Christmas 2010

Welcome to a different Christmas Newsletter, I was hoping by having a ‘blog’ newletter I would:

- Bring more people to my blog to catch up with the year’s news

- It’s easier and saves time!

- Save paper, as I always print the backs of the newsletters upside down and have to reprint (an age related condition)

So be prepared to read a) a short synopsis of the year or b) read through the year’s goings on in the blogs below or c) say bugger that and don’t read it at all!!

Whichever one you choose you might need to consider making yourself a cup of tea or for those with a stronger constitution and decide to choose b} you will may need something alcoholic!!

As usual The Trims have had a busy year, from January to May we were in Perth enjoying the fantastic lifestyle and weather, continuing with keeping fit with three cycle rides a week totally about 100kms, plus the gym and swimming. I must admit there is an ulterior motive for all this exercise, its called French food gluttony and wine!! We have to prepare for the six months in France and still we come back with an extra kilo or three. So guess what we are back in Perth doing all those things again, thank goodness we love it, as I write this Terry is out playing golf so we need to add this to our list of exercise.

We arrived in France in mid May and had a very hectic 5 months, we went to the UK three times (thank you Helene and Dudley for putting up with us), the first time was for my Uncle Peter’s 70^th birthday which was amazing meeting all my Aunts, Uncles and cousins and renewing our communications (I hope). Then in July we went over for the wedding of (Bob and Kay’s son Neil to Vicky), both these young people hold a special place in our hearts as they have spent time with us in Australia a few times so it was great to celebrate their special day with them. Also we were amongst our friends and had a ball. (Probaly best not to elaborate on this for fear of incriminating the innocent).

Whilst in France we had many friends and family visit which was great including Terry’s brother Ray, his Dad and also our son Gavin who had been over for the wedding. We all had a excellent time including going to San Sebastian for tapas, as it is only about 2 ½ hrs from our house it is quite doable and of course gives Terry the opportunity to visit the Spanish border duty free and top up with Gin and also our latest discovery Chocolate Vodka, Chocolate and Mint Vodka and Toffee Vodka, all for medicinal purposes of course.

In July I attended a residential photography course for a week in Limoges and had an amazing time, our tutor was an English guy from Grimsby who was brilliant.

Then in August I went back to Australia for two weeks to look after Mum following open-heart surgery. Mum has been very poorly now for some years and was having 5/6 angina attacks a day and unable to walk far etc etc and all the cardiologists have always said it was too dangerous to operate. Then she saw a new one who was up for it, to cut a long story short, she had the operation and survived some horrendous complications including death twice and is now fantastic and looking forward to celebrating her 80^th birthday in France next June. Amazing and each day she is getting fitter and back driving her car. For this we are thankful to the professional expertise of Sir Charles Gardener.

Back to France more visitors, this is one of the reasons we bought the house and choose this lifestyle to see our friends and travel. And travel we did, we met up with Helene and Dudley and “did” Rome, The Almalfi Coast, Pompeii for just over a week then we all flew to Geneva and spent a fabulous week at their lake house near Evian on Lake Geneva.

In October we packed up the house and left it in the care of my Aunty Diane and her partner Philippe, (they do a fantastic job, keeping an eye on the house, turning heating on and off, cutting the grass, spraying fruit trees and planting veggies) thank you thank you and thank you again.

Then flew back to UK to Helene and Dudley’s, we went to see Terry’s Mum and Dad and then off to Boston, New England and New York for 10 days. The Fall was amazing, great photo opportunities and a chance to see snow again (yippee!!!!), in fact because of the snow we left Vermont one day early (we don’t do cold) down to Rhode Island and New York and even though we did and saw more than the last visit to The Big Apple including a 3 hour bike ride round Central Park we still need to go back and see more. Including the Statue of Liberty where there is a 3 month waiting list to get tickets.

We arrived back in Perth at the beginning of November and the merry go round starts again. Although we are retired we have still written a course whilst in France and Terry has actually done a couple of days training, to be honest we are having trouble fitting it all in!!

