Our place in France Chapter 98

Spring has definitely sprung! We have noticed numerous trees with white blossom which a local friend of ours says is a wild flowering plum. Also, in this last week a lot of other fruit trees have suddenly come into bloom and the countryside is beginning to look really pretty. The rest of the trees around us are also just starting to get their new leaves and have a pale green cloud of colour around their tops. We know that within a few weeks they will all be fully ‘clothed’ and then a lot of scenery disappears for another year.

During the week we took a drive with a friend who is a builder of note, down to the Tarn, to view a house that Andre and Leigh had seen and liked. Our friend, Denis the builder, knows a lot about what needs to be done and how much the various jobs will cost, so he was there because the house was not entirely finished but after all the effort, it was decided that there was really too much to do and was going to cost too much, which the owners were not prepared to deduct off the selling price, so we have to wait for them, Leigh and Andre, to find something else.

Apart from that little bit of excitement, we had a quiet week until the weekend when Andre, Leigh and Cassidy came to spend a night with us. They brought the two dogs with them which made me a little nervous but they were very well behaved and the little Yorkie whose name, Puddles, aptly describes his level of house training, didn’t make a single puddle! Good dog!!

It was great to have a lot of people in the house for a change, although the noise level from the two girls got quite high at times. Courtney and Cassidy cooked for us on Saturday night and served a delicious three-course meal. We were all very impressed. Our main course of individual chicken, bacon and mushrooms pies, with vegetables, was preceded by a novel avocado and feta salad with parma ham and followed by a dessert of ice-cream and ‘Rice Crispie treats’ made of Rice Crispies and marshmallows. All very yum.

The weather during the week was unbelievable – sunny and blue skies but not yet really warm. And then over the weekend everything reverted to the horrid weather we seem to have been enduring for ages. Mind you, we had nothing like the freezing time the UK was having, thank goodness. I really feel that we have had our fair share of cold this year. Hopefully what is forecast for the week ahead is going to be the last cold burst and now that the plum trees are out and the plant selling marquees have made their appearance outside the supermarkets, warmer weather just has to be on the way.