Spaceship France

Well folks, dad has been and gone. He arrived home late after an unexpected delay, but is back to the cool of an Australian spring. He is also the end of our visitors for this year (well the ones we know of anyway). So this week I have been back at work on my computer and this weekend Pat and I are working on the living room. Which I am happy to say is progressing – the flooring is down, I’m in the process of sanding and painting the doors and the radiators are back on the walls (this has become a necessity as we think the cold is really going to hit soon). I’m really happy with how everything is looking. I will admit I will be very pleased to have the living room back in use.

Last weekend as you saw from Pat’s blog we had a great time in Bordeaux (which was very warm) and headed off to some fascinating gardens in the Dordogne. We also did some walks closer to home and got to see someone on the zip line going over the lake at Espace Hermeline, which started an interesting discussion (as I also mentioned that I would love to do a zip line that goes from Spain into Portugal – you do this by going across a river and obviously the border. So Pat and I have decided we need to start doing some exciting things – so perhaps my Dad’s idea of finding zip lines across the world that are interesting in some way. We have decided that we need to do the one at Espace-Hermeline as a starting point. Perhaps a way to celebrate the finishing of our living room?

Tuesday we headed into Limoges to held dad look for a new leather wallet – so into Galeries Lafayette we went. I spotted a wrap that looked lovely and decided that it was worth a closer look. It was lovely and then I looked at the price – at this point most things are put back on the hanger or shelf, I sigh and walk on wondering why I have such expensive taste, but not this time! The price was good so I went and put my French language skills into action and purchased it; a lovely item for the coming autumn. I then proceeded upstairs to the men’s section looking for my dad and Pat who were still looking through all the wallet’s but dad did eventually find one he liked.

I do think that part of tomorrow will be pulling out my winter clothes and looking through what I want to keep from my summer clothes. I’ve had a few items in my wardrobe which I just haven’t worn this summer and not because of the heat (or lack thereof) but just because I don’t think I like them all that much and since I did buy a few more t-shirts recently I really do need to remove a few items. One advantage of a small wardrobe – you really do keep only what is necessary, nice and works.

For now I wish you all à bientôt and remember Pat’s blog next week – http://patblog.patbell.co.uk

A couple of photos from the Chateau in the gardens, both of these windows are trompe l’oeil

1. I’ve seen the specialist and he is very happy with how I’m healing and my blood results, and I’m back doing everything that I could before.
2. The insurance company finally came back with a decent amount for the car, and it is in the process of being fixed.
3. The ceiling and walls in the living room are painted and the floor is half way through being laid.
4. Summer is back (in style including high humidity).
5. I have a sleeping dog beside me.

Finally we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. However no more photos of the living room until it is finished.

So the past two weeks have been spent working (it has been a silly busy month which is unusual for August). Spending spare time painting the living room, and 1 night at a quiz. The quiz went well and despite getting a lousy 6.5 out of 20 for the music round we still won. We were paired with a couple we hadn’t met and we have decided to do the next quiz together. Interestingly I ran into them today just as I was leaving the hairdressers’, they were coming in. We had a quick catch-up (they very fortunately are off on holiday next week).

So what else has been happening, I’ll be honest I can’t think of a lot, my world has been resolving around working and painting. This week my dad arrives, so I’m looking forward to that and should have lots to talk about in my next blog. Sometimes life is just like that –  not much happens…

For now I wish you all à bientôt and remember Pat’s blog next week – http://patblog.patbell.co.uk

There is a certain irony in the below post, because I wrote it yesterday(Friday) and it is currently 5am on Saturday in France and I’ve been up for the better part of 2 hours with what I can only assume is a stomach bug!  ça la vie…

It has been a long two weeks, I’ve started back at work and wanting to get my life back. I’m still unable to do certain things, but I am slowly returning to normality. However, as illness tends to do, it has raised the spectre of being older and unwell. It has made me realise that I want to be fitter and healthier, I will never be what I was in my late teens and early 20’s – but I can be fitter and healthier than I am currently. So as I heal I am trying to decide what changes I can make to my life to move me towards being fit and healthy. Though unlike one of our friends, I will not start doing triathlons (as he did when he retired)! Running is also out of the question (not my thing and my knees would object).

