A beautiful day

What a beautiful day.

We couldn’t resist enjoying our morning cup of tea outside, soaking up the sun. What a treat. The garden is starting to spring into life, and I’m loving being able to tidy it up, getting it ready for its spring blooms.

The hyacinths are already out; their scent sweet on the air. The muscari, which I love, are flourishing, poking up through the gravel. I found a few delicate daffodils, which have beautiful multi layered flower heads, tucked into the lavender beds, so I picked a few, along with some lavender for a vase. I must have popped them in the ground last year.

Breakfast

Since moving to France we like to take time and enjoy our breakfasts, it really sets us up for the day. About once or twice a week I will make us a hot breakfast, which I like to keep varied. I buy locally produced sausages, bacon, mushrooms and organic eggs, which are delicious scrambled, boiled, poached or fried. A little bit of salt and pepper and they become the perfect start to the day.

What can I do?

“Jo can you come and give me a hand?” I heard Brian call. I was in the middle of sorting some bits out in the kitchen, so quickly dried my hands and went to help.

“What can I do?” I asked. “Just hold this here please”. He was gluing the final biscuits into place, and needed to do them in situ. Once he’d squirted the glue on, we then had a hairy ten minutes lining it all up, and ensuring it was level before the glue began drying.

He then created a ‘Brian contraption’ to ensure he had pressure in the right places whilst the shelves dried into position.

An evening in Troyes

We needed to pick up Brian’s reading glasses from the opticians in Troyes. We’d obviously spent way too much in there when we had bought our main glasses, as this pair was complimentary!

As we had left it till the afternoon to travel in, and the sun was setting when we left the opticians, we decided we’d grab some supper before heading home. The Indian restaurant we picked was a busy little one near the main cathedral. The brilliant blue sky and the early evening sun made the cathedral really light up, it’s such a statuesque building.

I do like an Indian supper, and obviously I wanted to pick well, so I spent a little while choosing.

Very happy with my choice when it arrived, we both tucked into our lightly spiced and tasty supper.

Profile

The edge of the cupboard unit is not straight. As we want to fix a door to this part Brian needs to cut a filler piece of wood with the same profile as the side panel to level it up. So off he went to his workshop to create the perfect tool for the job, which involved drilling a hole in a piece of wood and poking a pencil through it. He was then able to hold the point of the wood against the cabinet and drag it downwards, drawing onto the piece of wood he had prepared for the filler.

Genius! A perfect fit, and a straight edge to work from.

Déchetterie run

With all the pruning and gardening jobs we’d done over the past couple of months, our little trailer was full to the brim with garden waste. However we still managed to push a little bit more in. With the boot of the car also full, our trip to the déchèterie (tip) was long overdue.

It’s such an easy job really, but it’s a great feeling once it’s completed.

Before heading home we nipped to the little boulangerie in Essoyes to buy some bread and a couple of pain au chocolats, they were very delicious with our morning coffee. Hopefully no one saw me in my very uncoordinated work clothes.

Lining it up

Brian’s having to take a slightly different tack with the final set of shelves, as they are fixing directly onto the cupboard.

After creating the frame and ensuring he has all the shelf pieces lined up where he wants them, he needed to use his biscuit cutter to make the holes in the uprights on the shelf unit already in place. Not very easy, as he couldn’t quite see his marks, so needed to adapt how he cut them.

He wanted to do a dry run on joining them to the main bookcase, which actually seemed to come together easier than we thought.

Double edged

Who would know that there are so many different saws required when you start creating in wood, and I have a feeling that we are only just scratching the surface. The other day a rather long package arrived, and a very excited Brian was keen to see what was inside. He’d ordered himself a tenon saw, which is a very thin, completely flat, doubled sided blade with fine teeth on one side, and course on the other. It’s for cutting wood accurately both across and with the grain, and achieving very straight and flat cuts. I had heard of it, but never really seen one before. I knew he wanted one as he wanted to include a certain type of joint in the final section of the bookcase. It would not have been as accurate without it.

The saw is extremely sharp, and actually quite flexible. I think he’s going to enjoy using this.

This is the first joint he has practiced on with it, which he took great care with as it can be seen at the top of the final set of shelves.

Nearly there….

I’m finally getting to finish off painting the wall behind where the radiator will go back to. It only needed a couple of coats, so didn’t take me long.

At the other end of the room, Brian was fitting the spacer he had cut to fill the gap between the shelves and the wall. He’d glued this into place, so added some temporary wedges to hold it in.

He was now ready to start fitting the final set of shelves. This will have a small cupboard below it, however he is yet to decide exactly how this will come together.

50 years young

It was so wonderful receiving a birthday invitation to a friends 50th anniversaire.

First though we needed to decipher where it was being held at. Can you work out the clues he gave in the invitation above?

It took place on Saturday evening, and some other friends had offered for us to stay over with them, it’s about a 30 minute drive, so we really appreciated that. Especially as it didn’t finish until the very early hours of the morning.

It was an absolutely fabulous evening celebrating Jérôme’s birthday. He’d booked some brilliant entertainment who really knew how to get the party started, and was full of energy all night. It was such a lovely environment to meet more of Jérôme’s friends and family, and enjoy lots of chat. We also got to break out a few of our own dance moves.

First cut

It was such a beautiful morning I made the decision to go and cut the slope. Brian was deep in thought on how to do the final set of shelves, and preparing the wood to make them, so I left him to it and set off for the garden.

I’d got about half way through, when I needed to change the battery, so I headed down to suggest a coffee break, which we enjoyed in the warmth of the sun.

Refreshed, and the second battery fitted, I started again. It actually took three full battery charges to finish it today, mainly because the grass was quite long, especially in the meadow part, which needed a good cut to refresh it for this year.