Well that hopefully has got everyone up to date except to say we are looking forward to our fifth grand child in February, it will be Dominic and Annie’s second child.

We would like to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and a fantastic 2011, maybe we will see you in France next year. See below for some of our latest photos.

Love Carol and Terry xxxx

November 2010 Photos

Chloe The Actress

Ella (Kaliska and Steves 10 yr old)
Abigail - Dominic and Annie's 2 yr old
Cousins Abigail and Chloe (Kaliska and Steve's 3 yr old)
Sunset at Trigg Beach (down the road)
Owen Kaliska and Steve's 6 yr old

October 2010 Photos

At Neil and Vicky's wedding
The Boys - Dudley, Terry, Chris and Chris H

The Girls - Carol, Helene, June and Tracey
Terry and Chris H at wedding - why does this not surprise me!!

The Boys, Terry, Ronnie and Ray

Gavin

Tapas at San Sebastien July

Plats Du Jour Forces
Le Frecho Fete August

Citroen Rally with Bob (not the speech maker)

Pompeii with Mount Vesuvius in Background

St Peters Square Vatican
Stepping over the line between The Vatican and Italy
Sorrento Beach in background
Lunch in Switzerland

October 2010

I hI had to check twice, actually three times to when I last blogged, it was June, I started our French year well and blogged three times in two months and since then zilch, zero, nadda. Of course the worse part of this desertion from the post (tech joke) is that so much has happened that as usual I don’t know where to start. I think dot point might an easy read but not satisfy my true blog followers (yeah right!) So a modified dot point it will be:·

We went to a friend’s son’s wedding in July in the UK and brought back Terry’s Dad, brother and Gavin. He and Ray stayed for a week and Terry’s Dad stayed for about a month.

I went to Limoges for one weeks residential photography course (all in English) and experienced a fantastic learning curve with my photography and processing of images.

July/August Mum had her heart surgery in Australia, it turned out to more complicated than initially thought along with a couple a dramas in theatre and post operatively, everyone was quite traumatised by the whole thing. I went to Australia for a couple of weeks when she got out of hospital, I am pleased to report she has had a full recovery and now firing on all cylinders. In fact she is pretty amazing and back driving.

September we went to Rome, Sorrento and Evian with Helene and Dudley and what an amazing experience we had particularly in Rome and Pompeii. Then we had a relaxing time in Evian at Helene and Dudley’s holiday home, lunching on mountain passes overlooking Mont Blanc, watching hang gliders come down in front of us and all in blazing sunshine.

How was that for a ‘potted” version of our last four months, now for a little more detail of some of the extra highlights.

The wedding was a triumph for us to get together with our friends, so much so I think we was on the verge of being thrown out of the reception for being too noisy and disruptive, only because we wanted Bob the father of the bridegroom to give a speech, I know its not traditional but Bob does like to give a speech ....actually we have all heard Bob give speeches before and we are glad he didn’t! The wedding and reception was held in and around the grounds of a stately home in Suffolk which has been converted into a very expensive boys private school and to make a few extra bob they do weddings on the side. Sorry Vicky should have mentioned the bride looked stunning which of course she did.

Terry’s brother Ray come back with us and had a week at the house, it was brilliant for Ron, Terry’s Dad to have his two sons together, alot of teasing of joking was had and with Ray’s attitude of “I will try anyting”, we made sure he did including snails, duck and various different French vegetables, I am sure he had a great time with his brother and Dad. Gavin was over for the wedding so he and a girl friend (opposed to a girlfriend) from Australia came for a week and went to Andorra for a couple of days and he also enjoyed the time with us, his Grandad and Uncle.

In between everything we have had visitors from Australia and UK, some first time and some returning, it was fabulous seeing you and all and we look forward to seeing you again over the next year or so. Perhaps in Australia Chris and Tracey!!!

