It has been a fun couple of weeks in our rural part of France.
I arrived back from the UK with one of Pat’s old university friends and her daughter. It was lovely to have them here for a few days. We got to go to the Limoges Christmas markets which I loved and will definitely be going back next year maybe to actually do some shopping. There were actually 2 markets one a more traditional market – which had a fantastic hat seller and then a more artisan market which had a lot of local food and drink products as well as local crafts people.
our locally made Limoges porcelain decoration
Last Sunday we also went to a local Christmas markets (near Cassinomagus for those who have been there). It was a trip for Pat’s photo club and I took Siena along. It was significantly busier than I anticipated so I ended up outside with the dog trying to keep her under control. Just too many things happening for her, lots of interesting smells and so many other dogs! I did however have enough time to buy myself a slice of chocolate cake for my afternoon tea.
Our new door showed up by surprise on Monday the 21st December. Thankfully the cold weather hasn’t really hit us yet so it was good to have this finally installed. I think it looks good, but we now the decision about the front porch needs to be made and if we will keep that. We had to let them know that they had to be finished with the installation by 6pm as we were heading off into Limoges to go see the new Star Wars film – at one of the version original sessions. We must have been the only English speakers in the cinema and it was quite full. The film was subtitled. I must admit I enjoyed the film and found it an homage to the original 3 films. But I won’t give any spoilers here.
The new front door
Tuesday was a wonderful meal at a local restaurant. We went for Christmas lunch with Pat’s camera club. It was a lovely meal with 3 courses for €15. We both had the vegetable soup for starters – which was simply stunning. Pat had the fish for his main and I had the turkey both were quite good and we had the same dessert of fromage blanc with a red fruit compote. It was a lovely meal.
The rest of the week was fairly quiet. I haven’t had much work as everyone is away, but that has meant that I have done unusual things like having a bath at 11:00am in the morning – just because I could. The weather here has also been very unseasonal and we have had very mild days with lots of sunshine, which has made for some lovely walks with the dog. Yesterday we went for a drive up to one of the local view points to look out over the area and then for a lovely walk around Lac St Mathieu, which we discovered was in the process of being drained. We’re not sure why it was being drained but definitely odd to see it so low in winter and the water gushing out the sluice.
Christmas day was a very quiet day in our house hold. We stayed at home and spent time on the phone to our families and Pat cooked a wonderful roast dinner. We even had Christmas pudding . An afternoon walk with Siena in the local woods – and a play with her new toy (which was absolutely destroyed by last night). It was lovely to have it in our home and to just relax and not have to run around. Our first Christmas actually in this house (as last year we were in Australia with my family).
So onto today, my plans for today are to spend some time painting. I also hope to get a bit more painting (this is of the fun kind not painting the house kind) done over the week. I’ve also got to sort out my New Year’s resolutions – yes I do make them. And look at the one’s I made for last year and see if I actually did any of them.
I will see you in two weeks and remember Pats blog next week – http://patblog.patbell.co.uk