What simple pleasure it is throwing open the windows in our bedroom each morning, and observing the day as it is at that moment.
Today brought exclamations and an instant search for the camera. How extraordinary is this!! We are often amazed at the contrails in the sky above us, but this morning was exceptional.
Today while eating lunch, Waz spied two planes that looked like they were having a race. We knew that they would be at least a couple of thousand feet apart, but it sure looked funny, both headed north. Some planes make wide sweeping turns somewhere overhead, others make what appears to be sharper turns, and we wonder where they are all going.
How nice to have the time to contemplate these things:)
Life is more relaxed these days. We dont have to get up for anything other than a cuppa and some food, unless we have an RDV (Rendez-vous - appointment). We had one of those today, but not until after lunch, at 2pm.
We have observed that you only have three hours in the morning, from 9-12, to do anything involving a business, shop etc. You then usually only have a couple of hours in the afternoon to do the same.
Most businesses are open until 5pm, many until 6pm, and occasional ones open until 7 and 7.30pm, mostly supermarkets. So, you dont complain (well mostly!) and organize your life around these things. So I guess we do have things to get up for.
Today being Monday, we needed food. The fridge still looks pretty bare, considering we just did a food shop! Oh well, Thursday will see us back there.
We bought quite a lot of meat for the freezer, today. We kept some of the pork ribs out for dinner, and with a light sprinkling of salt, they were some of the best we have ever tasted. OMG! So meaty, juicy and finger licking good! YUM!
Our RDV today at 2pm (or 1400 hrs, here) was with the Window folks who will be replacing all our old windows and doors. Having discussed options with them today, we thought the price should go down, but merde! Imagine our surprise on our return home, to find that the price had gone up 1500 euros! Crikey Dora!! What was our first choice, and why did the price just jump that much? Well, I think we chose PVC doors originally, and now we have chosen Steel security doors. THAT might make the difference, you think? Shock to the system, seeing that it was 10 grand over our estimate...OUR estimate, mind you! lol.
We are still waiting on the Devise or quote from the fella who will be installing the new Fosse Septique, or Septic Tank. All kinds of shenanigans are needed to install the new one...of course, so we hope it also isnt 10 grand over our budget.
Not many (if any) of the NICE TO DO's will be done, methinx.
Waz and I are quite capable of making any kitchen cabinets, if we decide to install a new kitchen, and we will be looking out for the appliances we want, to be on sale. February and June/July are Sale months here, apparently.
Saturday we took two loads of trash to the local off-load place, which is somewhere our English friends told us about...thank goodness, as we dont have to drive all the way into Barbezieux or Segonzac, 11 and 9kms respectively. Instead we only drive 3ks up the road, and dump it where it will all be chipped! Excellente!
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We feel quite pleased with our efforts since the container arrived three weeks ago today.
Obviously that pink paint will have to go, but no point at this stage. This room is going to get two new windows. One on the wall behind Waz that emulates the existing windows in the rest of the house, and one straight ahead on that wall where the lamp is. That one will be a long picture window with sliding panes. There isnt room for a window that opens into the room, as all of the others do. That wall will give us a gorgeous view out over the vines. It is expensive to do that, and we have to employ a Mason to make the holes, fit new headers etc and then the window folks will fit the windows. Kaching!
Do you remember me telling you that the upstairs security door slammed and the glass broke?
This is the door without ANY glass. WAZ took it all out yesterday (Sunday) ,carefully chipping it all out, taking the parts off and then making the door secure again. This will be replaced eventually with one of those secure steel doors. We have to have glass in it because there is no light in the hallway without it.
In the meantime, I did the 999th load of laundry.
Unpacking bedding, towels, blankets, fabric items galore, including the motherlode of embroidered and crocheted clothes/doilies that our dear grandmother made, meant that after 6 years in boxes, they didn't smell very nice. Not just that, they also had spots on them. This meant we had to go to the store and get some Javel or bleach. White things were put in the bucket to bleach white again...which was mostly successful, and everything else had to go through a HOT wash to get rid of the smell. I tried to circumvent the water heating/expensive wash cycle, but found that cold water doesnt rid the items of the stale smell. Could have saved myself the bother, couldn't I!!