The garden has been alive with wild life much to the delight of my husband the intrepid hunter, we have had loads of mole holes, a fast as he lays the detonator and blows them up (he thinks) they move further along the garden and start again, I think they are equipped themselves with personal protective clothing ie hard hats. So needless to say there is not a body count this year but lots of detonators have gone off. Then we have the heron who has been popping back and forwards to our pond to eat the frogs and langoustine (marron), its quite amazing I will be sitting quietly reading or whatever, suddenly the intrepid hunter jumps up either runs up stairs or to whatever window he had strategically placed his air rifle and tries to shoot the thing, but as soon as he opens the window the heron flies off, someone never learns and someone already has!! Then we have the cutest family of deer, they started visiting the garden just Mum and two babies, so Terry found a stretch of land that divides the garden and the woods which does not have any fencing, so he made a fence, which would have made people in Indonesia very proud of bamboo, that will keep them out he declares. Next day .... ‘How sweet they have bought their Dad with them” I say. So more bamboo was placed around the said area. We went off to Italy reassured that no more deer would come into the garden while we were away, the morning after we returned there they were looking very doe eyed at us, we might have to resort to barbed wire he remarks, they were here again yesterday eating the wind falls from the apple tree and they are cute!!! So watch this space while Terry watches the space/es they get in.

While we were in Evian with Helene and Dudley we went to some thermal baths in Switzerland for the day, should have been three hours but we managed to get out through the gates after four hours without paying the extra. Anyway the baths were inside and outside nestled between two snow capped mountains, the water must have been 36 degrees fabulous, they also had steam rooms which were huge affairs in domed rooms with murals on the walls and twinkly lights in the ceilings, it was in one of these rooms that Terry had a shock, I will set the scene, the rooms as I said are big tiled domes with seats around the outside and quite honestly it takes a time for your eyes to get adjusted to the steam so can’t see much. Anyway Terry loves the steam rooms so we left him there and later he came out looking a bit shocked, he had fallen asleep laying down on the tiled bench and a very old man came in and sat on him, both were mortified, but as we said to Terry it was lucky the man had his trunks on (as many were naked in there) and he didn’t sit on your face!!!

All in all we have had fabulous weather, lots of sunshine and not much rain, hence our vegetable garden has been prolific and as we are leaving in a couple of weeks we are going to pull out the crops still with tomatoes, aubergines and cucumbers growing on them, sacre bleau!!!!! We are going to the UK for a couple of days then off to Boston and New York for the fall or as they say in America The Change and return to Australia on 1^st November, back into exercising and losing all our French summer weight I hope ready for next year!!!!

