20 lengths

I’m not the most elegant of swimmers, but I do enjoy getting in the pool and swimming 20 lengths. I had thought this may be my limit, but I’m actually thinking I should aim to do 30 before the summer is over.

What a perfect way to get fit.

Eggcellent!

Finally, we are now the proud owners of ten year carte de séjours.

It had all been a bit tense earlier in the year, when the website for renewing of CDSs wasn’t working—this was happening across France. So everyone who had received 5 year visas, just before Brexit, were struggling with their renewals. We had gone on the offensive, and sent a package of the necessary paperwork (which we researched separately) in a recorded delivery posting, and followed up with numerous emails, which finally resulted in a response email acknowledging receipt, and asking us to stop bothering them until they could properly reply. Local governments eventually put in place systems to provide temporary paperwork, to enable those needing renewals to continue to be able to work and travel.

Well, this week we got our invite email to attend the prefecture.

We celebrated our news with brunch, with friends who had also received theirs at the same time, at a delightful little cafe in Troyes.

https://www.chezaxelle.com

I did think it was going to be too much for me, but Brian was able to help me out with one of the pancakes.

I’m a big fan

One of the bathroom air vents had stopped working, so we needed to swap it out for a new one.

However, nothing is ever that simple. First of all Brian had to take the old fan partly off of the wall, to measure the hole for the size of the fan we needed, and then ordered one on the internet to fit. What we hadn’t done though, before ordering it, was to take the fan out of the wall completely. If we had done, we would have noticed that the electrician, who’d originally fitted it, had cut the back off of to make it fit.

Hmmm, this wasn’t going to work for Brian, so his ’how do I fix this one’ brain went into action.

He vanished for a while, then soon appeared out of his workshop with a piece of wood, cut to the right size to mount the fan on.

This meant it gave him enough depth to now fit the new fan without chopping it up.

Voila ! Job done, and I’m a big fan of the outcome, as it’s a lot quieter than the old one.

My oasis

There’s a little area of my garden that has been getting all of my left over water - washing up water, melted ice from champagne coolers, half drunk bottles of water too warm to drink, etc. I store it all up, and pour into my little oasis, as it’s now affectionately known.

It’s meant the dahlias I planted earlier in the year, and vigorously protected from a little creature that was adamant they would make a tasty snack, are now flourishing.

I also planted a chilli plant, which is now laden with chillies, and have two butternut squash plants that are looking really good.

they are full of flowers, and already have two squashes growing. I’m super excited about them ripening, and being able to cook with them.

Butternut squash is one of my favourite autumn vegetables, they are so versatile. I will share some recipes over the coming months.

Noyers vide grenier

We traveled over to the region of the Yonne this morning, to Noyers-sur-serein. It is listed as one of the most beautiful villages in France. It’s a small medieval village, nestled in the turns of the river Serein. The side alleys, and little cobbled side streets, hide tucked away restaurants, art studios and brocantes. A tourist delight.

We were also lucky to visit on the day of their weekly vide grenier. This happens just through July and August.

After we’d strolled along the river and visited the stalls we headed for our lunch stop. Not quite so typically French, but just what we all fancied. Brian had a few snails to accompany his pizza, all washed down with a very refreshing glass of cold Pelforth.

I was very happy with my two little finds, a wire egg collecting basket, which I shall probably use as a hanging basket in the garden. And a miniature picture frame, with a period print on silk.

I thought she was quite delightful.

Froggy

At least twice a year the river that runs outside our house needs weeding. It’s quite a task, but especially so in the current heatwave, so with a little bit of water and plenty of heat the weed is plentiful. It definitely needs work soon, but for now it seems to suit our new visitor, who we found warming himself on the large rock that’s been revealed by the low water.

Olive Oi

Early last year we planted two olive trees up at the pool. It is such a sun trap by the wall of the pool room that we thought it would be the ideal spot to plant them. Olives can be quite tolerant of heat, and lack of water, but also do well in cooler temperatures. Although I did want to protect them from any severe frosts.

They seem to be enjoying their position and flourishing, even producing some fruits this year. I just need to research now what you need to do to olives to prepare them to be eaten.

It would be wonderful, to be able to eat olives we had grown.

Chateau De Vaux - the chateau

Chateau de Vaux was constructed by a wealthy family from Troyes at the end of the 1720’s. It is considered today as one of the most beautiful architectural buildings of our department.

