Sorry for not entering an update to blog for so long, but as planned we have been very busy with friends and family sharing a bit of SW France paradise. It has been an amazing few weeks with different activities including eating, yabbie fishing in our pond (each visitor has attempted but good old Brian actually got the yabbies from the pond to the table) a bit like prawn, see picture. So the attempts of yabbie fishing has been entertaining and possibly not to be repeated too often as we have had a ‘global warming’ year with lots of rain, thank goodness the last two weeks have been typical French hot weather, but back to the pond, it is not normal for it still to have water in it this time of year, not sure what happens to all the wild life that inhabits it but I have a strong feeling they will return!! Now, where was I? The list of activities, did I say eating? We have visited numerous markets and also as SW French villages come to life July and August we have been to a number of evening fetes, which usually entails eating the local produce meeting people chatting and drinking, very pleasant way of spending a few hours. The bonus of course the sun still shines until about 9pm and doesn’t really get dark until 10pm. We have discovered a fabulous walk, it is about 1.50mins along the old railway line from SOS to Mezin, which meanders through the countryside, certainly worth a repeat walk or cycle ride, Terry and I are even talking about walking to Mezin , having lunch then walking back, probably our next visit in October.
This week we went to Biarritz which was quite stunning and has been relegated to our list of places to go for a week end. Obviously due to the French holidays those sort of places are pretty well packed with tourists so we will probably go a different time of year.
Well we are in the run down to leaving (in fact in two days) it will be so hard for us as we have really enjoyed ourselves and have already started imprinting our stamp on the French way of life, we have meet a number of interesting local people, French and English and feel that we will have some firm friends for our future visits to France. Our main impression is that people are so helpful and friendly, although I think we were pretty helpless at times with the language barriers and people were there for us. Another memorable evening was after receiving a personal invitation by our Marie to attend the village Bastille Evening, what a fantastic evening meeting alot of new people and tasting the local food and wine followed by a display of fireworks. There will be many more of these occasions I am sure but already we are feeling sad about leaving this way of life. However, we have got lots to look forward to, seeing the children and the grandchildren and little Chloe who was born two weeks before we left. All I can say is we are very fortunate to have such a diversity of ways of spending our time, so would like to thank all of those you who have enjoyed or maybe just read the blog due to loyalty or some perverse reason that you have nothing better to do, also to thank our friends and family who have come to see us and enjoy their time with us. Also a big thank you to Gavin and Natasha, who have been so supportive of us and our affairs whilst we have been enjoying our time at Capet. Watch this space, we return in October we hope!! B y the way we are almost speaking French like the natives ha ha ha
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Week Five - Visitors Arriving
Sorry the blog is late but the sun has arrived – yeh, so have had to catch up on lazing on the lounger, reading and actually trying to get a tan. So all in all I have been quite busy!!!!! Plus of course the visitors have started to arrive.
Last Saturday we were waiting for a call from our friends from the UK, Wyn and Pete, they were going to call from the local village SOS, and we were going to meet them and bring them to the house, anyway we heard a car pull up in the drive and thought they must have made their own way and low and behold it was a another couple of friends Arthur and Val from Perth arriving unexpectedly. Five minutes later a call from Wyn and Pete from SOS and no sooner had we brought them home another car speed down the drive and it was our French ‘friend’ Guy with a lady friend. So it got a bit noisy and ended up with Arthur in his French beret (which he takes everyhere), Terry in his, Guy in his white one and Pete playing petanque in the drive, it got rather loud particularly as Terry had partnered with Guy the petanque champion of his village (its helpful knowing ones neighbours!). Eventually Guy and friend left and it was great to catch up with our friends.
Arthur and Val only stayed overnight and then set off to meet other friends in France, then we went out and about with Wyn and Pete in their car, luxury after driving around in our non airconditioned classic. It’s funny how the subconscious works or it is more probably old age. After one day of being in the UK car Terry took the French ‘classic’ to the boulangerie to buy the days croissants and bread, got back in the car, fastened his seat belt and then couldn’t find the steering wheel – think about it. He said he felt such an idiot – think about it.
After their five days here Wyn and Pete left to catch their ferry and Brad and Mary Jane, more friends from Perth arrived, as they have been back packing around Europe they are happy to chill and soak in the tranquillity of Capet, plus of course Brad was keen to try his skills in lighting bonfires, racking hay, mowing the lawns on the tractor mower and generally rekindling his farming days as a boy, Mary Jane who is a very keen and fast walker has been a great walking partner for me and has pulled me out of blur of non motivation and we have had some great walks, last night we walked to our local village SOS in 40 minutes, I think normal walkers would take about an hour, but when I say she walks fast I am not exaggerating but I am pleased to say I kept up most of the time.
Now it is July France comes alive with festivals and fetes, starting tomorrow the local village Mezin has got daily concerts as there is an orchestra visiting from a Paris conservatorire, all the concerts are free, its unbelievable, also on Sunday Terry is quite keen to go to a Escargots (snails) festival, it is a 5 course meal, including wine and coffee in the market square, we haven’t quite decided if we will be going. Also as from next Wednesday evening right through to end of August our local village SOS is having farmer produce dinners in the local square, apparently the sleepy village of about 500 people and then at least another 500 people or so come to these festivals, so it is a tres jollie evening with music etc.