June Blog

We left Australia almost 5 weeks ago and what can I say except busy busy busy. Before I go into the ins and outs of our busy few weeks, I thought I should mention the snakes in the garden.
Sorry Gill you might not want to read this bit. Terry and I were sitting outside the house having a light Beveridge at least I was, Terry was drinking his usual tipple G & T, sorry back to the snakes. We suddenly heard a banging sound coming from the conservatory roof and to our amazement there were two snakes intertwined hanging from the roof guttering in a loop. Next thing they dropped to the floor, I ran round to the back of the house to get my camera and Steve Irwin ran straight towards the snakes!! One went straight up the garden and the other straight into the house and into the kitchen. Mon du I exclaimed....after frantic searches by Steve sorry Terry out he walks with 1 metre long snake, holding it by its tail. We were telling a friend about the incident and he said don’t worry it was a grass snake and not poisonous it is the little ones you have got to worry about. Yes, you have got there before me, a few days later Terry calls me out to show me another short snake hanging from Terry’s hand by its tail and trying very hard to take a bite from his hand!!!
We have been back to the UK for my Uncle Peter’s 70th birthday party and caught up with my side of the family cousins, uncles and aunts, it was a beautiful evening and everyone had a great time. Naturally I took full advantage of the fact that I was in the UK and the Australian dollar being so strong against the sterling and as they say I shopped until I dropped from Marks and Spencers to Tescos, so we are stocked up with everything from underwear to toilet rolls.
We returned to some pretty wet weather in France, not in the area where the floods were but a couple more days of rain we might have needed a boat. The last two weeks have been exceptional weather very sunny and hot, so no complaints there. People cant believe how Terry is working outside in the heat, ie pruning the willow tree over the pond, spraying the new terrace with termite treatment, digging up roots in the garden, digging up huge great boulders all in 36 degrees of heat, I have to remind that il est Australian and slightly mad.
We had a lovely day out last Sunday we went to a beautiful old hamlet call Auiex pronounced Erx the villagers had been renovating an 11th century church, so we went up to see it and joined in for repas (lunch) consisting of roast port slices, frites, brie and a slice of apple tarte. We had a ball, the only English speaking people there and everyone was very friendly and with many gesticulations and our pidgin French we managed to have a conversation. Then the owner of the local winery brought out a 47 yr old brandy and poured everyone a measure in our white plastic glasses. As most of you know I don’t really partake in alcohol but could not pass up on this rare treat, well I am not sure how I got back to the car and had to go home and have a lay down!!!
The night markets have started in SW France, we went to our first one last night, it is an evening of eating and drinking in the village square where there are a number stalls selling local produce, clothes, knick knacks and some childrens’ merry go rounds and bouncy castles. It is a good excuse to socialise with people as we eat on long trestle tables, last night we both had the local produce of breast of duck and frites. Actually we are going to another one tonight where paella is served, with a number of brass bands as entertainment then we walk round the village with torches to drive out the bad spirits for the year I think. No language problems tonight a crowd of us are going and would you believe all Australian!!
I am sure there are lots of things I am forgetting to include in this blog but it gets harder and harder to remember, must start writing it down me thinks.

Photos for June Blog

Outside Church Boot Sale
70th Birthday Party Bartholomew cousins
Terry and his Dad in UK
Terry and Carol at party
The Snake



Inside the 11th C church
Outside the church
Repas
Inside the church
Terry the chef at the party
Our garden at Capet
Aubergines gone to seed used as flower decorations

France 2010 - May

We have arrived on 14th May to start another long hot summer, life is grand.....

