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Have a seat.

Hello Everyone

Another week has flown by, for me in a flurry of work and household chores. Another week lacking in time! Maybe I need to be better organised. Anyway onwards…

It’s August and slowly France is going ‘en vacances’. This blog appears to be on a bit of a go-slow at the moment too. I will catch up! I wouldn’t mind a bit of time off myself really, but staying put is the only option at the moment. In true staycation style we may take a few days off work and renovation/gardening jobs at some point in August and if the weather sorts itself out, head for the pool!

The last couple of mornings have been truly autumnal. Heavy dew on the grass, mist on the lake and a chill to the air. The leaves on the cherry tree have started to change colour. Is Autumn early? Cool nights are lovely but not entirely what you expect in August. The upside (as ever, there is one) is the garden does not need watering and we have more rain forecast so one less job for the list!

On Friday evening we went to our village’s annual repas communal. Our first social occasion with more than a couple of people in a very long time – since our wedding actually last September! Quite daunting bizarrely. It was great to see a few faces we have met, and meet a few more of the villagers. It is quite hard living outside the village. As the crow flies we are not far. On foot with the dog we are a 40 minute walk by road. The old path from the Château to the village was lost when the farmers created the lake in the valley for watering crops. We don’t often just bump into people and no longer have immediate neighbours either. It was a lovely evening, great to speak in French for a good part of it. We all took either a starter or a pudding and the local chasseurs (hunters) provided the main course – sanglier (wild boar). It was delicious, but as I now watch the wild boar and deer families in the fields, it is becoming less appealing. I know that they wreak havoc in the farmers’ fields and unchecked quickly gain in numbers. I understand the number control part of this, but often in winter during the hunting season when the hunters look much more like people on a day out, I am less keen. Farmers by all means look after your land, commercial hunting no. It can be quite dangerous out here in the French countryside during hunting season. Many a person and pet have been hurt by gun happy hunters. Tiny rant over. The evening was fun and I have to confess I didn’t say anything other than thank you to the hunting contingency!

Back to work on the house. Whilst reorganising the hall my lovely red ‘heart’ chair made me think about chairs. There is a story to this chair, perhaps for another time – it once trod the theatre boards so to speak. A famous little thing, acquired as a memento of time working in a theatre.

Anyway on the subject of seating, I rounded up all the chairs we have and sorted out what we need to do with each one! Well almost as we seem to have a lot of chairs! We have garden (wooden and metal) chairs to paint, dining room chairs to reupholster, a beautiful old canapé to renovate, sofas to re-cover, wicker chairs to repaint and a range of assorted chairs to spruce up. We are also turning two old wooden chairs we found in the attic into a hall bench. As my time seems to be lacking at the moment, I thought that getting a start on some of these would be a good idea, as they are smaller jobs that can slot into different parts of the day without too much preparation. At least then I will feel that I have made some progress!

When we bought the house we also bought some of the furniture, including six wicker chairs, maybe Lloyd Loom. These are going into bathrooms and bedrooms, but all need a good clean and a paint.

You may also recall I recently bought a pretty wrought iron chair for the garden – quite rusty but in good condition otherwise. Some cleaning and rust removal needed here and then a new coat of white paint and a spot in the courtyard for a coffee or an evening apéro!

The garden chairs have been painted blue and look lovely on the terrace with the blue shutters. Very calming and fresh looking. The wooden table still needs painting as does the garden bench (currently residing in the salon waiting for paint) – all in good time. The beautiful old slate table came with the house. It is quite stunning, with two huge, and very heavy, pieces of slate on top of wrought iron legs – a gorgeous piece of garden furniture with tales to tell I am sure. I have no idea how old it is but I think we might keep the green legs as a nod to the history of the table and house. I don’t know if the legs were painted green to go with the railings at each end of the terrace – we are going blue with those (not the same blue as the shutters) to match the railings at the front of the house. Perhaps the table legs should be blue too? Too much blue?

I am also giving the old bureau in the hall by the kitchen a bit of attention. This enormous piece of furniture is another item that came with the house and has apparently been here for a very long time. When we were unpacking we put a load of stuff on the shelves and then everything just stayed there – probably because we had nowhere else to put it! As rooms are beginning to take shape, we now have places for things. So a new look is on its way. The hall is much neater and tidier, but like so many rooms needs a lick of paint and a bit of ceiling repair! As we mainly use this hall at the moment to come into the house, it will be much more welcoming to step into an organised hall, rather than some sort of storage facility!

Before I go, I have to share a delightful story. On Sunday we took Bear out for a late afternoon walk. We were heading off for a good leg stretch but realised at the top of our drive that we had company – 4 extra walkers! Our little furry friends continued with us up the shared drive to the road. At this point we decided to go straight across as that road only leads to our neighbours so no traffic. All 4 kittens came too. The girls hung out with Bear a little, they also ran up and down the rows of corn. The boys soon joined in. All 4 continued on our walk and then came home with us too! Just adorable! Not to be encouraged on longer walks but so sweet and made me smile. Life’s little positives.

Have a lovely week and I hope you continue to enjoy our tales of the unexpected!

A bientôt

Ali xx

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