A perfect start

Two early mornings, with a quick piece of toast were not good for the soul. So this morning we took our time over breakfast to enjoy some beautiful french baguette, salty butter, and honey, followed by a delicious, fresh, flaky pain au chocolat. It was all washed down with a very tasty, milky coffee. Probably not one of the healthiest breakfasts, but what a perfect start to our day.

The plan for today was to get the ceiling painted. Never a particularly nice job, but one that makes you feel good once it’s complete. I was back with the roller, whilst Brian sorted the edges out with a brush. It didn’t really take us too long, but we did have a couple of breaks to help straighten our backs out.

I don’t believe it!

We had another shockingly early start yesterday. We’d almost forgotten what it was like to rise before the sun was up.

It was time again, following a cold winter, to get our car serviced. We purposely bought a French made car when we came to France to make sure we could get it serviced locally, although we still have to wait a good few hours in Bar-sur-Seine for them to complete the work before we can drive home. Yesterday, that seemed a gloomy prospect, as it’s still cold and damp outside, but our plan was to visit the boulangerie, then go and sit in one of the cafés for a while, before heading out for a stroll.

We made sure we arrived first at the garage, to see if it was possible to get the car back before lunch. To our amazement, and very pleasant surprise, the lady behind the counter offered us a replacement car. Suddenly, we had our morning back. Hoorah!

We left our car with them and drove back home in our newly acquired loan car, a little Renault scenic. Not long after arriving home, she called to ask us something, Brian handed me the phone. I listened attentively to what she was saying, grasping some of what she had asked. I think the main thing was the oil filter needed changing, and possibly 2 of the tyres, which we knew were due. But there was something else, which we would need to bring the car back for next week, but I couldn’t grasp it. I agreed with the plan, not totally understanding the whole of what was said, but it didn’t seem like anything major. She would call again when we could come and pick the car up, we would sort the finer details out then.

It seemed just a short while later when we got the second call to say it was ready, so hopped back in the loan car and set off again.

I’d explained to Brian about the filter and tyres, but we knew we needed to try and understand what else was needed.

When we arrived at the garage the lady had quite a bit to say about our cars service. She only talked in French, and way too fast for us, although we’d asked her to speak ‘doucement’. Talking face-to-face I now understood that two types of filter had been replaced and we were in need of two new rear tyres, which they would need to order. However, there was one thing she said that I just couldn’t understand, or rather my brain would not accept it and I doubted my French. She said, “il faut installer un boîtier à ultrasons dans le moteur, pour empêcher la souris d'y faire son nid”. Initially I could hear they needed to install a box for a mouse. Why did we need a box in our car to carry a mouse? I looked quizzically at Brian. He had also heard the word ’souris’ which means mouse. Brian said, “a mouse?”, in a confused tone and the woman nodded. So it was definitely a story about a mouse. It’s amazing how you stop yourself from understanding just because you can’t accept the situation. After we accepted what it was about, the story started to make sense. She explained it’s an ultrasound box that we need. Apparently we need it to be fitted because a mouse had made a nest in our warm engine, and the box would prevent this in the future. Not really what I expect from a car service, but you live and learn. Just goes to show, I must trust my French a bit more in the future.

Seeing straight

We were up early yesterday, as we were driving down to Dijon for the day. It’s such a beautiful city about 1 hour and 40 minutes from us, which is fine for a day trip. Beautiful old cobbled streets, quaint little shops, museums, and plenty to see and do. Today though we were not there as tourists.

Our first appointment was at the ophthalmologist. In France you can have your eyes checked each year, however we had left it two years as all seemed ok, but we both felt we were now ready for a slight revision in our glasses. We parked just near the clinic in a beautiful, tree lined, perfectly straight avenue. It looks like this will be where they start one of the legs of the Tour de France in the summer.

The clinic is super slick, within a modern building and the latest equipment. We were taken straight in, and soon were having our eyes checked and photographed, ready to see the doctor, who advised all was well with the health of our eyes, but confirmed we were both in need for a slight revision to our glasses prescription. We would take this ‘ordnance’ to an optician’s near us to choose the glasses.

We then headed to a paint shop we had found online and arranged to visit to have some colours mixed for us. The lady at the shop was extremely helpful, and we had soon chosen our colours and decided to use the ‘dead flat’ paint base, as this would provide a better finish with the hand painted leaves Brian has planned to include in the library.

