Happy New Year! 2015 has already shown a mixture of weather here in St André. Friday, 2 January saw beautiful weather and I actually brought a sunchair and stool out of storage onto the terrace and sat out reading in the wonderful sunshine for an hour. I almost went to sleep on the recliner as it was so warm without a breath of wind.
Later that day I opened a letter from an old friend to find, very sadly, that his wife had died just after Christmas. We used to sing in choirs together and I liked her very much. We'd had a long 'phone conversation at the beginning of December, and I'm so pleased that we did make contact then. This is one of the downsides of getting older - I'm afraid that losing friends is now becoming a fact of life.
The next day it was grey, damp and horrid. Today it is frosty and was 0°C at 0900hrs and has only reached 2°C now it's 1130hrs. Here are some frosty photos from the last few days.
I am burning quite a lot of logs but still have loads left, thank goodness, and the house is lovely and warm and toasty.
You can see how cold it has been this week from the frost on the fleeces of the sheep.
I've been using food from the freezer rather than buying in fresh food and have done lots of cooking this week, from puff pastry fish pie, to pastry pizza and quiche.
Also using squashes, onions, garlic, thyme and sage which I have grown, together with cream and pili pili to make soup.
My Landrover decided not to start one morning last week and a friend came round and after a trip to the supermarket to buy jump leads I was back on the road. However, as he opened the pincer to attach it to the battery terminal it just snapped so I had to hold it all together while we started the Discovery and the leads had to be returned to the shop later in the day.
They say things go in threes, and the next thing to go wrong was that after showering I found water dripping through my kitchen ceiling. I presume the waste is blocked but I can't get my worker to come round and look at it. Well that was the second thing and there was just one to go. In the evening, I couldn't get the ice dispenser on the freezer to give me any cubes. I opened the door of the freezer and got wet feet. Two black bin bags of defrosted food later I set up the fast freeze option and kept my fingers crossed. Everything was ok by the morning. I can only assume that I hadn't quite closed it - not a good move.
The sunrises, and skies generally,have been lovely so far this year and I've spent quite a bit of time taking photographs out there.
I started back at Bowls on yesterday and it was a good morning of games. Luckily it wasn't a frosty start. My Landrover is parked in the road in front of my house and that is facing north. There's obviously no sun reaching it and so if it's frosty it needs the windscreen sorting out if I'm going out early. The heater is not coming on for about fifteen minutes after I start driving, so it's just easier to stay at home on frosty mornings as I can't keep the screen clear if it's still freezing when I set off.
The Christmas tree and all decorations and cards are now down as yesterday was twelfth night. Although I do like them, I really like it when they're all put away and I get my house back to normal, especially being able to walk around both side of the table. When the tree is there I can't get by one side. This is a photo from last year, as my tree lights weren't working this year.
One thing I love here in Brittany at this time of year is the wonderful selection of shellfish in the supermarkets. Here is part of the display in SuperU with my favourite fish lady serving. She no longer works behind the counter normally but is the best filleter in the shop.
Here's a jay who's been visiting the bird table a metre from my sitting room window. I just love the blue on his wings.
Opposite my field, a neighbour has tethered one of his goats. It's an entire male and really smells! He's a handsome specimen though and very friendly in spite of the large horns.
Unfortunately, one of my two small chicks died this week. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with her beforehand so I'm not sure why. I didn't feel I could leave the remaining chick with all the adult birds so she's now installed in my kitchen area but spends the evening on my shoulders while I watch television or interact on my laptop. My friend, June, took this snapshot from Skype this week when I was talking to her. Not sure how this will work when she's grown and in the barn if she tries to fly up on my shoulders then!
Couldn't resist a few more skies:
Three things I like:
1. Making it through to another year, happy and healthy.
2. Being invited to a galette de rois evening with the whole hamlet at Annike and Alain's tomorrow. Last year's at Christian and Paulette's was a lovely evening.
3. Comforting, warming winter soups.
Here's a jay who's been visiting the bird table a metre from my sitting room window. I just love the blue on his wings.
Opposite my field, a neighbour has tethered one of his goats. It's an entire male and really smells! He's a handsome specimen though and very friendly in spite of the large horns.
Unfortunately, one of my two small chicks died this week. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with her beforehand so I'm not sure why. I didn't feel I could leave the remaining chick with all the adult birds so she's now installed in my kitchen area but spends the evening on my shoulders while I watch television or interact on my laptop. My friend, June, took this snapshot from Skype this week when I was talking to her. Not sure how this will work when she's grown and in the barn if she tries to fly up on my shoulders then!
Couldn't resist a few more skies:
Three things I like:
1. Making it through to another year, happy and healthy.
2. Being invited to a galette de rois evening with the whole hamlet at Annike and Alain's tomorrow. Last year's at Christian and Paulette's was a lovely evening.
3. Comforting, warming winter soups.