Talking about food, since we first looked at the house we had been told about the The Restaurant in our village Ste Maure de Peyriac and apparently people come from miles around to eat there, so eventually we got there this week and its certainly lives up to and even surpasses its reputation. For 11 Euros (or about $19) we had soup, then a fresh salad, followed by croques messieur (a very fancy grilled cheese and ham sandwich) then the main course of rabbit on pasta (I loved the pasta!!!) then a dessert of rice pudding, all this with as much wine as we wanted and coffee. I must say the food was extremely fresh and you couldn’t get more traditional French cuisine anywhere. Although saying that we have had some fabulous meals in this area of Lot et Goronne, maybe also because we are boarding on the Gers region where there are far more traditional type foods.
As for my speaking French I have got a few stock phrases that I can generally get by for most situations but sometimes come a cropper. The lady (Charlotte) who came with Guy is Swiss but has lived in France for years and is a French teacher, she has offered to give me lessons, but she corrected me a couple of times and I thought she would have hit me with a ruler if she had one so thought better of that one, poor Mum was brave enough to ask her the name of tree and because Mum could not pronounce the word correctly Charlotte got very upset and cross, no don’t think she would suit me and my short term memory.
Thank you Wyn and Pete for the great French/English dictionary it has already become invaluable.
A bietento
Sorry the blog is late but the sun has arrived – yeh, so have had to catch up on lazing on the lounger, reading and actually trying to get a tan. So all in all I have been quite busy!!!!! Plus of course the visitors have started to arrive.
Last Saturday we were waiting for a call from our friends from the UK, Wyn and Pete, they were going to call from the local village SOS, and we were going to meet them and bring them to the house, anyway we heard a car pull up in the drive and thought they must have made their own way and low and behold it was a another couple of friends Arthur and Val from Perth arriving unexpectedly. Five minutes later a call from Wyn and Pete from SOS and no sooner had we brought them home another car speed down the drive and it was our French ‘friend’ Guy with a lady friend. So it got a bit noisy and ended up with Arthur in his French beret (which he takes everyhere), Terry in his, Guy in his white one and Pete playing petanque in the drive, it got rather loud particularly as Terry had partnered with Guy the petanque champion of his village (its helpful knowing ones neighbours!). Eventually Guy and friend left and it was great to catch up with our friends.
Arthur and Val only stayed overnight and then set off to meet other friends in France, then we went out and about with Wyn and Pete in their car, luxury after driving around in our non airconditioned classic. It’s funny how the subconscious works or it is more probably old age. After one day of being in the UK car Terry took the French ‘classic’ to the boulangerie to buy the days croissants and bread, got back in the car, fastened his seat belt and then couldn’t find the steering wheel – think about it. He said he felt such an idiot – think about it.
After their five days here Wyn and Pete left to catch their ferry and Brad and Mary Jane, more friends from Perth arrived, as they have been back packing around Europe they are happy to chill and soak in the tranquillity of Capet, plus of course Brad was keen to try his skills in lighting bonfires, racking hay, mowing the lawns on the tractor mower and generally rekindling his farming days as a boy, Mary Jane who is a very keen and fast walker has been a great walking partner for me and has pulled me out of blur of non motivation and we have had some great walks, last night we walked to our local village SOS in 40 minutes, I think normal walkers would take about an hour, but when I say she walks fast I am not exaggerating but I am pleased to say I kept up most of the time.
Now it is July France comes alive with festivals and fetes, starting tomorrow the local village Mezin has got daily concerts as there is an orchestra visiting from a Paris conservatorire, all the concerts are free, its unbelievable, also on Sunday Terry is quite keen to go to a Escargots (snails) festival, it is a 5 course meal, including wine and coffee in the market square, we haven’t quite decided if we will be going. Also as from next Wednesday evening right through to end of August our local village SOS is having farmer produce dinners in the local square, apparently the sleepy village of about 500 people and then at least another 500 people or so come to these festivals, so it is a tres jollie evening with music etc.
Talking about food, since we first looked at the house we had been told about the The Restaurant in our village Ste Maure de Peyriac and apparently people come from miles around to eat there, so eventually we got there this week and its certainly lives up to and even surpasses its reputation. For 11 Euros (or about $19) we had soup, then a fresh salad, followed by croques messieur (a very fancy grilled cheese and ham sandwich) then the main course of rabbit on pasta (I loved the pasta!!!) then a dessert of rice pudding, all this with as much wine as we wanted and coffee. I must say the food was extremely fresh and you couldn’t get more traditional French cuisine anywhere. Although saying that we have had some fabulous meals in this area of Lot et Goronne, maybe also because we are boarding on the Gers region where there are far more traditional type foods.