Before we drove out to visit the Castorama store, just on the outskirts, we took a little time to wander through the streets of Dijon and find a lovely little bistro for a simple bavette et frites lunch and, of course, some Dijon mustard. Simply delicious.

Foundation

We woke to a very blustery morning. We could hear the wind whooshing around the house and rustling the trees.

We weren’t worried though, because we were going to be inside today, and ideally the plan was to finish off the undercoat in the library.

I was soon back on the roller and Brian was helping by cutting in around all the edges.

It seemed to take way longer than it should have taken, but we were both pleased with the end result. It’s going to give us a great foundation for the top coat.

Sanding back

We woke on Sunday excited and ready to get going with the library. We both chucked on our work clothes and were ready to get started.

A quick breakfast to charge us up, and Brian was soon sanding back some of the plaster used to fill in the joins of the plaster board.

He had a bit of a head start on me, whilst I sorted out the equipment I needed for painting, but it wasn’t long until I was whizzing along behind him, rolling on a coat or two of undercoat.

We need to undercoat the walls as they are all newly fitted plaster boards. I say ‘newly fitted’, but this work was done a few months before we moved over to France in 2020, so newish. This room had never been a priority, as it’s not a room our guests use. We have also changed our minds a few times on how we are styling it, but we now have a clear vision and can’t wait to get decorating. The undercoat dries super quick, as it gets sucked up by the plasterboard. It will help us achieve a good coverage when we apply our top coat.

Saint Vincent

Today is Saint Vincent’s day, it is celebrated on 22 January every year. Saint Vincent is the patron saint of winemakers, so extremely important to the people who live in our area. He symbolizes the solidarity between them, so every year the villages and towns all across France, who have strong ties to the wine industry, come together to share some convivial moments.

Saturday evening we were invited to join some of the growers and producers at a local hotel restaurant, the Val Moret, for dinner.

There were about 20 people, some familiar faces, but also quite a few we didn’t know. A great way for us to meet new people and practice our French.

It was a really enjoyable evening, chatting in a mix of French and English. One gentleman surprised all his friends by speaking in very decent English to us, revealing a skill they didn’t know he had. The meal was delicious, with local trout to start, then roast beef, which everyone said was perfect for the English (they fondly call us ‘Rosbeef’), some local cheeses, then a very tasty, but not too sweet, dessert.

We obviously enjoyed Champagne as our aperitif, then a local Chablis with the trout and a Bordeaux red with the beef. For dessert they had chosen a Banyuls, which is a wine appellation, not known to us, in the southeastern corner of Roussillon in southern France. It’s in the lower edge of the Pyrenees, not far from the Spanish border. We learnt that Banyuls is a sweet, fortified wine, which can include red, white or rosé wines. We were trying a red variety. They make it by picking the grapes when they are at their highest sugar content and at their sweetest. It was a great way to try a different wine.

A lovely evening all round.

Getting started

We were keen to get started on the library, as it’s quite a big project, and ideally I’d like us to have the construction of the bookcase and the bulk of the ‘messy work’ completed by April, before we start welcoming our guests back to our chambre d’hôte. Although it’s not a room that is used by guests, as it is also our office, it would be nice to have this part finished and tidy. We are able to break the work that’s needed down into smaller elements, so it’s not such a daunting prospect.

It all starts with clearing the bulk of the items out of the room then it was time for hoovering up the cobwebs, which I had to use ear protectors for, as our work vacuum cleaner is very noisy.

After that, the next job was covering the desk and doorway over with plastic. Then we were ready to start the real work, which will take us a fair while, so be ready for some more bibliothèque blogs!

Piped in

We’d had a recommendation for a new pellet supplier, who are making good quality wood pellets locally. They make, and distribute, their pellets from Colombey les deux Églises, about 30 minutes from us.

It seems that the very low temperatures we have had mean that we are burning through our pellets at a much faster rate. When we ordered the top up on Friday we still expected to have two weeks of fuel left, so we were surprised when Brian checked our fuel level on Tuesday morning and found that we only had a few days remaining. Fortunately, on Tuesday afternoon, the man from Alpha pellets called to say he would deliver the next day. This made us very happy, as you can imagine.

The delivery truck that arrived seemed extra long, and he wasn’t able to back into the courtyard. He decided instead to pump the pellets from the road, which works okay. They can pipe up to 30 metres if necessary, after that it starts to degrade the pellets. We did however create a mini traffic jam in the village.

