• Blog posts

    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…

  • Blog posts

    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…

  • Blog posts

    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…

  • Blog posts

    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…

  • Blog posts

    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…

  • Blog posts

    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…

  • Blog posts

    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…

  • Blog posts

    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…

  • Blog posts

    Derailed by December!

    Bonjour Everyone I do hope you have all had a lovely Christmas? Ours was not quite as we had planned. I often seem to start blog posts these days with an apology for my absence. I had planned everything and was all set to post every fortnight and had prepared lots of extra bits on wine and our renovation to share. However December was having none of it. Why let life go ahead as planned when a few bumps along the way make it all so much more interesting? Where to start on what has been an eventful final month of 2023. My father died on December 1st, alone in…

  • Blog posts

    November bits and pieces

    Bonjour to you all Here we are mid-November already – how did that happen? A moment ago it was October. The year seems intent on hurtling to its close and we are running to catch up. So many plans for this year, many accomplished, many not. The list of jobs the house would love us to tackle grows almost daily. Just as you think you are coming up for breath, off you go again. I have even started thinking of Christmas and the things that need to be prepared in advance – Christmas cake and pudding being two such examples, neither yet done; my citrus wreath needs a scent boost…