can't buy here, like proper bacon, sausages to die for, sausage rolls, and so on. We've not been helping with the meat side of things (although one particular chicken seems to have taken a fancy to the Husband!) but with a barn they are converting into a proper English tearoom/cafe. On Saturday, they are opening the tearoom and having a Christmas Fayre and Farmers' Market, something we are all looking forward to. It's been a lot of hard work sorting everything out in time, but I'm sure it will be real success. The couple who run the farm deserve it to be - they work incredibly hard all the time.

We spent the day there yesterday - it was freezing cold and pouring with rain but we worked hard and soon warmed up. Well, apart from our feet! Today, I'm posting photos of the sunrise we had first thing yesterday morning - I would never have believed the weather would turn so bad after such a promising start!

I know they say 'red sky in the morning, shepherds' warning' but, a month or so ago, this sunrise would have heralded a lovely sunny day.

No proper pictures from the farm yet but I will take some on the big day. For starters, here's one of the back end of Sausage, the pet pig!

She was in a sulk because she wasn't allowed in the barn while we worked! She's safe, by the way - this is one pig that will NOT be turned into sausages!

I was feeling a little down recently - mainly to do with missing the family, especially now that Christmas is just around the corner, and being fed up with living on a permanent building site knee-deep in dust. The lovely Chalky of Chalky's World (see my blog list on the right) very kindly sent me a package. It was a complete surprise and a very lovely thoughtful one, too. Here's a photo

Thank you so much, Chalky; it was so thoughtful of you and really did cheer me up!

Thanks for reading!

Latest Knit Your Square update!

2010-11-16T05:43:00.001-08:00

We will remember them

2010-11-10T21:54:00.001-08:00

The view from my door and a walk in the park!

2010-11-02T05:03:00.000-07:00

A long time since my last post - again! I can only blame the ongoing renovation work and the French!

Yesterday was the most perfect autumn day, and a bank holiday here, too. I got a bit camera-happy because nature was wearing its best clothes. You'll find a lot of photos here but very few words. I'll just let the photos talk for themselves!

The end of the drive - I just love the colours of the leaves in the sun!

The view from the back of the house - more stunning colours.

Another view from the house.

The local park in all its autumn glory!

I hope you are all enjoying a lovely autumn.. Although I know it heralds the end of summer and the beginning of winter, it's definitely my most favourite time of year!

Thank you for reading!

How long since the last time I was here?

2010-10-23T21:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I really can't believe how long it's been since I last blogged. I had no intention of leaving it so long but the time has flown and I've been caught between a rock and a hard place while the work on the house continues. The kitchen has seen the worst of it, by far. Every house we've ever owned has always needed work doing to it - major work. But this one has been the most difficult. There is almost nothing worse than living in a house while it is being renovated but this one wasn't really a house when we started it! It was just a series of rooms - some of them open to the elements - with dirt floors and dirty old stone walls. I suppose we've come a long way but you can sometimes be blinkered to the progress by the difficulty of living in the inevitable mess.

I keep thinking that the kitchen is almost finished and, to us, it is when we consider how much work has been needed but, judging by these photos, it still looks as if there's a lot more to do. What I can say is that it is getting just a little bit easier as each day goes by.

This is the Husband taking off all the old tiles before plastering the walls and replacing the kitchen units that we had installed temporarily some time ago, and adding more....

... and this is the mess he made! Nice, not!

This is him again, slapping on the plaster. It was a lot more awkward than plastering a plain ceiling because he had to go in between the beams. The plaster dries within an hour so he has to work fast, then leave it a while and go back over it to smooth it off. He couldn't avoid getting plaster on the beams (or so he tells me!), so they needed cleaning up and sanding over - the dust had to be seen to be believed! It there's one thing I can barely stand, it's dust!

There is, however, a chink of light starting to shine at the end of this very long tunnel! This, to us, looks organised! We still need to paint the walls and ceiling, add the tiles and finish off hiding the remaining cables. The kitchen itself came from the UK (we brought it over on the ferry strapped to the top of the motorhome we had at the time!), and we've run out of edging strip for the worktop. We've ordered it and will be adding that as soon as it arrives. The Husband is looking for a piece of timber to turn into a shelf on the upright of the return. As he has already made one for the upright behind the sink unit, he needs to make sure they match, so we are hunting around for a piece of oak. The last piece he found in one of the barns but, try as he might, he can't find another one!

We've been tidying up the outside now that the summer is definitely over. We've woken up to a few hard frosts recently, so we needed to bring in the little orange trees we bought during the summer.

They're now in the conservatory where they are out of danger of frost-damage. You can just see these tiny little oranges - this particular tree is covered with them but whether they will ever be edible - or even orange! - is another matter. This is the first time we've had orange trees so we have no idea what to expect!

We found this lovely praying mantis in the conservatory - at first, I thought it was a leaf that had blown in through the door, but then it sort of unfurled itself. It's beautifully constructed and just made me marvel at nature - that it can come up with such complicated-looking designs! He (or she? - I know some of them eat their mates after they've had a good time, and this one didn't seem to have any company!) only stayed in the glass for a minute or two - long enough for me to get the camera, of course - then we sent him on his way.

Well, that's it for now. I won't leave it so long before my next post, although I can still hardly believe how long it's been since my last one! Just think - when this house is finished, I may even have some spare time; now that would be a real luxury!

Thanks for reading!

Back so soon?

2010-09-20T20:03:00.000-07:00

This is not like me at all - two posts in less than a week?!

I just had to share some photos that I took on Sunday. We visited some friends in the nearby village of Gourge (accent over the last 'e' a la Francais!). I've already blogged about this village before and posted photos of the ancient bridge and the water mill on the river but, on Sunday, we started off for home and got side-tracked down an inviting country lane, and found this stunning chateau which took our breath away. It is in the most beautiful setting and just suddenly appeared out of the lovely landscape. Lovely as it is, I don't think I would like to live in it (as if we could ever even think of buying it - property in France is on the inexpensive side compared to the UK but it would still cost a million or so!) - at night I think it could be a bit spooky!

The photo was taken from the entrance of this lovely old house which had the Husband drooling at the thought of renovating it but, sadly for him, it's not for sale! He still has to finish our house, anyway!

In the centre of the village we found this little house and I just had to take a photo of the two windows at the top - you can just about see the little metalwork birds in the one on the right. I think it's a lovely window!

All around Gourge there are lovely views of the surrounding countryside - this is just one of them.

We will be there again on Saturday evening because the local bar is hosting a 'Sausage Sizzle' and the sausages are to die for - from a local farm run by a lovely English couple who rear their own Gloucester Old Spot pigs, and produce the best pork ever. The sausages are the best I have ever tasted.

Such a shame about the road sign - it just doesn't seem to fit into such a lovely setting, does it?! The flowers are just starting to go over but the colours are still gorgeous.

Yesterday morning we had the most fantastic sunrise - I took this at about 7a.m......

....and this was at about 7.30 a.m.

It was really cold at the time, probably no more than about 8 degrees but, by mid-morning, the temperature had risen to around 25, making it the most perfect day.

Small but deliciously sweet and tasty - peaches from our very own tree, waiting to be preserved in white wine if we can stop eating them straight from the bowl!

Thanks for reading - hope you all have a lovely day!

How time flies when you are making treasured memories!

2010-09-17T21:04:00.000-07:00

Well, where did that ten lovely memory-filled days go? There we were on the ferry going to Portsmouth and, suddenly, there we were sailing back to Caen almost, it seems, in the blink of an eye.

The afternoon sun on the water about an hour out of Caen as we started our trip.

It was a whirlwind tour taking in wonderful laughter-filled hours with our very very good friends who so kindly take us in on our trips back home and spoil us rotten with their company and fantastic hospitality (especially the wonderful cooking!), and share their beautiful family with us - a lovely new baby to cuddle, and a lively new border collie to play with!

We celebrated my dear mum's 80th birthday with her - and believe me, this was a real celebration for a wonderul lady who has beaten all the odds to reach such a grand age. We are already planning her 85th and 90th!

We celebrated a few more important birthdays in the year in the family, too - a sister's 50th, a granddaughter's 1st, and a nephew's 21st, and my lovely youngest son and his gorgeous wife announced that they were expecting their second child next March! There was much to raise a glass - or three - to!

The party was held at The Commodore Hotel in Kewstoke, Sand Bay, Weston-super-Mare. My mum spent some of her childhood there when it was just a little cafe run by her grandmother. The building itself has seen changes but the wild and windswept beach hasn't - it took me straight back to my own childhood when many an hour was spent playing on the sands.

Here we all are in the garden of the hotel - how we managed to get all the children to stand still for a minute or two was amazing!

The Commodore Hotel from the beach - it stands right at the end of the beach at Sand Bay against a backdrop that has hardly changed over the years. It's fantastic to know that, in a fast-changing world, some things stay almost exactly the same!

The beach at Sand Bay just as the sun was setting at the end of a perfect day. I spent half my childhood playing on these sands and it was lovely to be there again.

Another view of the beach which is just a two minute walk from the hotel.

Of course, a trip to Weston-super-Mare would not be complete without a visit to the Grand Pier which so famously burnt down just a few short yeas ago. They have kept the entrance exactly as it was - sadly, it still isn't open to the public while they iron out a few problems.

The end of the pier, which was destroyed in the fire, has been rebuilt to a much more modern design but it looks exactly right. As you can tell, the weather was quite typical, with the sea almost invisible as usual!

They are working very hard on the whole seafront area surrounding the pier. By next year, when all the work is complete, it should look fantastic. I can't wait to return. I'm so pleased that the pier has been rebuilt - it's another part of my childhood that holds fond memories for me.

Another favourite spot between Bristol and Weston-super-Mare is Chew Valley Lake, now a haven for wild birds. The last time we were here in February, it was teeming with all sorts of birds. This time it seemed was just for ducks and seagulls!

At its busiest, it has thousands of birds and the noise is almost deafening.

And all of a sudden, here we are sailing into Caen on a beautiful summer's afternoon with the temperature quite a few degrees warmer than we had left behind in Portsmouth, and hearts full of memories that will last for years! Aren't families wonderful?!

Thanks for reading!

Back to the UK for ten precious days!

2010-09-05T21:34:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the lovely comments about my last post! They're very welcome!

Well, having been thinking about our forthcoming trip for what seems like ages, we only have one more night's sleep here now. I know the ten days will whizz by and that I shall be very reluctant to come back here, so I shall try and stay positive! We have lots to look forward to including a huge family get-together in honour of my lovely Mum's 80th birthday. As she has suffered a lot of serious health problems throughout her life, it's a hell of a birthday to celebrate, and members of the family are coming from far and wide. I'm sure it's going to be an emotional trip!

We've been warned about the cooler weather in the UK, too. Here, it's been absolutely fantastic for days and days - yesterday was 29 degrees with pure blue skies and wall to wall sunshine, so nothing to grumble about there! Just have to decide what to pack to be prepared for the UK's varying weather!

The renovations here have been ongoing but it will be good to have a break from the disruption and dust for a while, although we'll be straight back into it as soon as we return!

This is one of my mum's birthday presents - it's my first attempt at making jewellery; just hope it doesn't fall apart when she opens it!

I have a few more things for her to open but forgot to take photos of them before I wrapped them!