Along with that, one thing I am planning on doing is making sure I have actual times set out for my jobs around the house – that is the big jobs around the house – like painting the living room walls, kitchen cupboards (again), and beams. So this weekend as the plastering has been finished my plan is to paint the beams in the living room – and perhaps the ceiling. Pat will most likely be involved 🙂 as I don’t think I will be able to do it all by myself.

As well as my return to work, I have been doing some summer art classes. Two on painting ceramics and one on painting a trompe l’oeil; I’m hoping to get some time over the weekend to paint some more of my trompe o’oeil, but I do know that I won’t be able to see my ceramics until next week as they won’t be fired until the beginning of the week. While we have not created the pottery, we have created and painted the designs with the glaze. It will be interesting to see what comes out of the kiln. I have painted 2 coffee mugs and a milk jug. Hopefully I will have pictures for you in a couple of weeks.

On a not so great note, we have had a lot of wet weather of late, and unfortunately my tomatoes plants have blight. I’ve done some serious removal of leaves and hopefully we will have enough sun so that the tomatoes I have will ripen. I’ve already had some tomatoes off the plants and they are doing well. We just have to see what happens.

Now I wish you all à bientôt and remember Pat’s blog next week – http://patblog.patbell.co.uk

PS my scar is healing nicely now – doesn’t look too offensive at all 🙂

Good Afternoon all, I’ve finally been out and about. This week I’ve had 2 trips out, and I must admit it has been lovely. One trip was to an art class – so that one wasn’t too bad, very much doing what I had been doing at home, sitting down and painting. My second trip was to Brantôme yesterday with our house guest P. It was lovely to walk around the markets and then find somewhere for lunch. After which I requested to head home as I was absolutely exhausted, but it was good to go and get out – especially as yesterday was a lovely day. It will be a summer of scarfs unfortunately as the scar is not to be exposed to sunlight.

Last weekend I created a picture in oil pastels which I’m really happy with. I’m going to have another go at this in acrylics and see what I come out with. But that will need to wait a few weeks, partly because as I get better I do want to get on with doing a few of the jobs around the house that I want to get sorted.

Today we are hoping to head out for a walk this afternoon around a nearby lake, however we have had some unexpected rain –we are hoping that now that it has rained the clouds will disappear and the sun will come out. So far the morning has been spent eating croissants, drinking coffee and chatting so can’t really complain.

Next week I’m back to work, which will be good. My scar is healing well (I’ve put some photo’s at the end of the blog – if you are squeamish don’t look). My scar is around 8.5 cm long but I think it will be well hidden once it has totally healed.

For now I wish you all à bientôt and remember Pat’s blog next week – http://patblog.patbell.co.uk

Scar photos – you have been warned….

 

the day the dressing came off (2 weeks after op)

Today (nearly 3 weeks after op)

Hi all, typing this as I wait for the nurse to come and change my dressing. Pat has just had to ring them and ask where they are. So definitely an interesting few weeks for me, as you would have seen from Pat’s blog, I had my Vernissage – our student exhibition opening a week ago. It was a warm night and the turn out wasn’t as good as previous years, but I think that was more to do with the heat than anything else (there are pictures in Pat’s blog from last week). It was a good night looking at some fantastic paintings, drinking wine and chatting to people we know.

This week I have been into hospital to have half my thyroid removed. While it was all operating as it should I unfortunately had a cyst on my thyroid which caused some obstructions within my throat so it needed to go. I will admit coming around from this operation was horrible it has been over 20 years since I’ve been under a general anaesthetic and I’ve never had problems previously, unfortunately this time I was very nauseous and yes basically throwing up quite a bit – this didn’t stop until the following morning. The food at hospital wasn’t the best, I think that this was mostly because I was on a soft food regime – the yoghurt however was pure bliss on my throat as was my first cup of earl grey tea. When I came home, Pat very nicely made me scrambled eggs on very soft bread it was one of the yummiest things I’ve had in a while.

One thing I will say – the staff at the hospital were brilliant, there was a lot of Franglaise happening, but most of the staff had patience with me and my French. However, being woken between midnight and 1am for blood pressure, pulse and temperature checking is never pleasant.

