I'm home and Happy Birthday Dad

I have have just come back from a lovely 4 day visit to the UK to see family. I stayed with Ians parents who live in the same village that we used to live in. His sister and her family also live in the same village.

I flew into Stanstead and got a National Express coach via Heathrow out to Reading. The journey was so easy and because the flight was on time I could get earlier coach connections than I had originally booked.

I spent a nice few hours with my Dad on Friday for his 70th birthday. He didn't want to go out anywhere but I took some salmon for lunch and some chocolate desserts for him. He is in good health and looked well. He still lives in the house we grew up in, nothing had changed. He is a keen gardener and the lawns are like green velvet - immaculate with not a blade of grass out of place. We had an emotional time looking through old photos and talking about times gone by. Dad is from Oldham, near Manchester in the north-west of England. Oldham was once the cotton mill capital of the world, with 320 cotton mills in a small area. He is rightly proud of his towns history and once worked in Heron Mill. Unfortunately there are no mills working now, but dad has become very keen on looking into the history of it all. He has some wonderful books about the town and all the mills. It is a very emotional subject for him as at one time everyone he knew was conected to the cotton industry. Dad, I loved spending time with you and looking at all the pictures. You and mum gave us a wonderful childhood, something that I will be eternally grateful for. I love you loads.

Saturday morning Eileen (Ians mum) and I went with Tania and David (Ians sister and her husband) to watch their youngest daughter (Jenny) diving. She goes every Saturday morning and is excellent. She is 12 years old and is so strong and elegant as she dives into the water. She is absolutely fearless as she dives from the 5m board! I can't even dive and as I hate heights wouldn't even climb up there. She was amazing to watch.

Afterwards we all went into Reading and had a mooch around the shops for the morning. After rural France it seemed like the whole world was in town! We got fed up at lunchtime and headed home for a delicious lunch of smoked salmon, asparagus and avocado. Eileen really spoils me - these are my favourites.

Saturday evening Eileen had made a selection of curries - her speciality. Eileen, John (father in law) and I had a great evening chatting and putting the world to rights

Sunday morning Eileen, Tania, Jenny and I went back into Reading to mooch around the shops. One of the things I miss about the UK is the shop Marks and Spencers. I stocked up on cotton t-shirts in a great range of colours and then hit the lingerie section. I got myself measured and treated myself to some new bras. M&S bras are great, they all come with matching knickers and at 25% off, they were good value. Tania treated us to a delicious lunch and then we headed home. Tania and co come back round to Eileens later on for an evening meal.

It is always difficult saying goodbye to them, and I shed a few tears after they left that evening. I miss seeing our 2 nieces grow up, Jennys elder sister Tamsin is 18 in two months time and has grown into a truly stunning young woman. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful family of in-laws, i love them all so much.

I left this morning getting the coach back to Stanstead airport, arriving back at Limoges airport at 13.00. Although I love visiting family it is always good to get back to your own home. Ian picked me up at the airport with a big hug, Misty was at home to greet me and the geese were yelling down the garden. There's no place like home.

End of the birthday week

This is the lovely hot water bottle that Ian gave me for my birthday. I have used it every evening and one afternoon when I was a bit chilly. Hot water bottle are not just for bedtime you know!

I have had a lovely birthday week, my diet has gone completely out of the window, but it has been great.

We went for a lovely meal in our favourite restaurant last night. It is the L'Oie et le Grill in Rancon. We had wonderful food and a good laugh with the owners Veronique and Frances. I wish I could tell you what we had to eat but it is quite hard to describe it. Ok, let's give it a go; My starter was pain perdu with a seafood salad on it, there were cubes of a delicious cheese around the edge of the plate and a really tasty dressing. Ian's starter was a chickpea soup with crispy lardons and croutons. My starter was a crab canelloni with a balsamic sauce, Ians was duck with chestnut and potato mash and a very rich gravy. Desserts were a shortcakey biscuit with peaches and caramel sauce and a chestnut clafoutis with the same caramel sauce. It was all fantastic, but are only criticism of this restaurant is that the portions could be a little bit smaller. Franck, the chef has a wonderful imagination to create all this dishes using seasonal products time after time. We are so lucky that we have a restaurant like this 20 mins away.

We are going out to lunch today at a friends house, they are doing Thai red curry - I can't wait.

These are present that I got from my sister-in-law Tania; some crocus bulbs with little bulbs glasses to grow them in and some sugar swizzle sticks, one mocha flavoured the other hazlenut flavoured. She also sent a lovely looking box of chocolates which I have hidden!

My friend Maggie was supposed to be moving out here last weekend has unfortunately been delayed. However, her and her husband Al should be out here this coming week. I can't wait, we have got so many things planned. She wants to join the book and the knitting group and get meeting people. They have had a holiday home here for a few years now and have been spending more and more time over here. They have a gorgeous house here and are great fun to be with. Hurry up Mags!!!!!

