Fête de la musique

On 21st June – this year it fell on the eve of the summer solstice – there is the ‘Fête de la musique’, a celebration of music all across France. 2022 was the 40th anniversary of this music festival, with its principle focus still to create popular, spontaneous local events. It is open to all audiences and promotes musicians and artists of all levels. Their aim is to celebrate, and highlight, the breadth and diversity of all musical practices, as well as all musical genres.

Since its creation by the Ministry of Culture in 1982, small villages to large cities, all across France, have invested in making June 21 a time when everyone can take pride in hosting their own music event. The free concerts have become one of the biggest French, annual cultural events, and they are another example of a wonderful way of bringing communities together.

We went to an event being held in Landreville, the small village next to ours, just a 5 minute drive away. It was extremely well organised. There were a couple of bands playing, one performing recognisable covers from big artists, but we preferred NoXtone, a rock band who seemed to be playing either their own material or tracks less known to us. They played a few sets throughout the evening and were extremely good performers. They got the audience completely engaged with their music.

The Fête de la musique has also grown internationally. It is now a national event in several countries (Luxembourg, Italy, Greece, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia) and has been adopted by some major cities such as New York, Berlin and Mexico City. In 2017, more than 120 countries celebrated this Music Festival.

Flourish

I have rather a lot of roses to dead head, and after the high temperatures we have just had they are definitely in need of some attention. I needed to use every possible angle to get to them, which included leaning, not too far, out of the windows.

I still have a lot to do, but hopefully if I get them done soon we will get another flourish of flowers this season.

Too blue

Finally they are nearing the end.

The painters have just reached the railings outside the tennis court opposite us.

I have to say that when I first saw the blue they were being painted, I was not so keen, but it’s actually quite growing on me. I think they have done a really good job, and the railings look nice and fresh. They work really well with the pink and white flower boxes.

And they have painted our letter box and paper tube, just need to fit them back up now.

Crazy not to…

After the jet washing at the end of last week, the painters are now using a grinder to take off any rough bits from the fence along the river outside our maison. I have to say I’m impressed with the care they are giving them. I have a table I want to paint, and I was just going to paint straight onto it with metal paint, but I’m now thinking I will prepare it a bit better.

Anyway, the guy doing the grinding had just worked his way past ours. He rang the bell to ask Brian if he could remove the post box so that they could paint the railing it was attached to. He kindly suggested they would also paint the tube and the post box to match the railings. Seems crazy not to let them!

We’ll see how that conversation really went tomorrow when they return to do the painting, although this job does seem to be taking a very long time.

Fête des voisins

This little flyer dropped through our door last week, it was inviting us to a village get together. We were not quite sure what it would be like, but both agreed it would be a really nice way to get to know our neighbours and other villagers a bit better. So when Friday came, and it was a scorcher of a day, we prised ourselves away from the pool to prepare for our evening mingle.

I decided to make some cheese scones, thinking to be a bit different and add a British touch, and also I thought they would be easy to nibble on.

We made our way down to the Mairie’s, where we found a few people already gathering, with tables set up and music playing. We said our hellos to everyone and began our efforts at getting to know people, whilst also dipping in to the snack table.

What we hadn’t realised was that after nibbles we all sat down to dinner. The villagers had brought salads, quiches, cold meats, chocolate mousse, all sorts of delicious foods to share. Luckily though my basket of cheese scones had gone down very well, and everyone seemed to like them. Next year though I need to do a bit more.

It was such a convivial and very enjoyable evening. Once we had eaten the dancing started. I was not up with the Jonny Halliday classics, so shared a favourite of ours that everyone seemed to like. I will need to work on my dance moves for next year.

Dinner guests

I was preparing for our guests today. I had made some little biscuits, the recipe Dominique had given me, to serve with the peaches I had poached in honey, thyme and calvados. I served these with a vanilla creme fraiche, just enough sweetness to end a meal.

As it was such a gorgeous evening, I had laid the table in the garden under the parasol, as the sun was still a little hot even at 7pm. We started with a nicely chilled glass of Champagne served with warm cheese gougéres. Such a great combination.

