The Seine

The Seine’s source can be found about one and a quarter hours drive from us in a small village aptly called Source-Seine on the borders of the Côte-d'Or. From here the river flows into Chatillon-Sur-Seine where it divides to flow through the town before rejoining on the other side. Another river of note though is La Douix, which springs from the foot of a small limestone cliff nearby and joins the Seine in Châtillon-sur-Seine. There is, because of this, some debate as to what is considered the true source of the Seine, since the flow of la Douix is often the greater.

As the river proceeds through the Seine valley it picks up a number of other tributaries such as the Ource and the Arce, growing in volume, and speed, and soon becomes that majestic river that cuts deeply through Paris on its way to le Havre.

The bridge over the Seine flowing through Bar-Sur-Seine

We have had quite a bit of rain over the last few days and the rivers are all looking very high. These pictures, of the Seine running through Bar-Sur-Seine, were taken this morning. Those observant of you will have guessed (or know) that ‘sur’ means ‘on’.

Where shall I begin?

Well, it looks like we need to do a bit more work than we originally thought in the twin room. Over the last few years, we had a rug covering this corner and I have to say we both had kind of forgotten about the hole under it. We realised however, once we removed the rug, that it was definitely in need of a bit of attention.

And so it begins

Brian, now enthusiastic by a floorboard challenge, soon went to collect his multi-saw. First of all though we discussed what needed to happen, and which of the floorboards needed to be removed to enable him to repair the damaged area. He then started to cut the relevant pieces of floorboard out. In total he ended up taking up 7 boards. But the good thing is that he has now been able to clean the area underneath, remove any rotten wood, and has treated it with a multi-purpose wood treatment. Tomorrow he will work on putting it back together.

Ripping up the boards

Bit of ‘tlc’

The twin

As you can see the twin room certainly needs some work. We shall empty it out over the next few days in readiness to start the decorating. Today, as well as doing our french homework – which was a listening exercise, and something we both find really difficult, but also quite rewarding when we get it right – we have been planning what we are going to do in there. I think the big thing is to add some colour and a focal interest.

I think this is a lovely little room, and I cannot wait to see how our vision is going to come together in there. The window looks out across the garden, and has a wonderful new shutter. It was definitely a bit of a chilly view today.

Extra detail

We wanted to add some extra detail to the room, and one of the areas we thought would be good to pick out was the styling on the doors, so yesterday Brian spent some time very carefully painting the moulding on the cupboard doors.

It was quite a slow and very deliberate task. Only one and a half more doors to go! That said, I actually think he is quite enjoying putting time into the finishing touches.

He also spent some time completing the light fitting, which worked well with the new ceiling rose. So looking forward to seeing the room completed, however we need to look at doing some work in the adjoining twin room before we finish the Jeroboam, clean the floor and put all the furniture back in.

Fate

Today when I went to put the second coat of gloss on the top of the fireplace I realised it hadn’t dried all over. It was patchy and tacky in places. Brian came to have a look and said he thought it was either due to something on the surface underneath the paint or the paint was too old. Either way we needed to take it off and start again.

Brian had a scraper with sharp edges to hand, so he got stuck in and started the job. It was a bit demoralising at first, as we had hoped to get the fireplace finished today. We got the worst of it off pretty quickly, if messily, then I started on it with the rotary sander, which made light work of the rest of it. I suggested we wipe it down with some wire wool and white spirit, then buy some new paint tomorrow. I hoovered up the mess we had just made, and Brian started to clean the top up with the white spirit.

We felt like we were going backwards, so I thought he was trying to make me feel better when he said ‘You know you always say things happen for a reason’. Well, when things go wrong it’s often, I believe, because there’s something better coming, but I wasn’t sure that was the case here. ‘Yes’ I replied reluctantly. ‘well, I think we should wax it and leave it like this’. Im not sure I took it in at first, but when I looked at it I thought, you are right, that’s exactly what we should do. So once again my trust in fate was proved, and we now have a beautifully shabby-chic fireplace. I love the outcome.

Is there a hole in my tin?

Day three of painting the Jeroboam, and we can feel it coming together. I started the day by putting a coat of gloss white on the top of the fire place, whilst Brian painted the inner front panels green. Later, he put the ceiling rose up. Once the glue has dried properly he will put the rose fixing up and the lampshade back on. I have to admit I was not sure how this would look, but now it’s up I think it really helps the style of the room. Once the first coat was on the fireplace, I made a start on all the doors.

We did nearly have a mini disaster. Brian opened a tin of satin white to paint the skirting, and after about 20 minutes I heard him mutter something under his breath about a spill. I asked ‘do you need a rag?’, ‘yes please’ he replied, so I passed one over. ‘Now what’s going on? I’ve spilt more!’ I could see him looking around at the floor, spots of paint all over it. ‘Is there a hole in this tin?’. I went over to see what was going on, and realised there was indeed a small leak on the side of the tin, where the paint was slowly oozing out. I quickly put it in a paint kettle - well actually it’s an old yoghurt bucket which I’ve saved for our painting projects - that did the trick. ‘That could have been a disaster’ he exclaimed, ‘lucky I spotted it’ - we soon had it mopped up, and the mini disaster averted!

