I met SITH!

Kim from Soft in the Head blog came over to France last week, and as her house is not too far from me we took the opportunity to meet up for lunch. She is lovely and had some wonderful photos of all the work being done on her house. It look great at the moment and when everything is finished - WOW!

It was great to meet up with someone with whom you have shared so much but only through blogging. We had a lovely lunch at La Maison Bleue in Le Dorat and a really good chat. Thanks for taking time out of your holiday to meet up Kim, I hope to see you again.

The weather here has been wonderful, although today which is Bastille Day here in France and a national holiday it has been raining on and off since late last night. Misty woke me at 5am but trying to dig to the centre of the earth in her litter tray, and it was raining then. Still it is great for the garden, the ground has been like concrete.

We are off to watch a stage of the Tour de France today with Juley and Paul. The Tour is going from Limoges to Issoudun. We have been following it avidly on the TV and there are a couple of fantastic British riders in it this year. Bradley Wiggins is an Olympic gold medallist and is currently lying 5th in the General Classification and Mark Cavendish who is a phenomenal sprinter and who has won 2 stages already. We are packing a picnic and hoping that the rain stops, not that it will spoil our enjoyment, it would just be nicer to be dry.

Ian and I went to the Journee Artisanale in Le Dorat on Sunday. What a great day out it was. Loads of local craftspeople open their studios or have stalls to display and sell things they have made. There were some wonderful things. Penny had a stall and I bought some wool and some coasters from her. Ian treated me to 2 of her bags as well. There were some fabulous jewellery stands and I was treated to a beautiful Limoges enamel pendant and some fabulous gold earrings. Limoges is famous for its enamelwork and it is a real speciality of the city. The earrings were made by a lady who takes leaves and dips them in gold or silver. They are so delicate and look great. There were also lots of food stands and lots of local fruit and veg. I bought a kilo of new season garlic (we use loads of it!) and some savoury tarts. We met up with some friends for a drink in one of the cafe/bars and sat people watching for a while. The brass band was playing and it was the most wonderful atmosphere.

Misty is really on the mend now. She is eating really well and walking around and climbing up onto the bed. Her bad leg is still very weak, but she is doing brilliantly. Another week and we will let her into the rest of the house, but not outside yet. Not until she regains some strength in her leg.

Busy as a Bee

I can't believe it, another month has gone by without blogging. Never mind, better late than never.

So, what has happened in Us-in-France land? Well, both of us are working very hard at the moment, and Ian being the good and lovely person that he is, helped out a French lady next door to where he is working and was given a lovely bouquet of flowers and a four leaf clover by way of a thank you.

Of course, he gave me the flowers and they lasted for ages in our sitting room.

I had a fabulous bee-experience this week. Some clients of mine keep two hives of bees, and they had sent me en email telling me that the bees were in mega production and they needed to collect and spin the honey, did I want to help them do it. Well, I jumped at the chance. Before donning a bee suit Gary showed me the inside of a spare hive that he had in the garage and explained what we were going to do. I donned a bee suit and off to the hives we went. We had to approach the hives from behind so we didn't look threatening and lifted the roof off of hive 1. It was incredible to see. Inside the hive there are different 'layers' called Supers. The Supers hold the frames that the honey is made on. We had to take some of the frames out as they were completely full and replace them with empty ones. I hadn't know what to expect and had been a little apprehensive - would I be covered in bees?! Not at all. The bees occasionally bump into the netting that is held away from you face, and none landed on me at all. It was wonderful to see them all working away.

Unfortunately the house was experiencing a power and we couldn't spin the honey, as the spinner is electric, but I was shown how it would work. I have been visiting these clients for almost 2 years now and each time learn a little more about the bees. I am really considering keep a hive myself.

This weekend is the nationwide Fete de la Musique, where towns and villages put on concerts. We went to the Chez Adie bar in Droux last night with our good friends Juley and Paul. Some other friends were going to be playing in a band during the evening. It was brilliant. There was a big outside bar, a bbq where you could bring you own food to cook, a stage and lots of musicians and dancing. The atmosphere was great with children playing and lots of people we knew. A group of people were line dancing in front of the stage, Juley and I considered trying to join them but they looked so good we didn't want to muck it up for them, apart from that I have 2 left feet!

