Today I shall be Mainly...

[Sue]

My morning post is in the covid section along with my cooked turkey. Can they be moved please. ..... note to self, be more alert

Here you go Sue - Kev


Morning

The turkey was delicious, as was the whole meal. We had a pleasant few hours with our neighbours and enough meat left over for a couple of meals this week. It was quite a pleasant dat, not the rain as forecast, with sun and intermittent very light showers. It got windier as the day went on

This morning we are off to see pur friends Paul and Joanne, calling at the shops for a gas regulator and pipe for the bottled gas for our hob. We also need some varnish as sadly we note that the new pain on the kitchen cupboards do not wash down well when splashed. That was rather a surprise for acrylic paint which is described as suitable for internal and external use. This afternoon I shall varnish the doors I have done and start preparing a patch of ground to plant potatoes and onions.

Have a good day all.

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A watched pot never boils comes to mind with the second photo

[Wendyf]

I've never attempted to move a post Sue, I lost my nerve!

[Big Kev]

I've never attempted to move a post Sue, I lost my nerve!

Sorted

[Stanley]

I thought it was a bit off piste but made the connections Sue. I still think it looked well done! No salmonella in that bird.
I shall be in the shed as usual and having my second sleep, after that it depends on contact with Margaret. I didn't see her yesterday because various things delayed her move from MAN to Earby. I have little doubt I'll see her today.

[Sue]

Morning

Thanks Kev I have double checked I am in the right place for this mornings entry, obviously this relaxed life is confusing my brain

Yesterday was a nice day. We had a lovely morning with Joanne and Paul and will be back on Saturday evening as they have invited us for a meal . I managed to plant potatoes and onions though my hands and back know I have been digging. Luckily I had weeded the patch last October before covering in a B&Q groundsheet for the winter so the soil turned over quite easily. I tried to weed a patch of garden st the side of the house but the grass and weeds were heavily bound to the soil. There was a rather distinct odour of cats and dogs who I am sure have paid more than one visit. So I merely cleared the leaves and spot weedkilled the grass . that it works.

I varnished the two kitchen doors I had painted. The tin said they would be dry in 3 hours, but they were still tacky when we went to bed 7 hours later. This morning they are dry. Tea was an easy affair, left over veg and turkey, though I did make the turkey into a turkey and mushroom pie. The remaining turkey looks a bit dry but Bob says he will see if he can make a curry with it.

This morning is grey and misty but I think the forecast is good. The mist usually clears by about 11.00 . I shall do two more doors and drawer fronts this morning. This afternoon we are off to see Roland so will varnish them when we come back. I had sent Roland's friend, Nicole, a letter a couple of weeks ago saying we were coming and to expect a visit sometime. Roland is now in his early 90 s so not sure what to expect after a long winter. He gets plenty of friends visiting but as I have said before he has nothing to do with his family of 2 sons, a daughter and a niece. So sad . We shall probably spend a couple of hours with him.

Have a good day all

[Sue]

I thought it was a bit off piste but made the connections Sue. I still think it looked well done! No salmonella in that bird.

It had a rather well done outer crust Stanley and those are the dry bits but underneath that the meat was nice and moist. The roast potatoes were delicious

[Stanley]

That wasn't a criticism Sue, that's my preferred way of cooking a big bird.
"he has nothing to do with his family of 2 sons, a daughter and a niece" That's so sad Sue, my family make my life worth while.



No mistakes this morning and we are a stage nearer a bearing!

[Sue]

No I didn’t take it as a criticism . Better that than raw inside. The outer bit whilst warm was lovely and crunchy. Bob reckons there is enough good meat left to make a curry. Its going to reach 18 degrees today apparently, but cloudy. Could be humid. I neighbour has just given us a barrow load of hydrangeas that they they have taken up. They live in what was Rolands house

[Stanley]

You know where I'll be. In the shed chasing my con rod and bearing. The forecast says that it will start to rain just as I am looking for a walk, I shall take a view later in the morning.
Margaret and Susan are having a sister set-off together. My turn will come later. I have put a request in for a day out with both of them just like it was fifty years ago.....

[Sue]

Morning

Two more cupboard doors were done yesterday and two more will be painted today. I mended the fence too . We have a fabric mesh covering a wire mesh fence behind the hedging of climbing plants. The winds over the winter had detached the mesh from the fence at its holding wires, so armed with pliers, wire cutters and wire I spent a quiet couple of hours making new connections. I also covered a large hole with chicken wire that cats and dogs have been getting through. The hole was made by a previous neighbour much to our disgust when the fence was new. He said he was trying to get his chickens out. My reaction was if they had found a way in they would find a way out but hey ho the damage was done. Bob cleared the wood from cutting the hedge and took it round to Yves in the trailer. Yves is not a farmer but lives in a rented farmhouse, thus he burns his and our wood rubbish. His pretext is that from a distance it looks like a farm and farmers are allowed garden fires.