As for my speaking French I have got a few stock phrases that I can generally get by for most situations but sometimes come a cropper. The lady (Charlotte) who came with Guy is Swiss but has lived in France for years and is a French teacher, she has offered to give me lessons, but she corrected me a couple of times and I thought she would have hit me with a ruler if she had one so thought better of that one, poor Mum was brave enough to ask her the name of tree and because Mum could not pronounce the word correctly Charlotte got very upset and cross, no don’t think she would suit me and my short term memory.
Thank you Wyn and Pete for the great French/English dictionary it has already become invaluable.
A bietento
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Fourth Week - The French Way
At last we have now battled the garden and won. (Except for the brambles from the neighbouring field, however armed with a lethal dose of something we found in the garage, we will overcome). Sounds like a battle field and yes thats what it felt like when we arrived, although the previous owner was a ‘keen’ gardener, she had things everywhere in the most inappropriate places and I think over the last two years the only gardening that been down was by the lawnmower man mowing the lawn. The garden is now under control although we still have a continuous bonfire, which Terry feels the need to keep topped up. We are now doing the extras for example pruning and cutting down unwanted bushes that have gone wild, we have discovered three fig trees full of fruit, probably will be ready in August, September, we have a very healthy grape vine full of grapes, not sure whether white or red, two cherry trees, badly treated by birds so no fruit this year, one apricot tree, a few fruit not many, three persimmon trees, full of fruit probably ready at the end the year, one prolific peach tree probably ready next month or August, a pear tree, about 40 healthy pears, two apple trees and a damson tree and three maids a milking (sorry couldn’t resist). Just outside the front gate and along the road leading to our house, there are masses of plum trees, golden and red ones, they are laden and have been ripening over the last week and will continue to do so for at least a month. Mum has made four big jars of plum jam, so far I am sure she will make more as she hates the thought of the plums being wasted!!!!! I have made a couple jars of plums in Armangac also two jars of prunes in Armangac, should be ready in October, when we return. Getting very domesticated I hear you saying, don’t hold your breath as there is still an element of novelty here!!!.
Now the garden is under control we have started exploring the local villages and found some very pretty ones, Forces, Condom, Vianne, Barbaste for example, most of them was almost like something out of film set. This area is full bastide villages, villages surrounded by walls generally from the 15th – 17th century, it is almost as though the 21st century has not touched the places, even the people are the same, one of the big complaints in country France is that a number of these villages have an ageing population and the young people are not particularly interested in sticking around.
We have also been ‘doing’ the brochants which are antique come second hand little shops, we have managed to find a very unusual one in another local Bastide village called Durance, the main reason it is unusual is because of the owners, she is quite odd, with white hair in a short bob with talonous (probably not a word but a good adjective to use) bright red nails and he looks like a younger version of my Uncle John, so much so, I feel I have a strong affinity with him, strange. Luckily he is a very nice man, I felt a bit sorry for him as we went there looking for an antique wardrobe and he took us upstairs in his house and showed us a couple, one was beautiful and made by a craftsman (artisan) but was too big and the other one rather small. Then he remembered another one in a bedroom off to the left, so by using a note pad we almost came to agreement with the price, until I asked him if the matching bed, bedside table and chair could be included, well he seemed quite excited about this prospect except he wanted to charge us extra for the brand new mattress, I say poor man, after I totally confused him we managed to get all the furniture including delivery plus just an extra 100 Euros for the new mattress. The main reason for the confusion is that he didnot want to part with the brand new mattress and he kept saying neuf, neuf which we thought was nine, so with the help of a dictionary (I carry around) neuf also meant new, so we agreed yes we definitely wanted the mattress and got the lot. It turns out that Uncle John (Andre) look a like and his wife Mortisha tried their hand at Chamber l’hotels (bed and breakfast) but found it was too much like work, when I say work I mean work and not hard work, as the French do not seem to have the concept of work in their lifestyle. I suppose it is more in the country, we are always surprised at the amount of MEN who are sitting around in cafes drinking coffee or playing petanque in the village squares at all time of the day .... who has got it right we ask!!!! Anyway Andre delivered the said furniture and spent a couple of hours here reassembling everything at no extra charge, what a nice man.
Talking of relaxing, this week Terry and I are going to visit the local spa at Casteljaloux, apparently it is a health resort with swimming, saunas, steam, massages, treatments etc, so should be interesting, we thought we should test run it for future guests.
To help with my French I offered to work in the kitchen of our local duck restaurant, I was there for about three hours yesterday, they were extremely friendly and helpful. I gather that they were impressed that I would make this effort and was allocated the daughter Claire ( who lived in UK for 18mths) as my coach, we decided we would only speak in French (sometimes a bit difficult so had to check in English if I was understanding the conversation) sort of went like this – “Claire did you just say .......................................?” and she would answer oui or alternatively I would say “Claire did you just say ...................................?” her response would be quite blank and her expression would instantly tell me I was totally on the wrong planet or barking mad. So this has shaken my confidence a bit as quite naturally I can understand more than I can speak the language (or thought I did) and quite often I would be nodding my head quite knowingly and acknowledging the conversation as we do, now I am a bit worried of what I am nodding my head to and maybe explains some of the surprised expressions I have been noticing!! Who cares total immersion seems to be the best way to learn a language and working in a French kitchen does that for one!!!! I thought I might pick up some French culinary skills but less said about that the better, probably not a conversation that should be published on a blog.
