hay loft in Brevands. xx

Blog 23 / /August 2016

In 2012 I bought this lovely piano off ‘le bon coin’ for 140 Euro and spent three years playing it 30 minutes a day. I made up for all the lost years by discovering the pieces I played as a younger lady and relearned a few I had forgotten about completely.   I realised however that I could not read music as easily as I could thirty years ago and my hearing and eyesight were letting me down.  I had not played my piano seriously for well over a year so I put it back on ‘le bon coin’ and sold it for 200 Euro.  Mike found me a classic, folk guitar with stand, footstall, a packet of new strings and a tuner all for 140 Euro and I am off on a journey to rediscover my folk singing days. We have met up with Jay and Helen who are also folky people and have made a commitment to meet once a week for jamming sessions to learn and develop our singing and playing skills…I will keep you up to date…..

Mike’s 1946 BSA has once again found a more desirable place in the corner of the room where the piano was, and I for one am delighted. No more guilt about not playing, no more challenging my hearing and no more squinting at the music that has recently become like a foreign language to me.

Invites out for a BBQ come to us with the great joy of meeting our friends and also getting to know new friends. Here we are all around Jay and Helens garden table where we ate, shared wine and talked until the sun disappeared behind the trees. A fire basket was lit and the atmosphere of a bunch of expats having a wonderful night out together was palpable and very relaxing.  Thank you Jay and Helen xx

As a gardener there are certain bits of equipment that turn up in your life and you wonder how you managed before without them.  Please meet my bramble gloves. Mike saw these for 3 euro in the depot vends and asked if they would be any good for me. When I put them on a light bulb lit up in my head and I said yes, these will make great bramble pulling gloves. They are leather welder’s gloves and when I put them on I am a force to be reckoned with and manage to pull great swathes of Bramble from my gardens. That makes me very happy, it also makes mike very happy because he no longer has to deal with this rotten chore, and I can toddle off into the gardens with bramble gloves, wheel barrow and HOSS and the world is put to rights before your very eyes.

Our faithful cat is taking life easy these days, and although she does a complete circumnavigation of the garden every day, and makes sure the mouse population is depleted she also spends lots of time just being a good cat and sleeping. I have been contemplating getting a kitten so Cat can pass on her honed and proven  skills and when the time is right we will introduce an  apprentice into the mix, for now though Cat is doing just fine and loving her life here in Brevands

Another great day at the carp lake this week had Mike loosing 6 off the line and netting a 12 pounder and a 21 pounder. Mike and I have got a calm and organised system developed to get these magnificent fish out of the lake and carefully de-hooked, weighed and photo’d in the shortest time with the greatest care.  We are so into this sport now that we have booked a camp site with a lake and Mike and I will fish for a week or so to hone skills and enjoy this calming and interesting new hobby we have recently rediscovered

Of course, fishing is made a whole lot more fun with friends. At the end of the afternoon we sit around a table with a lakeside BBQ on the go, shared food and wine and life feels great. The lake we go to in Perier call their carp lake ‘peche privilege’ and no matter how the translation works, it is most definitely an English style privilege to have this wonderful place so close to home.

Every August, Carentan opens up its hippodrome for trotting. Mike and I have lived here for 9 years and have wondered why this wonderful place lays silent and unused but for 5 separate afternoons in August to have its trotting spectacular. This year we decided to make an occasion of it and booked a table for 10, found friends in the same mood as us and we all met up at midday to start our Carentan trotting experience.

The meal was a 22 Euro one menu for all and we were treated to a starter, a main course of roast lamb with tons of chips. Cheese and a desert interrupted by a visit to the tote to place our bets and then, a run to the rails to watch the race and to cheer on our horse and riders.  There were 7 races throughout the afternoon so we were well entertained and by four o’clock the racing was over. Mike and I did a quick walk around the paddock to see these enthusiast horse owners put their beautiful beasts back in the Lorries and trailers to prepare for another race meet somewhere in the area

A great day was had by all and the atmosphere and fun

loving noise of families out in crowds was a delight to part of.

But, although Mike was a little shocked at the colour of the roast lamb ….. the French eat it very red raw,  he was happy  to be sat between these two roses, Joy and Heather and discussed form from the race card and actually, we all won enough to cover the cost of our  bets with a bit to boot.