Juley is a girl I met through the book club in Le Dorat. It is incredible that she and Paul only live 5 miles from us, and we clicked instantly. They run a B & B just outside Nantiat. Take at look at their website www.villechenoux.co.uk the only thing is, the pictures don't do it justice. It is truly gorgeous, they have worked so hard on it. The four of us had a great time last night, we laughed, chatted and danced (a bit) til almost midnight.

Ostensions

Ostensions is a religious fesitival unique to this region which happens once every 7 years. This year marked the 50th Anniversary in Le Dorat 1659-2009. The final day on June 6th was marked by a huge parade. All the local village had formed a Guard and had to march into the town by way of Portes. These are huge gates in the city walls that in the past would probably had have portcullis's. Only one of the original Portes is still standing but the town have built replicas around the town. The Guards enter the town at the Porte in the direction of their village. They all carry rifles and a banner with their village name. There are lots of children in costumes and some of the adults carry their churchs' religious relics. They are met at the Porte by other Guardsmen who check that their weapons are not loaded. They then proceed into the town and head for the Cathedral which in Le Dorat is called a Collegiale. The are announced and all go into the church for a long service. There was a brass band and soldiers on horseback as well. The town has been decorated with bunting everywhere and banners. After the service all of the guards from the different villages march through the town to the main square where a stage had been erected and various churchmen make a speech. I love the fact that such an old tradition is still being carried out and that the town was full of people watching and supporting it.

Antiquities

No not me!!!!

I had been looking forward to this antiques fair for about 10 days, ever since I had seen the signs for it. We had last been the first year we were here, and had seen loads of lovely things including some vintage, crystal champagne glasses (drooled over by me) and a 12-seater dining table and chairs (drooled over by OH), neither of which we bought, as most of our belongings were still in boxes and we were still cooking on a camping gas stove. Our hopes for this years fair were quite high, as the house is finished (bar plastering the chimney breast) and we were in the mood to treat ourselves. OH had some money for his birthday last week and it was burning a hole in his wallet.

Well, we crossed the palm of a grumpy French woman with 3 euros each and entered the grand marquee. We walked around nodding knowledgeably and pointing at things, picked up a couple of bits and bobs, and hurried away from other stalls. Then after spending 15 minutes there seeing everything we left empty handed. This all sounds spookily like the outing to the Christmas faire in Le Dorat in December.

To be sure there were some lovely things, and to be sure there were some lovely prices to go with them. A wardrobe not unlike one of ours was going for 5,000 euros! A very pretty set of glasses for 180 euros. No wonder we made a hasty exit!

The prices were ridiculous, I can't believe that anyone sold very much. There is a plant fair on at the end of this month, I shall probably go 3rd time lucky and all that.

Remembrance Day
'Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn, at the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them'.

The 2 minute silence at 11am always makes me tearful. We have always respected it, right from when we were children. I can remember saying to my dad when I was a child, 'the war was a horrible thing, why can't we just forget it? He told me that it was for exactly that reason that we must never forget it, to never forget what those brave men and women did for generations yet unborn. In order to give us the life of freedom and prosperity we now have, they were prepared to give their lives. I find the subject incredibly emotional and my tears are blurring the keyboard, so please excuse any dodgy spelling. My aunt in Letchworth had the honour today of laying a poppy wreath for the Royal British Legion and my thoughts were with her as well. She is an emotional soul as well, and I wondered how she would keep the tears at bay.

On a lighter note there was a fete today in a nearby village, and I went along with my OH and Breezy from breezybreakblog. We got there while it was still lunchtime, (so no French families out and about) and we felt like we were running the gauntlet of stallholders!!! There were some very nice crafts and some very twee stuff, and some stuff OH said 'you can't possibly like that!' I think he was surprised that I didn't buy anything, (so was I) but there is a Christmas fete on in Le Dorat on the 2nd of December and there may be a bigger choice of tat, I mean crafts!

OH and I had a nice walk in the woods collecting chestnuts when we got home, delicious.