Our French Life: Summer days at last

Our French Life: Summer days at last: Hello dear Readers, The French summer has arrived and my old bones are very grateful, the spring seemed to go on forever and we have worke...

Summer days at last

Hello dear Readers,

The French summer has arrived and my old bones are very grateful, the spring seemed to go on forever and we have worked so hard to get  "Le Spa" up and functional John putting so much into it even when his body told him to rest, there never seems to be enough hours in the day since we have retired as we always have a project on the go.

But here it is, there are still a few tweeks to do to finish it and you know me I will have to put my mark on it, it is warming up nicely ready for us to get in and soothe our old bones.

If any of you want to pop round and get some bubbles feel free, we could have a party  🎉....

Bird in the hand

Hello dear reader's

Yes a bird in the hand is definitely worth two in the Bush, I have always been thrifty, I have to be especially now we are pensioners, but just lately I have been a bit lax and sometimes I get carried away when food shopping (we do love our food) and I do like to have plenty in the cupboards.
I have been following a blog called Frugal Queen, I will link her blog below,  she has brought me back to reality, got me back on the straight and narrow if you like, you will see why when you read her blog, don't miss it.
It is amazing how much money and time you will save by cooking two meals, one for now one for the freezer, it also gives you a cook free evening every now and then, another item I freeze is pancakes, I make twice as much batter cook them all up, eat some freeze some, voila.
here is the link Click here

When you have a meal from the freezer all you have to do is make the salad 😆

thanks for reading, I will look forward to your comments, let me know how you are thrifty.

Bank Holidays

Hello dear blog Friends,

Well here in France it is another bank holiday ( May is full of them) this one is Pentecoste, I think that is how the French spell it.
I used to love it when I was working and there was a UK bank holiday that they didn't have it here, it meant that I had the day off and the shops were still open, now I am retired it doesn't make any difference, everyday is a holiday they tell me, let me tell you it doesn't feel like it, I really don't know when I found time to work, there are not enough hours in the day to do everything - Housework, gardening, washing, ironing to mention just a few, I have been retired 3 years now and it has taken me this long to get organised, sort of, I have a long way to go but I am getting there and it is rubbing off on John too as he has been tidier that is for sure.
I now have a planner that has things like a TO DO LIST which I follow for my daily chores and a WEEKLY TO DO which has a different job on for each day of the week and finally a MONTHLY TO DO I must admit so far it is working and I can't tell you how much more able I feel when the work is done, I don't always stick to it and I sometimes swap them around especially when I need to be in the garden or we decide to take a day out for retail therapy but at least the house is tidy and clean if anyone calls unexpectedly.
This is what we have been doing today.

The top one was John's project for today, although he did give me a lot of help, the bottom one was mine, it was full of weeds and now is weed free and covered in bark in the hope it will keep the weeds down, the two tall shrubs were huge with branches down to the ground, they have been cut down as they were going over the fence into our neighbours.

Needless to say we are both knackered and in need of a drink of wine, medicinal of course.

Don't forget to leave a comment and do let me know what you did at the weekend x

Healthy living

A cyber friend made me think about our health and the health service here in France, I am type 2 diabetic after being diagnosed here 5 years ago.
Things happen very quickly and there is no waiting for appointments, as soon as a blood test confirmed it I was whisked off to hospital where it was soon brought under control, I now have a blood test every 3 months to make sure it stays under control, I also have a yearly eye examination to make sure there is no glaucoma, I also have problems with blood clots and heart arrhythmia  I can get an appointment the next day to see any consultant and all covered by my Carte Vitale, John has since been diagnosed with pre diabetes and has received the same wonderful service.

 

So all in all we are very fortunate to be here in this wonderful country under such a wonderful health service

Well the weather has certainly  changed here in our little bit of heaven in France in fact it is feeling quite like summer is arriving and about time too..

Saturday we spent a wonderful afternoon with our dear friends Sue and John and Valerie and John plus we re kindled an old friendship with a couple we knew some years before only to find out they lived in our very own village.

Sunday we were planning on having a quite day when more dear friend's  turned up bringing these beautiful flowers for our wedding anniversary which was the next day and so the Sunday lunch was added to and a lovely impromptu meal was had sat in the garden, thank goodness I had frozen a rhubarb crumble and we were able to have dessert too.

Monday morning (our wedding anniversary) was spent at the doctors for our 3 monthly check and prescriptions, plus a trip to the lab for a water sample analysis for me, looks like I have a kidney infection which is a side effect of my diabetes, that all done we thought we would treat ourselves to a Chinese buffet meal, we drove there looking forward to it only to find they were shut. Bummer.