In 1980 the chateau was classified as a historical monument, and in 1995 the owner at that time temporarily installed hundreds of metal sheets on the roof to prevent it from water damage.

It wasn’t until 2015, at the age of 22, Edouard Guyot bought the estate. Now, for the first time, the castle is open to the public, whilst Edouard continues his renovation.

During the festival the house was open, and we were able to explore the ground floor salons, and the basement kitchens.

It was fabulous being able to get so close to the workings of the chateau.

I also enjoyed looking at the materials, colours, and patterns of the decoration.

Outside of the hunting season, and by request, visitors to the chateau can enjoy long walks in the 300 hectares of forest.

It’s definitely worth a visit.

Chateau De Vaux

It was Le Festival Chasse et Campagne at Chateau De Vaux on Saturday. It was another sweltering day, so we decided to head there early, before it warmed up too much.

The event started with a presentation by the horn players, followed by a blessing on the steps of the chateau.

We sat in the shade to watch this, and then headed to the main arena to watch some of the events, which are always quite spectacular.

This year they had a display of Hungarian horses, with their owners. It was an amazing performance, demonstrating the loyalty and trust between the horsemen and their horses.

We also sat and watched a dog display, I think the most marvellous ones were the puppies, some of them just four months old and retrieving the bags.

Another well organised and delightful day.

Early harvest

As experienced all across Europe, and the UK, temperatures have been soaring. At times reaching above 40° C in our region. This heat has meant the grapes have matured faster than previous years.

So the grape harvest has come much earlier in the region than we have seen before, and as the days are still hot, the vignerons, and pickers, have been starting their days extremely early. This morning, around 4am, whilst I stirred lightly in my sleep, I could hear the first tractors trundling down the road, off to the vineyards to prepare everything for the pickers.

Around 6am, as I was starting to wake, I heard the chatter, and clatter, of the pickers arriving in the vineyards starting their day.

The grapes are certainly not as plump as previous years, but the vines are looking healthy, and hopefully will produce a quality crop.

Mirabelles

My biggest plum tree has dropped all its fruit this year. The drought has meant they just haven’t developed, so no little plum treats on the way up to the pool this year.

However, this is not the case for all the fruit trees, and I do have another, smaller, plum tree which I will be able to pick a small harvest from in a few days, I hope.

Meanwhile, a friend of mine has given me some mirabelles, gorgeously sweet and juicy.

They are much smaller than plums, but will make a delicious fruit crumble. It’s too hot currently to enjoy that, so I have de-stoned them, lightly roasted them in their own juices, and then frozen them until we are ready to enjoy them in the cooler months.

Creeping in

For those who have followed my posts for a while now, you may remember the painting Brian had started on the library wall. Well it’s time to progress it.

He’d been a little unsure as to how to develop the leaves, and it had slowed progress. He’d thought of being more graphic, but I liked the idea of a more natural approach, like the outside was creeping in.

He has rekindled his motivation now, and has a plan to push ahead and work on it over the coming weeks.

I can’t wait to see it develop and grow across the wall, creeping in from the outside.

Eclipsed

Our friend Sharon arrived earlier this week to stay for a few days. It was the evening of the eclipse, so we decided to enjoy a glass or two in the garden before the big event.

The rosé de saignée from Drappier was a rather delicious way to set the mood. It’s full of red fruit flavours, strawberries really come through, and makes for a delightful summer aperitif.

The time flew past as we chatted and sipped, catching up on each other’s news, whilst waiting for the sun and moon to do their thing. What we soon realised though, was that we would need to go to the top of the house to see the actual eclipse.

Brian left us enjoying our Champagne in the garden whilst he went to take me a photo. We enjoyed the ambiance, with the fading light in the garden, and the stillness of the birds that this rare occasion created.

What was your experience like?

The Race

In France, ‘JA Warrior’ is a popular farming themed event. The young farmers of France, Jeunes Agriculteurs, organise it during the regional agricultural festivals. It takes the form of various different farm-themed challenges, which may include: climbing giant walls of straw bales, moving heavy hay bales, running through tractor tires, or other similar tests of stength and agility — which I must say all sound pretty difficult in such hot weather. However, our Jeunes Agriculteurs had a different idea, and organised a combine harvester race! It sounded pretty thrilling.

