Well now! Let me see! What have we done this week that
wasn’t too boring for readers? Sadly the beginning of the week was miserable
weather and cold as well, so Jenny had a very quiet time with us. I think the
high spot of those few days was Pieter treating us all to a superb lunch in
Villefranche. Although the deal was not completely final we thought it was a
good opportunity to drink to Pieter’s and Tilly’s health and to congratulate
them on the purchase of a house here in France. The next day, Jenny left on a
very convoluted flight plan, for South Africa. She had to change planes three
times along the way and must have been completely tired out by the time she
arrived home, but still went off to work to finish the day. Once there, I am
not sure she still agreed with her original principles though – she had 900
e-mails waiting for her!
Although we hadn’t done much, it still made a draught when
she left. I think I really like to have my chickens around and feel bereft when
they leave to go back to their normal lives.
During this past week, while we have had too many people in
the house and not enough beds, Pieter, Tilly and Jack have been sleeping in the
neighbour’s gite , to relieve the
pressure a bit. It has been very useful, to say the least. And they were able
to stay on over this weekend too when Courtney had a friend to stay. Next week
they will move back in with us and things can return to normal.
Meanwhile, Pieter has decided to take his car apart again
and replace some worn parts. This seems to be a fairly common occurrence these
days, not because the car is always wearing out, but I get the feeling that he
enjoys working on it. It keeps him and Neels out of mischief though so I am not
complaining.
To set minds at rest in my old embroidery group, I have to
say that I have not been entirely idle lately. After the terrible chilblains I
suffered at the beginning of 2016, I decided I would not let that happen again
and have taken to wearing a pair of long bed socks which I knitted in wool and
which do the job of keeping my toes warm and toasty. Having asked around
unsuccessfully, for a pattern, I just went ahead and knitted them and they work
perfectly. I made a rectangle with a tapered end, and then joined the side
edges, which forms a seam along the underneath of my foot and up the back of
the leg. A twisted cord threaded though the knitting just above the ankle keeps
them from slipping off while a sleep. Perfect!
As well as that, I have been knitting little eight-inch
dolls without much idea of what I was going to do with them. I had ideas of
trying to sell them on a Christmas Fete, which I may well still do, or perhaps
donate them to a worthy cause of some sort. I still haven’t decided yet, but I
now have six little dolls and the ‘family’ is growing.
I also have a secret project on the go which can only be
done at certain times when certain persons are not around. Very mysterious,
isn’t it? This project is a tapestry but you will all have to wait until it is
complete before I can show it to you. It was a pretty ambitious thing to start,
I feel, as I haven’t been able to see properly for at least four months.
Finding the correct hole to make the next stitch has, at times, been a real
trial but I am getting there. I hope to have it complete by the end of
November, if not before.
During the week when we had Jack to ourselves for the day,
he and Neels put together a kit of a little balsa wood airplane. It was a very
simple kit but it engrossed the two of them for a while. The pictures of them
doing it are really quite sweet and indicate how well Jack has fitted into our
household and our way of life. He is such a dear little boy – quite smart and with
an amazing vocabulary in English, French and Spanish. Not bad for a five-year-old.
Sometimes, I am amazed at the care that has been taken to
preserve ancient artefacts and historical buildings. At other times I am
frustrated by the lack of information available about these things. For
example, while returning from Toulouse where we had taken Jenny to catch the
plane home, Pieter was driving and suddenly announced that this time, we were
going to ‘find out what the little building was at the end of the path’. We
were quite mystified until he pulled up and we saw a beautifully laid out path
bounded by low stone walls, leading to a small building. On closer inspection, it
turned out to be a well with a small cover erected over it. There was no
village or other habitation close by, so there appeared to be no reason for
having a well there, but attached to the wall was a very tatty notice referring
to it as the Spring of Pleyjean. The notice had had more information but that
had long since weathered away. What a shame. Getting home again, both of
us made straight for our computers to
find out if Mr Google could shed any light but Mr Google was, for once, dumb.
Never mind, we thought we will go to the Tourist Information in Villeneuve in
the morning and they will know all about it. Ha! Ha! The poor little lady had
never heard of it, but admitted that it was probably out of her radius and
referred us to another tourist office. Hmmph! We haven’t had a chance to go to
this other office yet but at this rate I am not holding my breath.
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