A puzzle of cats

Hello Everyone

Well I am back in la belle France, greeted by gorgeous sunny days, quite warm (18-20C) but goodness the nights are cold, between 2°C and 5°C at the moment. Why so cold so early on?

The journey back was long, the weather kind and I did have a welcome break and delicious supper at a friend’s house near Tours, completing the drive across two days. Max had ordered a couple of CDs which were delivered to my Mother’s so there was lots of singing en route! It is lovely to be home, back in the countryside (I never thought I would be such a fan of the peace and quiet but appreciate it even more after my extremely noisy stay in a hotel in Manchester!). The cats were a little uncertain at my return but soon remembered me. Bear was so excited – he even wagged his tail, not something he does that often! The husband and son were also pleased to see me I think, Max especially once he got his dark chocolate Hobnobs and Johnnie when he saw the 2 mega 500g pots of Marmite! I am joking of course, not about the Marmite, I am sure they were glad to see me too – or maybe it was the return of the car!

Now it’ back to normal after a reasonably restful weekend, and waking up again to my wonderful ever changing view. We had a gorgeous walk with the dog along the River Aveyron on Saturday afternoon, and even found some sweet chestnuts along the way, to add to the walnuts I found the day before.

I did some gardening on Sunday as there is so much to do, but also enjoyed coffee on the terrace, soaking up the warmth and sunshine. I am preparing the cutting garden area so that I can move and divide some plants in the rose garden to create new paths around flower beds. The sedum are now dark pink as the flowers fade and the last of the cosmos are somehow coping with the very chilly nights; a few, however, have made their way into the kitchen to bring some cheer to our table.

Max has been busy catching up on jobs that I should have done and the garden table is now fully painted and looking very smart on the terrace in pale blue and white.

I mentioned in my last post that October is quite a milestone month for us. It is now 2 years since we moved everything over to France, 2 years since we adopted Bear and 1 year since our puzzle of cats (named due to the photo of them all snuggled together) joined the household. I am not sure how this has all happened in October. We should obviously be wary of rescue animal stories in October! Actually funnily enough my lovely friend Sandra, who introduced us to Bear, was talking to me about a gorgeous retriever last week – also October! A ménagerie of 5 is probably enough for now….

Talking of our move to France, what a memory and a marathon that was. I am sure the removal company were very pleased when it was over. Everything had to go out through low doorways and up steps from our little riverside cottage to reach the removal lorry. We had opted for a packing service and am so glad we did. The beautiful Murano glass chandelier, countless vintage tea services and so many glasses and bits and bobs all carefully packed. Books galore all of which had to go into smaller boxes so they were moveable. I thought it would never end; rounds of tea and biscuits to keep the team happy (ish)…. The iron framed piano was a manoeuvre worthy of note and ended up being wheeled up the pavement in order to find a low kerb and wheeled back down the road to get it onto the lorry. Many hands helped in the UK, but once in France the two guys needed our help to get the piano down the drive. The grandmother clock lovingly wrapped, leaving a precious part behind (by mistake, but spotted by us and later reunited with the clock). The drive down to our new home and life, seeing the double length removal lorry boarding a neighbouring ferry, and then passing all our worldly goods on the motorway in France. Whilst we have far too much stuff, seeing the lorry like that carrying your life with it was quite a moment. Minnie the cat (now sadly deceased) didn’t appreciate any of it, as she was locked in bathroom at the beginning of the moving process, didn’t much enjoy the journey (although Feliway helped a lot) and then had to be shut into our bedroom at the end of the moving process to avoid any mishaps with boxes and the removal team. What memories and what a motivator to shed lots of unnecessary stuff, so that if and when we move again there is less. I say that, but of course we have now acquired even more stuff to accommodate a rather large house! Ah well, c’est la vie!

It is also almost a year since I started this blog. I was rereading my first post this morning, and spotting the mistakes! Time has sped by, both in terms of moving here and since the start of Coffee and Chocolatines. Like many who move to another country and take on a renovation project, there have been tears as well as laughter, fun and chaos, despair and joy. Life wouldn’t be life if that wasn’t the case. I almost forgot, plus a pandemic to add to the equation. Whilst we haven’t taken on a renovation on the scale of some we read about on the renovation groups we follow, there have been moments of wondering what we are doing! As we head into winter number 3 sans chauffage (without heating) other than 2 woodburners, 4 cats and countless hot water bottles, not to mention a much cherished and worth every penny alpaca duvet, those moments appear again. At some point the planets will align and things will fall into place. Our visible progress has been slow, but at the same time we have done so much, mostly unseen as we repair and fix before decorating, or firefight the many disasters and unforeseen dramas! For those of you who have been following our journey I hope we have entertained you?

As a final word this week, last year I grew my first melons, this year my first sweet potato – literally one. Admittedly it is tiny as I actually forgot I had planted them, so the poor plants have had zero care. There is still another plant to dig up but I am going to leave that until later this month. As ever it’s the little things, particularly pertinent here!