In the late afternoon we spent an hour or so with Roland. Nicole had not told him we were coming as she wanted to keep it as a surprise. He was good, chatty and mentally Was alert. Nicole was relieved as she had warned us that some days he is very confused. We went back to her house, around the corner from the home, and had a coffee and a chat. She has bought herself an English French dictionary and says she sits and studies at night. We feel honoured. She also has a small 1940s phrasebook that apparently was her grandfathers. She was telling us Roland is 92 on Tuesday so we shall visit again on Monday and at her advice for a present we shall take him a nice box of biscuits for his birthday.

This afternoon our french friends Bertram, an engineer, and his wife Elisabeth are visiting. They are usually very chatty and their English is good. This makes conversation easy, often bi lingual in nature. Bob and Bertram chat engineering and Elisabeth and I have many common interests.

So that will be our day though this morning I want to tidy the kitchen cupboard with my baking stuff in. When I made the pie on Monday, I struggled to find the right equipment but its definitely in there somewhere. It will all add to the new smarter kitchen

Have a good day all. Rain forecast here all day

[Stanley]

Best of luck with the hunt for the baking tackle Sue! I'm glad there were no nasty surprises with Roland. This last couple of days I have learned of a family member who is worse than we thought and not being cared for adequately..... Ongoing and worrying. (Margaret told me she was very pleasantly surprised when she saw me, she was worried about me, that's why she came, and she has stopped worrying!)



We get closer with the con rod and bearing. They are stuck to each other now!

[Sue]

The missing pastry brush has surfaced

[Stanley]

Thank God for that! I could have lost sleep......
I shall be in the shed weighing up my next move in pursuit of the con rod. Apart from the wind it looks like a decent day so bookie watch could well be on. Then some light veggie cooking.....

[Sue]

Morning

Yes the pastry brush has been found and the cupboard has been tidied Stanley. Progress has been made on the painting with another two cupboard doors and drawer fronts done and 5 more to go. Whilst in varnishing mode we have also sanded down some stained wooden windowsills and varnished them. The trouble is the wall paper in the kitchen now looks very tired indeed . I am wondering if we can paint over the top bit its not anaglypta. It is not an easy room to wallpaper and french wallpaper choices are not the best . We took some down when we came that looked like 1950s kitchen wallpaper but the house was only renovated in 1995 .

Today more door painting but we are planning on going out for lunch. As of last Monday we do not need our vaccination pass to do so , and it will probably be quiet today rather than the weekend. Later I hope to help Laetitia plant the climbing roses that came from Rolands house. She knows nothing about gardening so I have written a few instructions for her. Roland loved his rose round his doorway and it was a well established 40 year old plant but we shall cut it right back to the ground and try and train it round their doorway.

Today is due to be a nice day. Yesterday had a funny yellowy grey light due to the sand from the Sahara in the atmosphere. It rained heavily about 5.00 pm which seemed to clear the air but there were some very strange clouds around. Apparently cars were covered in sand, but ours never left inside the barn all day. We only use it when we have to as we have enough diesel to get us home. Fuel is and always has been more expensive here. In this rural area, parents are saying they cannot afford to take the children to school, always a car drive away as even school buses only leave from the centre of towns and do not collect from hamlets and farms . Laetitia's three children go to three different schools in different directions, luckily all starting at different times. Rural life is not as idyllic as it seems

Have a good day all

[Stanley]

"Rural life is not as idyllic as it seems"
I don't think it ever4 is Sue. Hence the syndrome in which incomers want to make their new home like the city, no crowing cockerels and cow muck on the road is verboten.
I've had a quiet hour and a half in the shed....



We are getting very close to a con rod. Dodgy milling set ups are needed at this stage and the consequences of a mistake could be horrendous! I was lucky...... Breakfast now and second sleep....

[Sue]

"Rural life is not as idyllic as it seems"
.......Hence the syndrome in which incomers want to make their new home like the city, no crowing cockerels and cow muck on the road is verboten.

France have just passed a law about THE PROTECTION OF RURAL LIFE...you can’t complain about animal noise, farm smells, and farm machinery, ringing of church bells etc unless it can be proved to be excessive.., so I presume you can’t complain about lack of school buses

[Stanley]

That would make sense.....
Today is going to be busy, I shall do an hour in the shed, then early doors shopping followed by breakfast and a short sleep. Then scrub up, nudge the pharmacy about my prescription and allow Margaret to whisk me off to Clitheroe where I shall spend excessive amounts of money on a new coat. (Some sort of affirmation of my confidence that I shall be about for another year or two.... )

[Stanley]

This morning's schedule changed when I decided I needed a haircut if I'm going out with Margaret. So the shed has been ditched and my first task will be early doors shopping. I don't want to feel pressured in the shed, I can make mistakes when I have all the time in the world!