Whilst in the greenhouse yesterday, Terry noticed some movement to the left of his periphery vision and low and behold a 6 foot pencil thin snake slithered out of the greenhouse into the bush surrounding the property, that was a surprise I can tell you and one that we did not expect in the French countryside, although we have seen a couple of very long worms, one could have been termed as a snake as it was a foot long and thicker than a pencil but was definitely a worm.
We are really enjoying the tranquille lifestyle here and other than the horses next door and the toads in the pond talking to each other it is very quiet here, there is nothing better than just sitting or laying in the sunlounger with a good book and just listen to the silence or the sounds of nature, as Terry often says “our piece of paradise”.
Now the garden is under control we have started exploring the local villages and found some very pretty ones, Forces, Condom, Vianne, Barbaste for example, most of them was almost like something out of film set. This area is full bastide villages, villages surrounded by walls generally from the 15th – 17th century, it is almost as though the 21st century has not touched the places, even the people are the same, one of the big complaints in country France is that a number of these villages have an ageing population and the young people are not particularly interested in sticking around.
We have also been ‘doing’ the brochants which are antique come second hand little shops, we have managed to find a very unusual one in another local Bastide village called Durance, the main reason it is unusual is because of the owners, she is quite odd, with white hair in a short bob with talonous (probably not a word but a good adjective to use) bright red nails and he looks like a younger version of my Uncle John, so much so, I feel I have a strong affinity with him, strange. Luckily he is a very nice man, I felt a bit sorry for him as we went there looking for an antique wardrobe and he took us upstairs in his house and showed us a couple, one was beautiful and made by a craftsman (artisan) but was too big and the other one rather small. Then he remembered another one in a bedroom off to the left, so by using a note pad we almost came to agreement with the price, until I asked him if the matching bed, bedside table and chair could be included, well he seemed quite excited about this prospect except he wanted to charge us extra for the brand new mattress, I say poor man, after I totally confused him we managed to get all the furniture including delivery plus just an extra 100 Euros for the new mattress. The main reason for the confusion is that he didnot want to part with the brand new mattress and he kept saying neuf, neuf which we thought was nine, so with the help of a dictionary (I carry around) neuf also meant new, so we agreed yes we definitely wanted the mattress and got the lot. It turns out that Uncle John (Andre) look a like and his wife Mortisha tried their hand at Chamber l’hotels (bed and breakfast) but found it was too much like work, when I say work I mean work and not hard work, as the French do not seem to have the concept of work in their lifestyle. I suppose it is more in the country, we are always surprised at the amount of MEN who are sitting around in cafes drinking coffee or playing petanque in the village squares at all time of the day .... who has got it right we ask!!!! Anyway Andre delivered the said furniture and spent a couple of hours here reassembling everything at no extra charge, what a nice man.
Talking of relaxing, this week Terry and I are going to visit the local spa at Casteljaloux, apparently it is a health resort with swimming, saunas, steam, massages, treatments etc, so should be interesting, we thought we should test run it for future guests.
To help with my French I offered to work in the kitchen of our local duck restaurant, I was there for about three hours yesterday, they were extremely friendly and helpful. I gather that they were impressed that I would make this effort and was allocated the daughter Claire ( who lived in UK for 18mths) as my coach, we decided we would only speak in French (sometimes a bit difficult so had to check in English if I was understanding the conversation) sort of went like this – “Claire did you just say .......................................?” and she would answer oui or alternatively I would say “Claire did you just say ...................................?” her response would be quite blank and her expression would instantly tell me I was totally on the wrong planet or barking mad. So this has shaken my confidence a bit as quite naturally I can understand more than I can speak the language (or thought I did) and quite often I would be nodding my head quite knowingly and acknowledging the conversation as we do, now I am a bit worried of what I am nodding my head to and maybe explains some of the surprised expressions I have been noticing!! Who cares total immersion seems to be the best way to learn a language and working in a French kitchen does that for one!!!! I thought I might pick up some French culinary skills but less said about that the better, probably not a conversation that should be published on a blog.
Whilst in the greenhouse yesterday, Terry noticed some movement to the left of his periphery vision and low and behold a 6 foot pencil thin snake slithered out of the greenhouse into the bush surrounding the property, that was a surprise I can tell you and one that we did not expect in the French countryside, although we have seen a couple of very long worms, one could have been termed as a snake as it was a foot long and thicker than a pencil but was definitely a worm.
We are really enjoying the tranquille lifestyle here and other than the horses next door and the toads in the pond talking to each other it is very quiet here, there is nothing better than just sitting or laying in the sunlounger with a good book and just listen to the silence or the sounds of nature, as Terry often says “our piece of paradise”.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Third Week in France (Highlights)
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Photos 1. Vianne Market 2. Wk 3 The Pond 3. Front of the house 4. Terrys Bee Sting5. France,s biggest mole in our garden (septics) 6 & 7 First week controlling the lawn
My last post I mentioned the septics or should I say Fose Septics being full. Well that has created yet another French saga in this Australian household. We managed to get a name of local septic purger but could only get his wife and you said it doesnot speak English, so when the Electrician Edgar came down with Claire our neighbours daughter who wants to be a translater, we rang the septic purger only to find he was out, so that evening I managed to get the man who also does not speak English and in my best French managed to arrange for him to empty the septics on Monday evening, unfortunately I think he going to ring first, at least I think this why I had to give him my mobile number five times in French, poor guy, so once again watch this space. (6 days later and three telephone calls later, one by a French person, the septic purger still has not arrived, Terry said don’t ring him again in case we upset him and have to wait another week).
