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

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!