Everything goes out on the line. No dryer needed, as the sun is hot and the breeze is perfect for drying.
Some items only needed draping in the fresh air, or in direct sunlight, like down pillows. They seem to have thrived on the fresh air and sunshine.
Do we really need 12 cloth serviettes to go with that tablecloth? Cant we just use paper ones? Sigh! I have a dozen table cloths. Will I use them?? Who knows! Some are from our dear mother and they will be used with much love and memories of meals past, and others have memories that are newer and in many ways just as special. They were bought with someone special and with shared meals at a family dinner table in mind. A small labor of love in the scheme of things.
We have worked so hard to make this house feel more like a home, these past three weeks. Having boxes in every room in the house (except the bathrooms!) has meant we felt like campers, walking around things, making sure not to disturb some in transition, and trying to figure out where we want everything to go. At times it has felt like a chore, but mostly it is about "Where did I put that....???" or "Guess what I found!!!:) " and "For crying out loud! Why on earth did we bother!!!" lol.
I have to say it is nice to occasionally collapse into MY chair, small joy that it is, and for such a short time before getting up and carrying on.
Waz has mislaid some major items, and we cant for the life of us think what happened to them. These are things that should not be missing, and he has searched EVERY box in the hope of finding them. They will either turn up or they are missing forever, and we will never know what happened to them.
Every morning I tend to my tomato plants by the front gate. We have had a couple of almost ripe ones with black bottoms, and it wasnt until tonight that I discovered MANY have black bottoms. What the heck>?? Anyone can tell me what they are lacking? Or have too much of?? It isnt all of them, but I am dismayed to find it is about 1/8 of the crop.
Our second bedroom (the pink bedroom) now has a bed in it, and though there is a tidy mess of boxes in there still, it is now possible to walk around the bed! woohoo!
The guest room is ready for our first guests this week, and is a relaxing room to be in.
The work room, on the other hand...well, it's a work in progress. At least we can close the door on that mess and it can wait until we have the energy to work through the myriad bits and pieces. My sewing machine will have to be plugged in at some stage...some things need mending. Priorities, eh?
I found ANOTHER box of cook books. Phew! Did I really use all of them? Well, the page markers in most of them tell a good story, and I had fun trying to figger out what I had been considering, when I turned the pages with the markers.
Some of my design books, and plenty of the magazines I had kept have now gone on the book shelf, as I can totally understand why I kept them, though some of them date back about 12 years, lol.
They are resources, which are very important to me.
I discovered I have wayyyyyy too many hobbies, as the pile of boxes at my upstairs desk testifies, and I have wayyyy too much of my children's precious artwork. I think I will photograph it all and put the photos into the books I am writing for each of them. I cant possibly keep it all, lovely though it is!
I also have wayyyy too many children's books which I will have to donate to a local school where they teach English, I think. We have a couple of bi-lingual friends nearby, so I should ask if they would like some of the children's classics, especially the Beatrice Potter stories.
Now we just have to sort out the Bureau, and get rid of the bags and bags of bubble wrap. You would think someone would want it all? The recycling plant dont want the bubble wrap that is reinforced with paper on each side that our packers used plenty of. It is great for the purposes on, but we will have to find out where their people on the ground here take it. I dont want to dump it in the landfill...plastic, and all that! albeit covered in paper!
Tomorrow (Tuesday) Waz has to call the local Doctor and made a RDV. There is no nurse or receptionist, just a waiting room. It was a bit disconcerting, to be honest, but we got the idea and will make the call. Doc speaks enough English to be good for us, (as recommended by our English friends who go there) and we have to register with ONE GP for our health insurance.
Well, it is time for me to open the shutters now that the heat has subsided and we have a cool breeze blowing. Get rid of some of the heat upstairs, where it likes to stay.
We are sleeping with a sheet only and a fan on 2 these nights, but it isnt so hot that we lose sleep, fortunately.
Night night.
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