A November swim and a mystery solved
Bonjour Everyone
We have had rain, (and a storm with the loudest thunder I have ever heard) with more forecast! Until a week ago the temperature was still around 22°C. I even have flowers on my once dried out strawberry plants, partly due to the sun but also the arrival of water. We have been contemplating one last swim as the pool looks so inviting, but as the nights are chilly now and the water is down to 15-16°C, I had decided I was not quite brave enough! However on Thursday we took the plunge – literally. We closed the pool last week so in a moment of bravado we thought why not. Let me tell you why not if you don’t have a wetsuit. It was so cold… Legs hurt and wouldn’t operate properly for swimming, so a quick two lengths and out. I am glad we did it – very refreshing (!) and fun. Once though is enough. Cold water swimming is so good for you, but maybe with the right kit. A good excuse for a chocolat chaud.
It is hard to believe it is mid-November already. I promised some blog plans and yet again my schedule was derailed. This is becoming an annoying occurrence. However onwards as they say. There is so much to recount and quite a lot going on in the house. Thoughts have been turning to my Mother’s arrival and the preparations we must finish, Christmas will then be just around the corner. With that in mind I will be posting a Christmas recipe this week. We are endeavouring to make a Christmas Pudding liqueur. We bought one at a Christmas market in Manchester years ago, loved it and will now try and see if we can create something equally delicious. There are lots of recipes around but perhaps join us as we create our own version.
Max recently returned from his trip to the UK and was immediately busy log splitting in readiness for the winter evenings. The chimneys have been swept and we have enjoyed our first fires to take the chill off the séjour and kitchen. The cats and dog love it, taking over the space to relax in the warmth. You would think we did it all for them and sometimes when I look at us squashed up on a sofa or pinned down by cats I wonder. The log basket is also a new favourite location.
In the garden bulbs need planting and some plants transplanting to new spots now the ground is less dry. The passionflower has generated lots of offspring so these are being relocated to climb up recently cut down dead trees. As I have mentioned before we are keeping part of the trunk to act as a support for climbing plants and to help create some height where once there was a tree. A number of years ago the box trees were struck down by box moth, the wood however is beautiful and makes very good plant supports. This fast growing climber has survived the hot summer and flourished over the last 2 years, masses of beautiful flowers but no fruit. We continue to have a third or fourth bloom of roses. Lovely splashes of colour in an Autumn garden but late and unexpected. No doubt courtesy of the long lasting warm weather this year, but indicative of bigger issues with the climate.
I must share with you a mystery we have solved. Before Max went off to the UK we finally set aside a Sunday afternoon to open up the hidden door in the salon. We thought it was a double door, one backing on to the other. We also imagined what might be hidden between the doors – untold treasures or just lots of dust, damp, spiders. So we set to and after much chipping of paint around the edges, all of a sudden Max’s chisel appeared from the Billiard room side. Mystery number one solved – it is a single door! Dreams of a fortune stashed between doors dashed in a single moment! Having recovered from slight disappointment we continued on our quest to open the door. On we chiselled and chipped until we realised why the door had not been opened in a hundred years or more. Whoever laid the concrete floor in the billiard room, long before the 1930s, had, in their wisdom or for some very good reason, blocked the door with the floor. The concrete is a good few centimetres higher than the base of the door on the Billiard room side! Beyond digging out the concrete floor, cutting the door down and creating some kind of step, this door was not going to open any time soon. A long dreamed of project finally started and now abandoned. Well at least we know now and so the door will remain closed, a memory of times gone by. I think we both felt a little sad for a while. However it is not a door we need and it is not even in a particularly great place. Perhaps once it served a very good purpose but now it will be a decorative feature and a hint of a different layout once upon a time.
More renovation stories to come, as well as wines tried and places visited. I will return to some sort of routine with a seasonal foody post on the first Monday of each month, a new place to visit on the third Wednesday of each month and updates on our life here, the rescue animals and progress in the house every fortnight. In between there will be renovation news, garden news and more on the history of the house and some wonderful French customs, as well as our beautiful view.
I would love to hear from you, particularly if there is something that you find interesting and would like to hear more of. Thank you for following our adventure.
A bientôt
Ali xx