One evening this week we went to Vianne for dinner and low and behold the small bastide village was having their summer fete, this fete occurs every Friday night throughout June and July, there were a number of stalls selling local produce and a number of stalls selling aload of junk. We bought 2 bottles of aperitif, one red and one white, it is made locally and called Floc de Gauson, made from red or white wine and Armagnac (brandy) very warming to the cockles. Whilst we were walking around an old French man, who looked alot like Quasimodo, grabbed my hand and kissed it, whilst looking sideways out of his one good eye he spotted Mum, so I quickly introduced her as mon Mama (as you do in French) and he grabbed her so she had to kiss him on both cheeks, we all walked off and left them to it. She thought I had said this is the local Marie (Mayor) not ‘mon Mama’ and thought she should stay and be polite. We went on to have a fantastic meal in the local restaurant that had the tables set out in the street for our meal.
Another French translation saga, we had the local electrician come to do a few odd electrical jobs, Edgar does not speak any English, so over a cup of coffee I asked him where we could buy a barbeque, with this is broke into side splitting fits of laughter, literally holding his sides laughing, then he demonstrated in a very graphic manner what I had said – where can I buy toilet paper!!!!!!!
A couple of days ago a French man popped in apparently he has friends in the area and so came to say hello, another non English speaking French man, but with our new skill of writing and drawing on note pads we can communicate quite well. He is coming back next week with his friend a Swiss man who speaks good English and they are going to take Terry down the woods to explain the intricacies of shooting and hunting pigeons. Boarding onto the perimeter of our property are very dense woodland that has been set up just for hunting, this includes many hides and contraptions that hoist the decoy bird into the top of tree, we thought it was a seat where they pulled themselves up into the trees. Kee (the French hunter) has explained with diagrams what really happens. Should be interesting on Monday. Chris apparently shooting season is in October.
Yesterday we decided to hire a boat and take a trip up the River Baise in Nerac, this was more exciting than it should have been as we had to navigate and work a French lock, Judy, Mum and Val were in an absolute panic and as no one would listen to the instructions written down by the people hiring the boat, it was decided not to tether the boat to the top of the lock, so those sailors amongst you, will soon realise with the gush of water coming in our little boat was going all over the place, hitting the lock walls and going up and down to the two gates!!! Not a pleasant experience I can tell you, especially on the way back when we had to go down river and use the same lock, Mum wanted to get out in the middle of nowhere and said we could bring the car and pick her up, that didn’t happen I can tell you. All in all other than the lock incident it was a very pleasant gentle trip down the river, looking at the wildlife and flora and fauna.
Talking about wild life, we now regularly get a couple of cows or as happened yesterday two confused calves in our lane to our house, this has slowed Terry’s driving down, we always see deer jumping into the hedge rows.
Life in our local village SOS ... we go up to the village almost daily to use the internet in the local bar, of course while we are there we will sit out the front looking into the square with a regular group of men, who always seem to be there, they never seem to work just sit around talking drinking coffee or beer. We have also meet the local English contingent, we have met three of the men but not the third partner. Very nice boys, very friendly.
Monday 18th June
Sorry this is so long, I was going to post the last blog in SOS and the internet was down, sorry folks.
A few developments have occurred since my previous ramblings (above), the septics are now in the process of being cured, in fact Francis Piot (the Maire of Poudanas husband) and his son Simone returned today with a mechanical digger, and proceeded to dig up a trench down the back field in order to find the blockage (you need to say that with a French accent ...blockarge), 40 foot (12 metres) later it was decided that the blockage was caused by inadequate drainage, the solution dig another 150 foot (50 metres)and continue the drain down to the woods, that will be happening tomorrow Apres Midi in the afternoon.
This morning Guy and his friend Anthony ( a renowned photographer who has just arrived back from New York) anyway Anthony who is Swiss and rather gorgeous took Terry to our local woods to tell him all about the hunting that used to take place. Apparently the original farmer who owned this property was rather keen on hunting and shooting pigeons (him and all the males in France) so over a number of years, he and his friends built half a kilometre of hides which includes firing and decoy points, but more amazing is the fact that the hunters would spend up to two weeks at a time in these hides, which is still apparent by the carpet flooring, wood burner heaters, cookers and general living facilities. It has been fascinating for us to wonder through the woods, we also noticed loads of pulley action devices going up into the top of the trees, Guy told Terry that what they do is to attach a real decoy pigeon on it then hoist it into the top of the tree and wait for it to attract other pigeons and I think you can guess the rest!!!! The hides do not seem to have been used for a few years, but we have been told that October is the official hunting season.