Love it or paint it

As the radiator was off the wall, I grasped the opportunity to clean it. My initial thought, as I’d only just been using the jet washer, was to take it outside and jet wash it. That was never going to happen, it is so heavy I couldn’t even help out by lifting one end. After a bit of hopeless trying with our faithful sack barrow, I said to Brian “I’m changing my mind, I’m going to clean it in here”. I think there was actual relief in his voice “are you sure? It’s not an easy thing to do by hand”.

“It’s easier than moving it”, I said, and I really couldn’t have been more sure of anything else at that point.

A couple of quiet hours sitting on the floor later and the job was done.

We will decide over the next couple of days as to whether I paint it or love it.

For now I think we both love it just as it is.

Glue or screw?

So the fourth one is up. Brian is now being critical over a couple of small gaps where two shelf sections fit together.

What that did was help us with our decision to screw each section to the one next to it. We had always planned to do that, but Brian had thought for a while about just glueing them. Décision made, he was soon on the task.

Job done, now he just needs to work out how he is going to do the fifth and final piece, which extends beyond the cabinet.

Where do I stop?

We woke to beautiful blue skies this morning, so I decided that today was the day to try and clean the wall on the left hand side of the steps. I’d given the rose quite a heavy prune on that side, so it is an ideal time to try and clean off some of the winter mould.

I could quickly start to see the results, and it’s one of those jobs that once you start you need to ask yourself ‘where do I stop?’

I’d soon completed the wall, and moved onto the steps. At the base of the steps I continued, as I found I was discovering much larger stones under our path.

So once I’d completed one side, I just had to do the other.

I hadn’t quite banked on just how dirty I was going to get!

Popping out

How I just love spring. This morning, as I popped over to the barn to get my roller for painting, I noticed the little grape hyacinths are popping out all over the garden. These ones are just by the front door, in front of the lavender. Delightful.

Now the radiator is off the wall, I want to get the wall painted. So undercoat first, then over the next few days I’ll put the top coat on and get the radiator cleaned. We then need to decide on whether or not I paint the radiator. I actually like the radiator looking a bit shabby, but I’ll need to see how much paint comes off in the cleaning process.

Stumped

Today the plumber came to service our pellet boiler, we had also asked him to take the radiator off the wall in the library, so that I could paint behind it.

So as not to get in his way, I took the opportunity to get Brian to help me with a few jobs in the garden. One of them was to try to kill off, and remove, an old tree stump that continues to try and keep growing behind the walled garden.

He started by taking the chain saw to it, and removing any small growing branches. We then painted on some stump remover, which will hopefully help it to die back. Not something we would usually use, but we don’t want it to damage the wall. We’re hopeful this will work.

Wipe it off

With the wood for the fourth set of shelves planed, sanded and all stuck together, Brian still felt he was a clamp short and wanted to add a bit more weight to the middle shelf, so he improvised with a stack of wood.

By the end of the day we took all the clamps off and I was able to get a first coat of linseed oil on it. After four sets of shelves, I think we’ve mastered the art. And that is to wipe the oil off a little while after I’ve brushed it on. That provides an excellent finish, and it dries more effectively between coats.

Two more coats on this and then we can put it up, and Brian can start work on the side part of the shelves.

Stylish

Our opticians had contacted us to let us know we could go and pick our glasses up. We were both looking forward to having new ones. It’s always a nice treat when we go to Troyes to enjoy a lazy morning coffee or hot chocolate, which Brian has become rather fond of, and today we found a new little café in a back street that served 100% cocoa version. He said it was very strong, but delicious.

After we’d collected our glasses, and had them fitted, I then headed to my 11am rendezvous for my first ever French hair appointment. I’d finally mustered the courage to go.

I don’t know why I was so worried. The salon was very quiet, with soft music in the background. In my best French I was able to share, in a simple way, what I wanted to have done, and in response the stylist spoke slowly and clearly.

We chatted a little during the time, and it was nice to be able to practice my French and learn a little more about French life. And I’m loving my new haircut also, nicely trimmed with no major change.

3 out of 4

With three of the four shelves now completed, we have started to position them on the top of the cabinet.

We are both loving how it’s all coming together, and getting impatient to see it in use. However there’s still quite a way to go.

Something fishy

Earlier this week we went on a voyage of discovery with some friends. They wanted to show us a little farm shop which is about 10 minutes from them.

On a Wednesday afternoon the farm shop also has a fish van that visits, so we planned our little trip with this in mind, so that we could enjoy a fish supper together.

We chose some ‘lingue’ from the fish stall for our dinner with some grey (brown) shrimp’s and Madagascar prawns for a starter. Our friends served the lingue with fresh boiled potatoes and some savoy cabbage, and a tasty caper sauce. It was all very delicious.

The farm shop was awash with homegrown vegetables and locally produced products.

As we were leaving the potager I spotted some little fruit trees, which looked very healthy. I would love a new tree to plant on our back slope, so I’m thinking we should go back and buy one. I just need to decide which one - Apple, Pear or Cherry. The Apples or Pears would be lovely in a tarte, while the Cherries are good for clafoutis. Choices, choices - which one would you choose?

When we headed back to our friends to cook our purchases, we took a mini detour to visit ‘La Fosse’ at the small village of Coulmier-le-Sec. As the name suggests, it was a village that had no access to water. So a rather large watering hole was built to supply the village. The available history seems pretty vague on when it was built and specifically why, but this large hole would fill up during periods of rain, and the villagers would obtain their water as needed during times of drought. There is also a small well for drinking water built about 50 metres away from the hole.