Well the nurse has been and changed my dressing and is very happy with how things are healing. I’m glad to have a different dressing on, as the glue on the water proof ones were reacting with my skin, I have some interesting red marks across my neck and chest area at the moment.

I’ve been for a walk around the garden since I’ve been back, and I’ve had 2 courgettes and a yellow squash to pick. Before I went into hospital the cucumber plant gave us a cucumber – which was lovely as last year’s attempt to grow them gave us bitter ones. The tomatoes are coming along well and every plant has some fruit on them. Unfortunately my turnips didn’t do so well – most of them were eaten – and not by me – as were my carrots – at the moment I have 2 carrots growing! I’m going to attempt a second lot and see how we go. My aubergines are also going well, and have flowered, unfortunately my pepper (capsicum) plant just isn’t doing much, so I might have to move it. Our blueberries have also come to an end which is a shame as we do love blueberries. I will have to put in some other fruit (raspberries and strawberries I think) next year.

But for now I wish you all a bientôt and remember Pat’s blog next week – http://patblog.patbell.co.uk
(which should have photos of the completed living room sub-floor…)

So how are things in our world? Improving thanks. We have had some interesting times over the past few weeks, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. Pat’s foot is almost back to 100% which is fantastic. The floor (well the sub-floor) of our living room will be going in next week and our car is now, probably, to be repaired. So everything is starting to get back to being normal.

As to the weather – wow, I’m not use to it being so changeable. We have had weeks of hot (high 30’s, high humidity) day and hot nights where we needed the fan to sleep at night, and then Tuesday it changed – the storm finally hit, heavy rain, thunder, lighting and the temperature dropped and it has stayed like that since. We are back around 20 degrees and wet! For me summer shows up and that’s, that, you might get the occasional bit of rain – but for the most part it is hot and dry for the next 3 or 4 months (Perth’s average summer rain fall – 50.1mm – where I currently live in the Haute Vienne our driest month is still higher at 60mm). But I must admit everyone is saying that our current rainfall is unusual as we normally get a day or 2 of the storms in summer and then we go back to very hot. But it does mean that I haven’t had to water the garden for the last week, my water butt is fully again and weeding just became much easier. All the plants seem to have survived. I’ve even had one of my sunflowers open this week!

Along with that sunflower I’ve been finding some unusual poppies in the garden – I found a red one with its petals being white at the base, I currently have some completely pink ones, and pink ones with white at the base of the petals. 

My week has been good, work calmer, and I’ve had some time for socialising, Sunday we had Pat’s photo group around to ours after they had been out for a photo shoot session at the local motocross track, Tuesday I went to a friend’s house to have a coffee and a chat about thyroid removal (she had her whole Thyroid removed 10 years ago). My Friday was very busy, I had coffee with another friend from Zumba, then out for lunch with a group that we join regularly for lunch – there were a couple of new people – but surprisingly enough they were from Pat’s photo group so we already knew them. Then I went off for my last art class as we break for summer, after our art exhibition next Friday. I wanted some simple paintings for my class this week, so this is what I completed (I finished a big painting last week). And this morning I went and met another friend for coffee – which was great. It’s fun to catch-up and have a natter and a laugh.

Enjoy your week and remember Pat’s blog next week – http://patblog.patbell.co.uk

As an extra treat – a couple of photos that I got of a hummingbird-hawk moth one evening as it was drinking nectar from our lavender plants.

Hummingbird-hawk moth

Hummingbird-hawk moth

Things in our world have stayed interesting over the past couple of weeks, but I will start with the positive. Firstly most of the beams (joists) for our floor are in, hopefully next weekend the floor can start to go in. The weather has been superb with lovely warm if not hot days with blue skies, my veggie patch is going well (though it is filled with weeds) – need to sort that. I’ve had Physalis (aka Inca Berry, Cape Gooseberry) I’ve tried these a couple of times before with no luck but this year – success. My flower bed which I started last year, is going from strength to strength this year with lots of self-seeded flowers popping up and some of the ones I put in this year are doing well.

For those of you who read Pat’s blog last week, you will know that he was having a problem with his foot. Unfortunately he still is, but after another trip to the doctors who was very quickly getting Pat into a specialist (I will leave the full story for Pat in his next blog), he now has a set of much stronger antibiotics which seem to actually be working and his foot is starting to heal.