This is the peach tree right now. The peaches are just starting to ripen and should be perfect when we return. They don't get very big but they are deliciously tasty and very sweet. Some are falling off, though, so I hope we don't get any gales while we are away!

We are still in our temporary sitting room. This room is really a big hall turned into a small sitting room - the main sitting room is still down to bare stone walls. At least we can sit and relax in here - last year we had nowhere comfy to sit so this is a vast improvement in our lives! The oddly-shape alcove behind the small sofa now has some lovely shelves in it that the Husband made with some old timber he found in a barn - with some TLC and a lot of hard work sawing, staining and waxing, the timber looks lovely now!

I think it's the photo that's listing to one side, not the house - I hope!

This is the other end of the room - we need to get some curtains up but that's another job that can wait until we come back!

This part of the garden was really uneven but some workmen were finishing off the resurfacing work outside the house, and they had to dig up a load of soil - the Husband, being ever on the lookout for things, asked them if we could have the soil, so they brought it round for us. He spent an hour yesterday spreading it around to even up the ground under the tree. They had a digger, too, so he asked if they would move some heavy granite slabs for us - you can just make out some seats that we made with them against the wall - we couldn't have done it without the digger because they weigh too much. We had to force them to take some euros for their trouble AND they worked into some of their lunch hour, which is a lot to ask of French workers! They have some more work to do over the next couple of weeks and I should imagine they'll be glad that we're away!

This is a spare table that we can sit at as the sun moves down the garden in the evening. It's away from the main sitting area, and is great for catching the very last of the sun before it sets!

The workmen finally got round to putting up the fence posts that run alongside our building plots - the local commune needed to pinch some of the land to widen the access road, so they've had to move and replace the fence. Only the posts have gone in so far - we may get the 'grillage' that goes in between them some time soon - it takes forever to get anything done here!

I like this bit of the garden - it shows the end of the drive as it goes out onto the newly-surfaced road.

I just need to tidy up the big bedroom that the Husband has been working on then I can take some photos. I daren't take any right now; the room is a mess and there is much packing going on ready for our trip back to the UK - oh, and, as it's only 6.30 in the morning, the Husband is still asleep in there!

Thanks for reading. I hope to catch up with you all when I get back!

Just outside my door this morning as the sun is rising!

2010-08-29T22:53:00.000-07:00

Just a hint of the sun as it rises behind the trees - looks like it's going to be another lovely day!

You can just make out the calves here - these two are just a little bit hyperactive. They don't seem to realise that cows are supposed to be calm and peaceful, and we often see them galloping around the field chasing and headbutting each other, and ignoring their mums!

After a few weeks of hot sunny weather, and a little rain, one of the orange trees we bought a couple of months ago seems to have sprung into life - don't think we'll be picking oranges for a while, though!

A fiery hot chilli plant - a gift from a friend about eight weeks ago. All the chillies were purple when we first had the plant. I've been warned that this is one of the hottest chillies around so, while I love chilli, I only love the mild stuff. I might try it on The Husband first!

A busy bee indeed - this one was already at work at 7am this morning!

Looking out of my window right now, the sun has just surfaced above the trees and it looks like we are in for a beautiful day, so I shall try and take some time out (it's NOT bank holiday here!) and take some more photos.

As it's bank holiday in the UK, I hope everyone there has a wonderful day. I shall be there myself soon - just for a break to catch up with family and friends. Just a few more sleeps to go!

Thanks for reading!

'It's Been So Long' as George McCrae would say!

2010-08-12T22:21:00.000-07:00

Well, the time sure does fly, not so much when you're simply enjoying yourself, but when there is too much to do and not enough time to stand and stare!

One of these days, the house will be finished and a few more loose ends will be tied, and I will be able to blog to my heart's content but, as it is, time here is at a premium and I simply run out of it.

I have, however, got round to replacing the CDs in my car - much as I love the ones that have been replaced, they must have been in there for about six months and have become ever-so-slightly irritating! Here is what I'm currently listening to as I wend my way along the little country roads in this corner of France - I had forgotten just how great is the voice of Al Green. It's a bit of an eclectic collection but I just picked them out at random; I will enjoy them for a while and try not to leave it so long until I change them again. We have a fantastic - if mixed - collection of music which really deserves to be listened to!

We have finally had the outside light connected - it's great for those after-dinner cuppas (or glasses of Vino Collapsio!) and at least we can see each other now!

We had to visit a nearby town the other day to collect a bit we needed for my car (the bit, part of the air intake, apparently, is called a 'souffle' here in France!). Anyway, we found a lovely second-hand shop nearby - it's huge and stuffed with all manner of exciting and interesting things, and would take a couple of day to explore fully. We found these lovely little tables that we couldn't resist - they wanted €30 for the three but the Husband boldly offered €20 and they agreed! We'll probably take them indoors for the winter, but I think they look lovely with some little lavender plants on them. I need to find some better-looking pots, though! I'm also very tempted to crochet things to hang on them but I'm not sure the Husband would share my enthusiasm!

Well, that's it for today, I think. I have more photos to post (of the renovations) but need to sort through them first!

Thanks for reading - have a great day, wherever in the world you are!

Long time no see - again!

2010-08-04T22:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I had no intention of leaving it so long since my last post on here but, oh, doesn't the time just fly by - especially when you are enjoying yourself?! We had a thoroughly magical time when Son Number One visited last week with his lovely wife and two gorgeous children - they filled the house completely the way only children can. We spent most days visiting parks and our lovely local lake resort; the weather was perfect and they were able to spend hours swimming, too. We are lucky enough to have several fantastic parks here with loads to do for children almost without spending a penny, apart from buying the odd icecream. The children bought a volley-ball set with them so that was set up in the garden, along with the basketball net that we bought ages and ages ago and have just got round to fixing to the wall. The Husband and I did a lot of running around last week - it made us feel like children, too!

It's quite a climb to reach this viewpoint but well worth it - one of our favourite views of Parthenay

Another lovely view.

Some of the great play equipment at one of our local parks. The children spent hours here - they are a very active pair and really wore themselves out! It made us exhausted just watching them!

Yet more activity - yet again, we just watched...

...and they loved this! It went round really fast, too. It looks as if they spent most of their time with us with their feet off the ground!

A surprise visitor to the garden. We've been told that hedgehogs are protected here in France. Although it's unsual to see one during the daytime, this one looked to be the picture of health. He sat there for ages while the grandchildren took photos - the perfect subject!

No, this wasn't in the garden! We have a local park with a real menagerie of animals in it - this peacock posed perfectly for the photo that my grandson took.

Well, that was the latest family visit - I miss them all now that they have gone but we will be visiting them soon, so I have lots to look forward to!

I shall try and blog tomorrow with updates on the renovations to the house - there is still a lot to do but progress is being made, slowly but surely!

Thanks for reading!

Down by the river!

2010-07-15T21:00:00.000-07:00

It's been some time since my last post, mainly because I lost both phone and internet access from Friday until Tuesday, all courtesy of France Telecom. The phone suddenly went dead on Friday evening; I checked with the neighbours, and it seemed that the whole area had been affected. As one of them said, 'possibly the whole of France, who knows?' accompanied by the inevitable Gallic shrug! No-one else seemed to be as bothered as I was - which must be because I am the only English woman in this part of France! There is just no sense of urgency here at all - luckily, no-one in the hamlet needed the emergency services!

We look after a holiday home in a gorgeous little village called Gourge (accent over the 'e' for pronunciation), about ten miles away. Gourge is one of the prettiest places here, and the holiday home itself is lovely. Owned by two English couples, it has been renovated beautifully and furnished in an exceedingly French way, although they assured me that almost everything came from Ikea in the UK!

Anyway, I digress - we called over there yesterday evening because the latest guests had just left. I had intended to collect the bedlinen and towels for washing, but found that it had already been done and, in fact, as the little lady opposite informed me, some was still hanging on the line, so that saved me a job.

When we were last there, just under two weeks ago, the garden was really showing off the climbing roses - they were already shedding petals and I collected loads, in yellow and hot pink, to make pot-pourri. Yesterday, sadly, all the petals had gone but there was this gorgeous gladioli just starting to flower, and, in another corner, this beautiful hydrangea.

Here is my pot-pourri in the making - in the bowl so far are pink and yellow rose petals, bay leaves, some lavender (which is not quite ready, really, but I couldn't resist picking it!), some lemon peel, and leaves from one of our orange trees. It already smells delicious, but I may add some herbs later.

After we'd locked up the house, we took a trip down to the lovely river Thouet that runs through the village. It was about 8pm and the sun was low in the sky, casting a golden glow over the countryside. The old mill house here dates back to the Middle Ages; the old wooden wheel is no longer in use.

I love the willow tree in the foreground that seems to be growing straight out of the water.

Gourge now has a thoroughly modern bridge to take the traffic, but the old one is still there for strolling along. A Gallo-Roman bridge, it was built in the 11th century over the river Thouet, which runs from Nantes to Poitiers.

Here you can make out the passing places that were set in along the bridge. The pathway is made from heavy granite cobbles, and you can see the centre that has been worn away by all those footsteps from times gone by. I wonder how many people have crossed this bridge in all those years?

The Husband was taken with this house so I had to take a photo of it!

and I was taken by these gates that hide a little house up on a hill. I would loved to have ventured inside!

A nosy photo of someone's garden! It runs right down to the river; what a lovely spot.

Someone else's garden with its neat rows of veggies....

... and this is on the way home. The French love their trees; this is one of my favourite roads here because it is so typically French. Just after Christmas, the powers that be cut the trees back so far that we thought they'd been killed off for good. It seemed to take ages for any signs of new life to show but, all of a sudden, the branches started to grow, and the leaves slowly appeared, and now they are almost back to their former glory. The French really seem to brutalise the trees here in the winter months, but they obviously know what they are doing, and there are many stunning boulevards here with perfectly-planted regiments of trees lining them.

Well, that was our lovely evening out and we thoroughly enjoyed taking time away from the renovations to enjoy the best of what France has to offer, and it cost us nothing but a bit of petrol!

Thank you for reading!

A beautiful start to the day!

2010-07-04T03:42:00.000-07:00

After days and days of high temperatures, the weather had a different feel first thing this morning - like the sort of day when you know that you can sit outside for more than ten minutes without turning into a crisp! I sat outside with my first cuppa of the day and watched the cows grazing in the field next to my garden. These aren't anxious, fast-munching cows, rather they take their time, stopping every few mouthfuls to admire the surrounding countryside. They are so far from pollution and other threats - they live a happy peaceful life, completely unaware, thankfully, that they are eventually destined for the table. They are called Parthenaise; they are local to this part of France, and the farmers are immensely proud of them. They have quite an enviable routine at this time of year - eating all morning and sleeping all afternoon, when all you can see moving are tails and ears, switching away the flies. I think I might follow their example one of these days!

The sun was just starting to filter through the trees; no-one else was around - mind, it was early and everyone else in the hamlet was probably still asleep! It is Sunday, after all - only a mad Englishwoman like me would be up this early, especially in France!

Back indoors, I loved the way the sun seeped through the little window high up in the dining room, so out came the camera again!

