A week of firsts

Bonjour everyone

How are you?  

The garden is beginning to look quite autumnal, leaves are falling and the mornings are cooler. The sedum is in full flower now, adding beautiful pink swathes to the garden. It brings such a great splash of colour in the autumn and is a great source of food for bees, butterflies and countless insects as other flowers fade.

The weather here has been quite lovely so we have had the chance to have a swim or two. The plan is to keep the pool open through October – we’ll see how that works if it gets too cold. Cold water swimming is supposed to be so good for you and it would be great to keep swimming for a bit longer. However in the middle of that I am probably bringing my son back to university in the UK so this plan may not happen – for me anyway. Maybe Max will keep swimming!

This last week has seen a number of firsts for us – our first wedding anniversary being one of them. The year has flown by and what a year given the pandemic and how much everything has changed.  So much has happened here in France too. We marked this event with paper gifts (as custom dictates), mine being heart-shaped paperchains with messages. Max put together a paper treasure hunt for me, placing a letter in each of 28 of our rooms, spelling out a lovely wish, now adorning the kitchen fireplace. Such fun. It took me a while, some hiding places being more challenging than others!  

We celebrated with the last bottle of the fizz from our wedding day, kept for our first anniversary. I started a new tradition for me, wearing my wedding shoes for each anniversary. I love my wedding shoes, which weren’t actually bought for the wedding but were a gift from Max a few years ago and are just so sparkly! Some friends joined us for drinks and my eldest son, Johnnie, cooked us a fabulous meal. What a luxury. He also gave the meal an interesting twist as a surprise, adding blackberries to oven roasted potato slices with leek.  It sounds wrong but I have to say it was really delicious and a perfect accompaniment to the nut roast he cooked. A masterstroke and I love invention in cooking so was also a proud mum. My passion for cooking and ad-libbing in the kitchen has been passed on to both boys – success! This was also a major challenge for my son who has been ill for many years now. Cooking a meal on his own is a massive achievement – the perfect anniversary present.

The rescue kittens, now cats, also celebrated their first birthday this week, but not without some heart-stopping moments. Louka (one of the Thai Siamese boys) had stayed out the night before and failed to return for breakfast so missed his birthday special. The other 3 were of course on adventures all day post food but no sign of Louka. We were out to tea in the afternoon and on returning found all 3 sitting waiting by the door – odd, and another first. Still no sign of Louka. It was as if they knew something was wrong. We searched a bit, calling in an increasingly frantic manner. We went out in the car just in case he had been in an accident. Nothing. By late evening I was beginning to fear the worst. 2 days away was a first – they normally enjoy their breakfast and a snooze after an exciting night on the tiles (or in the fields!). At 23:25 (I remember this as I was quite worried), just as I had sorted out a photo for a missing cat poster and was trying to come to terms with a reduction in our cat numbers, I spotted the missing man outside the door, looking very stressed and desperate to come in. I can only assume he had been shut in somewhere as he didn’t smell of fields as is usually the case and he was very very hungry. Anyway all’s well that ends well! Scary moment but all 4 feral rescue kittens have made it to one year old, all grown into gorgeous purry cats, each with its own personality and very affectionate in their own individual ways. We wouldn’t be without them and hopefully they will be around for many years to come.

At the weekend we went to a different Saturday market for a change (we were off duty with the neighbour as her son was visiting) – in Varen (see post: Places to visit: Varen). It is a very small market but perfect, and one we have wanted to visit for a while. We even treated ourselves to a coffee out. On Sunday we also had a first for a long time – we went to a brocante. I have to confess living in the countryside has made me quite wary of crowded places now given the pandemic. However we thought we would go and have a look. St Antonin was busy so we avoided the market. The brocante, however, was OK. Busy but not packed and everyone was wearing a mask. Social distancing not so great but we managed.

There were lots of interesting bits and pieces, beautiful linens, stunning mirrors, interesting gardenalia, furniture, etc. We had gone just to browse and try to avoid any impulse unnecessary purchases as we have so much to do up/sort out already. However… at 2 stalls we found a pair of garden urns, one pair quite modern but attractive, the other older and quite grand looking. After some deliberation as the prices for both weren’t bad, we decided to buy the older pair. After a bit of bartering we settled on an amazing price and the deal was done. I am thrilled as I have been vaguely keeping an eye out for a pair of large pots for the garden, slightly more of a statement pair than the new ones we bought recently. They will either go at the entrance when the wall is rebuilt, or perhaps somewhere in the garden. For now, after a back breaking journey down the drive, they are at either side of the steps to the rose garden, opposite the front door. Actually they look great there too, or maybe on the courtyard wall?? Mmm – perhaps we need another pair!  

As this blog approaches its first anniversary too, I will be announcing some changes. Having got a little haphazard in my posting over the summer, I am reviewing the days for posting and what to write about. From next week, the weekly blog post will be out on Monday evening. I am still planning to recount tales of adventure here in France and of course garden and renovation stories, recipes and interesting places, but will change things around a little. What else would you like to know or hear about? Let me know so I can factor that in to my plans too.

Thank you as ever for reading and see you next week, with details of a visit to a local vineyard and our first dinner out at a restaurant in a very long time!

Have a great week

A bientôt

Ali xx