Plane and simple

After Brian has used his lamelleuse to join the wood, and gone through the process of gluing and clamping, he then needs to clean up the finish.

Sometimes the old school tools are just as effective as the new ones. After Brian has joined two pieces of wood together, to get the flat finish he wants, he needs to simply plane the join to get a smooth surface.

He then sands the whole side, removing any marks or imperfections.

It’s wonderful what finish can be achieved.

It’s a slow process, but he’s completed 3 uprights and 2 shelves already.

It’s magic

This week we booked to visit the opticians in Troyes to order our new glasses. We’d already been into an Alain Affilou store to look at their ‘Magic‘ range of glasses whilst in Dijon, and we liked the way the tinted, magnetic clip-ons instantly change them into a pair of sunglasses. Convinced they were a good idea, we thought we’d go and see if we could find some we liked in Troyes.

What do you think, did we buy any of these?

The Affilou experience is very thorough, and we loved their talking mirror, that helps them measure and get the correct fitting for your face and eyes. I can’t wait to go and pick them up now.

I think Brian was a bit exhausted by the whole opticians thing by the time we came out so, before heading to MacArthur Glen for some retail therapy, we dropped off at a new Boulangerie that has opened near to the retail park. It was a great place for lunch, and a little sugar hit. We did share the rather large eclair.

Good prune

The day had started a bit grey and was a little damp and chilly, but I was keen to tidy up my Christmas bulb pots, and redo them with some spring bulbs. So I popped outside and enjoyed having a bit of a tidy up. I sorted out some hyacinths and mini daffodils for one of my old tureens, and repotted some more hyacinths in a pot to go in the hallway.

The day brightened as I worked, and I decided to start to clean up around an old sewing table I had positioned near the barn. It certainly looked neater when I’d finished. With that done, I thought I’d prune the rather unruly rose bush that greets you as you drive into the courtyard. As it’s raised, it creates a beautiful place to sit under in the summer. We position a bench under it and the branches of the bush produce lots of natural shade.

I’ve given it a really good prune, so fingers crossed it will flourish this year.

That’s the spirit

We decided the top of the cupboard we had bought, to become the base of the bookshelf, needed to be cleaned down of any old wax before we started. I’d given the cupboard a good clean when we’d bought it, but we both felt the top would benefit from a further clean. So before Brian got started today he used some fine wire wool and white spirit to take off the old layers of wax.

With that done, he moved on to marking up where the uprights for the shelves were going to go. Trusty laser at hand, he was soon confident that his marks were going to give him the precision he needed.

Originally we were only going to have three book units joined together, but when Brian brought his drawing together with the cupboard, it seemed only natural that it needed four.

Excusez moi!

For a while now we’ve wanted to buy a couple of fire extinguishers for the house. One to have on the landing by the guest rooms, and the other in the hallway on the ground floor. However we were finding it really difficult to make contact with the local fire safety firms. I called a couple of them and left messages and also emailed, but never a response. So the other week, when we’d stopped off for a coffee before heading home after collecting the wood for the library, I saw one of the fire companies vans in the parking lot. He was about to drive off, so I quickly said to Brian “look there’s a fire safety company, let’s go and talk to him about getting a couple of extinguishers”. These sort of moments always appear way easier than they are, but Brian agreed and followed me as I jogged across the car park shouting, “Bonjour monsieur, excusez moi”. He stopped and turned, looking a little quizzical, and probably thinking to himself ‘who is this crazy woman, trying to get my attention?’.

The conversation started with some difficulty, as I wasn’t really prepared, but luckily Brian came to my help, and for once I was glad he butted in with his way more eloquent French than mine, explaining to the man who we were, and what we think we needed. After a bit of toing-and-froing we seemed to have communicated well, and we all went away very happy, as he’d arranged to visit us on Monday to view our property and discuss exactly what we needed.

As promised he visited as arranged, and we are now the very proud owners of two shiny, red fire extinguishers. We have agreed he will be back next January to service them for us.

Two become one

We’ve both been waiting a rather long while for the proper start of Brian building the bibliothèque shelves. There’s been a lot of stages to go through, a lot of talk, and a lot of planning, but this morning Brian said to me “Today I will start cutting the wood for the shelves”. I think that was a relief for both of us.

I know it’s a really big thing for him, because he’s already put so much thought and work into making sure it goes right, but actually starting to chop the wood is the point of no return for him and it makes it feel more real. My only tip was to not rush anything, and use that well used motto that dad taught us many moons ago - measure twice, cut once.