It can't have gone unnoticed that the World Cup has been occupying the minds of fans - whether they be true fans who follow football right through the season, or those, like me, who don't normally watch but can't help but get caught up in the World Cup itself. I really wished I was back in England because I knew that the flags, and anything else red and white, would be flying frantically from every available point. Here in France, you'd be forgiven for thinking that France had not qualified - not one flag flying, not one piece of cheerful bunting fluttering in the breeze - it's no wonder the team looked demoralised! Whilst England did not do as well as we were all hoping, at least they got that far - I won't mention 'the' goal! The Husband and I watched the team play Germany on the edge of our seats - well, until about ten minutes into the second half when I thought it was more interesting to put the bins out, and the Husband turned off the TV in disgust and carried on pottering about in the garden! The only member of the family with no opinion either way was Louis, the cat - here he is just as it was becoming obvious that our team were on the next plane home! I'm sorry it's such an inelegant pose; he has no shame! I'm not sure what he'll be like when we've had him 'fixed' at the end of the month! He spends most of his time like this, with the odd break for food, and a slow, very slow, walk around the garden!

I'll be back later with photos of the outside of the house that the Husband is currently painting! He hasn't quite finished yet - I'll go and tell him to hurry up!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you all have a lovely day!

A little bit of everything!

2010-06-23T03:29:00.000-07:00

Yet again, it's been a week or so since my last post BUT I am happy to report that a fellow 'hooker' from our charity knitting group on moneysavingexpert.com came to visit us at the weekend! Check out her great blog, Chalky's World (link in the sidebar). From that you will see that Chalky and her husband divide their time between Spain and the UK; they are driving back to the UK from Spain, and part of their journey took in our little bit of France, so I nervously but boldly invited them to stay for the night and they did! They arrived on Sunday and you'd have thought we'd known each for years! You couldn't hope to meet a lovelier friendlier couple. We had a lovely time. Sadly, the weather was cooler than it should have been but we still managed to show them a little bit of the area and, in the evening, we sat and chatted and even did a bit of hooking - although I have to confess that Chalky did more than I did!

Here we are standing in front of their Sunshine Bus!

They came armed with some lovely home-made Seville Orange and Brandy Marmalade, Aubergine Chutney (both delicious), a bottle of Spanish Rioja, and a bottle of Spanish Brandy, some fresh lemons, some of which I made into lemonade from Lucy's lovely recipe on Attic24 - see photo. It's delicious and really easy and cheap to make, especially as it needs diluting like squash so a little goes a long way. It makes a lovely refreshing drink during this hot weather.

Another treat which Chalky sneakily left behind for me to find when they left was this absolutely gorgeous bunting. When all the renovating here is finished, I shall find the perfect place for it. Meanwhile, we have a gazebo which we will be putting up in the garden soon - it will look lovely on that (only in dry weather, of course!). Having Chalky and her husband here - after months and months of chatting via the online forum - was wonderful and we thoroughly enjoyed their company.

Another pretty thing in my life right now is this lovely little dress I bought for my youngest granddaughter's first birthday in August - I have found a pattern for a little crochet bolero that will go with it, along with a doll that I hope to make for her.

Not quite so pretty but progress nonetheless is this that the Husband has been working on outside - it's a wall beneath a window. The left side shows the wall as it was, the right side shows it now that 'chaux' has been applied between the stones which, once dry, will make it look more.... how shall I say it?..... more organic, I suppose.

The Husband has been working hard in the kitchen but the work in there has been so intense (and difficult to work in for me!) that he gave me the choice of a couple of days off while he worked outside, or carry on with the kitchen. Of course, I opted for the first choice, although I know it's only putting off the inevitable! Still, the weather is so good, he might as well make the most of working outside.

Hope the weather is good where you are! Thanks for reading!

Hurried woman syndrome!

2010-06-11T21:18:00.000-07:00

When I first started this blog, I had every intention of posting on regularly. Well, that has gone completely out of the window! I hadn't counted on just how few hours in the day, days in the week, and even months in the year, there really are!

I seem to do a little of everything and achieve a lot of nothing! A little crochet but a lot of planning things to crochet - the list gets ever longer. A lot of 'helping' the Husband with the house renovations - and a lot of clearing up and reorganising afterwards - that list gets ever longer, too. And, of course, there's the endless round of cooking, cleaning, shopping and other boringness to contend with.

However, things progress - slowly but surely.

A nice treat yesterday was some roses from a friend's garden - the pink ones are spectacular and ramble along a white wall that really sets them off. I found a few carnations to put with them.

These yellow ones smell delicious - a truly old-fashioned fragrance that transported me back to childhood. Not the most beautifully-photographed, but lovely all the same.

Louis the Lazy Cat on one of the rare occasions when he's awake instead of lying practically comatose for twelve-hour stretches in any patch of sunlight he can find. He actually accompanied us outside for a stroll round the garden, but soon succumbed to his favourite pastime of yawning and looking for a comfy place to indulge in some ZZZZZs! We've had several cats over the years, but Louis is most definitely the laziest ever! He's French, of course, and no-one in France hurries to do anything - why should he be any different?

Meanwhile, this is a bloom on an indoor hibiscus - I only wish the flowers lasted more than a day. The plant was a birthday present last year; it was beautiful until we went away in February and it didn't like being ignored. I was ready to throw it away but the Husband has tended it lovingly and restored it, if not to its former glory, at least half way there.

A relatively tidy scene on a lovely summer's day - all looks peaceful outside but chaos reigns behind the door!

I will update on the renovation work a bit later - I have to sort through all the photos first!

Have a great day, and thanks for reading!

A Quick Update!

2010-06-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

It's been ages since I've posted, what with one thing and another, mainly working on the house, and I also lost my internet connection at the weekend - again. I was able to put it right over the phone with advice from the helpful chappie on the helpline; he's going to send me the instructions so that I can do it myself nex time, hopefully.

I have loads of photos to post of the house and garden but, for now, will post a photo of the tiles we have chosen for the kitchen (yes, it's nearly at the 'prettying-up' stage!) I love the lavender and olive tiles, but I'm not that mad on the lemon one, but they come in packs of three, so I had no choice in the matter. They are on order and should be here within ten days. At the bottom of the photo you can just see the lovely draining board they had in the shop. No, we didn't buy that, although I fell in love with it because it's so very French!

Wool-wise, I've been making squares (for Chalky and Mrs Twins - see their links on the right), a cushion and throw for a chair I'm revamping (not finished yet), and these preemie hats which I will get posted off next week. They are displayed on a beautiful hand-crocheted double bedspread that I picked up at our one and only charity-type shop here - it's really heavy, and is made up of no less than 672 motifs! The clever person who made it must have loads of patience and a lot of dedication!

Anyway, the evening sun is going down but it's still casting long shadows over the distant fields, so I'm off with my camera to catch it before it finally sinks.

Thanks for reading and I hope you are all having a lovely day!

What I've been crocheting (when I can get away from all the renovating!)

2010-05-10T04:02:00.000-07:00

I've been clearing photos in my camera. They're mainly of the renovating variety, along with some family ones from a week or so back when my youngest son and his family came to stay, but today I'm concentrating on the woolly ones.

These are 8" squares I've made so far for blankets that are being sewn together by Chalky (see Chalky's World in my side bar) for charity. I have a couple more to add but they still need the dratted ends sewing in - not my favourite job! You'll see from her photos that she makes a brilliant job of sewing them together.

This is another square; this time a 6" one for Mrs Twins (see her blog in my side bar, too). She also does a fantastic job of putting all the squares together for charity.

I find the squares are the ideal way to use of scraps of wool and, as they don't need too much concentration, they are easy to do when you have a spare few minutes. I shall keep going with them because I have loads of wool to use up!

Again, on the square theme, these 4" squares are for a personal project. I have a very old chair that is just sitting in storage in one of the barns here; whilst rummaging around for something else in there (a tin of masonry paint that the Husband was convinced he had somewhere - yes, we did find it in the end. It was a 20 litre tin so a bit hard to 'lose'!) I came across the chair and decided that it could be brightened up with some spray paint and a bit of the crochet stuff, so I made a start on that last night. It will be an ongoing project and it may be some time until it's finished but at least the chair will get a new lease of life.

Now, I'd better post a photo of that little window now that it has been re-glazed with clear glass.

This is the view from it on a very dull day yesterday. Of course, before it could be glazed the Husband had to paint the exterior reveals. As the window is above a conservatory with a sloping roof, he decided to do it from the inside - with the window's cross-members restricting him - and me standing on the outside telling him which bits he had missed! This was why we needed to look in the barn for the masonry paint; it's just the way of things, isn't it? You start one job then find you need to do a bit more prepping before you can get on with it!

This photo shows the lovely lintel, which we think is made of ash. It has just been treated for woodworm and will be finished off with Briwax furniture wax which will really bring out the colour and grain. We need to wait for the putty to set, then we can wax the window frame and plaster and paint the interior reveals. It will be a lovely feature just below a vaulted ceiling - I just have to decide whether to put something on the sill or to leave it as it is. I'll take another photo when it's finished and, also, when the sun is shining through it!

Where on Earth does the time go?

2010-05-04T20:31:00.000-07:00

OK, so it's been a while! Apart from adding the charity-knitting update last week, I've not posted for some time. It's been so very busy at Chez Yarns for the last few weeks - not all of it of the laborious renovating variety, for a change. Last week, after some doubts about whether they would make it due to the Great Icelandic Ash Crisis, my youngest son, his lovely wife and gorgeous eight-month old daughter came to stay for a whole week. The seven days stretched ahead of us at the beginning then simply whizzed by at a rate of knots and, suddenly, they were on their way back home.

We couldn't believe how lucky we were with the weather. The week before their visit was cool and dull and, since they left on Saturday, it's been even cooler and duller, but the week they were here was bright, warm and sunny and we were able to go out every day and make the most of it.

Here we are at the old defence wall with a view of the town as a backdrop. Centre stage is my truly beautiful granddaughter with the magical smile that carried us through the week! We visited lots of different places and had a wonderful time enjoying each other's company. The week passed by too quickly but it was lovely having them here.

The renovations took a back seat for the week apart from insulating the vaulted ceiling in the dining room part of the kitchen - something that my son helped his Dad with, because it was too high for me! It was great taking time out from all the work - we hadn't realised just how intense the last few weeks had been, and we needed the break. Subsequently, it's taking a long time to get up and running again! Yesterday, the Husband filled in the holes that were left behind when the timbers holding up the original ceiling were removed, then he had to run electrical cables through the timbers in the kitchen - they will eventually be hidden when the ceiling is plasterboarded. We have to choose the lighting next - at the moment, with the ceiling back to the bare bones and the existing lighting still in place, it looks gloomy, so the choice of lighting will be really important. We have this little window that we uncovered when we vaulted the ceiling - the glass has been painted (on the outside) in this fetching shade of green and, rather than take the paint off, we will replace it with new. It will let in even more light and I'm thinking of a way of dressing it up. I think today the Husband is going to get both the ceilings prepared for plasterboarding - I can't wait but I'm dreading the usual disruption - why can't he do it quietly, cleanly and quickly?!

The weather, having been brilliant last week, has been really cold, something I wasn't expecting for the first week of May in south west France! I thought we'd be well on the way to summer by now but we'll just have to be patient, I suppose - it's nothing compared to what's been going on in the rest of the world, so I really can't complain, can I?

Have a great day, everyone, and thanks for reading.

Renovation update - the story continues!

