Frosty, foggy February

Bonjour everyone

I hope you are all well and enjoying the slightly lighter evenings. I love the fact that we get a little longer before the urge to dash around the house closing all the shutters and settling by the fire. On the subject of shutters, look out around mid-February for a post about the ubiquitous shutter – a feature of many a house in France. We love ours, which is just as well as we have a few – more than 70 – quite a job when we decide to open them all (and then close them).

So what have we been up to over the last couple of weeks? Aside from a trip to Ikea to buy an extra wardrobe for my Mother, having failed to find a vintage version that would fit the requirements, we have treated the dog to a giant fluffy bed – supposedly a stress reliever, but I suspect that is just a great marketing ploy! The search for Raoul, our missing cat, has continued. It is extremely hard to move on or let go when there are no answers. The whole thing really is quite bizarre. I just hope he has not been taken somewhere and is scared. The other 3 cats, his siblings, have been quite unsettled since he disappeared – everyone fighting and being stressy and nervy.

We constructed the new wardrobe last weekend – 4 heavy boxes, opened with help, bits put together and now a satisfied Mother who has finally been able to finish her clothes unpacking. A few more boxes for her to go through yet (15 at least) but things are slowly but surely falling in to place. Max has been out in all temperatures dealing with fallen trees, chopping what turns out to be very dead, dry wood so we have a ready supply for the woodburners. Whilst it is sad the trees have died and a nuisance that they keep falling down (although not surprising if they are dead), it is fortuitous as our seasoned wood got wet and we (I) failed to find any reasonable replacement at this stage in the winter. Wood has been hard to come by here as people have stocked up rather than pay for gas/oil for their heating.

I have also been churning out further batches of marmalade, we have taken my Mother to Albi for a shopping spree and lunch out and my son and I had our Covid boosters at the best cabinet d’infirmier (nurse’s office) ever. The nurse, who lives on a smallholding in the countryside, has miniature ponies, wallabies, an ostrich and a little family of alpacas including a 6 month old white alpaca bay with the cutest blue eyes. There are also black sheep (gorgeous) and geese and of course some cats. Quite a place to get a booster and wander around for requisite 15 minutes of waiting time afterwards. My arm was pretty painful for a few days but the memory of the wonderful alpacas and other animals helped a little.

The weather continues to be rather cold but slightly less freezing than in January. We have had lots of frost and fog but some lovely sunny afternoons. Not quite time to get out into the garden yet as the ground is still quite frozen but the spring bulbs are poking their leaves out of the ground and we have our first snowdrops – a gratifying sight and a sign that Spring and warmer weather are on the way. A journey to Gaillac early on Saturday took us through thick freezing fog, the vines on either side of the road wreathed in the dense fog – a rather ethereal and magical view. However given the temperature, I feel for the vineyard owners who are out pruning at this time of the year.

We continue to make progress (slowly) in the house, rugs for bedrooms and even a radiator in our bedroom now – what a difference the two things make to our fridge like conditions. We are still in flannel sheets and using hot water bottles but the edge has definitely been taken off the room. The joy and luxury of living in an old creaky French house. So glamourous. I look at all my clothes longing to wear slightly less layers, a dress, a skirt or even the fab red velvet trousers I bought recently. Instead I was up to 3 thermal layers, a vest, thermal tights and thermal socks, jeans, two polo necks, an extra sweater and a furry gilet during the last week! I am beginning to look a little bit like the Michelin man. The upside is trying to keep warm uses up a lot of energy so I have to eat more – any excuse! The occasional vin chaud (mulled wine) or chocolat chaud (sometimes with a little extra oomph) helps too. We have so many plans and something always comes along to derail our plans – annoying and demoralising at times. A cat goes missing, a tree comes down, something needs an urgent repair and the list goes on. We can see how we want things in the house but time is not our friend currently. These treats help smooth the sometimes troubled path.

We do, at least, now have sufficient lighting fixtures for the whole house (we think). We finally found a beautiful glass shade for the salon, having had to contemplate adjusting our plans to hang the beautiful Murano chandelier in there. There is a possibility it won’t work in that room, so whilst we will try it, we do now have an alternative. As Max always says ‘it is good to have options’! One of the light fittings will go in our bedroom, the other in the salon.

We also have a rug for the salon, quite quirky for the space and the old tiled floor – maybe too much, we will see. The beautiful tiles are rather damaged in places and we have neither the will nor the money to replace the floor. The main reason is wanting to keep these gorgeous tiles, faded and worn as they are – a little impractical hence the rug. All will be revealed in time. The grand moving of furniture between séjour, salon and kitchen will get underway next weekend, as we continue to repair and decorate the kitchen. I literally can’t wait for a whole room, any room, downstairs to be properly done. That day will definitely be one of great celebration.

Having shelved our B&B plans for the moment we are also busy dreaming up ways to earn some money through the house. While pondering this, we have enjoyed a few coffees out and bought home some delicious local patisserie. The lovely thing about French patisserie is that it never seems to feel very heavy or over sweet – a real pleasure – a moment of gourmandise as they say here!

What will February bring? So far we have celebrated Chandeleur (Candlemas) on 2^nd February, France’s version of Pancake Day. I made regular crêpes and a vegan chickpea flour version with a variety of fillings, everyone helping themselves to the filling or fillings they wanted, ending with an ice-cream and mincemeat filled version. This tradition in France was originally in honour of the seasons. The crêpes were thought to be symbolic, due to their shape and colour, of the return to light after the winter. It was also believed to bring good luck to the wheat crop if crêpes were eaten at Candlemas.  We will, of course, also eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday.

We have also enjoyed a fabulous full moon, visible during the day and night, lots of stars, as well as the usual stunning skies.

I feel a little Spring energy creeping in now that it is slightly less cold. Paintbrushes will be out any day, along with gardening tools so the work can continue inside and out. I look forward to sharing our progress very soon. Now I must return to the latest batch of marmalade, currently bubbling on the stove.

See you very soon and thanks as ever for reading our story.

A bientôt

Ali xx