Firstly:- Congratulations to Bruce and Polly, baby Jasmine arrived on November 25th at 19:45, she?s absolutely beautiful. Luckily she takes after Mum and not Dad, although she has got Bruce?s hairstyle but hers will grow, unlike his! In the absence of Grandchildren of our own, we have ?adopted? Jasmine as our honorary grandchild, I have to keep reminding Jan that this doesn?t mean we can take her home with us!
Well, our first Christmas and New Year in France has been and gone?. Not quite the celebrations we had planned however.
Jan was ill for a couple of days before her Dad and Marc arrived on the 21st December, she was continually sick and stayed in bed most of the time. I eventually persuaded her she had to see the doctor, he gave her an injection and some tablets which sorted her out within a few days. Jan?s Dad had been feeling under the weather when he arrived, then developed a really bad cough. So? eventually persuaded him he had to see the doctor (do you see an ?I don?t need a doctor? pattern here?), the doctor diagnosed bronchitis and prescribed antibiotics among other things.
The day I went to Bordeaux airport to pick them up it was bitterly cold with freezing fog, temperature dropped to -7 during the morning. The fog lasted for 4 days, we could hardly see the end of the garden, the house was freezing and so were we. The central heating boiler can?t cope with really cold weather so next summer we are going to install a wood burner instead. The boiler also burns oil at an alarming rate and it?s quite expensive here, so wood it is from next winter onwards..
After the cold weather over Christmas the temperatures rose and we managed to get into the garden to continue the massive task of making it presentable.
Marc went back to the UK on 30th December as he had a New Year?s Eve party to go to.
We saw in the New Year, just Jan?s Dad, Jan and I, there were a few fireworks going off in the village but very quiet really. I let off some rockets and bangers that Marc had bought, they didn?t amount to much but then they were about 3 euros for 10!!!
Jan?s Dad was feeling much better by 2nd January and was out in the garden pruning the fruit trees for us. I pruned some of the larger trees (under his expert guidance), as his tree climbing days are over, at least when we?re watching! He went home on the 5th January, travelling on his own was a new experience for him but he managed to get on the right plane and get off at the right stop, not bad for an old bugger!!
The weather has been unseasonably warm so far this year, we sat outside to eat our lunch the other day, it was 26? in the sun, T shirt weather! On the down side there is very little snow in the Pyrծեs, with some resorts not open and most of the others relying on snow cannon to keep them going.
Matthew arrived on the 8th January (with his mate Jed) to go snowboarding. They drove down as Matt had bought a cheap LHD car in England to keep here for when he visits us. It?s a VW Polo, 100,000+ miles and ran perfectly all the way here.
Another friend of Matt?s (Chris) stayed with us for a few days to go skiing while they were snowboarding, Chris lives in the Lot-et-Garonne, a couple of hours drive North of us.
To earn their keep, the 3 of them spent an energetic morning digging out 9 old tree stumps along the fence by the road, so that Jan could plant some bushes. These should add a welcome splash of colour to what is currently a very plain part of the garden. There?s some green ones, yellow ones and reddy/green ones, with white, yellow and blue flowers. My knowledge of plant names is very limited (?no shit? I hear you say!) so they get called by their colours, Jan is the one to ask if you actually need to know what a plant/flower/bush/tree is called.
After 11 months of only seeing TV programmes that I (or Marc) had downloaded, Marc and I finally set up the satellite dish I had bought about 2 months ago. We can get UK freeview channels and were looking forward to seeing the latest news but I have to say the novelty soon wore off, same old crap, different year!!
Rokxy and JJ are both fine, Rokxy is now nearly 7 months old and extremely fit. She would chase her Frisbee or football around all day if I had the energy to throw them for that long! JJ will play for a while but then gets tired or bored and walks away from her.
This picture was taken about a month ago after we had a day of rain. She was like a child, digging holes in the garden and then splashing around in them when they filled with muddy water.
Rokxy with one of her favourite toys (a baby bath), it was whole when she first had it but after weeks of pushing it round the garden and chewing lumps off it, it?s a bit worse for wear.
Matt and Jed went back today (14th) after digging out another 3 tree roots this morning, the last of which required the use a rope tied to my car to assist in it?s removal. We have also cut the willow tree right back to the main trunk, it looks very bare now but will soon sprout new shoots. If we didn’t need all this wood for the wood burner I think we have enough to build a log cabin in the garden.
I really will try to update this blog more frequently, honestly I really will try (Jan is always saying I’m very trying!)
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