Yet another drama, Photo attached, whilst Terry was clearing the overgrown veggie patch is was stung not once but twice by a wasp on his left ear, two days later it is still very swollen and he is very deaf in that ear. But I must say we have had a good laugh at him as his ear was enormous and everytime I looked at him I burst out laughing, luckily he could see the funny side of it, ear ear I say.
French Phone Number
We are now contactable on our French mobile number:
From Australia: 001133623787154
From UK: 003362378154
From France: -0623787154 Abientot
One evening this week we went to Vianne for dinner and low and behold the small bastide village was having their summer fete, this fete occurs every Friday night throughout June and July, there were a number of stalls selling local produce and a number of stalls selling aload of junk. We bought 2 bottles of aperitif, one red and one white, it is made locally and called Floc de Gauson, made from red or white wine and Armagnac (brandy) very warming to the cockles. Whilst we were walking around an old French man, who looked alot like Quasimodo, grabbed my hand and kissed it, whilst looking sideways out of his one good eye he spotted Mum, so I quickly introduced her as mon Mama (as you do in French) and he grabbed her so she had to kiss him on both cheeks, we all walked off and left them to it. She thought I had said this is the local Marie (Mayor) not ‘mon Mama’ and thought she should stay and be polite. We went on to have a fantastic meal in the local restaurant that had the tables set out in the street for our meal.
Another French translation saga, we had the local electrician come to do a few odd electrical jobs, Edgar does not speak any English, so over a cup of coffee I asked him where we could buy a barbeque, with this is broke into side splitting fits of laughter, literally holding his sides laughing, then he demonstrated in a very graphic manner what I had said – where can I buy toilet paper!!!!!!!
A couple of days ago a French man popped in apparently he has friends in the area and so came to say hello, another non English speaking French man, but with our new skill of writing and drawing on note pads we can communicate quite well. He is coming back next week with his friend a Swiss man who speaks good English and they are going to take Terry down the woods to explain the intricacies of shooting and hunting pigeons. Boarding onto the perimeter of our property are very dense woodland that has been set up just for hunting, this includes many hides and contraptions that hoist the decoy bird into the top of tree, we thought it was a seat where they pulled themselves up into the trees. Kee (the French hunter) has explained with diagrams what really happens. Should be interesting on Monday. Chris apparently shooting season is in October.
Yesterday we decided to hire a boat and take a trip up the River Baise in Nerac, this was more exciting than it should have been as we had to navigate and work a French lock, Judy, Mum and Val were in an absolute panic and as no one would listen to the instructions written down by the people hiring the boat, it was decided not to tether the boat to the top of the lock, so those sailors amongst you, will soon realise with the gush of water coming in our little boat was going all over the place, hitting the lock walls and going up and down to the two gates!!! Not a pleasant experience I can tell you, especially on the way back when we had to go down river and use the same lock, Mum wanted to get out in the middle of nowhere and said we could bring the car and pick her up, that didn’t happen I can tell you. All in all other than the lock incident it was a very pleasant gentle trip down the river, looking at the wildlife and flora and fauna.
Talking about wild life, we now regularly get a couple of cows or as happened yesterday two confused calves in our lane to our house, this has slowed Terry’s driving down, we always see deer jumping into the hedge rows.
Life in our local village SOS ... we go up to the village almost daily to use the internet in the local bar, of course while we are there we will sit out the front looking into the square with a regular group of men, who always seem to be there, they never seem to work just sit around talking drinking coffee or beer. We have also meet the local English contingent, we have met three of the men but not the third partner. Very nice boys, very friendly.
Monday 18th June
Sorry this is so long, I was going to post the last blog in SOS and the internet was down, sorry folks.
A few developments have occurred since my previous ramblings (above), the septics are now in the process of being cured, in fact Francis Piot (the Maire of Poudanas husband) and his son Simone returned today with a mechanical digger, and proceeded to dig up a trench down the back field in order to find the blockage (you need to say that with a French accent ...blockarge), 40 foot (12 metres) later it was decided that the blockage was caused by inadequate drainage, the solution dig another 150 foot (50 metres)and continue the drain down to the woods, that will be happening tomorrow Apres Midi in the afternoon.
This morning Guy and his friend Anthony ( a renowned photographer who has just arrived back from New York) anyway Anthony who is Swiss and rather gorgeous took Terry to our local woods to tell him all about the hunting that used to take place. Apparently the original farmer who owned this property was rather keen on hunting and shooting pigeons (him and all the males in France) so over a number of years, he and his friends built half a kilometre of hides which includes firing and decoy points, but more amazing is the fact that the hunters would spend up to two weeks at a time in these hides, which is still apparent by the carpet flooring, wood burner heaters, cookers and general living facilities. It has been fascinating for us to wonder through the woods, we also noticed loads of pulley action devices going up into the top of the trees, Guy told Terry that what they do is to attach a real decoy pigeon on it then hoist it into the top of the tree and wait for it to attract other pigeons and I think you can guess the rest!!!! The hides do not seem to have been used for a few years, but we have been told that October is the official hunting season.