Soon he was set up and pumping the pellets from the truck along the pipe into the silo. It didn’t take too long to fill it up, and just in time for another cold snap forecast for this weekend.

Not one, but two

Finally, after a long wait and long considered plans, we were ready to go and buy the wood for our ‘bibliotheque’, or bookshelves. Brian is going to build them in the room next to the salon, and turn it into our library. At the moment it’s a fairly empty room, with just a desk, and a lot of stacked boxes full of books. But things are now happening, the little room is getting cleared and we are about to make our plans reality.

We’d visited the wood yard in Châtillon a few weeks back, where we had bought the wood for the stairs a few years ago. Based on what oak they had available, Brian has been calculating what he needs to buy for the build. Unfortunately, because there was so much wood, we needed to make two trips. It’s possible that all the wood may have fitted in the car in one go, but it would have been very heavy on the right hand side, and a bit dangerous on the icy roads. So, to be better safe than sorry, we made a second trip.

Today we returned to pick up the second load, and I got to take the photos this time!

Brian is very happy, and really excited, to have bought the wood. He’s now almost ready to start the project…almost! He still needs to buy a lamelleuse or ‘biscuit cutter’, but it’s a case of which one?

Walking on their heads

If you’ve visited France over the last few months you may have noticed some village signs that are upside down. We noticed this one, near us, just before Christmas, and were curious as to why it had been done. After a little bit of research, we discovered that it is a protest by local farmers, to raise awareness of the challenges they face in their industry currently. This initially rather odd protest started in the Occitanie region, in the south of France, but has now spread nationally. It was intended as a harmless way to bring attention to their plight, which is trying to highlight the seemingly contradictory rules they have to contend with as EU members, that are not applied to foreign importers. There is a specific reason they they have chosen to turn the village signs over, it’s because in France when someone is asked to do one thing one day and then the opposite on the next day, they say they are ‘Walking on their heads’.

It’s hard to tell if it has, or will have, an impact on government, however it is getting noticed and it is making people ask “Why is the village sign upside down?”.

Champagne on ice

Pure frost

It had dropped to around -7°c overnight, and when Brian got up to make us some tea he peered out of the window and exclaimed “Jo you should come and see this, the trees are thick with frost, they look so beautiful” . As I was quite comfortable in bed, I suggested rather than getting up straight away to look, instead we could go for a walk after breakfast and take some photos. The forecast was to stay below freezing all day, so I doubted it was going to be thawing in a hurry, and I was very happy to stay in the warm a little bit longer.

So after breakfast, we wrapped up as cosily as possible and set off for a short walk to our favourite spot, the point de vue. It was such a beautiful walk, so quiet with a crisp, wintery stillness. Delightful. I love how the countryside changes its feel with the different seasons, the light, the colours, the air, all adding to the changing landscape.

These are the photographs I took of Brian taking his photos, which I will put up as a separate blog tomorrow. He also took some video which we want to include too.

It’s quite unbelievable that the blanket of white all around isn’t snow, but just pure frost.

Nature’s amazing

Whilst I was preparing breakfast this morning Brian nipped out to the vineyards at the back of our house. He wanted to take some photos of the vines.

He found the vineyard looking very chilled.

He couldn’t wait to come back and show me his photographs. The close ups of the vines looking like spiky hawthorns, with the natural icicles growing on them. Isn’t nature amazing.

The teasels, which are already spiky, appeared proud and statuesque against the fir trees, like they were ready for winter.

This view is looking down the valley from behind our house, and has an eeriness in the cold white light, as you peer into the distance.

I think he was glad to get back into the warm, and enjoy a little treat of hot chocolate.

Over specced!

We were keen to get the bathroom shelves finished, so this morning Brian focused on cutting the wood and fitting the actual shelves, in readiness for me to get them varnished. It really didn’t take him long, once he’d got started again. It’s just he needs to get started. I certainly think he does jobs much quicker than he used to, I think it’s because he has a lot more confidence now in his ability, and I suppose he has way more experience of different types of challenges he may come across.

I then needed to varnish or oil them, to help protect the wood and make them simple to wipe down. I was intending to oil them with an Osmo hard wax oil, however I only had a little left, not enough to complete the job, so I decided to use the product I’d used on the salon floor.

We’d bought a huge tin, and hadn’t even used half of it. It was probably over specced for the job, but it would do what I needed it to do.