So why is Pat my hero? Well while Pat has having to deal with his own ill health, he has also having to sort the problems of double payment for the hire vehicle (from when we moved the beams). Sorting the car insurance – especially as the paperwork came back with the wrong car year, make and model! And as we were due to return the courtesy car on Friday to the garage that currently has our smashed up car, Pat had to deal with speaking with them to see if we can hang on the courtesy car. Thankfully the garage (it is our regular garage which services our vehicle) has said keep the car for the moment, we know there are problems with the paperwork.

Along with the above Pat has been dealing with me and my tiredness and my trip to the new specialist for translation duties. So after a hectic week this week (I’ve been winding up working for one of my clients as my current workload is too much for me while I’m ill) we headed off to the specialist who had a look through everything and said that yes into hospital I have to go to get half my thyroid removed. He did say it is an easy operation, around an hour, but of course I’m now dealing with all the hospital paper work in French! While I’m not looking forward to the operation, I am looking forward to not having the constant feeling of there being something stuck in my throat (this is due to the size of my thyroid pushing on my oesophagus).

So he is my hero, because he isn’t feeling great himself and yet he is still doing lots of complicated things to make my life easier – and he even bought me a cup of coffee to my bedside while I was writing this blog in bed.

To part on a positive note, last weekend (and it did take me all weekend) I got a few of the kitchen cupboard doors re-painted (yep repaint number 3). I used a paint sprayer this time, and I’m very happy with the result and how they look. Now to do the other 4 doors!

Enjoy your week and remember Pat’s blog next week – http://patblog.patbell.co.uk

It has been an interesting couple of weeks – and this week is a week that I think Pat and I would rather not repeat.

To start this week off I had my CT scan for my thyroid. A very easy process all in all – which surprised me and I was very thankful for. After scan (which was at 8:15 in the morning) we hit the café at the hospital and had relatively good coffee and a fantastic croissant for breakfast. It was a bank holiday in the UK so I had the day off which was nice, though I did have to do a bit of work and we did a few things around the house in preparation of visitors this weekend.

Tuesday was spent trying to catch up on work, however towards the end of the day we discovered that the lumber yard were not able to deliver our wood beams. So we (well Pat) spent a few hours trying to find a vehicle that we could hire that would take the 4 metre long beams. Vehicle found and a few phone calls later we were organised.

Wednesday another early start as we headed back to Limoges to speak to the specialist about my thyroid – and to discover that things were not great and I have now been referred on to another specialist as I will be needing an operation. On the way back from the hospital I dropped Pat off to pick up the hire vehicle and he headed off to get the flooring (not the beams). I headed home to get some work done. Late in the afternoon, off to the wood yard to pick-up our beams, now while there weren’t that many, and with a small fork lift they were relatively easy to get into the hire truck – we discovered that they had cut them too long, so they needed to be recut. Off back home to unpack the beams! Now we had been told that they were around 45 kilos each – they were not! I think they were easily closer to 65 kilos each, and when there are only 2 of you to carry the beams down a set of stairs, you know about it. We did the majority on the Wednesday evening to do the final 4 on Thursday morning before returning the vehicle.

At which stage they pointed out a scratch at the top of the vehicle, which Pat hadn’t even noticed happening. This means that they are keeping the deposit until we know what the cost of fixing it is. So not the best start to the day, but we headed home afterwards, for me to finish off some work before getting ready for the arrival of a couple of friends.

Pat had to do some running around, including returning a computer to a friend, at which point a car coming off a side track (and it was a side track) drove straight into the side of our car! With Pat in the car! Pat is fine – thankfully, but the driver’s side of our vehicle (it’s a right hand drive) is totally smashed in. Pat came home as I was trying to finish up my work to let me know what had happened. We then had 2 friends drop in – which we had forgotten about – to have a look at the beams and our cellar (cave) to talk about if he could help with the installing of the beams. By this stage, we had really decided we needed to get someone in to do the work! So I’m then off to get some friends from the airport – with a totally smashed in car. Thankfully the car was just about driveable, and I was able to pick them up without any problems, but I came home to Pat and the other driver going through the insurance paperwork, which apparently needed to be completed on the day of the accident.