Yet another drama, Photo attached, whilst Terry was clearing the overgrown veggie patch is was stung not once but twice by a wasp on his left ear, two days later it is still very swollen and he is very deaf in that ear. But I must say we have had a good laugh at him as his ear was enormous and everytime I looked at him I burst out laughing, luckily he could see the funny side of it, ear ear I say.
French Phone Number
We are now contactable on our French mobile number:
From Australia: 001133623787154
From UK: 003362378154
From France: -0623787154 Abientot
Friday, June 8, 2007
Second Week
Sunday 3rd June
Another busy day in the garden, we are now beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel, although today I crashed the tractor mower into some unknown territory and ceased the gearbox, which means getting the long suffering lawnmower man to come out and tow it away for repairs. We have been trying to get the local farmer to pop in and use his tractor and mower to mow the large lawn but I don’t think he was too interested in steering around the fruit trees! We have now been put onto the local shire worker who cuts the verges, so need to pop in to his house tomorrow lunch time and try and persuade him to cut the lawn for a fee, we were hoping the farmer would do the job for free in exchange for the hay, but didn’t work out the way we hoped.
We have seen a number of different animals in the garden and surrounding areas, today we saw a tiny stoat (I think) and a beaver down the road by the river, funnily enough it was next to two perfect white (Beatrice Potter) type ducks....cute. I also saw a funny orange colour lizard type animal in the grass and we have two resident toads in the pond. By the way no more noise in the floor boards, the poison worked.
We have yet to explore the local Cave (winery for those uninitiated out there) we seem to getting through the wine for some reason but so far all supermarket produce, talking of produce we went to Nerac market yesterday and bought some very fresh vegetables and a free range, corn feed chicken. We pointed to the chicken which the market stall lady then weighted and gave me the receipt in Australian money $30!!!! Or 14 Euros, then to our horror it still had its head on and feet, which she proceeded to chop off followed by a process of completing gutting the chicken, except luckily (I don’t think) she popped the chickens heart and liver back in the carcass. However, we had the poor bird roasted for dinner tonight and it was the tastiest chicken all of us had tasted.
Its now 10pm and just beginning to get dark, should be dark by 10.30 (its great) everyone is sitting outside, except Terry who is playing with the bonfire. We will keep you updated in a week and hopefully some photos.
Thursday 7th June (Gills 50th)
We have been very busy since my last blog, the garden is beginning to take shape and the contractor actually came last night to arrange to cut the field next week, progress again. We are now working in the flower beds and finding some very interesting plants amongst the weeds. The wild life is amazing for example this evening we have been listening to our resident toads, who has now invited their mates, there was a chorus of toads and frogs in the pond this evening and low and behold we have discovered the pond is teeming with marron, as I write John is making a marron trap of sorts, so watch this space. More wild life .... bats, we are sitting outside (its 9.56 pm and still light) and Judy wonders what is flying out from behind the shutters, yes you guessed bats, we thought we only had 10 bats in the garage loft space but no we have found another family behind the bedroom shutters. Today whilst driving to Castelajoux we had a large eagle fly in front of the car and in the next 50 metres there was a pheasant on the side of the road. This bought back Winterslow memories to Terry when he used to drive through the country lanes and would run over the occasional pheasant, so he swerved to try and hit the bird and luckily missed, following a long conversation about how disgusting a dead bird would be in the back of the car, fleas and all, we decided it was a good idea that he did miss the bird.
Today’s weather has been stunning, in fact too hot to do too much, but we did go out for a ride and lunch and popped into a couple of Bricantes (Antiques/second hand shop) and scored!!! We found this little shop on the outskirts of a tiny village, and what a find, it had some great bits and pieces at very reasonable prices. We bought a chair, a bedside table with a marble top and in the cupboard below a place to put the pissoir (potty), we have put that by Johns bed, thought he may find it useful, especially as the other night he woke up so disorientated he tried to get out the window when trying to find the toilet. We also bought (much to my disgust) a bloody old wooden last for repairing shoes or should I say French dust collector, we should have known it is rubbish because Terry got it for 15 Euros instead of the marked price of 28 Euros. Anyway it was fun and we will be returning.
8th June
Just found that the septics may be overflowing!!!!!!
A bientot
Another busy day in the garden, we are now beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel, although today I crashed the tractor mower into some unknown territory and ceased the gearbox, which means getting the long suffering lawnmower man to come out and tow it away for repairs. We have been trying to get the local farmer to pop in and use his tractor and mower to mow the large lawn but I don’t think he was too interested in steering around the fruit trees! We have now been put onto the local shire worker who cuts the verges, so need to pop in to his house tomorrow lunch time and try and persuade him to cut the lawn for a fee, we were hoping the farmer would do the job for free in exchange for the hay, but didn’t work out the way we hoped.
We have seen a number of different animals in the garden and surrounding areas, today we saw a tiny stoat (I think) and a beaver down the road by the river, funnily enough it was next to two perfect white (Beatrice Potter) type ducks....cute. I also saw a funny orange colour lizard type animal in the grass and we have two resident toads in the pond. By the way no more noise in the floor boards, the poison worked.