T

The weather this summer has been very hot, very wet and very windy and we have not managed to use our splash pool very much.   When it has been boiling we have been happy to cool off but I have missed the fun and satisfaction of a good swim and a bottle of cider as an aperitif after wrapped in a towel in the sun.   Now that the Barn roof is finished and the terraces are guaranteed nail free we will put the bigger pool up next May so we can swim rather than slash and lounge about

We spoke about the 4 chandeliers we bought at the vide grenier last blog and Mike has been working at getting them up in the barn. Problem being as normal that my most favourite chandelier did not work and Mike had to check all the 8 bulb fittings with his trusted multimeter and finally got it to work. There were two that were totally rubbish and I will make them into garden ornaments so we ended up at the depot vends in Carentan and found one with a 2 day guarantee, time enough to get home and try it out

And here’s Mike with 3 chandeliers strung up with rope and wires to see where best to place them. He has sat quietly in the barn looking up and I can hear the cogs whizzing around to decide on the  best way to achieve  a bright atmosphere in the hay loft .

And while Mike thinks, I play, and have found my mojo with my new guitar and a pile of music books that our daughter Deb left us before she went to Australia.  All the good old oldies are coming back to me and I am enjoying revisiting songs I sang with my sister Gig when we were in our teens.  In conversation Mike mentioned that he preferred to hear me play the guitar than play the piano so we have a positive win win all around in the hay loft in Brevands. xx

HOSS rules ..OK

Blog 22 / August 2016

This is a happy clappy vide grenier buy. I am a real fan of ceramic pots that look like the real thing and when I saw this lovely basket I stopped in my tracks, and when I asked how much, and the little old lady said three Euro, I was catapulted into heaven. I intend to fill it with dried lavender for the winter but for now it is showing off my dahlia and sweet peas…wonderful

Mike and I are in the process of jigging the kitchen about and we have now come to a point of no return. We purchased a well looked after second hand range cooker, put it into position, moved the existing units and things are already feeling bigger and more French kitchen robust. The only thing you are unable to appreciate in this picture is the sound of my kindle playing baroque music and the smell of fresh veg straight off the allotment.  In the rearrangement the white fridge lost its home under the stairs, so we  put it next to the fire spreading the kitchen area into the dining area. I have been feeling a little uncomfortable about this move until we went into Cora hypermarket on our way to Falaise on a 2 day break. We were making our way to the bread department and passed through the fridges then I saw the answer to my discomfort and made a spontaneous purchase. We paid for it and went back to Cora after our away days and brought it home in the camper garage.

For those out there who know me well, you will be smiling and understanding why I had to own this wonderful red retro beauty.

I love seeing vans and Lorries on the drive because I love our big drive, it makes me feel I have achieved. We had a crack start to meander across the windscreen of the Espace so I called our insurers to see if we were covered and they gave me the number to call. In minutes I was talking to a well-trained customer services lady who slowed her pace of French to help me get it right. She then booked us in and made all the  arrangements to go to the depot in St Lo because she was unable to find a mobile crew to come to us as everyone was on holiday, it is August after all said and done. The day before our appointment at the depot we got a phone call to inform us that the replacement windscreen would take over 2 hours to complete.  Mike was a little miffed and wondered what we were supposed to do stuck on an industrial area for over 2 hours. I waffled and moaned a bit about not being able to stay that long and they suggested they come to us the very next morning……I just love it when a plan comes together despite your best efforts and with refreshing customer services to boot.

We had a family of holiday makers in the Mobile homes who took me by surprise last week. Two cars rolled up containing nine people, mums and dads, teenage kids and 2 toddlers. We had arranged that they could put a little tent up and they paid their total bill of 500 euro for the week. They have the use of the garden, a built in BBQ, a lovely covered area to eat in, which they used every evening, and there is off street private parking. Water, gas and electric are included in a well-equipped little home in the country.  The children screamed and shouted with joy and all seemed good up in the garden. I took a look at the bins mid-week and had to bring down a wheel barrow full of rubbish after only 3 days of occupancy. At the end of the week  I went up to say goodbye but there was a distinct feeling of unfriendliness and when I asked if all went well the spokeswoman said that they had to replace plates because they dropped them walking over to the BBQ area, they also mentioned that the mole hill in front of the mobile home was unsightly and then they said the neighbours dogs  were too noisy. Well I was struck down as to what they expected for a family of 9 at 500 euro for the week.  I said my good byes wished them a safe return and brought down yet another wheel barrow full of rubbish to recycle and manage……it is quite remarkable how ungrateful some people can be …..