He chose the piece he wanted to start with and marked it up so that he knew where it was going to be used. He has a rather complex diagram to work to, and I know there is little wood that won’t get used for something.

I noticed, he has printed the diagram and put it on the wall in the workshop. That’s very organised for him.

He carried the first piece of wood out to his workshop and set about cutting it to the approximate length.

Then it was time to use the new jointing tool: his biscuit cutter. He carefully marked the two planks and set about cutting the holes for the biscuits. I was quite intrigued on how this was all going to work.

I could soon see how simple it was, and how it was all going to piece together. It was just a case of applying glue to the surfaces and clamping it. Well, that sounds simple, but there was a lot of clamps needed, and a very steady process of pressure, to ensure the pieces fitted perfectly together.

All done, two become one. This is the first upright for the shelves glued together, and clamped tightly. Quite a time consuming job, but a great piece of carpentry, and very accurate.

Now only 9 more uprights and 16 shelves to fix together and he can start making it into a book shelf.

Biscuit jointer

Today is an important one for moving the bookshelves forward, it’s the day Brian is hoping his new ‘biscuit jointer’ will arrive. For now though he is checking all his measurements to ensure they are correct, which is easier now the cupboard is in its final position.

Whilst that was happening I decided the sunny, if somewhat cold, weather was just right to start the year in the garden, doing some much needed pruning.

The roses were top of the list, but the lavender also needed work. It’s been a bit of a wet winter, and the pruning that should have happened at the end of last year has had to be carried over to now. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than leaving everything to outgrow itself.

We popped in for a welcome cup of tea, and as we did the bell was rung by the delivery man. This could only mean one thing!

Brian unpacked his new jointer, and gave it a check over. Then he proceeded to read the instructions carefully. Precision is important with this tool which is why he bought a better one online than the one that was available locally. So making sure he knows how to use it properly is essential. However, I think he’s quite impatient to give it a go, which should be tomorrow.

Anyway, back to the pruning for me.

Made to measure

With the walls now painted, Brian spent yesterday afternoon cutting and staining a spacer, so that we could push the cupboard into the corner, and that it would fit perfectly without any gaps between the cupboard and the wall.

He did this, by first cutting a piece of wood just wide enough to fit. He needed to ensure it was actually the right shape, because, of course, the cupboard is old and a bit twisted, and the wall is not perfectly straight. Things never are.

Once he knew it fitted, he stained it with a couple of different stains he had to achieve the right colour, then waxed it, before attaching it to the cupboard and pushing it into place.

Made to measure.

First coat

It was a little brisk this morning when we woke, the moon was hanging low in the sky, with the frost looking chilly on the garden and the vines behind the swimming pool.

By the time we had drunk our tea, the moon had tucked himself away for another day, and the sun was up, displaying a beautiful blue sky.

I would have loved to have been gardening, but that needed to wait, I’d committed to painting the walls in the library today. The painting needs to happen so that Brian can progress the bookshelves, which we are both keen for him to get started on. So the painting began. We have chosen Joa’s white by Farrow and Ball. It’s a warm natural colour, which is going to complement the oak perfectly, and help create a cosy environment for our library.

I used my trusty, teflon roller to make light work of the big areas, while Brian followed behind filling in the corners and edges.

First coat on, and it’s looking really good. Farrow and Ball paints have such great coverage, and apply really well, that’s why I love using them. They may be a bit more expensive, but in my view it’s well worth it. I will apply a second coat, as there are a few thinner patches, but this won’t take much, and I will do this at some point over the next couple of days.

A little difference

The stairwell was showing a few scuff marks and areas of wear from the last couple of years. It has been two years since we decorated it. Conscious that we will shortly soon be welcoming guests back to our b&b, we decided to touch up the areas which needed some attention.

It’s surprising how just a little bit of care can make a real difference, it’s feeling fresh and ready to greet our guests again. I love the thought of having guests back really soon.

Out of shape

The oak cupboard that we bought some time ago for the library is in need of a few repairs. The first one that needs looking at is the realignment of the oak planks on the top. This is where Brian will attach the bookshelves, so he needs a flatter base to work on.

First of all he measured to get the right spots for the screws that would be used, then he drilled them all out. Oak is very tough, and Brian always pre-drills it to make sure the screws go all the way in.

His new drill is coming in very handy now, it has way more power and he’s really happy with how long the batteries last. It seems to go for hours, in fact days.

After screwing the planks down he is left with a neat little hole that he’ll plug later. One small job done, and a nice flat surface to work on. This will make building the bookcase a little bit easier.

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?