[Sue]

Morning

It was a beautiful day yesterday from the moment we woke up, today is also looking promising. However we started the day immediately after breakfast with a visit from Rolands friends Nicole and Michel. I got a shock and was immediately worried. Apparently Roland fell at the weekend and hurt his back , though he seemed fine on Tuesday. More worrying is that he has a temperature and 5 people in the home have covid, so they came to tell us that we cannot visit as he is in isolation till they see what happens. that he is ok . Nicole could not manage to phone Bob but had not added the 0044 to his number. She does not drive so had asked Michel to drive her round to us. They stayed for a coffee and a chat so it was well after 11.00 before I started on daily painting .I did an hour getting the doors prepared and painting the strip round the worktops. Note to self.....don’t lean over the sink when you have just painted the strip in front of it

We then went out for lunch and had the menu of the day, in this case a three course meal, that has to be provided for the local workers as they generally have no eating facilities at work. The place was full of office workers and there was a nice buzz. Two hours later we left to go and do a shop of bits and pieces to bring home and some electrical cabling for some wiring in the kitchen her so we can have an extension socket on the worktop where there are no sockets.... a major inconvenience at times.. it was after 3.30 when we got home so I quickly painted the first coat of paint on the doors and went to sort out Laetitia's roses. Bob meanwhile was cutting a bit of hedging that Yves had not managed to do when he injured his hand. I swept up for him, then we had a cuppa before I did the second coat of paint.

Tea was late, an omelette. Elisabeth had brought round 3 dozen fresh eggs from her chickens when she and Bertram visited on Wednesday. We also still have 3 eggs left from those Laetitia brought on Sunday. The eggs I used in the omelette were very small so I used lots. It was very good indeed. Luckily we can bring remaining eggs and fresh food back home with us. After tea, I completed my varnishing , Bob having put a second coat on the windowsills before tea. Great progress is being made in the kitchen. Today I will do the last of the doors, and tomorrow a thorough clean of the work tops. A job well done. Oh yes I have another wooden surface to varnish but it may wait till next visit as I am running low on varnish.

So today a bit of painting and helping Bob with the last of the hedges, I have given up trying to weed the dreadful soil, the weeds would be back anyway by next visit Have a good day all , good luck with the coat shopping Stanley.

[Stanley]

"I am running low on varnish."
No bloody wonder! (Sorry, I had to smile. Sue...) It sounds as though most of your objectives have been achieved....So a good trip! Sorry to hear about Roland, old age can be a bugger.
No shed to report this morning, I have been too busy cutting my hair, polishing my shoes, shopping and putting stuff away. I'm having my breakfast and will have an hour in bed before the final scrub up!
As for the coat, my tastes are expensive and I have no doubt I will find something but the cost will be horrendous. I am mentally prepared for that......

[Wendyf]

As soon as I saw your family selfie I knew a head shave was due!

[Cathy]

Stanley, with hair, you remind me of Alf Garnet.

Which is really weird, because he didn’t have hair.

[Stanley]

The coat is a 'Musto' British tweed but made in Poland, waterproof, washable and Goretex lined. I got a Schoffel waistcoat as well. Eye-watering prices, I spent £750 even though I had massive mark downs on both.
That was the shopping but Margaret also arranged a meeting and took me to see John Drinkall and his partner and then Richard and his wife. Richard is 92 this year but still has all his chairs at home. I got the feeling they enjoyed seeing us as much as I enjoyed seeing them. Wonderful.
Today I shall not attempt to catch up after oversleeping, I shall just go quietly forward and have an easy day, some shed, some cooking and a lot of taking it easy!

[Cathy]

Looks good Stanley.
I had a nice little happening today.
We had to vote in our State Elections today and waiting in line under a veranda, I was just about to move to the next section which was in full sun.
A site attendant came to me and said “If you feel you are of a certain age, you can by-pass the next waiting section and go straight to the shade area outside the voting building.
Gosh... that’s the first time that has happened and it saved me 15minutes waiting in line in 31C heat.

[Stanley]

Good! One of the few advantages of old age. Another is the fact we are in control of what we do.
Here's an instance of it. Yesterday was a full day and that was why I overslept this morning. As we have got closer to shed time I realised that this morning I had no interest in it. So I have put a chicken in t roast and now I'm going to have an early breakfast and back to bed. I shall be back on track tomorrow.......