Our chickens are still living a free range and happy existence here at Brevands, I still get an egg a day … or so… We have decided that we will not replace our chickens and try a year or two without them but suspect we will find a way to keep them again,  as they are such eye candy, and fun to have a round.

We had no bookings for the week of the 15 August so I drew a line and booked us out for a holiday. In the run up to the week however, I could have booked the mobiles four times over but they are all last minute punters and I do not have the chance to run my booking process with deposit cheques and holiday contracts.  Our friends Gill and Barry Wells got in contact to say they were going to be in Falaise and was there a way to get together for lunch.  Mike and I love Falaise and I booked us for 2 nights in the camp site under the castle.  On the way there we popped into Bourgubus to have a moment of reflection in the place where Mike’s uncle Bill was killed on 23rd July 1944.  There is nothing to be seen there and we know life goes, but it was good just to look around and contemplate the event all those years ago. We have been interested in the DDay story for over 30 years and we can now identify post war architecture where a town has been destroyed and rebuilt.  There is an air of new beginnings in the style of build that even after 72 years still exists if you stop to look at it, and appreciate what had to be achieved to get back to normality, and only those who went through it really understand the sacrifice.

We were very lucky to get pitch number 7 with this fantastic view of the castle of Falaise looking down on us. The weather was extraordinary and we just laid ourselves out to relax.

Falaise is a William the Conquerer castle and I love its attitude on top of a rocky outcrop looking mean. We walked in and out of town and had a very enjoyable time appreciating the architecture and read up about the difficulties Falaise had in their rebuild after 1944, let alone a 1066 castle to worry  about as well. !

We had arranged to meet Gill and Barry in front of the church by the castle, but there is always an element of doubt that we had all understood where that might be. Everything went to plan though and we ended up having a typical French lunch on a shady terrace i­­­­n the town square.  We had not seen Gill and Barry for the past eight years so there was tons to catch up on and we spent a lovely few hours at table with the terrace filling and emptying while we chatted amongst ourselves

This may look a bit posh for camping but since we spent 2 months in 2004 travelling through Italy and France  in  a tiny V dub camper with barely bare essentials, we now Glamp to obsession.  We fry up outside the camper and enjoy chips and crockets while others eat tinned potatoes or dolmeo and pasta. We also have a microwave on board but alas no dish washer. We are considering a change of tactic with our camping but we will probably wait for HOSS to leave us as he is so very comfortable in our big camper and the older he gets the more we want to make him feel at ease. HOSS rules ..OK

it makes me proud

Blog 21 / August 2016

Let’s start things off with a picture of my sunflowers.  I think sunflowers are the most amazing plant, from a little seed this magnificent plant just grows, ducking and diving in the breeze, splattering the garden with the happiest yellow and even when the weather takes a turn for the worst. After our few days of scorchio weather we have had the rain we needed, and frankly the august outlook we are kind of happy to live with, grey and warm

The bookings for our Mobile homes have been coming in on a last minute basis. For the past two years we have seen a change in the way our clientele arrange their holidays, and it is most definitely last minute and a shorter week.  We only rent to the French and we have families booked in all the way to the end of August but we still have spaces and are confident that we will fill them in the booking for the next day brigade. 

Our first family gave us 3 days’ notice that they were coming. The mobile homes were ready but we did not have the Trolley Bay finished. Mike applied himself, as always, fitted the roof and cut the bar to make the area a large garden tabled seating area for 8 people. We lit the BBQ and invited the Scrivens family to inaugurate the venue before the customers turned up.

The Countess and Maestro of Breuil-Houtteville brought their children to cut the ribbon and officially open this outside space naming it the

Trolley Bay BBQ Area of Brevands

Mike cooked us up a feast on his le bon coin 30 Euro posh BBQ and the children then ran all around the garden and back again until they were worn out. I took wholesome family photos for next year’s web page and Mike and I observed the proceedings making sure we got this project right. I think we have, and since our first sit down event we have had a client family happily sitting in the shade of a shower which made Mike and I glow a little inside.