I then served slow roasted pork, which was from our local butcher, who buys his pork from a regional farm. I cooked it with fennel, bay leaves and star anise, then added some new potatoes about 45 minutes before the end of the cooking time. It was in the oven for about two and half hours, and I was checking on it periodically to see if the stock needed topping up, but careful not to get the stock on the rind as it would spoil the delicious crackling I wanted to make. By the end, the rind had become perfect crackling, crunchy and very tasty. The meat fell apart, it was all very tender and delicious.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Evening song

It has been quite a busy week, with some absolutely gorgeous weather.

We were sitting enjoying a glass of bubbles in the garden last night and realised it was 9.30pm, the sky was a deep shade of blue with fluffy white clouds, the swallows were racing around the house, chirping as they went, and the evening chorus was in full swing. A beautiful tranquil part of the day.

André Fays & Fils

The painters were out early this morning preparing the railings for painting. It has been quite a task for them, but very nearly there now, as we are at the other end of the village to where they began.

Leaving the painters to their task we went out for a mid-morning coffee. It is always so pleasant just taking some time together to chat about our week.

After coffee, and when we had been shopping, we decided to pop into a favourite champagne producer of ours, André Fays et fils, to do a tasting. They are based in the village of Celles-sur-Ource, about a ten minute drive from ours. The village stands out, as it has a large number of champagne producers, and over 160 vineyard owners. It is always very educational, and extremely pleasant, to chat to Marie and sample some of their great champagnes.

Too hot to mow

It’s hotting up this week, with clear blue skies. We are definitely making the most of the pool, which is a wonderful space to relax at the end of the day.

Before that though Brian decided that he should get the slope grass cut before it gets too hot later in the week.

Plant a tree

Some friends from the UK came to our jubilee afternoon tea celebration on Sunday. They brought us a beautiful eucalyptus tree to plant as part of ‘plant a tree for the jubilee’. We chose a nice spot on the slope where it will enjoy full sun, and should be a little bit protected from any winter frosts.

As it grows I’m looking forward to using the foliage in vases of flowers indoors. I really enjoy seeing what flowers I have available in the garden, or hedgerows, to use in the house. Obviously always being mindful of how I pick them and what I choose to pick.

I managed to find some beautiful red and white roses just coming into bloom to use for the jubilee afternoon tea.

The flowers we planted are flourishing in the garden this year, so there are a lot to choose from, so I also picked a deep red geranium, that I had planted in one of the cast iron urns in the garden. With a sprig of rosemary, to add some greenery, and a beautifully scented white flower, which has a gorgeously sweet aroma a bit like a jasmine, the displays were complete.

I just love having fresh flowers in the house.

Closing the border

Brian was keen to get started on his garden project this morning. He had marked the area out and was soon cutting into the lawn under the bench to dig out an area to fit with the edging strip we had bought the day before.

He pushed the edging around the oval he created, forcing it into position behind the legs of the bench and closing the border at the back. He then pinned some weed suppressant in place ready for the stones to be added that we had kept back from the courtyard. Finally he pinned the edging in place, with clips he’d made from a reel of galvanised wire, just to ensure it was nicely secure.

He has created a really beautiful little seating area, which you don’t see from the courtyard, it’s an area of discovery.

Border control

It was a slow start to our day yesterday, we were woken by the fresh pitter pat of the rain at our open window. The air was cool, and the garden was glistening joyfully, as if to say ‘thank you, this is what we need’.

After a slow breakfast we decided we would pop out to the Brico in Bar sur Aube, as we have been looking for some flexible edging to create a border for an area in the corner of the lawn, and thought it an ideal day to go and get the materials we needed. We can then start the job later in the week when the sun returns.

The day ended with a beautiful mottled sky and the sun peaking out on the point de vue.

Distraction

We were in the middle of our french lesson yesterday, and Brian was getting very distracted by a constant noise outside the front of our house, which is so unusual for our little village. It stopped for a short while, but then restarted. Our lesson finished at 1pm, so we were more than a little surprised that the noise had continued. Brian took a look outside to see a chap cleaning down the railings along the river by our window. He was jet washing the old paint off ready to be repainted, as has already happened further down the street. I’m now looking forward to seeing the finished job.