We took a position by the fence, to see the drivers preparing, which obviously included some last minute tweaks with a welder.

The young contestants seemed fearless, perched up high in their home-built safety cages, as they trundled to the start line. The flag was waved, and, to a chorus of revving engines, they started chasing each other around the hay bale track, often side-swiping the vehicle in front to try and gain an advantage.

What fun it was to watch, and a real delight to see the support they gave each other to get their ancient harvesters moving.

La Fete de l’agriculture

At the weekend we enjoyed a day out at our local farming show. We’d never been before, and were rather impressed with the scale of the event, and the amount of effort that had been put into making it such a fabulous experience.

We didn’t spend too much time looking at all the oversized machinery, and instead headed off to see the prized animals.

The sheep were looking particularly cute, with their little black faces and feet.

They had set up a free ride for the children, being pulled around the show ground in converted oil drums behind a small tractor — what fun.

A little more exhilarating , perhaps, were the ‘half-cars’, racing around a dirt track with no tyres on their back wheels! Now that was potty and made for a great spectacle.

However, what we saw next made even the half-cars look tame. Brian has a ‘video-in-the-making’ to follow tomorrow, so brace yourselves!

Affouage

Some friends had asked for our help collecting their ‘affouage’ from the forest. They take an allocation from their commune each year to cut firewood for their domestic heating needs, and in French that’s known as affouage.

Apparently it is an ancient legal right dating back to the Middle Ages that allows local residents of a French commune to harvest firewood from municipal communal forests. It is not something we do, as it is a big investment in kit, and a very labour intensive task. Something we do not have the skill or muscle to fulfill.

They had been allocated a patch deep in the forest to cut, and had previously done the work of chopping down the marked trees, and chopping them up into logs, earlier in the year. They had then stacked them in to piles, ready to be collected. That’s what we were here for. Brian got stuck in, helping load the trailer.

It was heavy, and hot, work. Once we’d loaded the trailer we drove back to the house and helped unload it. This wood needs to sit now for three years to season before burning.

A swim in the river was a welcome relief to cool down and chill out before a delicious dinner at the trois pianos.

Cocktails & sundaes

Last night we met up with some friends for pizza. First, we met at theirs for cocktails, a Hugo spritz—apparently it’s all the rage. It’s an extremely refreshing drink, with lots of floral notes, with a real citrusy kick, I have to say, it was rather delicious.

It’s made with Elderflower cordial, sparkling water, or soda water, and Prosecco, or some other type of sparkling wine. It was quite delightful, and set us up well for our dinner of pasta and pizza.

Brian and I declined on dessert, however, after seeing JM’s red fruit sundae I have to say I may be tempted next time.

Simply irresistible.

Dinner with friends

It’s always such a delight being invited out for dinner with friends, but it’s also important to remember a little gift. My dahlias are thriving in the warm weather, so I picked a few, and scented them with some rosemary to take to our hosts. Brian picked out a bottle of wine.

The view over our village was spectacular from their balcony, and it’s a perfectly shaded spot on a warm evening.

As the sun set, Marinus lit the candles, so beautiful against the red rooftops of the little stone houses. A simply delightful evening

Skies

I always find seeing the moon during the day fascinating. Apparently, it’s because the sun reflecting on it is brighter than the daytime sky.

Our sunset this evening was rather glorious too, as we had just enough cloud to create an orange glow, making for such a serene and pleasant evening.

Then around 1am, the clouds had built, and the storm came. The sky was a vivid lilac every time the lightening cracked across it, framing the edge of the valley. I managed to sleep right through it, but Brian woke to a clattering shutter, and took the opportunity of taking a photograph.

Such a wonderful, changeable world we live in.

Voigny

Day two of the champagne festival we headed to Voigny, a village we hadn’t visited before. It had 4 producers open for tastings, so our taste buds soon came alive, and we were all up for the day.

Things, in more ways than one, were looking similar to the day before, with Jon enjoying another plate of oysters—this time with a few prawns as well.

Voigny was a very interesting village, with a number of the producers featuring Pinot meunier quite strongly in their assemblage. We will definitely go back to revisit some of these.

The next village was Arrentières, which again had 4 producers. The day was hotting up though, and we realised, after about our 7th glass of the day, that things were getting too hot, and our pool was beckoning.

It was another wonderful champagne festival, shared with family and friends, and full of beautiful memories.