Over the next couple of days I painted on two coats, and we were both very pleased with our end result. It is now full of towels, and being used to the max. I’m glad we finally got round to doing this as it has made a real difference to our bathroom.

I’m now wondering though, should I repaint the bathroom?

Clean sweep

It was a very chilly morning this morning, and I could easily have curled up under the duvet for another half an hour, but we’d booked for the chimney sweep to come today, and he was due at 8.30am.

Before he arrived I wanted to prepare the salon, clear off the mantelpiece, move the furniture and take up the rug.

In France it is part of your obligation for insurance purposes to have your chimney cleaned once per year. I think it’s a great safety requirement, but also helps support our local chimney sweeps.

He was soon at work, cleaning out the ash from last night, cleaning the damper and generally cleaning around the fireplace.

Next was to sweep the chimney. He first put a cloth up to reduce any dust that would come into the house, then he used a long pipe/brush which was wound around a large wheel. It was all very efficient and quick.

In fact it only took about 30 minutes to get set up, do the job, and clean up. He then emailed us our receipt and confirmation of the visit and results from the intervention. Our chimney now has a clean bill of health.

Bit nippy

There were a few bulbs I hadn’t yet planted, and as it was a gorgeously sunny day, although a bit nippy, I decided to head outside to plant them in two of the urns I’d bought last year. It was probably a little late to plant bulbs, but I’m sure they will have a go at growing.

The urns are quite deep, so I started by placing some plastic pots in the bottom first, so as not to use too much compost, and not to add too much weight to the urns.

I then filled them with a layer of compost, and positioned the bulbs on top, before covering them with more compost up to a depth of 15cm.

Now I just need to wait, and hopefully we’ll get to see some beautiful, yellow daffodils and narcissi in the spring.

Give us our daily bread

For those who have been following our adventure for a while now, you may remember me buying this lovely old bread board from a gentleman at a local vide grenier we visited. It’s been in our atelier waiting patiently to be renovated. Brian had treated a bit of woodworm on it as soon as we bought it, and also glued a crack together, which he thought may get worse if he left it. But today it made it to the top of the list, and he started working on it with the intention of making it ready to go up on the wall today.

He soon had it rubbed down using some fine wire wool so as not to scratch it, but tough enough to remove a lot of the old varnish and oils. It was already looking better.

The crack that he’d glued when we first bought it, had fixed together well, so there was not much more to do to it.

The last job was to oil it to help preserve the wood and bring out its natural colour. He used a chopping board oil, which is food friendly. I know I will probably never use it for putting food on, but it’s a good oil to use as it dries well, and nourishes the wood.

It was also another outing for the laser, so that he can line up the centre with the centre of the shelf.

It was soon hung up and looking stunning. I love mixing together our little English memories and our French finds, I think they look good together.

It’s snowing

We woke to a smattering of snow this morning. When it snows here the roads get icy very quickly before the salt can be laid, but the vignerons don’t let it stop them, driving out in their tractors to work in the vineyards, they really do go out in all weathers. The temperature was around -2°c , so not super cold, but chilly enough.

By lunchtime it had started to snow again. I think the falling snow brings the sleepy winter garden to life, making it a magical winter wonderland.

By mid afternoon the snowflakes were definitely getting bigger, and heavier, and beginning to settle. We were glad to be in the warm of the house, peering out of the window up into the vineyards.

Between flurries, Brian snuck out to empty the post box. The road was well and truly covered now, and the forecast is for the temperatures to drop, getting down to -7°c, so I don’t think we will be venturing too far for the next few days.

However, we did need to drop a cheque off at the Mairie’s, so Brian headed out all dressed up for the weather.

Board!

Last year we bought this old board at a vide grenier, I’d wanted it to use as a serving board for cold meats, charcuterie, nibbles etc.

Whilst Brian was making the shelf supports, he also sanded it down lightly for me, so it looks an even colour.

He has just oiled it, with some food safe oil. It looks brilliant, I’m so pleased with it, and it’s great to be back getting some jobs done.

Made to fit

Back to building the shelves today. I think Brian relishes this part of the job, the bit that he has to think about all the odd angles. He took his measurements and pretty much cut the board to fit first time, with very little wastage.

With the back board in, he now needed to fit in the supporting side boards.

With these in place, he could then add the shelf supports, which he’d carefully cut and rounded the front edge of, so as not to catch on towels. A little wood glue, nails and a laser, and the shelves were definitely coming together.