Shopping trip into Limoges

Yesterday Penny and I went into Limoges for a little wander around. I had some birthday money to spend, and Penny joined in the birthday spirit by treating herself to some goodies as well.

We started off with a delicious lunch. We both chose a tartine topped with both poached and smoked salmon with salad followed by creme brulee and coffee. Then we started our wandering.

We found a lovely needlework shop where the owner made everything herself. Penny treated herself to a handmade bag. I was so tempted to get one as well, and am still thinking about it, but they were a bit pricey. I wanted to get some clothes with my birthday money and we finally found the shop I was looking for. I bought 2 cardigans and 2 tops. The cardigans are the same style but different colours. They drape beautifully and the front sections hang about a 30cm longer than the back - very trendy at the moment, wayhay I am in fashion!). One of the tops is a long sleeved t-shirt top in a lilacy/grey colour and the other is a different style and purple.

We had an afternoon coffee in a little cafe in the merchants quarter and the carried on wandering. We called into a chocolate shop where I bought some nice things for OH.

Neither of us is keen on clothes shopping so we decided we had had enough for one day. We called in at a fabulous fruit and veg shop called Grand Frais with is on Avenue Locarno behind the main railway station in Limoges. It has the most amazing selection of fruit and veg from all over the world. There were fruits I had never heard of before. Next time I go, if I see someone buying them I will ask them what they do with them.

Happy Birthday

Yet another year has passed and as of yesterday I am another year older. Where does the time go?

I had a lovely day, I spent it with my lovely husband and my friend Penny. Penny and I knitted and chatted and looked through some of her boxes of linen. I had some beautiful cards, you can see them on my mantelpiece, and some lovely presents. We had a lovely lunch together and a bottle of champagne later on in the day.

Penny and I are going into Limoges today for lunch and to mooch around the shops. Deborah of La Maison Bleue in Le Dorat ( http://www.la-maisonbleue.co.uk/) was wearing the most gorgeous jumper and cardigan when I saw her on Monday at the book club and she told me the shop she got it from in Limoges. The sales are on, I have some birthday money, so lets go!

Happy Birthday Jenny

Today is our niece Jenny's 12th birthday. We hope that she has a wonderful day, even though she has got school today.

If she lived here in France she would have the day off, as today is Armistice Day which is a bank holiday here.

She has started learning French at school now, and has asked us to be pen pals with her. She writes nice emails to us, and includes various French words.

Happy Birthday Jenny
we love you loads

Another year older

I can't believe where time goes and that I haven't posted since the 3rd of Jan. I just don't seem to have stopped running about.

As I don't have other house around the world that I jet between, or a caribbean island to maintain (what a chore that would be - NOT!), what have I been doing with my time?

Well....... nothing exciting. I had a birthday earlier in the week. OH gave me a lovely amethyst necklace, which I was thrilled with. I have had clients everyday, including a new gardening client. who has asked me to do a day a week for them working in their garden. Splitting wood, shopping and thats about it.

We went for a lovely Chinese meal for my birthday. It's funny that in the UK I hated Chinese food. I remember going to a Chinese restaurant for my mother-in-laws 60th, they had asked for vegetarian food for me, and I have to say it was disgusting. It was all inedible, they produced a soup that had the texture of snot. I watched everyone around the table tucking in with relish and I went home starving. Well, OH loves Chinese food so when we heard that there were Chinese restaurants in Limoges I said I would try them with him. I have to say that they are very nice. Not a huge choice in the veggie line, but at least there is something I can eat. They are not expensive, 4 of us went last Saturday, we had aperatifs, a litre of red wine, the 'all you can eat' buffet and coffee, and it came to 20 euros each. Normally for birthdays we go to the restaurant we went to for New Years Eve, but we didn't fancy such rich food so soon after. It eneded up being just as good an evening and half the price.

I am pleased that my work is going so well. I have had to increase my prices though. after OH realised that after I paid petrol, product costs and taxes etc, I wasn't making very much. So, we spent about 5 hours working out exactly how much everything cost to buy, petrol to all my clients and time taken. He is really good at working all this out, I would have really struggled. So now I have a new price list which I hope will be acceptable to all my clients.

We are taking charge of Breezy's chooks tomorrow. Hurrah! we will have eggs at last. Our remaining 3 have not laid since the masscre. I am also tempted to get some more chooks at the market tomorrow. I would love to have a goose as well, but I am not sure if I would like the eggs. I had some duck eggs in the summer and I got food poisoning from one of them. It has made me a bit wary, but I love geese. I know that they make good guard dogs, or rather guard geese, but I am sure that if I raised it from a baby it would be friendly.

Well, OH is working today, and I am continuing my blitz on the house. In our wisdome we laid cream floor tiles in the kitchen and dining room. Cream floor tiles with 4 cats with muddy paws, and where the front door opens directly into the kitchen. With this awful, non stop rain you can imagine the state of the floor! Also we have 2 log burners and the dust that they produce is incredible, and it's black dust!!! C'est la vie!