August 2011

Have I only written one blog since arriving in France three months ago? Sa vrai, so today I haven't got an excuse but to sit down and write. Since my last communication in June we have been very busy with visitors and traveling, to avoid making this a boring ole travel log I will briefly high light our journeys. We had a week away in mid France near Noirt where we went to watch the amazing and spectacular Puy du Fou, where we meet up with Helene and Dudley, Chris and Dave, if you haven't been you must go. We have cycled and conquered another section of the canal du midi with Dei and Rick we cycled from Toulouse to Carcassonne and finally, last week were turned from Portugal where we spent a great few days with Chris and Tracy in their villa on the Algarve followed by a slow drive back and staying in Lisbon, Porto and San Sebastian.

We are so very very fortunate to be able to do these things and such great friends to spend our time with.

That's the travel log done.

We have had some very different experiences this year with various animals in the garden, when we arrived in France we had a pole cat /pine Martin/ fuiene in our roof and between the floors of the house. If you have ever had a possum in your roof this is very similar ie noise, smell, prolific breeding (not sure about the possum on that one) and they are awful to get rid of, so we had to call in the services of the local pest controller. He pulled up in his Rolls Royce and designer gear - sorry he should have done considering what he charges! He proceeded in putting around poison bait boxes and left with the instructions to ring him if the pole cat is still there! We think that's what he said as he only spoke rapido French, Terry eventually found the corpse and a few other animals in one spot so all we can decide is that the pest controllers French instructions were understood by the offending pests. Capet is now pest free except for the bats behind the shutters and new terrace, the feral cats, the feral goats, a stranded baby hawk, a lost dog and a stray deer. We are thinking of renaming ourselves Capet wild life park. Only joking really. I forgot to mention The Return of The Mole/s, yes, battle has commenced, explosives on hand and fully charged the score so far

Terry plus bodies 2

Terry no body 3

Moles - 12 bloody great piles on dirt on the lawn as we speak

Is the war being lost – “no will get the buggars" exclaimed the intrepid mole hunter!

Talking of strange animals, we booked into a spa hotel in Porto and found the pool and Jacuzzi closed for repairs but the steam and sauna rooms were working, as the 'beautician' (I put her in inverted commas as it was debatable whether she was a man needing a shave or a women needing hormones! ) I digress; as she/he was showing us around I asked if the other Jacuzzi was working (one that I could see in a little room next to a steam room) "no, no" she hurriedly replied as she tried to move us away. So when she left us have our steam session (which I decided against due to the amount of algae growing on the wall and the dreadful smell)oh sorry I digress again, we looked into the room with the Jacuzzi and sitting in the corner of the spa was a huge sea slug! My question to you is a) did it crawl up the drainpipe or b) is it he/she's pet or c) a source hormone treatment that isn't working?

To change the subject completely, probably a good idea, I hear you say. We are still taking weekly French lessons from the Dutch women from New Zealand (work that one out!) Terry continues to use the French lesson to talk (in English of course) to his expat buddies, it goes like this " well Jerry I hear there is a new road to Bordeaux" this is interrupted at least twice by our French teacher Nicole " OK, now Terry could you tell me in French what we have been doing" his reply " you know Nicole I don't do homework in my house" " So Jerry do you know if that road it much quicker?" and so it goes on, poor Nicole, then she actually tells Mr not in my house Terry that he could be a natural French speaker as his pronunciation and accent is very good!

Talking of speaking French we went to aperitifs with a dozen French people this week where everyone was only speaking French, it's quite surprising how much French we do know when we have to speak it all night. So with the classes we do in Oz and here maybe the brain is actually absorbing something! …and that note we have got to go and get ready for another night market, canard and frites anyone??????

Photos from our last three months in France

Capet with zoom lens!

Vianne Night Market, Philippe, Dad and Terry

Chris and Tracy

Finish the Canal du Midi

Puy Du Fou - The Secret of the Lance

Family - Mums 80th Birthday at Capet

First French Blog for 2011

Click on photos to enlarge

Kittens found in the garden under a bush

Garden at Capet

Our cherry tree

Covent Gardens

Our garden at 8pm

Chris, Helene, June and Christian

Getting ready for The Parade

Goring Hotel, where Kate got ready for her wedding

Terry and his Dad waiting for a train for London

Tall ship, The Belfast and Tower Bridge

After spending a great few days in the UK we have arrived in France, but to give an update on our few days in UK, on Sunday seven of us got a train to London with our bikes as there was a procession of the horse guards and as I was still on a high after Kate and Willy's wedding it was a real buzz to actually cycle down the mall where only one week before the royal couple had been cheered along by thousands of well wishers. I still can't believe we actually cycled ON the streets of London along with buses and taxis, initially quite scary but really quite exciting. We cycled around Buc palace ( as the locals call it), outside Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Tower Bridge, London Eye and then through Hyde park. Great!!!! The reason we went to the UK was really to celebrate Terry's Dad's 85th birthday, which we did in style by taking him (once again) up to London on the train, then a couple of hours on a sightseeing double decker bus around the sights, lunch, then a West End show called the Jersey Boys, about the life of Frankie Valle and the 4 Seasons it was brilliant followed by dinner after the show, considering Ron was 85 that day he was amazing not only keeping up with us but also singing along with the show, he knew all the words ..... Sherreee, Sherry baabe!........Let's hang on to what we got........

We got the ferry across the channel and drove the 8 1/2 hrs down to our house, the French toll roads are fantastic, we averaged a slow 130 kph, I say slow because we felt like we were going very slow when we were being overtaken by cars going at least 150 kph!!!!

We arrived at the house very late at night, but by the morning OMG the house and gardens look beautiful as if we had only been away overnight not six months. Mercy beau coup Diane and Philippe.

The wildlife of rural France has been very evident around Capet, firstly our welcoming sound of the cuckoo, even a couple of ducks on the pond (a first), wild goats on the road down to our house, a family of foxes of which one of the cubs had taken residence in our greenhouse, then low and behold today we family a mother cat and four of her babies nestled in one of our bushes and the beautiful sounds of the singing birds. Yesterday we picked a large bowl of cherries from our trees probably another first as the pesky birds usually get there before us.

Unfortunately, I have had a severe dose of laryngitis and it looks as though Terry is getting a cold, this has slowed us down a bit but in a couple of days we should be able to resume our French lifestyle, all our plans of cycling and exercise has been put on the back burner for a few days.

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!!!!