Workaways, Bon Repos and family

I hadn’t realised that nearly a month has gone by since I wrote my last post.  July has been really busy with Workaways doing a sterling job of getting and keeping my garden, veggie patch and animal areas clean and tidy.  After Leyslie left I then got an Irishman and a Scotsman – sounds like the beginning of a joke, I know, but Declan and George worked really well and did many of the tasks that needed the strength of a man behind them.

They were closely followed by Billy from England who has continued the good work during the two weeks he has been here.

I have enjoyed having the company and getting all those little jobs done that seem to hang around forever now I don’t have a permanent worker.

The duck pond which was relined at the beginning of July is very gradually beginning to fill.  I think it will probably be the Autumn before it is deep enough for the ducks to take to swimming again.  The weather hasn’t been consistently as hot lately as it was in July but we have had the odd very hot day.

One of these was Sunday when I was entered into a Breton Boules competition as partner to my friend Maggi’s daughter, Grace.  We didn’t win, but didn’t entirely disgrace ourselves being knocked out with a score of 10-3 against us.  It could have been much worse!  There was a good atmosphere there, plenty of good Breton community spirit, and it was a really, really hot sunny afternoon with, thank goodness, a good breeze to make it bearable and cold beer being served from the bar which helped too.

Two days before my friends, Jac and Ken invited me to go with them to see the Son et Lumiere spectacular at Bon Repos.  I had managed to avoid this for the nine years I have been here but they guided me through the on-line process to purchase an 18 euro ticket and then I was committed.  It was a brilliant evening.  I was told to dress warmly, in spite of it being August, as the event didn’t start until 22.30hrs and I didn’t arrive home before 01.25hrs by which time the temperature had dropped substantially.  I wore two tops, a fleece, hat, scarf, gloves and ended up with a rug over my knees like a geriatric in a nursing home!  I thoroughly enjoyed it and wouldn’t mind going again another year.  There were over three hundred people entertaining us and I was very impressed with the whole production which included horses, goats, geese etc, jousting, burning buildings and brilliant light work on the ruined Abbey, transforming it into many different backdrops.

Tomorrow my daughter, Libby and grandson, Charlie arrive as footies at Roscoff where I will pick them up and bring them back to stay.  They haven’t been out here for two years so will see a few changes – I’m really looking forward to their visit.  Here they are, looking a bit windswept out on a walk with Phillipa - a good friend of us all.

Yesterday I made French Onion Soup.  I am selfish about this and never, never share it!  I love it so much that I always manage to eat the whole batch myself.  As you will never get to taste it I thought I would at least tantalise you with a photo of how beautiful it looks.

Mia, my granddaughter may yet follow in the family tradition - here she is, for the first time, holding a chicken.

Matthew and Brett seem to have settled into the new house in Par.  Here they are cropped from a photo of them and their friends in Plymouth.

I played Indoor Bowls this morning and that will be the last time for a while as I start my radiotherapy on Thursday this week.  While the sessions are in the morning I can't get to bowls, but hopefully they will shift to the afternoon soon and I may still be feeling well enough to have a game.

Three things I like: 

1.   Slow start - but bookings arriving now, for cottages on rainbowcottagesinfrance.com
2.   Swimming in the new, smaller pool on those seriously hot afternoons.
3.   Seeing the outside looking much tidier after the Workaways put the hours in.