2010-04-18T21:59:00.000-07:00

I've not posted on here since the last Knit Your Square update, but a lot has been going on - in fact, a lot more, thanks to the arrival of my mad-but-strangely-loveable brother-in-law who drove all the way up from the south of France (about seven hours on the road) with his lovely 11-year old son, to indulge us with his excellent plumbing and tea-drinking skills! After a long journey, he threw himself straight into helping around the house - well, he had to if he wanted beds for them to sleep in!

First photo shows last week's renovating (wrecking?) team - a husband on the right and a brother-in-law on the left. They were far more professional in action than they look here!

Apparently, my favourite mug was the perfect tool to keep one of the copper pipes at the right height! The rather strange floor tiles will eventually be replaced with something a bit lighter and a little more contemporary.

This arrangement under the sink was much admired by the men, and I was instructed to take a photo of it - German engineering at its best, I was told. Me? Well, I was more interested in having something coming out of the taps.

The chaos continued outside the house, too. This photo shows the trench that had been dug out to re-route our water supply. As the road was being upgraded, the water company decided to do the water works at the same time, to save disrupting the new road surface at a later date.

This is the view from the back of the house showing where the road has been widened - they have still to lay the final surfacing material, but it's already a great improvement on the bumpy track that was there before, and has been well-used by the local children; at last, somewhere for them to use their wheels - of the bike, scooter, and roller-boot variety - without falling down a pot-hole!

One of the water meter boxes that will eventually be hidden from view - well, I hope it will; it's hardly the most attractive of garden features.

An unexpected surprise just outside the back door - some lovely violas that had seeded themselves from a pot I had planted last year.

Well, this is just a little update on things around here - more to follow soon, when I've scraped a little more of the inevitable dust away! Thanks for reading.

The chaos continues - but we're getting there!

2010-04-11T20:50:00.000-07:00

The work on the house is in full swing, although we took most of yesterday off and went to our favourite patisserie for lunch, sitting in the sun on the bandstand in the local square, then taking in a vide grenier (the French version of a car boot sale) before coming back for a snooze before dinner. A good relaxing day to set us up for the days ahead.

In the morning, one of the Husband's brothers (the other one is staying here for the week to help with all the plumbing!) came up with his wife on their beautiful Harley Davidson trike - I'm the one in the driving seat (but I wasn't allowed to drive it!)

The plan today is to replace this horrid, ancient, too low sink with a brand new unit with a brand new shiny Franke sink! I shall be so glad to see it go, not least because the previous owner had his bedroom in the dining room next to the kitchen and I always imagined him using it for all the wrong reasons if he couldn't be bothered to find his way to the bathroom - it's at that convenient height for a man!
All that will be a distant memory later on today!

I haven't had time to do any relaxing crochet lately, but I will try and get some done today, if only to keep me sane while the renovation work continues. The great thing is having my brother-in-law around - he's a much better labourer than me, and he plumbs, too! His 11-year old son is staying here with us, too, and he's been helping me with my French and running errands to earn some euros, so I shall take him shopping with me this morning.

There will be chaos outside the house, too, because the track running alongside our house is being widened and resurfaced - the work will take around two weeks so our quiet little hamlet will be a hive of activity, but it's all going to improve life out here, so will be well worth the hassle.

Well, that's all for now from this little corner of France. Of course, I shall be posting a photo of the new sink later!

A break from the madness that is renovating!

2010-04-10T21:00:00.000-07:00

Early evening sunshine as we made our way out for a meal - the kitchen being completely out of bounds seeing as how the guts have been ripped out of it! Photos to follow of the currently-not-very-kitcheny-kitchen - when the dust has settled!

Antics in the attic!

2010-04-07T02:24:00.000-07:00

Well, progress IS being made up there. One beam has been removed and replaced, and they've decided that the beam that was going to be left in place should be taken out, too, so the workload has doubled but I'm glad they've made that decision. Fortunately, the room is empty of furniture so they can make as much mess as they like at the moment!

This is the first beam to be removed. It's been propped up by timbers then cut into sections between the props - the easiest way to remove it.

The sections of beam being thrown out through the window! Not as scary as it sounds - the house is on a tiny track with no passing traffic and only one more house to the side of it, so no-one was in danger. The sections have been stacked up in a barn opposite the house.

This shows one end of the new (steel) beam that has been bricked in at each end.

This shows the other end of the beam, and the acro props holding it up while the cement sets around the bricks.

This shows the section of unsupported (!) roof where the second beam has just been removed.

More timbers stacked at the window reading for throwing out.

This shows a piece of the old beam that has been cut to fit into one of the sound beams in the room - the timber was so straight, it was crying out to used.

Well, that is progress so far. I haven't posted pictures of all the mess on the floor - preferred to ignore that bit! The end result of all this will be a huge bedroom with no obstructions and no risk of the ceiling caving in on anyone, so will be more than worth all the effort and expense. I hope to be posting photos of the finished room at some point over the next couple of months!

Thanks for reading - I bet you're all glad it's not your house!

Help - look at my attic!

2010-04-05T03:58:00.000-07:00

Well, work is well in progress as I type. The first photo shows one end of the beam which goes right through the thick granite wall to the outside wall. It has to be dug out at both ends. The second and third pictures show how it is being held up, by a combination of acro props and thick timbers. The idea is to cut the beam out in sections and the upright timbers will hold each section up. I have no idea what will happen next - it seems daft to ask the men how the roof will stay on until the new beam is put in! The last picture shows the mess on the floor - glad it's not me doing the work or the clearing up after! I'm equally glad we emptied the room first!

April already!

2010-04-04T20:51:00.000-07:00

Long time, no post!

I don't know where the time has gone but I think it's about three weeks since I last posted, apart from to add the fantastic running totals of our Knit Your Square to Give Your Share group on moneysavingexpert.com.

Much work has been going on in the house and outside. This floor has been laid (apart from one tile that has to be cut round the staircase - Brother-in-law is coming to stay next week and will bring his special cutting tool to cut that last tile; I think we'll turn it into a sort of topping-off ceremony!). My poor bookcase has been in every room of the house, I think. We've had to move it yet again because it was in the way of the next project. It contains about a quarter of my books - eventually, I have been promised a proper library arrangement to house them all but, for now, they crop up in various spare corners just waiting.....I'm longing to get them sorted once and for all.

This is the 400-year old beam that is being removed and replaced this week. It is splitting dangerously and is currently being held up by acro props and timbers. The room is in the attic and will eventually be a huge bedroom-en-suite which will easily take a double and two singles, ideal for when the family come to stay. The windows look tatty at the moment but, with their wide reveals and sills, will look really good when they've been renovated. In this room, besides the beam needing to be replaced, part of the roof also has to come off - all this is being done from tomorrow. The attic was only ever used for storage in the days when the house was a working farmhouse. It had a rickety outside staircase as the only access, but we have put in a new staircase and landings - which meant breaking through the ceiling of the floor below and lowering the walls to increase the height of the doors - all very technical but, as one of my brothers-in-law is an architect, not too difficult to achieve!

These are the only windows at the moment but we will be adding a Velux window in the roof to let in more light during the day, and to see the stars during the night! You can just make out the old water pipes - these are being removed this week as we add to the central-heating system up here. The electrical wiring has all been installed - it just needs fixing once the rest of the work has been done.

We spent most of yesterday emptying this room of boxes and spare furniture ready for the roofing work to be started. For a change, I'm not going to be helping - we have the professionals in for the week. I shall just keep the cuppas coming! I shall also be refurbishing myself - I have a visit to the hairdresser planned, then a visit to the dentist and, as I'm not being called upon to assist, probably some retail therapy, too!

A Bit of the Woolly Stuff

I've also managed to fit in some crochet. I have lots of squares crocheted, most of which need blocking, so photos will be posted when that's done. For now, here is a photo of the lovely pattern book that Mrs Twins (see link to her fantastic blog in the 'Blogs that I Follow' sidebar) kindly sent to me, along with two balls of the most beautiful yarn in white and a lovely leafy green - it's called Cygnet Silcaress and is wonderful to work with. I've teamed it with a pink to make a square for Mrs Twins Blankets for the Elderly project, and something else as a surprise which will be revealed later when it's finished.

I've also made some rabbits for the grandchildren because I can't really send Easter eggs through the post - the ears were all tweaked after the photo but before they hopped across the English Channel - I hope they liked them!

Well, the sun has been shining and things have been going on outside, too. We've heard our first cuckoo, as well as the noisiest woodpecker we've ever heard here. The swifts are gradually returning from their winter holiday in South Africa - they will stay with us until September when they will have raised their babies and taught them how to fly for their next winter holiday. The local commune is tarmacking the track that runs through the hamlet and alongside our house but, sadly, they've had to fell two very old trees on our land to allow for widening the road to allow for emergency vehicles - this photo was taken in the rain, from our drive, and reflects the sadness we felt at losing the trees. On the plus side, they were very old trees and may not have survived many more gale-force winds, and they will become a good source of firewood! You can see that the track is desperate to be upgraded - we have to wheel our wheelie bins along it - come rain or shine - every week. We're hoping that the widening will allow the dustcart to come to us, rather than the other way around! Luckily, we have two entrances to ur property, so we shouldn't get hemmed in while the work is being carried out. The widening and re-surfacing starts on 12th April, and will include re-siting our water supply, too.

So, as you can see, I may not have been on here much lately, but there sure is a lot going on! And now I need another cuppa! Hope you are all having a wonderful Easter.

Once again, brilliant totals!

2010-03-31T02:46:00.000-07:00

Great totals again; thanks to each and every one of you!

Well, long time no post on here from me, apart from the Knit Totals update - life has been exceedingly busy with house renovating, a bit of crochet, and a lot of work, but I will spend time today and tomorrow posting photos of the work on the house so far, and the squares I've been making.

Until then, I hope you are all having good days!

KathyXX

Fantastic totals again!

2010-03-22T22:15:00.000-07:00

Have just posted this week's update - thank you all for your great totals!

For anyone who would like to join us, please click here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1979513. - it will take you to the current year's thread of the online charity-knitting group that was founded in March 2008. We are now in our third year. Please join - you will receive a warm welcome from this lovely group!

KathyXX

Getting plastered!

2010-03-10T22:11:00.000-08:00

Well, the renovating work on this house goes on at a cracking pace - all the plastering in the front hall has now been done; we just need to apply the 'chaux' to the stone walls that we have left exposed. You'll see two niches in one of the stone walls; we'll just clean them up and keep them as they are, rather than cover them up. They will be great with perhaps some candles in them.

This is the longest wall in the hall. The plaster is here is not the same as in the UK. For a start, it goes on white and stays white when it dries, making it easier to paint. Another difference is that you can choose the drying time. The one we've used here dries in an hour - you have to plaster fast to use it all up in time! In this photo, you can see the two niches I mentioned earlier. They are both very odd shapes but then so is this house!

This photo shows the door into what will one day be the proper sitting room - behind that door is a massive room that needs a lot of attention (and money) spending on it - a major project for another time! The alcove in the photo is a strange shape but we've just gone with the flow - the walls are thick granite so there's not much that can be done to make it straight. We've rough-plastered it and have yet to decide what to do with it - I fancy a statue but dear Husband thinks that will be a bit too much for a farmhouse! Maybe we'll put some shelves in it.