Friday morning was spent by Pat finalising the paper work, speaking to the insurance company and getting the car off to the garage to be looked at and to pick up a courtesy car. Meanwhile I and my friends headed off to the small local market, we bought some nice cherries and strawberries and some cheese. We came home with the fruit and some patisseries to eat before heading off into the sunshine for lunch. A lovely lunch was spent at a restaurant beside a river eating lovely food and then a lovely walk around the village enjoying the sunshine before heading home (via the supermarket) for dinner of salad, bread and cheese while sitting outside.

It is great to have friends here to force us out and about to do things rather than sitting at home pondering on our fate! Hopefully Pat’s blog next week will tell you about all the wonderful things that have happened.

Enjoy your week and remember Pat’s blog next week – http://patblog.patbell.co.uk

Some pictures:

The freshly painted outdoor chair

As I mentioned last blog – the new cave door

Well it feels like poppies are trying to take over my garden at least. They are all up in my lavender bed – which actually I like as they fill the space between the bulbs and the lavender flowering. But they have expanded their territory and are popping up in the patio, all my other garden beds, behind the shed (keeping them) and in the grass! However, poppies are not the only things popping up in the grass – we have a mole. A brave mole as Siena being part terrier has started digging at these interesting new mounds that have appeared in the grass. I’ve been surprised that we got a mole, not quite sure how it made it to our yard, but I’m not really all that fussed about it.

Last weekend, as our beams hadn’t been delivered, Pat and I spent our weekend doing various things – one was visiting the flower show / sale at a lovely little village about 30 minutes away from us. It was a beautiful day – warm and sunny and we pottered about for an hour or so. I could have bought so many things, but ended up buying nothing as I was overwhelmed with the choice – next year I will be prepared with a list of what I want to buy. There were some lovely roses! My neighbour didn’t have the same problem, I saw her later in the day after she had just returned from the show – unpacking her car with lots and lots of flowering plants.

Unfortunately this weekend will also not be spent doing the new flooring of our lounge as the beams have still not arrived. We have been told Monday or Tuesday – we shall see. So I have been down in the garage, sanding some of our garden furniture and painting it. I’ve also painted our new door for the cave. The colour was not exactly what I wanted but it does the job and the colour has grown on me. Pat and I will be fitting the new cave door today so hopefully I will have a photo of it in-situ for my next blog.

Enjoy your week, remember Pat’s blog next week – http://patblog.patbell.co.uk

I apologies this isn’t the most exciting blog I have ever written, but sometimes things are just like that.

Well a lot has happened over the past 2 weeks, firstly we have no floor in the living room (photo’s on Pat’s blog from last week) and we spent yesterday (Saturday) clearing the last of the wood and junk out of the cave ready for our beams that are being delivered this Wednesday. Next weekend will be spent putting the beams into place and hopefully the weekend after putting the flooring into place. I might be, being overly optimistic but I can hope. I do however think that there will be a lot of work over the next few weeks.

As to my thyroid, we now know that I have a cyst on my thyroid. We don’t know how it happened or anything else. The specialist has booked me in for a CT scan which is at the end of the month. But it is looking very likely that I will need to have some level of operation. I will admit doing all of this in a language I don’t speak very well is very difficult and slightly unnerving. Once I have the CT scan and have been back to the specialist we will hopefully know more. I will keep you updated.

So what else has been happening, Pat and I have been for a few meals recently – we have been to a local Italian restaurant which was lovely and the servings were huge! On Tuesday for Pat’s birthday we went up to the local Relais and had a lovely steak (of the Limousine variety – yes Limousines are cows not just a very big car). So we have been enjoying ourselves a little. Pat did get a gift via Amazon – but there was no paper work inside, so we have no idea who it has come from – so if it was you. Thank you from Pat

Apart from that I’m currently struggling with the garden as I have seedlings that I need to plant out but we are having unseasonal weather at the moment and we have had a few frosts overnight – most things have survived as I am remembering to cover them but I really do want to get my veggies out into the ground so that I can have a wonderful summer harvest.

Enjoy your week, remember Pat’s blog next week – http://patblog.patbell.co.uk