We have yet to explore the local Cave (winery for those uninitiated out there) we seem to getting through the wine for some reason but so far all supermarket produce, talking of produce we went to Nerac market yesterday and bought some very fresh vegetables and a free range, corn feed chicken. We pointed to the chicken which the market stall lady then weighted and gave me the receipt in Australian money $30!!!! Or 14 Euros, then to our horror it still had its head on and feet, which she proceeded to chop off followed by a process of completing gutting the chicken, except luckily (I don’t think) she popped the chickens heart and liver back in the carcass. However, we had the poor bird roasted for dinner tonight and it was the tastiest chicken all of us had tasted.
Its now 10pm and just beginning to get dark, should be dark by 10.30 (its great) everyone is sitting outside, except Terry who is playing with the bonfire. We will keep you updated in a week and hopefully some photos.
Thursday 7th June (Gills 50th)
We have been very busy since my last blog, the garden is beginning to take shape and the contractor actually came last night to arrange to cut the field next week, progress again. We are now working in the flower beds and finding some very interesting plants amongst the weeds. The wild life is amazing for example this evening we have been listening to our resident toads, who has now invited their mates, there was a chorus of toads and frogs in the pond this evening and low and behold we have discovered the pond is teeming with marron, as I write John is making a marron trap of sorts, so watch this space. More wild life .... bats, we are sitting outside (its 9.56 pm and still light) and Judy wonders what is flying out from behind the shutters, yes you guessed bats, we thought we only had 10 bats in the garage loft space but no we have found another family behind the bedroom shutters. Today whilst driving to Castelajoux we had a large eagle fly in front of the car and in the next 50 metres there was a pheasant on the side of the road. This bought back Winterslow memories to Terry when he used to drive through the country lanes and would run over the occasional pheasant, so he swerved to try and hit the bird and luckily missed, following a long conversation about how disgusting a dead bird would be in the back of the car, fleas and all, we decided it was a good idea that he did miss the bird.
Today’s weather has been stunning, in fact too hot to do too much, but we did go out for a ride and lunch and popped into a couple of Bricantes (Antiques/second hand shop) and scored!!! We found this little shop on the outskirts of a tiny village, and what a find, it had some great bits and pieces at very reasonable prices. We bought a chair, a bedside table with a marble top and in the cupboard below a place to put the pissoir (potty), we have put that by Johns bed, thought he may find it useful, especially as the other night he woke up so disorientated he tried to get out the window when trying to find the toilet. We also bought (much to my disgust) a bloody old wooden last for repairing shoes or should I say French dust collector, we should have known it is rubbish because Terry got it for 15 Euros instead of the marked price of 28 Euros. Anyway it was fun and we will be returning.
8th June
Just found that the septics may be overflowing!!!!!!
A bientot
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
First Week in France May 07
Bonjour
We arrived at the house at 7pm (still day light) and what a shock, the grass was up to our waist and the weeds are higher still should have got a lawn mower man in!! We got into the house, no problems there except a few cobwebs in the corners and of course boxes and furniture all over the place. So we straightened out our bedroom first and went to bed very tired but happy to be in our house at last. The next day was a day of moving furniture and thinking about mowing the lawn, as it happened the battery on our tractor mower was not working so two days later and three trips to the lawn mower man, Terry has made a start on the lawn at the front of the house, did I say lawn I really mean meadow. After speaking to a kind English man in the village he got straight on the phone to his farmer friend to ask him to bring in his tractor mower to really tackle the job, he should get enough hay for his cattle for at least a couple of months.
Luckily the days are long in
I still feel like we are camping albeit being upmarket camping, John, Judy, Mum and Val arrive tomorrow thank goodness, I am looking forward to some help to straighten up the house. Its all very exciting, today we travelled 46km to find the biggest L’Clerk in the area so we could buy some essentials, coffee pot, toaster, cutlery, glasses, etc etc etc also the most important item ..... RAT poison, we have an uninvited visitor in the roof space, so war has been declared, I said to Terry before you do anything you must put down the poison, so at 8pm tonight, torch in hand he was up in the loft of the garage putting down poison, I am almost feeling physically sick at the thought of the vermin and Terry comes down about half an hour later filthy dirty with a big grin on his face and says “ you know, there is a huge room up there we should look at sorting it out” I won’t say my reply but the big grin didn’t stay on his face.
Our French has started to kick in very slowly, I don’t know what we would do without our hands, today we needed to buy 12 pillows for the beds and there was only two on the shelf, so in my best French I asked the lady if she had 10 more in the back and she looked at me very oddly and then held up 10 fingers as if to say have you got that right, so I was quite impressed that I had. We find if you make the effort to speak French people are only too keen to help and its quite amazing within the few days we have been here we have picked up some words we have forgotten and for me some words that I had learnt in my lessons and had forgotten, but I am finding I am understanding alot more since having the lessons.
We are really enjoying the fresh French food, especially the cheese and the bread, apparently our local boloungerie is famous and people come from miles around just to buy the bread.
We will keep you updated in a week and hopefully some photos.
Abiento
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