This was a ledge that we couldn't do away with, so dear Husband found a lovely piece of timber which he turned into a shelf, and stained and polished. The wall below will be left exposed and 'chauxed' - the doorway leads into the kitchen - the room that will be the next project once the hall is finished!

This house really is a work-in-progress - I shall be SO glad when it's finally finished!

The big storm took me out!

2010-03-10T21:56:00.000-08:00

The Saturday before the one before last we had the big Atlantic storm that had been predicted, so we battened down all the hatches and sat - or rather slept - it out. The wind had been threatening all day and, by 8pm, was in full swing and lasted until around 8am the next morning. The noise was horrendous but we still managed to get a good night's sleep - we just hoped that the roof would still be there the next day! Our bedroom is right up in the eaves so we felt very close to nature!

The next morning, I tentatively opened the shutters expecting to see a felled forest of trees on neighbouring farmland but we had escaped lightly. Only two trees on the farm had completely fallen, and our very elderly willow tree had lost about half its branches - these were blocking the entrance to the barn where we keep our cars so I spent a rainy morning picking them all up so that we could get the cars out.

The neighbouring department - the Vendee - had really taken a hammering. The sea breached the defences catching many poor people off their guard and some, sadly, lost their lives. I hope they are managing to pick up the pieces.

The storm took out the phone and, by default, my connection to the internet. By Wednesday, having used a friend's phone to call France Telecom, the phone was restored, but I couldn't get back online. I phoned Orange, my IP, and several people tried to get my connection back. The assured me that the line was working so the suggested that I buy a new LAN cable. The only one I could find was a metre shorter than the old one - this meant moving the entire room around to get the computer closer to the point. The new cable didn't do the trick, so it was suggested I try the line on a different computer. Luckily, I have a very ancient one so I tested it on that, and that didn't work. I phoned Orange yet again and they said the Livebox (which connects me to the internet) must be at fault. They gave me a code and told me to take the old Livebox back to our local Orange shop and ask for an exchange. I did this within half an hour, came home with the new one and, after a fraught couple of hours (the air was blue, I can tell you!), managed to get back online. The only problem now was that I kept losing the connection. As promised, Orange called me back the following day to see how I was getting on, and they said the fault must lie with my computer. As it was fine before the storm, and I had disconnected it when I knew the storm was coming, I wasn't convinced. In the end, I unplugged all the connections to the Livebox, pressed a few buttons on it, and I have been back in the land of the living ever since. Having been incommunicado from Sunday to Friday, it felt good to be back!

During all this, dear Husband just carried on plastering. The PC world baffles him somewhat so there wasn't much he could do to help apart from keep the kettle boiling!

He has been working on the front hall

First post since our return!

2010-02-22T21:40:00.000-08:00

I really have no idea just where the time has gone since we returned from our wonderful trip back to the UK. We've actually been home a week today, yet it feels like we only just left! It's true what they say about time passing more quickly the older you get!

We had such a great ten days and managed to pack it full with lots of hugs, kisses and cuddles for all the family, especially the grandchildren! We opened late but lovely Christmas presents, ate some wonderful food, drank lots of tea, coffee and the odd glass of vino, and really really enjoyed ourselves. The ten days just sped by and saying goodbye was as hard as ever. At least this time, plans have been made and we will be quite busy here with lots of guests over the next few months. It means the husband will just have to work even harder to get the house more accommodating and he has thrown himself into that - with my occasional labouring help. I will post some update photos soon - I'm just waiting for him to finish the understairs bit which will be an l-shaped cupboard with, hopefully, lots and lots of storage!

We visited Weston-super-Mud while we were away. It's the town where I was brought up and I still have family there. Some of you lovely readers will remember that the Grand Pier at W-s-M burnt down a few years ago but they are already rebuilding it. It's a little more modern than its predecessor and will look great when it's finished, but you wouldn't believe the mess on the surrounding beach! The contractors obviously have to put their things somewhere, and I know it will all be cleared up when the pier is finished, but I've never seen the beach look worse!

The photos were taken from the car while we were driving alongside - I think the pier is going to look great when it's finished.

Fortunately, they are keeping the entrance because it was unaffected by the fire and is such an iconic part of it. The fire itself made headline news around the world at the time; I had no idea it was so famous!

I crocheted on the journey to the UK, both in the car and on the ferry, and added to the squares I've been making for an ongoing project on the Knit Your Square charity knitting forum on moneysavingexpert.com http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1979513. The idea belongs to one of our most active contributors - you can find her great blog in the sidebar here - look for Chalky's World and you will see that she just loves sewing the squares together, and does a fantastic job with them!

These are the squares I have done so far. Some of them still need the ends sewing in (such a lovely job, I don't think!), and blocking which I will be doing soon. I'm sure they'll look a whole lot tidier then, so I will post another photo showing the individual squares when they are properly finished off.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you all have a great day!

Off on my hols - only ONE sleep left!

2010-02-04T20:14:00.000-08:00

This will be my last blog post for ten days because I am sailing back to the UK tomorrow to visit family and friends - it's been a long five or so months since I last saw them for real, apart from via the magic of Skype, so, as you can imagine, the excitement is electric! I'm longing to see everyone, especially the grandchildren - my grandson aged 10, my eldest granddaughter aged 7, and the latest arrival, granddaughter number two, who is just over five months old. We will be staying a few days in Hampshire, two or three days in Somerset (in glorious Weston-super-Mud, so I hope to take some photos of the new pier which is under construction to replace the lovely Grand Pier that, sadly, burned down a couple of years ago) and the last few days back in Hampshire. We are taking lots of pressies with us, as well as more than a few bottles of wine, to share with friends and loved ones.

This is a simple 6" square I will be sending to Mrs Twins http://suesfavouritethings.blogspot.com/ whose lovely blog I follow - she is collecting them to sew into blankets for the elderly in memory of her much-loved grandmother who lived to the grand old age of 103! How fantastic is that?!

Here are another two squares are for an ongoing project for the Knit Your Square to Give Your Share charity-knitting group running on http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1979513

The little red circle is a wristband I crocheted to wear on Fridays for this wonderful cause

http://www.supportredfridays.co.uk/

I shall be taking my crochet with me to do on the way to the ferry as well as on the boat itself. The last time we sailed, I was knitting and crocheting whilst sat in the passengers' reclining lounge, and had a family of four lovely little girls who were really interested in what I was doing. I often wonder if their Mum had to go out and buy them all hooks, needles and yarn!

Well, the rest of my day today will be spent packing and checking the long lists that I have been scribbling down for the last few weeks, so it's going to be a busy one! I just hope I can get everything we need to take into the car, as well as the cat, Louis, who will be staying with good friends of ours!

I hope you all have a lovely ten days and I be back with lots of photos!

Great totals again!

2010-02-02T01:47:00.001-08:00

I've just posted the latest update and the totals, yet again, are amazing, so thanks to you all!

It's snowing - again!

2010-01-30T06:10:00.000-08:00

Just had to share these photos of the snow that fell unexpectedly in the night.

By early afternoon it had started to melt

Now the sun is shining in a perfect blue sky and it's really warm. Won't last, I know, but it's lovely to look at!

Crochet!

2010-01-29T20:20:00.000-08:00

Having been woken up early by the cat, I've been busy taking photos!

Here are two 8" squares I've made for an ongoing online charity knitting project

and a lapblanket for my grandson, aged 10

and one for my eldest granddaughter, aged 7

They love to snuggle up on the sofa on a cold winter's afternoon, so I thought a blanket each of their own would be useful!

My husband still has the blanket his dear grandmother made for him when he was little. It's a bit tatty and needs a few repairs (which I will get round to doing some time soon, I hope), but it has always been special because she made it just for him. I hope my blankets become treasured in the same way.

Squares of comfort

2010-01-27T07:35:00.000-08:00

The online knitting group that I am a member of http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1979513 makes many things for many different good causes but, now and again, sadly, tragedy strikes at one of those who also contributes generously of their time and materials. There is a collective feeling amongst us all that we want to do 'something' to express how sorry we are, and what better way than for every one of us to make a square or two which can be sewn together to make one comforting blanket to embrace someone in great need. What is so inspiring is that knitters and crocheters are so generous, we always end up with more than one blanket because people just can't stop making the squares.

These squares are for a blanket for someone from another group that works tirelessly for charity http://www.lovinghands.org.uk/. Loving Hands is run by a wonderful lady called Lou, and she has amassed a huge band of knitters and crocheters who all devote many hours to deserving causes around the world. Many of the members of the moneysavingexpert.com group send their finished items to Loving Hands, and they are lovingly distributed to those in need.

Knitting and crocheting squares like these are the perfect way of using up oddments and scraps of wool left over from other projects. When sewn together into one blanket, the contributions of many people come together, making something really special.

2010-01-20T19:45:00.000-08:00

I haven't been posted on here for ages because time seems to be at a premium at Chez Yarns from a Barn! The most exciting thing I can happily report is that we have booked our ticket to sail back to the UK on 6th February, just over two weeks from now. We will be staying for ten days, returning (if I can be persuaded!) on 16th. We will spend some time in our home town in Hampshire, catching up with my lovely boys and their families (oh, how I have missed the grandchildren), then we will have a few days in my real home town of Weston-super-Mare with my Mum and my sister and her family, then back to Hampshire for the last few days. I am really looking forward to it, especially seeing the grandchildren. My grandson had his tenth birthday yesterday. I was able to phone him in the morning before school, which was great. I can't believe he is ten and I kept thinking about the day he was born. My daughter-in-law had been in labour for two and a half traumatic days, then, just before we were due to visit her and the new baby in hospital, someone crashed their car at the end of our drive. Fortunately, no-one was hurt but the emergency services blocked the road at both sides of the drive and I was so worried we wouldn't be able to get out in time. Luckily, we did. By then, it was quite late at night but the hospital staff were brilliant and let us in. So, I shall never forget the day he was born and the delicious 'falling in love' feeling I had when I first set eyes on my precious first grandchild.

His sister's birthday is on Saturday. She will be seven. Her birth was almost as traumatic but no car crash this time. Through their excellent timing, their parents have ensured that their birthdays are three days apart, not long after Christmas, so they start saving up months in advance! In the year 2021, my grandson will be 21, and my granddaughter will be 18 - what a week that will be!

My youngest granddaughter is five months now, and I haven't seen here - apart from via Skype - since she was ten days old, so I have such a lot to look forward to when we get back to the UK!

We have been working on the house here and I will take some photos later. We have a new temporary sitting room. It's the room which will eventually be my office so is not very big but we were able to take a sofa and chair out of storage and now have somewhere clean, comfy and, most importantly, dust free to relax in. Trouble is, it's so relaxing we doze off as soon as we sit down! We have our big TV in there and a little portable in the old sitting room off the kitchen.

Half the new step at the back door (which we use as the front door!) has been done but we can't finish it until we have sourced some more old French 'tomette' tiles. What has been done so far has made it much safer and we love the look of it.

We were going to take down a ceiling (this has been threatened for months now and I keep finding excuses to stall it!), but we are leaving that until we have returned from our trip away. Instead, the front hall is the next area being worked on, and is currently having the ceiling plastered between the beams, and new downlights will be installed at the same time. That will be finished tomorrow, then it can be plastered and painted.

The weather has been a real mixed bag, no more so than yesterday when we woke up to pouring rain then, within no time we had blue skies and brilliant sunshine, then rain again in the afternoon. Colder temperatures are forecast for next week, so I am really glad we had our central heating oil topped up recently! Still, I am sure that spring is on the way.