Roll on

Gosh it’s been blowing a gale here these last couple of days. Not cold but very windy. Hasn’t mattered to us though as we’ve been moving forward on the painting in the Jeroboam. The paint arrived earlier in the week, and we now have a couple of coats on the walls. Today I want to concentrate around the windows and doors. I won’t paint the actual windows yet, I will do that when it warms up a bit in spring and I can leave them open. But they sit back in a couple of small alcoves so I will get them painted. Brian will help with the cutting in, and he will also look to put the mirror back up.

We are loving the colour we chose - this is such a bright room, and fills with sunshine in the warmer months, so it will help it feel cool and fresh.

Devaux

As we have french on a Wednesday afternoon, we like to use the morning to do some smaller jobs, so we decided to put our new framed picture up. We had wanted it in the salon, and knew just the place – by the cocktail trolley. The salon is a room that needs decorating, we won’t change it much, but a few areas need addressing. However it will probably be one of the last rooms we do, along with the library. I think they will be a next winter job.

The picture is an original screen printed advert for Devaux Champagne, who are an excellent local producer. I just love the style. We chose a vibrant yellow border to help bring out the yellow used for the wording. The frame is a very simple gloss black.

We recently had it framed, and just love how it’s turned out.

Time for coffee

One thing which we now find more time for, living in France, is our breakfast in the morning. We enjoy taking the time to sit down and eat our breakfast and not be in a rush to be somewhere or be doing something else. Whilst Brian is busying himself making the coffee we take the time to discuss the day and plan what we want to do. We also like to take a coffee break later in the day, to ensure we stop and take time to catch up.

Here’s Brian demonstrating his La Pavoni coffee maker that we bought when we arrived.

All white

We woke early as we wanted to get up and ready the room for me to paint the ceiling. I’d collected all my tools together, and selected the white matt paint I was going to use. It’s never easy painting white onto white, you need to keep reviewing it from different angles to ensure it’s all covered, but slinging open the shutters flooded the room with light, which helped, and I was soon in my stride.

Brian still has some filling around the edges to do, but we mistakenly bought grey coloured painters caulk instead of white. Obviously french grey, but still not what we needed for this room. We have kept it as we can use it in the salon when we get round to decorating that, but for now he needs to wait until we go out tomorrow to buy some white. So, although I got the bulk of the work done, we will need to touch up the edges once he has filled them.

My very glamorous painting look

How long?

I wasn’t up for painting today, so I suggested to Brian that we finish upholstering one of the dining room chairs. We started this job probably two years ago now. We have six chairs to do in total, and when we started we only managed to complete one. We then did half of another six months later, but it was when we were here one summer and it just got too hot to finish it, so it has been a job that’s just been hanging around. I found all the tools and paraphernalia you seem to need and we reviewed what we had previously achieved.

We decided that the struggle we were having with them was that using upholstery tacks was proving really difficult. And recent video posts we had seen of people doing upholstery showed that they had used a staple gun. Although I like the look of tacks, I think unless they will be seen, and I intend to stick some braiding over ours, why struggle. So we loaded up the staple gun and got to work.

An hour later the second chair was finished. Only four more to go, however they need to be destapled, and repainted before we can start to cover them, so more on that over the coming weeks/months. I’m positive though that it won’t take us another two years to finish two more!

Winter wonderland

It started to snow just after lunch yesterday, and by about 4pm it had stopped and everywhere was covered in a good dusting of white flakes. The late afternoon air was cold but still, and the light was just about hanging in there, so we decided to wrap up, pull on our walking boots, and take a walk around the village. When we got out it was such an idyllic calmness we thought we would head up to the ‘point de vue’.

The snow squeaked under our boots as we walked tentatively up the hill and through the forest. Brian was enjoying taking some photographs, and I was deep in my own thoughts as the snow started to fall again. A little snowy world of my own.

We headed back through the village, so quiet, so still. A winter wonderland.

Who?

‘What’s that for?’ I hear you ask? This is Brian’s invention to assist us with our job today.

We bought an enamelled sign a couple of years back. It was not something we had been looking for, but somehow came across on eBay, and the seller only lived just outside Gatwick, so we put in a bid. Before long, we were the proud owners of a 2 metre long enamel sign which had previously been used outside a butchers in Yorkshire.

So today was the day to put it up. However, we had mounted it on some oak and it was now super heavy. We needed something to support it whilst Brian worked out where the holes needed to go, and drill the fixings into the wall. So Brian built this frame and I have to say it made the job achievable, we would not have been able to do it without his contraption.

We are both really pleased with the final look.

Last day on the floor

Finally we can tick the Jerobam floor off the list. Brian completed today, fitting the last of the boards he wanted to replace. I finished off a bit of sanding, then it was time to give it all a clean, ready for painting. We go and collect the paint from Troyes next week, as that’s the closest place we could order the colour we wanted, in the type of paint we preferred. There are a few things that can be done before then, most worrying of which is painting the ceiling, which always leaves you with aches afterwards. We also need to fit a ceiling rose, as we think it will help break up the ceiling expanse, but the big messy jobs are now finished.