Miss what?

This morning we woke early, as we wanted to drive to Sens for a brocante which they hold every year on the Pentecost bank holiday. Sens is about an 80 minute drive for us, and a friend had recommended the trip, saying it was a worthwhile flea market to visit. So we headed off just after 9am, and arrived in Sens around 10.30, where we easily parked up about a two minute walk from the market.

It wasn’t long before we had seen a beautiful, brightly coloured lamp base, which we had both noticed at the same time and both loved the look of. We didn’t buy it straight away though, we decided to leave it to fate, and if it was there on the way back we would make an offer.

The stalls were situated either side of a tree lined avenue which was, effectively, the central reservation of the ring road around the town.

After two fabulous hours perusing (and buying) some very interesting items - and having made a couple of trips back to the car - we decided it had been a successful morning for us, and we would head home. Obviously we had bought the lamp that we had seen first of all, and also a wonderful old shop dummy which we thought would look good in one of the bathrooms. We love to add something different to a room, something you wouldn’t normally expect.

When the time came to leave, we hopped in the car for a quick getaway, and made for the straightest route home. However, we soon discovered that Sens is a city of one-way streets, and we found ourselves back on the ring road, trying to get back to the way we came in. What it made us realise though was that we had only seen about a third of the market. The brocante actually stretched for hundreds of metres further round the ring road! How could we have missed all this?

So we parked up again, without any problem, went and had a refreshment stop, then carried on our brocanting.

A few hours later, and some more really interesting purchases made, this time we really were heading home. What a great little haul we had purchased, well worth the trip, as our friend had said.

Keep calm and carry on

Sunday morning we woke and could not believe it. All the beautiful days of sunshine we have had this week and then this. When we were wanting to hang up the bunting for our celebration platinum Jubilee afternoon tea, we were in the midst of a thunderstorm! Dark grey clouds, lightning, thunder and rain. Never mind, we would stay calm and carry on as planned, preparing for our guests arrival at 4pm.

I’d made a Victoria sandwich and some scones the day before, which I was going to serve with locally made strawberry jam and a thick, super cold crème fraiche.

I had also made some mini quiches, sausage rolls and ham and mustard sandwiches, oh and some pistachio biscuits - the recipe Dominique had shared with me a few weeks ago.

The weather was still awful at 2.30pm, so we decided to plan to have tea indoors. However, at 3pm, a sudden ray of sunshine spilled into the kitchen. We looked outside and there was a definite break in the clouds. Brian made the brave decision to rush out and put the bunting up.

By 3.45pm, the bunting was flapping beautifully against the now beautifully blue sky. The tables and chairs were wiped dry, and the champagne was chilling in the ice bucket.

Inside, the house was looking splendid in its red white and blue - our little contribution to the celebrations for the Queen and her platinum jubilee.

Getting Ahead

Saturday, prepping for our jubilee afternoon tea - two of my favourite things, Victoria sandwich and scotch eggs. Not sure whether our French friends will like either, but we will see.

Sideboard

We have been looking for another sideboard for the salle à manger for serving and storage. On the way home from our delicious lunch with friends on Friday, we stopped off at a brocante. There was quite a bit of old furniture and china, but nothing much took our eye, until we saw this hidden in a corner. I just love the carving of the fruits on the doors, and also the rusty brown marble top. It has a slightly arts and crafts feel, and sits on graceful turned legs.

They have changed three of the handles on the doors, which we are not too keen on, but we will look out for some possible replacement’s in the brocantes and vide greniers. It fits perfectly though, and we both love it.

Fit in a Swim

It’s been a wonderful week. We’ve been busy with guests, but some how have completed quite a few little jobs. We also managed to complete quite a big one in laying the gravel in the drive.

It has been great fun hosting our guests, it’s always delightful when they are full of excitement for their visit, and when they arrive they fall in love with the house - just as we did.

They arrived late afternoon, but still managed to fit in a swim before dinner, which we enjoyed in the garden with a glass or two of bubbles.