This is a sweet little dress I couldn't resist buying to take back to my new granddaughter. My old childhood doll is modelling it for me; the photo doesn't do the dress justice, really. It has a bit of smocking at the top, a frill at the bottom and lots of little embellishments.

This photo shows a little more detail. I love the raspberry pink colour and it's typically French, which is what I was looking for. Of course, I could have spent loads because there was lots to choose from!

Well, I will try and take some photos of the renovation work here later on today and, if I don't get too many interruptions, post them on here!

Nature table - January 2010

2010-01-05T20:54:00.000-08:00

The Christmas just gone was our first in France, and we spent the day with some very good friends. In the afternoon, stuffed with the most delicious Christmas dinner, the four of us took four lively dogs out for a walk. The dogs, one belonging to our friends, the others belonging to other friends who were visiting the UK at the time, were full of energy. We, having just eaten and cleared up, were full of food, good wine and the warm glow that comes with being in the company of much-loved friends. The weather was wonderful - very very cold but bright and sunny. The trail - well, what can I say? It was gorgeous and, guess what I did? I forgot my camera! Just two minutes from the house is the most wonderful wide open countryside - bathed in winter sunshine, miles away from roads and traffic, it is stunning and so very good for the soul.

Along the way, I picked up a couple of teazles that had fallen to the ground. Years ago, I remember my Mum using these to 'fluff up' her knitting - turning plain double knitting yarn into expensive-looking mohair, simply by brushing the finished knitted item with teazle heads. They are very spikey to the touch but so lovely to look at. These two, as I say, had fallen to the ground. There were plenty more still growing but I am loathe to pick things just for the sake of it - I rather like free treasure, and these would only have been pressed into the ground by passing tractors, so I brought them home with me. I will knit or crochet a swatch to try them on.

I am lucky enough to have a lovely bay tree growing in my garden. It has been swamped by a very old plum tree for years but we removed some of the plum tree's branches, and the bay is now starting to grow, having rediscovered the light. I love using the fragrant aromatic leaves in stews, soups and casseroles, so, every now and again, I pick a branch and dry it by hanging it up in the kitchen. This branch I picked yesterday, and the first couple of leaves will be used in the chicken casserole I will make for dinner today to warm us on a freezing cold day.

Bay leaves can be used fresh or dried. They really add that special 'something' to a dish. A useful tip is to tear the leaves before adding them to your cooking - this releases the delicious oils. The leaves should be removed and discarded before eating.

My nature table goodies today are displayed on my lovely old pine coffee table which was lovingly made by my husband many years ago. Its three-monthly waxing is well overdue; we are clearing the Christmas decorations away today, so I shall persuade him to get the wax out and restore it to its glory, after months of having our feet resting on it as we relax on the sofa. I love the sight of freshly-waxed pine and will post a photo of it once the grain has been coaxed back into life.

I hope to have a regular nature table on my blog - there are some wonderful things around us and I want to make the most of what I find!

Our sky this morning!

2010-01-03T07:52:00.000-08:00

I hope you are all having a peaceful Sunday. I just had to post these photos of the sky here this morning. I've never seen such a formation as this here - correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they are stratus clouds? They cleared away to a light grey/blue sky by midday, so I'm really pleased I took the photos!

Another view - it's a times like these that I wish I could paint!

A Happy Happy Happy New Year to Everyone!

2009-12-31T06:01:00.000-08:00

Today, after torrential rain and thunderstorms for the last two days, the sun came out and it actually felt like spring had finally arrived! I am not easily fooled, and temperatures at and below freezing have been forecast for next week but, oh, this sun is so welcome. As it turned out, I had changed the bedlinen this morning and, instead of draping it over the airer (I have a tumble dryer but am loathe to use it), I have pegged it out on the line, feeling the warmth of the sun as I did - and it's drying! I know it will not last; I know I will be back to wearing extra layers; I also know that we are still very much in the depths of winter ....but today's sunshine has lifted my spirits and assured me that spring is actually on the way.

I am also fully aware that those of you in other parts of the world have freezing conditions right now, and I hope you are all coping and keeping warm and safe.

This photo was taken facing the sun but you can still see the blue of the sky - it really has been a beautiful day today.

Thanks to all who have visited my blog this year. I hope to keep posting regularly throughout 2010, with photos of the renovation work on the house, things I have knitted and crocheted, updates about the charity knitting thread running on moneysavingexpert.com, places I visit whilst I am still exploring my corner of France, and anything else that crops up along the way. I have discovered some lovely blogs this year and look forward to visiting them regularly, so thanks to all those whose blogs I have enjoyed - I can't wait to catch up with you in 2010.

Above all, I wish you all a HAPPY, HEALTHY AND WEALTHY New Year!

Cheers

KathyXX

A Happy Christmas to All!

2009-12-23T22:05:00.000-08:00

Christmas cards from beloved grandchildren. What a surprise I had when I checked the mailbox the other day! Cards lovingly made by Sam, aged 9, and Lucy, aged 6. I love them and will treasure them always. I love the unabandoned creativity of children, and looking at these cards reminds me of times spent crafting with them both. My dining room table would be laden with all manner of things for them to use and, due to their fired-up imagination and inventiveness, I have several items made out of all sorts of weird and wonderful bits and pieces.

As I think I've said before, this Christmas will be so different from previous ones. It's our first one in France and we are far away from loved ones. We are staying with friends on the big day, and overnight, and, while it will be a lovely Christmas in wonderful company, I shall so miss the family, and cooking the Christmas dinner! I consider myself blessed because my loved ones are happy and healthy, and that thought will be uppermost in my mind over the next few days. So many people in the world have suffered this year, and I count myself very lucky with my lot in life.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

It snowed!

2009-12-22T20:47:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't posted on here for ages - life gets in the way sometimes! This was the extent of our snow here in SW France. Nowhere near as bad as in northern France or the UK. It was very very cold, though, and went down to -11 degrees some nights. It has warmed up over the last couple of days, though. I didn't want the snow to settle because, although we are only five minutes away from town by car, we have to drive down country roads to get there, and they don't seem to grit here!

Footprints in the snow. This was Louis the cat's first experience of snow; he was obviously pacing about waiting for someone to open the front door!

The view down the drive. We managed to get both our cars under cover in the barn to the right. It's a huge barn that will be pulled down next year because it's a bit unsightly. It's handy, though. Besides our two cars, we have a one-ton trailer and our neighbours' caravan in there, along with a load of old hay that was left behind by the last owners.

Well, I've done loads of knitting and crochet lately, all presents to take back to family members when we visit the UK in the New Year. I shall post photos when I've finished them all.

Husband is currently working on a new step outside the door, so photos of that to follow, too, when it's finished. At the moment, the step is a real mess, and too narrow for safety. At least when it's done I shall stop falling off it!

Where does all the time go?!

2009-12-15T22:40:00.000-08:00

Good morning everyone.

I've just updated the Knit Your Square running totals for the last week. Considering it's such a busy time for everyone, the figures are amazing!

I had every intention of posting photos of some of the things I have been making for Christmas pressies, but the batteries have died in the camera. They are recharging as I type, so I shall have to take the photos later. Watch this space!

Ruffle scarves, photos and free patterns!

2009-12-01T20:46:00.000-08:00

I've been loving making these scarves! They're so quick, very satisfying to make, and make lovely gifts. I started off with a free pattern I found online, then decided to experiment on the same theme. I've come up with three different ideas and would like to share them with you. I've included a link to the original pattern in my instructions, because the actual ruffle element is not mine - I've just adapted it! I hope you find my patterns useful!

My three crochet ruffle scarves.

This one was worked in Sirdar Denim Chunky - a very soft yarn.

I used Robin Aran in cream for this one.

This one was crocheted in Courtelle Chevy with Wool DK in shade 4362.

Experimenting with Ruffles

Using the same basic principle of the ruffle scarf (http://www.caron.com/projects/bliss/B5_ruffle_scarf.html) I’ve been trying out a few variations. Here are the instructions for anyone who would like to try them. I hope they make sense – if not, please ask!

IMPORTANT: With all ruffle scarves, working the foundation chain loosely makes the first row easy!

Cream Scarf

This was worked in Robin Aran weight wool (but any chunky yarn would do) with a No 6 (UK) hook, and was so so simple to make.

Ch to length required for completed scarf.

1^st (and only!) row: SC into 7^th chain from hook, ch 7, SC into same stitch, *ch 7, SC into next st, ch 7 SC into same st* to end. Fasten off and weave in the ends.

Denim Scarf

This was worked in Sirdar Denim Chunky with a No 6 (UK) hook

Ch to length required for completed scarf.

1^st Row: SC into 7^th chain from hook, ch 7, SC into same stitch, *ch 7, SC into next st, ch 7, SC into same st* to end.

2^nd Row: same as 1^st row but worked into the other side of the foundation row. Fasten off and weave in the ends.

The second row could be worked in a contrasting colour – something I’ll try next, now I’ve thought about it!

Dark Blue Scarf worked in Drop Stitch

This was worked in DK yarn (Courtelle Chevy DK with Wool from my stash. I’ve had it for years, so have no idea if it’s still available!).

Drop Stitch instructions: Into each stitch, YO, insert into st, YO again but this time pull up to about an inch, pull yarn through all 3 loops on hook, then ch 1 to ‘lock’ the stitch into place.

Ch to length required for completed scarf.

1st Row: Work 1 drop stitch into fourth chain from hook, then 1 into each chain to end. Turn.

2^nd Row: Ch 4, work 2 drop stitches into each space made by the ‘locking’ chain of the previous row. Turn.

3^rd Row: Ch 4, work 2 drop stitches into each space between every drop stitch of the previous row.

Fasten off and weave in the ends or, if a wide scarf is required, repeat 3^rd row.

Having a luffley ruffley time!

2009-12-01T20:34:00.000-08:00

Good morning, everyone! It's been a while since I last posted - I've been 'helping' with the renovations on the house which has kept me fairly occupied. Thankfully, I still have the evenings free to knit and crochet. I've been making ruffle scarves which are really satisfying and quick to make. A lot of my relatives and friends will be having one for Christmas, so they're money-saving, too! I shall post photos and pattern instructions in my next post.

The weather, having been really wet and windy for the last three weeks, suddenly took a change for the better yesterday, and we had a glorious day. I managed to empty some flower tubs, and I brought my geraniums in to over-winter in the conservatory. I shall spend some time over the next couple of months deciding what to do with the garden in the spring - which seems a long way away right now!

Christmas is looming now that December is here. We are planning on visiting the UK in January. This will be my first Christmas without seeing the children and grandchildren, which I'll find really difficult. Thank heavens for Skype; at least I can see them all on the day, even if it is only on screen. We are spending Christmas day with some very good friends who live about an hour away. We'll be staying overnight, which will be lovely. They are both chefs so, of course, we are really looking forward to it! I can't remember the last time I didn't have to cook the Christmas dinner, so it will be a real treat. We'll be taking lots of wine, some cheeses, chocolates, and other goodies with us, and I just know we will have a great time in wonderful company.

Here in France, they've just started putting up the decorations in the stores so everything is looking lovely. The gift ideas have been around for the last month, and one of our local stores has a Croix Rouge (Red Cross) stand which will wrap your pressies in return for a donation to the cause. It's a great idea, and they are very busy. I haven't tried it yet but will do soon.

