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Pétanque and pastries
Hello Everyone How was your week? We have had a really lovely week. As I mentioned last week, we were off to the village meal last Saturday. An annual event when the village comes together for drinks and a meal and this time some theatre, all outdoors, although the tables are under the cover of a very spacious open-sided barn space. Everyone brings along a starter or a pudding and the Mairie provides drinks and the local chasse (hunt) provides the main course. This year quite a lot of people came along, we stopped on the way to have a quick aperitif with some friends who were also going. The…
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Wildlife and Waste Water
Bonjour to you all I hope you are all well? Living in the countryside has many advantages, the peace (most of the time), the space and being surrounded by nature. I have posted many a photo of the skies and views. We are also lucky to see a lot of wildlife and have had a few wonderful wild visitors over the last week, including a deer and a sweet young hare, I think. I took the hare by surprise when out watering the garden early one morning, ahead of a very hot day. It took refuge, rather scared, behind one of the plant pots on the terrace which gave me…
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The trusty courgette
Summer is here, the skies are blue and the temperature is currently soaring to the mid 30s. We have had plenty of rain so the gardens and fields remain green and my courgettes are unstoppable – for now. The downside of the perfect garden weather is that it is also perfect mosquito weather. So this year we have all embraced mosquito repellent! A nuisance but from a positive point of view, the fruit trees are currently laden, so much so that our wild plums and quince are bent to the ground with the weight of all their produce. I really should lighten their load, but am rather looking forward to…
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Le 14 juillet
Bonjour to you all from a very sunny and hot South West of France. Today is a French national holiday, known in France as la Fête nationale or le 14 juillet. It is often referred to as Bastille Day by English speaking countries but not really here in France. What does this mean? I am sure you all know but in brief, it commemorates the storming of the Bastille in Paris on July 14th 1789, which preceded the French Revolution. Many events led to this uprising, including food shortages and raised taxes following wars, all while watching King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette continue their extravagant lifestyles. The Bastille…
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Owls and Outings
Bonjour everyone I hope you have had a good week or rather fortnight as I missed posting last week? We have had the usual array of the unexpected, some good, some not so good. We have also had a houseful of family staying which has been lovely, and also the reason for the lack of post. I hope you enjoyed the renovation update though? There is much more to come in that area very soon. In the last update, I mentioned that the plumber was coming to connect our gas supply to the cooker. Well he came, it is done and we are legal now! It is wonderful having the…
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Renovating Returns
Hello I have long promised an update on some of the many projects we have lined up. Each room is, of course, a project on its own but over the time we have been here, and even before, we have acquired numerous articles to renovate, update, upcycle or repair. There are chairs, tables, an old French sofa found in a barn, lamps, mirrors and even a baguette box! These things, one person’s rubbish, another’s treasure, have been bought at brocantes, found at vide-greniers (the French equivalent of a car boot or yard sale) or given to us. Some items were found here in the attics or came with the house.…
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Sunshine and storms
Hello again I hope you are enjoying the blog? It is great to be writing it a little more regularly again. I would love to hear your views and find out what you would like to hear more about. Our week has been filled with thunderstorms, sunshine, renovation work (more on that shortly) and of course regular work. We have to pay the bills after all! There are times when I would love to stop work for a while and focus on making better progress with the house, write more for the blog and get on with my upholstery course (there are a lot of upholstery projects dotted around the…
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Rhubarb and Roses
Bonjour to you all I hope you have had a good week. A brief update on daily life today as there are 2 posts this weekend. Please have a look at The Shutter post, part of the new All Things French section. But before I continue, firstly please excuse the Coffee and Chocolatines website for the moment – as they say in retail: ‘Please pardon our appearance while the windows are being dressed’. I am updating the website, learning all sorts of things as I go along having switched to what I hope will be a cleaner and more appealing style – eventually. At the moment it is a bit…
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The Shutter
For anyone who has visited, travelled around or lived in France (and many other European countries), you will know that most houses have shutters. In France they are called ‘les volets’. For me they are a beautiful addition to any house and come in all shapes and sizes, colours and ages, some wooden, some metal, solid and louvered, some pristine, others weathered with many a tale to tell. You may have passed through towns and villages wondering if anyone lived there, as often, depending on the time of day and the season, houses can be shuttered up completely, with no visible signs of life. In many cases this utterly belies…
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Coffee and Chocolatines is back!
Bonjour/Hello It has been ages; I have missed writing of our tales (or is that sometimes trials?) from the Tarn. So much has happened, perhaps too much, so this blog took a very back seat for a while, as I tried to navigate my way through a mountain of things. As far as the blog is concerned, after months of disarray – perhaps exhaustion really – it is back. There is so much news to share with you all. Bits of renovation have been done, rooms have changed and some of the enormous pile of projects have been attended too. We finally have a new working cooker. We have even…