We have been Carp fishing with friends this and last year and Mike has taken quite a liking to it except  for the fact that he had not yet landed a whopper whilst all around him were. Putting on a brave face he has bought the kit and bate and has soldiered on until this event when after yet another lost off the rod he finally landed this little beauty.  We were there with Graham and Ann and a young French chap who had enough kit for five fishermen, but we had a pleasant day helping each other out and chatting about the sport. 

Towards the end of our day just as we lit up the BBQ for our outward bound supper, the heavens opened and we sat in a huddle  laughing at the extraordinary things we get up to sitting by a lake getting wet. Just in case you wondering the fish was put back in the lake…..fishing a l’anglais as they call it here.

As always we act on impulse,  after our damp but enjoyable feast by the lake Mike went onto the Bon Coin and found this circus tent for sale. We drove up to Cherbourg and met a lovely couple who were selling it very cheap as they had no room to store it, and never had the chance to use it. This magnificent tent is totally unused and is a pop up variety that with a bit of putting up practice will provide us with a banqueting hall at the least threat of rain where ever we are….. We paid 150 Euro for this brilliant tent and saw that they retail new at 600 euro so we felt we got a good deal.

The man we were fishing with suggested we visit Terre et Eau in Caen for our equipment and this is my face book post after our visit…….

Mike suggested we take the camper out for a confidence run and drove it straight to the hooten shooten fussy fishy thick socks and checked shirt Terre et Eau shop in caen. Here you can buy anything you might need to full fill your masculine desire to hunt . Mike was in his element but I observed that you had to wear camouflage to be seen and know exactly what you needed because there were no explanations for use or appropriate need. A mortgage application form came with all products especially the bits Mike popped into his basket on wheels which was also green and camouflaged in the hope that I would not see him go through the check out. ........it is most definitely a man thing

Before you know it there is another outing and a gathering of mates.  This was an afternoon tea event at Shirley and Marks chateau. All day the sun shone and we all turned out in our summer best and happy faces but just as we got comfortable the rain decided to come too. The food tent became and reception hall and Trevor got his pop up tent out to save the day.

Kay and I had a jolly fine time, and despite the drizzle the kids played treasure hunt and musical chairs and the food table was abundant and delicious

To celebrate Mikes fishing accomplishment we transferred his proud picture onto a T shirt and here he is with Trevor, the current trophy holder hopefully feeling a little concerned that Mike is now, surely in the running for the  ‘biggest wettest slimiest carp in the lake’ trophy

The maestro sends me pictures from his phone of posters advertising events musical and otherwise. We then decide if we need to make the effort and if we do we make a plan.  The Georgian Cossack dance group coming to St Mere Eglise seemed like an event not to be missed. We met up in the bar to pass the time because the French never start early and the crowds drift in at the cusp of the opening curtain. Here we are sat at the advertised start time and it would seem that we are fairly sparse as an audience. The music struck up and we then realized that the Cossack dancers were very young adults and  children but by the time the first dance was finished all the seats were taken and our clapping proved loud enough to congratulate this hour of nonstop jumping and running and enthusiastic traditional dance which left us delighted for making the effort.

In the Polly tunnel this year I have given a bed over to lettuce and radish. I have bought the seedlings from Carentan market because quite frankly for 1.80 euro  I get a variety of 12 lettuce which grow well and only need watering and eating.  This here is my third batch of 12 plants, I replenish a little before the last batch are picked and it has worked well until, the chickens found their way into the poly.  My clucking little friends decided that they also like lettuce and after their treat they made a dust bath and frankly, had a total fun day out at my expense.   I went to the tunnel and saw that the anti-chicken gate had blown open and when I saw the damage I howled like a demented gardener and screamed that I was putting the hot pot on to deal with  them. We all know I would not do that, but for a moment I was ready to wring a neck or two

And finally, Mike celebrated his 10 years in retirement this week.  As with most people this was a really big milestone for us and I felt that I had to acknowledge the day.  Mike always planned for early retirement and had the vision set firmly in his mind that nothing was going to delay his plan. And here we are still working up his visions and plans but now we do them together and enjoy the fact that we can, and do. In October I will be celebrating 10 years of blogging, not all on line as the early days I just printed them out and sent them to our children and our family

This is the garden in 2007 when Mike saw it and said we will make a garden

And this is how we enjoy it . you can see the roof in the back ground as reference…….

it makes me proud .