The Christmas card selections here are, sadly, pretty dire compared to the UK (and very very expensive!), so I'm pleased I already have loads which were bought in the UK before we left. I just need to find time to write them out!

The sky - so full of promise!

2009-11-26T19:01:00.000-08:00

I had every intention of posting photos of all the things I have been crocheting over the last couple of weeks for Christmas presents but, as they all need the ends sewing in, this has been postponed. I now have my usual WIP bag, and a new addition - my 'things-that-need-the-ends-sewing-in-in-progress' bag (TTNTESIIP). I have promised myself that this weekend will be a finishing-off weekend.

Instead, I took yet more pictures of 'our' sky. We are lucky enough to have a huge panoramic view of farmland from the back of our house and the sky is huge; at night, because we have no street-lighting, it is studded with hundreds of thousands of stars which take your breath away. I will try and take photos. This photo was taken at around 7 am on Wednesday morning. We have shutters here so it is hard to tell what the outside looks like when we first get up in the morning and, sometimes, I open the shutters and am so taken aback by what I see that I have to race outside in my dressing-gown and take photos. What the neighbours think, I have no idea! I'm sure I can hear them muttering 'that crazy English woman'!

At the moment, I am crocheting lots of ruffle scarves for presents but I also want to make a pocket angel to send to my sister. She has been in hospital recently with something that has yet to be properly diagnosed. It's her birthday next week and I thought an angel would look after her for me, so I need to get that in the post asap. In fact, I've just realised how little time I have so I will definitely get that done today!

I hope that I will soon be posting crochet-related photos and not even more of the sky!

Thanks for popping in.

A very welcome day of sunshine - for a change!

2009-11-19T21:23:00.000-08:00

This was how our day started yesterday. The sun was full of promise and really lived up to it for the rest of the day. We've had a gloomy couple of weeks so this was very welcome.

You can just see the leaves beginning to change colour. I love this time of year when we get a proper autumn day.

This is part of the view from the front of the house. You can just make out our neighbours' mad-as-a-hatter dog. We don't have much experience of dogs but they ask us to look after him when they are way. His name is Bondi (said with a French accent!), and he is truly away with the fairies! Very friendly but hyperactive, and it takes the two of us to get his lead on, and that's after letting him have the lead so he can charge around the garden with it for half an hour!

Not a very good picture, but this is a well that needs a lot of TLC - a project for the Spring, I think.

Another view from the back; the trees are all changing colour which can only be appreciated when the sun is shining.

I absolutely love this view of the drive and the little lane we have to drive down to get to the house. We are lucky enough to have the space for two entrances; they have matching double gates which we picked up a few years ago when we found them on offer. The land to the right beyond the gates is ours, and has been divided into three building plots for which we were lucky enough to get planning permission. We've sold one plot, and the other two are currently up for sale. The hamlet has around thirty houses at the moment, and the local Mairie (mayor) is very keen to attract newcomers to the area, so he was more than happy to rubber-stamp our application for planning permission.

The sun is just starting to go down here. I'm standing under the willow tree which is, sadly, losing its leaves for the winter.

It was a truly lovely warm sunny day and really soothed my soul!

A mixed weekend

2009-11-15T20:41:00.000-08:00

These are the little booties I have made as a Christmas present for my latest granddaughter. It's a very simple pattern but has taken ages due to my cold stopping play for ages, but I am quite pleased with the results.

This is a scarf I've made for a Christmas present for a friend. The pattern is very easy and I'll be making several more, I think.

Well, this weekend was a little better than the last one, mainly because my cold is finally on its way out, although I had a rotten night's sleep last night because I kept waking up either coughing or sneezing. In the end, I gave in and got up for a cuppa. An afternoon nap will definitely be on the agenda today!
I hope those of you in the UK didn't suffer any damage from the storms - I watched all the weather forecasts and the news items, and it looked pretty wet and windy. We had a milder version of it here but our forecast gets better as the week progresses - apparently! I didn't stray far this weekend because I still feel a bit worn out from the cold, but I hope to get out and about this week. I feel an urge for some real fresh air and a stroll so I may visit one of our local parks with my camera. I love the fact that we can post photos on here - isn't technology wonderful?!

Nature is wonderful!

2009-11-13T20:57:00.000-08:00

In the midst of a gloomy grey and wet fortnight, nature provided us with a few wonders, such as this glorious sunrise. The colours were amazing and the way the clouds were drifting along was almost mesmerising.

We found a new park yesterday. It was my first trip out for a few days, having been housebound due to my first French cold/virusy thingy. It was a lovely mild autumny day with a not-very-bright sun, but still lovely to be out and about.

Not the best photo in the world, but one of a family of deer we came across, quite unexpectedly, in the park.

I picked up some autumn leaves because I couldn't resist them, although it seemed a shame to spoil the display that nature had made of them! Gathering them up reminded me of nature tables many summers ago, when we would collect things to take to school. My boys also loved to collect things for a nature table at home. I've decided I'm going to start another one today. We have 'nature' all around us but, with such busy lives, we sometimes forget to 'stand and stare'. I'm going to try very hard to do some standing and staring every day from now on.

A little goat shed and a lot of renovation!

2009-11-08T21:09:00.000-08:00

A little goat shed in the back garden - currently used by Louis the cat when he's caught out in the rain!

The office partly renovated. We still need to replace the pane of glass in the window and paint the window frames. The ceiling needs plastering but the cabling is in place for the downlights. Oh, and we have to decide on flooring, too. This room will eventually be my office but will be a temporary sitting room during the winter months, while the real sitting room is being renovated.The building you can see outside is another barn we found we owned on the day of purchase. The road in between is ours, too!

This area was originally one great big room but we have turned the space into an office off a big hallway. The hallway has had a new staircase fitted and the bit above the stairs will be vaulted, with a gallery landing. Originally the stairs were a rickety wooden ladder on the outside of the building, so this is progress indeed!

This is the downstairs bathroom which is right next to the kitchen, handily enough! It looks even better in here now because Husband cleaned the shower doors yesterday and they are gleaming! The cubby-hole next to the window will eventually have old pine doors fitted to turn it into a cupboard.

Again, this area was one big room which has been turned into a bathroom, utility room (photos of that later when it's been finished and is not being used as a general dumping ground!), and another hall (which visiting friends decided was a boot-room!)

I am so ashamed of the shower doors in this photo - since Husband cleaned them, we have a squeegee in place to keep them clean!

REMEMBERING ALL OUR FALLEN SOLDIERS

2009-11-07T20:07:00.000-08:00

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

...Lt. Col. John Macrae

A strange weekend

2009-11-02T20:14:00.000-08:00

The weekend has disappeared in quite a blur. On Friday night, we were back at the hospital because my husband's infected finger was still causing him problems, so it was treated again and seems to be healing now.

We had three cute little witches knocking on the door on Halloween - our neighbours' lovely daughters. Luckily, I had the sweeties ready but, if I hadn't, there's no way they'd have carried out any tricks! They're all so beautifully behaved, like all French children. We live in a very small hamlet (about twenty five other houses) and would not have been surprised if we'd had no Halloween callers; as it was, the girls had to call while it was still daylight - with no streetlighting here at night, they'd never have found the house!

Yesterday, I started a cold so I spent the afternoon under a blanket on the sofa feeling sorry for myself - I have the sniffles and a bit of a cough but, when I woke up this morning, was pleasantly surprised to find that I didn't feel that unwell, so I'm hoping it's a mild dose.

Well, that was my weekend so I hope I haven't made anyone feel down!

A Scarf for Christmas

2009-10-30T22:34:00.000-07:00

I have just finished this scarf which will be a Christmas present. I had intended to add a fringe but I ran out of yarn, so I crocheted two of Lucy's (Attic 24) flowers in crochet thread to add as an embellishment.

Another Christmas present just started, using Caron's Ruffle Scarf pattern (but in trebles instead of dcs) It's pictured alongside one of my favourite books, which I read for inspiration!

Cheers!

2009-10-28T22:31:00.000-07:00

This is the entrance to one of our favourite vineyards. It is run by a lovely young couple who produce the most fantastic wines. Their Coteaux de Layon, a dessert wine, is superb. But then, so is everything else they produce. You can sample everything, including the pure grape juice before it has been fermented - truly delicious. Just over the road, you can see the vines from which the wine is produced - acres and acres of them. Pure bliss!

This is not a very good picture because the light was fading (and I may have sampled just a little bit too much!).

Barrels, boxes

and great big vats!

Flowers from France

2009-10-27T05:51:00.000-07:00

These two beautiful roses were presented to me at our wonderful 'new arrivals' reception at the weekend. The photo does not do justice to the rich, almost citrus, orange of the blooms. And, yes, I know the shutter needs painting!

Crocheted Wrist-Warmers (idea pinched from Attic24:!)

2009-10-27T05:47:00.000-07:00

I shamelessly pinched this idea from Lucy's lovely blog, Attic24. We had a horrid cold spell over the last two weeks, and my hands were freezing cold. I have fingerless gloves but I found that the individual fingers restricted my hands too much - these were perfect. Thanks, Lucy! They are by no means as brilliant as yours - for a start, I was too lazy to think about sewing in all the ends, which is why I just used two colours!

The smallest window in France?

2009-10-24T23:08:00.000-07:00

If you look to the left of the timbers, on the same eyeline as the horizontal timber in the leaded window, you will see the tiniest window I've ever seen. Click on the photo to zoom in, scroll down a bit, and you will see that every pane is a different colour!

How the timbers are kept in place!

2009-10-24T23:04:00.000-07:00

This may have been remedial work carried out at some point because these iron pieces don't go all the way along this part of the building, just the bit above the front door - perhaps it had been slammed a few times over the centuries!

Even the meters here have shutters!

2009-10-24T23:01:00.000-07:00

Well, well!

2009-10-24T23:00:00.000-07:00

A lovely little well, with its own gate.

2009-10-24T22:58:00.000-07:00

This shows the intriguing shutters on one of the original merchant's shops in the town. The top shutter would open upwards to form an awning, while the bottom one, when opened downwards, provided a stall for the merchant's wares. I love them - and the gorgeous door - another one I would like to see the other side of!

I wonder what's behind this?

2009-10-24T22:55:00.000-07:00

I love this doorway; I love the door itself, and the beautiful carved stonework, and the one next door that you can just see, and I would just love to step through it and discover what is on the other side!

Some more lovely little houses

2009-10-24T22:51:00.000-07:00

Typical of this part of town, these tiny little houses are still inhabited. Despite their age, the whole of Parthenay is built on granite, so the houses will probably still be standing - and lived in - in another five hundred years!

2009-10-24T22:47:00.000-07:00

This mosaic, on the floor in front of the altar in the church, shows the colours of Parthenay. The shield is seen everywhere in the town, especially on the local works vans!

A Warm, Wonderful - if Wet - Welcome to our New Town!

2009-10-24T22:45:00.000-07:00

Along with all the other newbies to this part of France, we were invited to a 'Programme journee d'accueil des nouveaux arrivants' - an afternoon to welcome new arrivals. We couldn't have been made more welcome. We met the local Mairie in his lovely offices, enjoyed delicious coffee, cakes - and, later, a local aperitif - and were given a fantastic guided tour of the mediaeval city of Parthenay. The place is full of history, and we took in the wonderful church, the museum, and lots of other sights. There are cobbled streets here full of half-timbered, five hundred year old houses, some of which are still lived in. This part used to be a merchants' area and pottery and fabrics, such as silk, were sold from the little shops.

