Weddingparty, last chapter

As Tony's grandparents could not be present at the wedding in France, last June, Tony and Karin decided to treat them to dinner in Holland. They waited for an opportunity where their parents could be present too. This happened to be Tony's birthday.

We had a traditional mussel meal in "De Mosselbank" in Philippine, where they serve the best mussels in the world, no kidding.

Kitchen renovation

As Janny was a week in Holland to visit her sister in law for her 60th birthday, her dad and our son and his wife, I had a good opportunity to repaint the kitchen. Having changed the ceiling from bare wooden planks to a smooth white with beige beams, the cupboards and walls looked tired. So, time for a fresher look.

The pictures above show the kitchen as we found it(top), changed after a couple of months living here (middle), and the most recent renovation.(lower picture)

All we need now is a new woodstove / gasstove combination.

Barcelona

Last weekend we went by car to Barcelona for the weekend. From our house it is about 500 kms. We had lunch in Carcassonne, a medieval town worth seeing. A bit touristy, but that was to b expected.

We had another stopover at Girona on the Costa Brava, just 100 kms north of Barcelona, where we picked up Tony and Karin, who flew in from Holland.
We spent the weekend in Barca, lovely hotel, good food, (not as good as in France though) and visited all the touristic sites, including the Segrada Familia from the famous architect Gaudi. Beautiful and weird at the same time.
And we had paella with beer of course. (or was it beer with paella?)

Harvest Time

With fall approaching, it's harvest time.

We have plenty of nuts, figs and porcini.

And of course related products:

Jams, chutneys, dried porcini, dried figs.

Pity that the leaves start to fall as well,

plenty of work to keep the garden neat.

The last guests will be leaving this week and we will

then also take a break, 5 days to Holland, also for

Janny's dad, who becomes 92 on the 20th.

Wedding of Tony and Karin

On the 16th of june our son Tony married here in France with Karin.

They got married in de festivity hall of Sainte Mondane as the town hall was too small.

From there we went for a wonderful lunch at La Villa Romaine (recommended!) to conclude with a party in our garden. The weather was just perfect, and so were the guests.

Another day to remember.

Janny has become Sarah, part 2

The friday after Janny's birthday we went for a lovely dinner with neighbours and friends to La Villa Romaine. Dad came along and enjoyed the French food. He does not look like 91, does he.

Janny has become Sarah

Last week Janny became 50. Nothing big was planned, but around noon, our son, Janny's father of 91 and her brother and his wife, arrived out of the blue. We, and especially Janny, were thrilled and it became a day to remember.

Spring (or early summer) in the Dordogne

The vegetable patch, potager, as they say here, is coming along just fine.

The catalpas are very early, normally they don't start until May, and I am afraid to look behind the lawnmower, as the grass grows so fast I may have to start all over again.
The snowball (is this English?) flowers abundantly, just beautiful.



We already have roses! What a spring!

And this is a Maythorn, the name says it all.
And what about this, a beautiful Rhododendron.

Even the pool is already 21C, last year this time it was 16C. I was always very sceptical about the greenhouse effect, but start to doubt now. Anyway, we have done our bit, we changed to more fuel efficient cars and burn more firewood, which the French government promotes.

Sure hope it helps, although I like the weather for now.

Forest maintenance

My brother and his wife visited us again last week. They tend to come over last week January. Usually a week of forest maintenance, good food and wine. (not necessarily in that order.)
My brother can chop a tree down with a sigar in his mouth. (!)

Janny and Irene are pyromaniacs.

Christmas 2006

We celebrated Christmas with Tony, Karin, and her parents, who came all the way from Malaysia. Christmas was kind of white, not with snow, but frozen moisture. All in all a pretty picture.

Black guest 4

The final episode.
Having given it a lot of thought, we decided not to adopt Bruno, and took him to the kennels in Bergerac. The first thing they did was find out that Bruno did have a chip afterall.
Within minutes the owner was found and called. Bruno du Pech de Mont is Beaujoe de Calviac and he will be collected from Bergerac on Saturday.

Black guest 3

Bruno is working his way up. He is already in the house at night, but still sleeps outside.
The 2 dogs get along.

Black guest 2

Bruno du Pech de Mont does not have a chip. We found out through the animal protection lady from Veyrignac. She had a machine to find and read the chip.
On thursday Bruno will be announced in the newspaper, and if there is no reaction by monday, he will be brought to a kennel in Bergerac, either by me or he will be collected.
To be continued........

Black guest

Yesterday we went for a walk and met a black sort of labrador stray dog. Janny gave it a cookie and, of course, he followed us home. Now we are stuck with him.
This morning I went to the police, the townhall and called the French RSPCA. We also put a poster at the bakery. Not easy to handle in French, but that's rural life in France.
We have named him Bruno, and, as our Sacha is sort of French royalty with a double barrel name , we made it into Bruno du Pech de Mont.
Hopefully we find the owner.

Carport

The past month we demolished some old canopies and extended the garage / workshop instead.
Looks a lot better now, the rock behind our house is now more visible.

Oak

Today we removed a fallen oak from the forest.
My dad helped winching the tree out of another tree and bring it to our yard.
Now we have to wait for 2 years before we can burn it.

Fire and frost

Voilà, the result. The weather has changed this week, it has become a lot colder. Last night we had nightfrost! Most of the leaves of the catalpas have fallen now. Just a few wheelbarrows to go....
Janny is bringing all the geraniums inside, and I keep myself busy with leaves and more wood from the forest.

Tomorrow my parents arrive for a week. They will stay in the guesthouse. The weatherforecast is good, sunny but cool if not cold.

Preparing for winter

And, as autumn has arrived, you have to start preparing for winter!
As you can imagine, this stockpile of firewood has warmed me already more than once

Autumn is here.

This night we changed to wintertime, autumn has arrived, the catalpas are shedding their leaves and mushrooms are everywhere. Temperatures are still extremely high for the time year. So is the humidity.

Sacha du Relais Perrine

And this is Sacha, our Braque Francais, type Pyrennee. She is an obedient gun dog, somewhat nervous, and not to be trusted with chickens.
But she loves children.
A Braque Francais is a lot like like an English pointer, easy to train, but it has to be done with a soft hand.