I also needed to take some time today to prepare some additional support documents for our registration, which they have asked for. I’m taking it as a positive that they are chasing more detail, but Brian finds it all a little challenging, as most of what they come back for wasn’t requested at the beginning. Together though we can maintain our focus, and keep things moving.

Just in time

It’s been a very rainy day, in fact I don’t think it’s stopped since last night. Despite the drizzle, just before lunch we took delivery of our wood pellet order. When we’d ordered it last week, for delivery today, we thought we’d be fine, but the drop in temperatures had meant that our usage had risen slightly, and as the volume got lower we got some alerts from the system advising that it was not meeting the minimum fill level and that the ‘out-feeder’ was empty. A bit of encouragement though from Brian, ensuring the pellets caught in the corners of the silo were all pushed down the hopper, meant that we were able to keep things going as normal until the fill up. We would have run out in three or four days though, so maybe fill up sooner next time.

Sign off

Brian has had a little side project he has been working on, and hopeful that we will see it come together shortly. His big challenge is the weight of it, but he has devised a cunning plan which he is having to build before we get to see the real thing. But more will be revealed over the next few weeks.

Me, I’ve had a bit of paperwork to get sorted. We had hoped that we wouldn’t need to get our documents translated for our CPAM (healthcare) application, but unfortunately they came back this week and asked for us to send translated copies. The translation has to be done via a recognised body, so I had to source one via the government website, and arrange for approved and signed copies to be mailed to us. They’ve now all been sent off. Also I needed to collate some additional paperwork for our registration, which I had to go and get printed from the local printers, again that is now all sorted. We are now waiting again for further news.

Back to the floor

I’m just loving what Brian is achieving with the refurbishment of the floor in the Jeroboam. When I look at the areas he wants to fix I see floorboards looking really tired and broken. However Brian looks at them and sees it differently, he is able to see how to fix it by replacing a narrow piece of wood. So he only replaces what it needed.

Perfect fit

Sunset

It was a very chilly day today, getting down to -5°c, but a beautiful crisp blue sky. We spent the day in the house doing jobs, Brian was working on the Jeroboam floor, and I was talking most of the day to my brothers on how we support mum and dad best through these challenging times. Around 4ish Brian said he’d finished for the day so I suggested we went out for a walk before the sun set, so we took a stroll up to the viewpoint. As we turned onto the path leading to the picnic spot, with the frozen, crunchy, brown leaves crackling beneath our footsteps, we could see the sun shining the last of its golden rays through the branches and onto the green tinged edge of the track.

I sat for a while whilst Brian wandered off to take some pictures, just soaking up the view and the stillness of the moment, but with a little treat, as he’d brought some fruit and nut chocolate out with him. Such a delight to just enjoy those little thoughts.

This is one of the photos he took.

Are you bored?

Je ennuie, I am bored - was a new verb we learnt in our french lesson this week. I cannot quite remember how it came up, but I thought at the time it’s just not a verb I would use a lot (Ennuyer is to bore or annoy), so it hadn’t totally stuck. After french we needed to walk to the post office to post a cheque to buy some paint (don’t ask). On our way we saw Richard, the commune’s Jardinier (Gardner), we had a little chat with him, which I have to say is getting better, and when chatting about the curfew restrictions he happened to ask ‘vous ennuyez?’. Who’d have guessed.

On the way back we met a lovely pair of goats. I think they were trying to get into their barn for the evening. They very nearly followed us home!

Today Brian has been working on the floorboards in the Jeroboam, and he has made an amazing job of cleaning some of them up. Firstly he replaced a couple of small damaged pieces by cutting out the damaged area, then fitting a new piece in place.

Then he went back to address the area he’d previously been working on. I think the before and after shots tell the story.

Before

After

Curry night

Friday night is curry night, however some avid readers will know that we have not been able to buy naans in France, so as Brian really enjoys a naan with his curry he decided to make some today to go with my peanut butter chicken curry which he loves so much.

Naan recipe
Mix together 100 ml of tepid water, one teaspoon of yeast and one teaspoon of sugar. Leave for 10 minutes until the yeast has dissolved and is bubbling. Sieve 380 g of self raising flour with a pinch of salt into a bowl, then add the yeast mixture, plus 10ml of vegetable oil and 30 g of natural yoghurt. Mix to form a soft dough. You may need to add more tepid water if the consistency is too dry. Kneed onto a floured surface for about 5 minutes until the dough appears smooth and no longer sticky. Place into an oiled bowl and cover with a clean, damp tea towel or loose cling film. Place in a warm area for 90 minutes until the dough has doubled in size.

When done, punch it down and kneed again. This makes 12 small naan, we split the dough into 4 balls and put 3 in the freezer to cook next time. Each ball can be cut into 3 and rolled into naan like shapes, before placing on a greased baking sheet and cooked in a preheated oven at 200°c for 4–5 mins each side, until puffy and cooked. When finished, brush with vegetable oil and serve warm. *

* credit for the naan goes to this wonderful book - and of course Brian’s wonderful efforts in making it.

For dessert we were using up some Christmas leftovers, so had passion fruit parfait with apricot and candied orange. All rather delicious.