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
I wonder if I could get my Car into the front room - it wouldn't half look good !!!!! :)
ReplyDeleteRob