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Focus on food
Hello again I started this post on 5th November and as is often the case these days, other more pressing matters took precedence. Now here we are at the beginning of December and all plans to post this before the end of November are forgotten or overtaken! Christmas thoughts are beginning to inch their way into my consciousness. However before they do it is high time I finished this post which is all about food – a subject dear to my heart and stomach! One of the true pleasures of our life in France is the food, and wine of course! Food and the making and eating of meals remains…
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Don’t cross the motorway!
A long overdue bonjour from our corner of the Tarn This blog has really taken a bit of a back seat to life lately. Sometimes you just have to let go of some things to vaguely cope with everything else. So much has happened this year that I seem to have been thrown right off the blog writing track. A while back I said the posts on this blog are a bit like buses, you wait for ages and then a few turn up at the same time. Well, that wasn’t entirely truthful. The buses have had a complete shutdown! I am hoping that normal service will resume now. There…
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Blown off course!
Hello Everyone I can’t believe that I haven’t managed to post anything for such a long time. What a few months. Home duties, several deaths and all that is going on in the world have had quite an impact on me. Life can feel a little full on at times with all the things we have to do for everyone here. The downside of living in the countryside with no public transport or places that non-drivers can easily get to. A friend and one of my cousin’s dying at 58 was quite sobering and enormously sad. Another friend finding life just too hard to continue was heart-breaking. Life has thrown…
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Five years
Bonjour to you all Five years ago today we completed on our lovely French home. Where has that 5 years gone? The decision was made, the deed done and we owned a tiny corner of South West France. A new life, an adventure beckoned. A house to sort out and pack up in the UK, our life to be transported across the Channel and down to the Tarn. Here we are 5 years later, settled in rural France – something I never saw myself doing – the rural part that is! The house has been a roller coaster of events and experiences, just like life really. Good times and challenging…
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Winter Food
Hello everyone It has been a long time since I posted about food. Don’t think for a moment that I have given up on sharing foodie thoughts, recipes and produce. Food still remains at the forefront of every day, including of course enjoying coffee and chocolatines from time to time! The winter months have seen some unusual discoveries – not always of foods that I didn’t know but of new ways to cook some of the foods we love. Pink lemons and green tea cake were new experiences, roasted steaks of celeriac a new approach to a firm favourite. Citrus fruit has of course been a focus during the cold…
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Leap Year
Bonsoir to you all on this special day February 29th comes but once every 4 years. I was reading today about a man celebrating his tenth birthday, even though he was 40. It must be curious to have a real birthday once every 4 years. Do you choose 28th February, 1st March or some other date on which to celebrate? This leap year day we were treated to a dry and occasionally sunny day, after a lot of rain on and off, but mainly on, for ages. Our drive has a steady supply of water running down it to the drain, a lot of squelchy mud where we should have…
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Pancakes and Purchases
Bonjour to you all How are you and how is February going? I can’t believe we are half way through February now! It really does seem as though time has sped up. I am trying to slow down a little, enjoy the ride rather than racing through each day. Easier said than done most days, what with work, the house, the garden, general life stuff and everything else. Our February fortnight has been filled with work, household chores and that never ending renovation list, as well as pancakes, books and some brocante finds, amongst other things. Max has been getting the bannisters ready for the main staircase, as my Mother…
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Brocantes and bistros
Hello Everyone Late again I know. I am time-challenged at the moment with everything going on. How was the second half of January for you? We had some amazingly frosty mornings, some stunning skies as ever, my eldest son turned 30, my younger son is finishing his Masters, the first snowdrops and my sister came to visit to help with our Mother and her recovery from her hip operation, which is going pretty well. Mum has graduated from a walking frame to a very jazzy stick, chosen by my sister at our local pharmacy – who knew you could get such great sticks and partly on prescription. I thought it…
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Remembering Raoul
Hello Everyone This is two days late I know – but for a reason. A year ago today one of our lovely rescue cats, Raoul, disappeared without a trace. Sadly he was not the only handsome cat to just disappear. A number of neighbours’ cats went too – all of them bizarrely quite distinctive cats. So I thought I would delay my post to remember my lovely boy. To those without pets this will sound bizarre, but our animals are family. It seems to be harder to accept the loss of a cat if there is no cat to bury and mourn. We will never know what happened. While he…
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A snapshot of 2023
A few of my favourite 2023 sky moments – same day different hours. Happy New Year/Bonne Année Welcome 2024. We got up to watch the sunrise today only to find clouds and general grey all around, but no rain for now. All the week I have been in bed ill the sun has shone – so much to do in the garden but sometimes there is little you can do about that. 2023 has had its share of ups and downs as I am sure is the case for everyone. We have had flat tyres, a major leak, too little water, too much water, pool problems and the heartbreak of…