It rained all afternoon, but this didn't make the afternoon any less than thoroughly enjoyable. We were amongst a group of about a dozen new arrivals, some French, some English, and everyone was very friendly. We were made to feel very welcome.

A beautiful window in the local church

2009-10-24T22:36:00.000-07:00

This church was built over eight hundred years ago. The columns don't quite support the roof (they're bending outwards!) so there are some cracks in the ceiling. The church is absolutely wonderful, full of beautiful dark wood and pale stonework, with Roman arches everywhere.

2009-10-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

Another photo I took this morning; it's now late afternoon and it's been a really cold day, but very bright and sunny - it looks a lot warmer from this side of the window than it really is! I now just have to be brave enough to get the washing off the line!

Morning sky - again!

2009-10-16T07:45:00.000-07:00

Life is so chaotic here that I only seem to have time to take photos of the morning sky! As the day progresses, time runs out on me but I hope things will settle down soon, and I can spend more time updating this blog.

The sky this morning

2009-10-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

I opened the shutters this morning to be greeted by such a lovely sky (after yesterday's thick cold fog) that I couldn't wait to capture it on camera

2009-10-13T22:44:00.000-07:00

More of the same!

2009-10-13T22:05:00.001-07:00

New internal wall in progress, using steels not timbers.

A BIT MORE PROGRESS

2009-10-13T21:57:00.000-07:00

Another little corner of the house is gradually coming together - the old door to the new bedroom in the attic has been painted (but not the final coat, yet) and the walls have been newly-plastered, but deliberately not to a smooth finish. The best bits of original stone have been left exposed. They will be highlighted with something I've forgotten the name of, and the plastered bits will be painted white. The rest of this landing is in the process of being plaster-boarded. In one of the photos you can see how the internal walls are constructed using steels instead of timbers.

A man makes a mess!

2009-10-13T06:38:00.001-07:00

This is the man responsible for all the mess and noise that is currently disturbing my usual peace and quiet! This is what he does for a living - I would never have taken the house on if I didn't think he could work on it!

A 'new' door!

2009-10-13T06:36:00.001-07:00

This is the door to the attic bedroom. Previously, we had a curtain hung up in the doorway. We found the door in the barn-of-many-surprises-and-lots-of-rubbish (along with five more the same), but, because the entrance to the room is low, it had to be cut down. It has so far been lightly sanded and hung; Husband had to make up a frame for it, then plaster round the frame to fill in the gaps, and then we'll decide on how to finish it. There's a lot of wood - beams and so on - here, so, although I'd love to just stain and wax the door to show the lovely grain (the wood is pitch pine) we'll probably paint it white - we just can't really make our minds up yet! Fortunately, this is the only door that Husband has to stoop to get through - he's 6'3". When we were house-hunting here, we found lots of lovely old houses but many of them had low beams and door frames throughout, and Husband got fed up with having to avoid them, so we had to make sure the house we chose had as few dangers as possible! The door and landing will, I'm assured, look lovely when finished!

Found in our barn - needs TLC!

2009-10-13T06:24:00.000-07:00

Despite its age, all the tiles are intact; the top needs wire-brushing and a coat of Hammerite, and the rail needs re-chroming, but I just know it will be worth it.

2009-10-13T06:23:00.001-07:00

Another view with all the little doors and drawers open. Looking at the feet, I think it was made in the Art Deco period.

A little

2009-10-13T06:20:00.000-07:00

The previous owners of our house left a lot of rubbish here; we still haven't got rid of it all but have taken several trailer-loads to the local 'dechetterie' (rubbish tip). Now and again we come across something that we are quite grateful that they left behind. One of them is this lovely little range. It's around 1920s, all the tiles are intact, the rail needs re-chroming and the cast iron top and door frames need wire-brushing and a coat of Hammerite, but it will make a lovely feature when the house is finished. It needed emptying of ash and coke (as well as, believe it or not, old socks that I presume the last person to use it was trying to dry!), which was a really filthy job - mine, of course! I don't think we'll ever use it but it's lovely to look at. I shall take another photo when it's fully restored.

Sunrise!

2009-10-11T07:48:00.000-07:00

This was the beautiful sunrise that met me as I opened the shutters one morning a week or so ago

French cows!

2009-10-11T07:39:00.000-07:00

We live next to a farm. The farmer breeds these beautiful cows (vache, in French) local to the area, called Parthenaise. They are very gentle creatures, only making a noise when they are let out of their barns in the mornings and, in the evenings, if the farmer is late putting them back in again. During the warmest months of the year, they are outside all the time. They are bred purely for meat but they have the most wonderful life before they make their final journey. There is no pollution here, it's quiet and peaceful, and nothing threatens them - apart from me and my camera! They do seem to like posing, though.

Sunrise and sunsets in my corner of France

2009-10-11T07:36:00.000-07:00

This about half way round the lake. There are plenty of benches to sit on and lots of fishermen quietly dozing in the sun.

2009-10-11T07:34:00.001-07:00

This about half way round the lake. There are plenty of benches to sit on and lots of fishermen quietly dozing in the sun.

Verruyes, France

2009-10-11T07:31:00.000-07:00

This just has to be one of my favourite places. Only twelve or so miles from us, it's the perfect place to take the family. It's primarily a fishing resort but there's enough here to keep all age groups entertained, whether fishing or not. Part of the lake has been sectioned off for swimming, with a man-made beach, a diving board and a lifeguard. Behind the beach is a play park with lots of activities. Another part of the lake has pedalloes and kayaks for hire. There is a restaurant, a bar, a camp site, plenty of picnic areas with tables and chairs set up, toilets (not the finest in France and the ladies has no lock on the door!), and you can walk around the entire lake on the winding footpath, where you'll see families set up for the whole day. It's a lovely friendly place, and the only thing you have to pay for is entrance to the beach area - and that's only €8 for the day! You don't even pay for parking!

Wish I'd taken a photo!

2009-10-11T07:29:00.001-07:00

I wish I'd taken a photo of the car park here - there is an archeological dig in progress and they've unearthed some steps. I don't know anything about it yet but will definitely make sure I take some photos next time we visit.

Little Venice

2009-10-11T07:26:00.000-07:00

This is view of one of the canals here. They are lovely and lined with various houses and other buildings.

2009-10-11T07:24:00.000-07:00

Where to find that wonderful French coffee!

Places I like

2009-10-11T07:21:00.000-07:00

Niort, S W France

This is a beautiful town about half an hour's drive from here. It's known locally as 'little Venice'. It's a really lively cosmopolitan town, with lots of lovely (expensive!) shops, and some wonderful cafes. Stopping for just one cup of delicious coffee is not enough - we recently took some friends on a cafe-crawl here! I can't wait to see it all lit up at Christmas. The little canals have lots of ducks, and plenty of places to sit and watch the world go by.

Online Charity Knitting

2009-09-13T06:55:00.000-07:00

Moneysavingexpert.com’s Knit a Square to Give Your Share online charity knitting group:

We regularly knit and crochet items that we send to Loving Hands Charity Knitters and Preemies UK and we respond to various appeals and fundraisers that our members come across.

These are the regular items we make:

Preemie baby hats – basic hats as well as special ‘vent’ hats, which incorporate a flap which the intensive care nurses can lift for scanning without disturbing the baby.

Preemie baby cardigans, jumpers, body warmers, sleeping bags, mittens, booties, gowns, bonnets, vests, bibs, and blankets. In fact, anything that will help make a little premature baby start its life in comfort.

Sadly, there is also a need for items for the little souls who don’t survive. For these, we make burial buntings, angel pockets and wraps, and little cribs. We all find that knitting or crocheting our first burial bunting is very sad, but it helps to remind ourselves that these items bring great comfort to the bereaved parents, who can say ‘good bye’ to their precious son or daughter, knowing that they are embraced in something hand-made with love and care.

Many of our items are sent overseas, courtesy of http://www.lovinghands.org.uk/, a wonderful group with hundreds of members. They distribute items that are sent to themfrom all over the UK and beyond. An important thing to remember for items that go overseas is that, in many cultures, white is seen as a symbol of death, so we usually make such items in colours only. However, white is fine for charities in the UK, and Preemies UK is more than happy to take items in all colours, including white.

We also knit for animal rescue groups and charities so dog coats and pet blankets are more than welcome. These are ideal for using up yarns that are not soft enough for babies.

Loving Hands Charity Knitters also regularly announce new appeals – they take all sorts of items, not just those for babies. For instance, they need items for the elderly as well as for babies, toys for children who have been caught up in accidents and other tragic circumstances, hand-made sanitary protection for women in the third world who, almost unbelievably, have no access to such essentials, and even knitted boobs – these are very popular and always in demand for midwives, who use them to teach breast-feeding skills to new mothers. A quick look at the Loving Hands website will provide all the information needed to start knitting.

Preemies UK http://preemiesuk.googlepages.com/home.html welcome all preemie and burial items, as well as knitted boobs. They regularly put out a list of the current most-needed items, and also have a lovely selection of knitting and crochet patterns.

Sainsbury’s supermarket run an annual appeal, in conjunction with Innocent Smoothies, the drinks people, in which they ask for tiny knitted or crocheted hats. These are placed on every bottle of Innocent Smoothie that is sold in Sainsbury’s from the beginning of November, and Sainsbury’s donates .35p to Age Concern and Help the Aged for every ‘hatted’ bottle. This year, they have also asked for knitted ‘veg pot warmers’; for each one of these, .44p is donated to charity. See http://innocentdrinks.typepad.com/thebigknit/ for full details, including patterns and the address for sending completed items.

Links to many patterns can be found by visiting the websites mentioned.

The first post on the moneysavingexpert.com Knit a Square to Give Your Share http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1384709 forum thread is full of information about what we do. There, you will find links to hundreds of patterns, tutorials, and all the details about where to send completed items.

The next page is our update page. The names of all our contributors are listed alongside the items they have made so far.

Without all these wonderful people, the Knit a Square to Give Your Share group would not be the great success that it is. They donate both their time and materials to help those in need, and work tirelessly. The number of items they produce is breath-taking. We are well into our second year and must have made thousands and thousands of items, and we are still as strong as ever.

Items are updated weekly (hopefully, depending on time – you know how it is!). Our members post their weekly totals in their individual posts on the forum thread and I collect the numbers and add them to the list. I keep running out of space on the forum to post the update, so this blog will hopefully give me more space.

I will be posting our latest update soon!

Trying really hard to understand blog-land!

2009-09-13T06:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been doing some (a little) housework, but seem to have spent most of my time either out in the sun or on here, trying to get to grips with blogging. Husband is still taking apart the attic, the noise is ear-splitting, and the dust is settling nicely. Nice...not!

Outside, all is calm and peaceful. The sun is blazing away at a comfortable 26 or so degrees and there'shttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif a lovely breeze. This is France at its best - not too hot!

The sun is shining!

2009-09-13T02:09:00.000-07:00

The sun is shining and I'm sat here at my PC with the horrendous noise of my husband ripping floorboards up just above my head.