They were up early for a run through the vineyards, following one of our hiking routes, then back for a freshly made coffee and tasty breakfast of croissants, homemade jams, local honey, yoghurt and strawberries, before heading off further south.

Today we are off to friends for lunch, which we are both really looking forward to, it really will be a well earned day of rest.

A rake and a shovel

Monday morning. We had spent the weekend doing a lot of quite physical jobs in the garden so this morning, when we started to plan our day, Brian said that he would like a day not doing too much, certainly not to do anything too physical.

We had been waiting for a new charger cable for our laptop, as ours had broken, and it was supposed to arrive this morning, so the plan was for him to be able to spend the day doing some admin work which he needed to do.

All was going according to plan, until I remembered that the gravel we had ordered for the courtyard was turning up at 4pm. I wasn’t sure Brian remembered it was arriving today, other than he was with me when we went to Gedimat to order it.

I don’t think five cubic metres sounds like very much, but 7.5 tonne does!

Let me turn back the clock a little and give some detail. We had been told by the gravel company that they would deliver the gravel in two loads of 2.5 cubic metres each over two days (well that’s what we thought they said), so I wasn’t really that worried about it turning up, but at around 3.45pm this arrived.

‘Hun, the gravel is here’ I sheepishly called to Brian. ‘The gravel…today?’. He ran outside to be greeted by the driver, who promptly told him that he couldn’t drop it where we wanted it. A difficult, limited French conversation ensued without resolution. I had something to finish, so hadn’t rushed out straight away. Brian came to get me. ‘Jo, we have a problem, he’s going to dump it at the gate!’. I didn’t know what to say at that point, but I thought ‘Ok, if that’s what has to happen’ I’m not sure we have a choice’.

However, in our absence the driver had obviously made the decision that he would try and get through the gate. Things soon became a little scary, and I think we wished we’d just let him dump it all where he had said. He had pulled forward into the parking area opposite us, and was soon reversing across our quite narrow road, across our fragile, little bridge over the river, through our gate and into our courtyard, in this huge lorry. It was definitely not the little flat bed truck which we thought was going to be delivering it. We were both looking on nervously. Was the bridge going to hold? Would the drain take the weight? How was he not going to hit the gate? Never mind my lavender plants! All in all, a bit scary.

We sighed once he was half in, had missed the gate and the lavender and was no longer on the bridge. The drain was fine, thankfully. But now the side legs were coming out of the back of the lorry to balance the crane, the right side leg narrowly missing my rose, and the left nearly knocking over my cast iron vase, which Brian hastily moved to safety. Phew! He was now safely in position.

‘How’s he getting it off?’ I asked. ‘The crane’ Brian replied. ‘Is there room?’ ‘We’ll soon find out!’. We were able to get him to put it as far down this end as possible, meaning we could move it a smaller distance to reach both areas that needed doing.

We were both amazed at the accuracy of the driver operating the crane, and how he carefully placed each container of gravel where we asked. By 4.30pm he’d packed the crane away and was driving off, with a friendly wave. Panic over, except we now had over 7.5 tonne of gravel to move into place, and only a rake and a shovel to do it!

It was going to be a tough evening ahead, but we knew we needed to get it done. Neither of us wanted to end the day with the job half done, so I got on the rake and Brian on the shovel, and bit by bit, shovel by shovel we moved the gravel to all the corners of the courtyard and patio area. It was an incredibly tiring job, but we just kept going and going, and eventually got the job done.

We finished around 9pm, stopping for a snickers bar and a cup of tea half way through. We were both very pleased with our evenings work.

Rocking it

There’s a small corner in the garden beneath a laurel hedge, that doesn’t get much sun, that was looking a bit unloved, so I asked Brian if he could help me add some interest to it. My idea was to add some rocks which I’d found around the garden to make a small rockery. We were soon fixing the rocks into place with earth, so that I can encourage some small rockery plants to grow in between.

We then placed a garden statue along the side to add some more interest.

I have popped a few little plants in that I had, I just need to see how they take over the coming weeks. I like to create different spaces of discovery in a garden, little areas of interest, and I think we certainly achieved this here and cheered up what was just an empty corner.