Before I go forth with the French chatter, management (Terry) has asked me to add to the blog all his achievements in Australia over the last six months. As you know we are now retired! I think the definition is that we no longer work or in employment, as we still have the business which is embarrassingly being run fantastically well, far better than we ran it!!! I am not sure we are technically retired. Gavin who is the Business Development Manager and Karen is the Business Manager are doing an amazing job bringing the company into the 21st century and ensuring we are the leading training company in WA, so no complaints. Terry has worked about 8 days in the last 6 months, filling in and we are also in the slow process of writing a customised course for a oil and gas company the course is on compressed air fittings, so exciting, Gavin and Terry went up to Darwin to photograph and video the processes for the course and we have just received the company’s OK to what we have done so far. It is becoming increasingly difficult when in France to start thinking about compressed air fittings.
Sorry I digress as usual, back to Terry, his first big challenge was to secure our beach house affectionately known as The Shack, it is supported on 15 metal poles (as it is a typical Australian beach house on stilts) anyway the poles have been there for 45 years and have gradually rusted and the house had started to sway with the sea breeze. Terry needed get each galvanised pole specially made and then dig out and replace one pole at a time he used a jack hammer (kango) to get the poles out (the other residents were not too happy over Easter with all that noise) then prop up the house with about four or five accrows, then put in a new pole and cement in with 10 bags of quick setting cement for each pole. I have attached photos of the end result, I think he has got a couple of poles left to do now but no more swaying. The other big task was to build a huge alfresco area on the back of the house, we actually got builders in to do this but Terry had to keep an eye on things and was going round relaying pavers and generally ensuring everything was built as per the plan. Then to top it all we had a hailstorm in Perth I think above our house, it was weird, Perth had never seen anything like it before, apparently two ‘fronts’ hit each other and we had hail the size of golf balls for about a couple of hours with sheeting rain. This happened about 4.30 in the afternoon and we were out, it took us 3 hours to drive a 20 min drive home as Perth was flooded, then at home we were met with all our neighbours at the top of our drive trying to clear a drain that was blocked and a river was gushing down our drive to the side of the house. Water had risen to about foot up the front door and didn’t get in but the damage was the ground floor at the back of the house, water had gushed into the two downstairs bedrooms, the hailstones had broken tiles on the roof of the garage and family room, hence bad water damage on both ceilings, Terry’s brand new car roof and bonnet was pitted so badly it looked like a golf ball. Also where the water had gushed down the drive all the mud and debris ran straight into the swimming pool and undermined the paving and broke the pump and filter. All have been sorted out now except for Terry’s car.
I have attached photos of the deck, taken when almost completed and the shack poles!!
So here we are in France, we arrived volcano ash free and no problems with flights or connections, everything went to plan as they say. It is great to pick up where we left off in November and integrate right back into our French way of life, which really amounts to be very busy, socialising, gardening and travelling. The house was great when we arrived except for the landline and internet not working, I couldn’t believe it as I had organised it to be turned on last month just in case, to cut a very long story short including my French uncle ringing France telecom only to be told the line is on and running, his comment to this was “The French, they are liars”, in fact, as it turned out they weren’t and when they came out the next day (yes I said the next day) they found a break in the cable leading to the house, within minutes we were back in communicardo.
As I mentioned we have got right back into the swing of it including our Wednesday French lessons with Nicole (the Dutch lady who lives in New Zealand but teaches French when she is here for the summer), anyway she is a good teacher and with the background of the lessons I have had in Australia and I am pleased with my progress or should I say memory recall, but I can’t speak for Terry as he reckons he can’t remember any of it!
This year arriving in France I have noticed that although we are here two weeks earlier than usual the growing season is delayed, sohence there are flowers in the garden I have never seen before, iris, lily of the valley, peony and a number of others I don’t know their names. The Iris are stunning all over this region, beautiful colours, in fact I am taking my camera to a place where they grow exotic iris and need to get there today as they are just on the turn and I may not see them again.
The garden has been awash with wild life, we arrived to the sound of a lonely cuckoo and by the evening had been joined by a couple more, it is a beautiful sound, one which we don’t hear in Australia. There is a deer that just walks in the gate when he fancies, I think it is a he, and then leaps over the back fence in such a way a show jumping horse would be proud. The frogs and toads are back in the pond and very vocal, particularly at night. Yesterday we found a swarm of bees on the grass, which was amazing and also very noisy, we thought we would chat to the local apiarist but needed to go shopping first and spent the whole trip practising what we would say in French to him, two problems, didn’t take a dictionary and couldn’t remember the word for honey and didn’t know the words for swarm of bees, well you wouldn’t would you!! As luck would have it they were gone when we got back, actually it was a shame as it would have been good exercise to talk about the bees, Oh ha ha.
Not too many dramas so far except that I drove Terry’s new tractor for the first time to cut the grass in the paddock, well I knocked over the bird table, cut two large gashes into tree trunks (they bleed you know) and then the piece de la resistance I got bogged in the mud from the over flow from the pond, it was lucky that a friend had popped in at the same time, as Terry was very matter of fact over the whole thing. Our friend Philip reckons I owe him!! Later on Terry tied the tractor to the back of the car and pulled me out. He has now built an overflow into next doors ditch and is filling the area with rubble.
Well that's us without boring the pants off everyone except to say the weather is tres tres chaud la temperature il fait 27 degres, are should I say very hot and sunny and 27 degrees and should be getting hotter. Great for our Aussie barbie on Sunday. Our first visitors arrive today for a week and more for an overnight stay Saturday.
With that I will be away and try and find out why the internet is not working again!!!