We then decided to purchase something that required ID so as the purchase was for me I produced my French driving licence which would have been good enough except that my driving licence is in my maiden name which I questioned at the time but was told it was normal, the cheque book is in our married name so was no good, luckily John was there and used his and all was well, .we used to carry our passports but stopped doing that once we had the driving licence but now I think we must do so again.

Please take a look àt a cyber friends blog, it is called an accidental blog,  very interesting blogger  Click here

Brrrr it's cold

Today the weather has changed back to winter, it is so cold my toes are curling, what on earth is going on, my poor old aching body needs some sun and the warmth that it brings, I have this desire to hang bunting and warm up the barbie, when oh when shall I be able to do this.
I popped into La Maison ( a DIY shop ) for some wood strips that hubby has a job for somewhere or other, he doesn't feel the cold at all and is in short sleeves while I am snuggled here with the fire on and a blanket round my shoulders, well they say "don't cast a clout until May is out" So, I thought no time like the present to do some French learning, I am at the moment looking at duolingo which is a very good free site but also I find Memrise good also, it is my blogging friend Paulita  at click here to read her blog
Our rhubarb is growing out of control so I have purchased some foil containers so that I can make some crumbles to freeze (John's favourite)

In the meantime here are some pics from our village yesterday when hundreds of bikers travelled through to make people aware about giving blood, of course as brits here we are not allowed to do so here, they are too scared we will give them mad cow disease.

 

Please comment and leave a link to your blog if you have one :) I love to hear from you

You know when the summer is ready to appear

You know when the summer is ready to appear.

It is a good job we were not in a hurry ( well we are retired ) we live in a rural part of France and sometimes just go out for a drive to see different area's, and hopefully to stumble upon a little cottage for sale, it is surprising where you find these little treasures.
And as we say "You know when the summer is ready to appear" when around every corner, lurking ready to jump out in front of you is one of these ->

And I mean jump out at you, they seem to wait until you are there then come out instead of letting you go by but that is the beauty of living in the country and we love it,

Last evening we had a curry evening with some dear friends. this is our regular event at each others house and each of us contribute, one couple brought samosa and garlic bread and another brought dessert.

 

 I had made my own naan and they turned out great, every bit was gobbled up.

Loving life x

A big thank you

My last post was somewhat a call for help with my French, I hadn't intended it to be but sometimes the mind meanders a little, but you my dear readers rose to the challenge in your wonderful comments and in a strange sort of way you have inspired and motivated me into actually doing something about it on a daily basis, in short you have kicked my butt and made me realise it is up to me, I know this but sometimes it takes others to give you a bump start,.. therefore I would like to publicly give credit to you all. below is a list of people whose help has been fantastic along with a link to their blog, please take a look at  them as they are all very interesting in different ways and of  different interest.

A Taste of France - 
https://francetaste.wordpress.com/

Kiwi - Paris Secrets
http://www.parissecrets.com/

Paulita - An Accidental blog
http://paulita-ponderings.blogspot.fr/ 

Janet Brockman 
No blog but a good and faithful friend who said to drink wine to become fluent - good advice in any situation.

Jenny & John - Renovation of a derelict house
http://jennyandjohninbrittany.blogspot.fr/

Vagabonde - Recollections of a Vagabonde
http://avagabonde.blogspot.fr/ 

Once again many thanks for your comments, they are very much appreciated

A Bientot - see you soon

I must try harder

Hello dear readers,

I have to tell you about the house next door, it used to be occupied by a lovely lady who sadly died, it was inherited by her only Daughter, Martine Dijon who is of the Dijon mustard dynasty, now Martine and her husband Dominique (yes that is how he spells it) live in Niort in the deux Sevre and use the house next door for a holiday home... what has all this got to do with me trying harder I hear you ask, well we pretty much hibernate during the winter and although we live in a fairly big village we could go months without seeing anyone, needless to say I don't get much chance to practice my French which is awful at best, my biggest problem is the understanding of the language, the long and short of it is - I must try harder - 
Saturday our part time neighbours came for a visit and I must say we have stayed out of the way to avoid the embarrassing language problem but today I said to John " we must go and speak to them as they are in the garden" out we went and although I struggled we did manage a conversation and enjoyed a glass of red wine with them but I want to be much better than I am hence I must try harder, it seems that it is the story of my life as all my school reports said the same.
I want to be able to converse with my neighbours and everyone else, it is important to our well being in a way, so any spare time I have now I am going to devote it to my French.

I will take any advice I can on this one.