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Calm in chaos
Hello Everyone We are all finally out of quarantine post-Covid, Max is regaining some of his ability to taste but not his sense of smell, apart from petrol when he is strimming! I thought the spicy courgette chutney might be something he could taste so we opened a jar before it had matured. Strong flavours work for him at the moment, although he draws the line at Roquefort as he is not a blue cheese fan. Evenings are chillier and the mornings have an autumnal feel, there is mist rising over the lake at sunrise and each night brings quite a heavy dew. Often the day warms up beautifully, enough…
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Places to visit: Puycelsi
Puycelsi is one of the many bastide (fortified) villages near Cordes sur Ciel. We visited in the winter and had a delightful wander around the old cobbled streets, along the old fortified wall, popping in and out of old archways, admiring the views from the ramparts. The village is located on a hill above the River Vere on the border between the départements of the Tarn and Tarn et Garonne, next to the beautiful Forêt de Grésigne. It has long been known as the guardian of this forest. Puycelsi’s origins date back to the 10th century with the founding of a monastery by Benedictine monks. The village was sold to…
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Magical meteors and sweating tiles
Hello again Slight chaos on the posting of updates of our life here in SW France – I will get back on track soon. Life in isolation continues, no market visit this week, no dog walks anywhere but locally early in the morning or late in the evening. The PCR results came back confirming what we already knew – Max is contaminated! Our separate lives continue but as I said in the last post, we can’t complain (even if I do – often). We are so fortunate to be doing this in a spacious house with enough facilities (as in bathrooms) for us all and a big garden. As I…
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Only the best Marigolds
Hello Everyone I hope you have all had a good week and weekend? The sun is finally shining here and the forecast is for warm weather this week – actually up to 36°C, so maybe quite warm!! I apologise for such a late post and a short one this week. We have had quite an eventful week, some of it lovely, the latter part quite unexpected. We started the week on work and the house – nothing out of the ordinary, so all good. We made one of our occasional (since the pandemic) trips to the supermarket for a big shop (encountering traffic problems on the way!), otherwise a regular…
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Seasonal Food and Recipes: August
Suddenly it is August and the range of produce in the potager and at the markets shifts once again. Tomatoes are overflowing from every farmer’s stall, vibrant red tomatoes, huge yellow and black tomatoes, multi coloured cherry tomatoes, green and red striped ones too. The smell is heavenly – the very essence of summer. Big fat purple and white aubergines are back, lettuces are in abundance and green and yellow beans add to the choice available. Courgettes are also everywhere – at the market and in the potager. The colours are so fresh and summery. In the potager, the frost blighted raspberries have had a rebirth and are heavy with…
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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!…
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Reasons to be cheerful
Hello from a very hot SW France Temperatures this week have been in the 30s, reaching 38°C on Friday – very warm! It is at times like this that an old cold stone house comes into its own! All that moaning during winter about how chilly it was. Now we can walk in from outside and realise why we froze in the winter – so we could be suitably cool in summer. This is also helped by the ritual of opening windows and shutters first thing to let some early morning air in, then closing everything (shutters and windows/doors) from mid-morning to evening. This may sound odd, but it stops…
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40 and counting
Bonjour! I have made it to 40 weeks of blog posts, with a few delays here and there. I am really pleased. Not too long until I have been at this for a year! Are you enjoying the ups and downs of our life here in France? The renovation part is moving very slowly. We seem to do so much just to stand still. The house keeps on giving us more things to fix rather than finish! It can be quite frustrating at times as I can see how the house will look eventually and want it all done NOW! I am a total renovation novice with little patience. In…
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50 Different Doors
Doors, doors everywhere with even some to spare! Hello Everyone Another week has flown by, the strange weather continues with thunder, rain, cool days and warmer days. Nothing like last summer. Some great skies though with stunning clouds: Did you enjoy the vegan cherry clafoutis recipe (see post: Seasonal Food and Recipes: July)? Do try the chocolate version – it is delicious! The front hall continues, not finished yet but I do now have the paint I need for the hinges. I think I am a would-be architect, as I may have mentioned before. I am fascinated by buildings and love different styles of houses and décor. When we were…
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Seasonal food and recipes: July
July is here and the market stalls are filling up with new produce: courgettes in different shades of green and yellow, both round and long, new season potatoes, tomatoes in all shapes, sizes and a variety of colours, baby new carrots and more. I love the changing seasonal produce and the new tastes and smells. Summer fruits are now in abundance – delicious cherries are coming to an end to be replaced by vibrant apricots, heavenly scented peaches and nectarines – yellow and white, flat or round. The flat peaches we bought at the weekend lasted about a day in our house – so juicy and sweet. I also bought…
