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.

Early summer in St André, 22480

Well, I had the MRI, on 1 July, which unfortunately showed that the tumour was deeper than had been thought from the echoendoscopie and that it had crept into the sphincter muscle.  When I went back to see the consultant he booked me in to see the man, on 20 July, who will sort out my radio therapy schedule.  When this is finished, I will then have surgery.  Although I won’t know exactly the extent of the surgery until Friday this week when I return to the consultant, I have an appointment Wednesday next week to see Dr le Chaux, who did my gastric bypass, tummy tuck and gall bladder removal.  He would do the operation if is the radical route of removal and poo bag.  In the event that at the meeting on Thursday this week it is decided to do a smaller operation, then that appointment will be cancelled and I will see a different surgeon experienced in doing selective surgery to remove tumours and save what he can, although this latter option seems unlikely.  I am experiencing pain now, although mostly paracetamol deals with it.  I have also had a few laundry moments and it is uncomfortable enough that I shall be happy to have it all sorted out whatever way they choose.  Enough of the medical stuff!

The weather has been absolutely amazing over the last few weeks and it was a surprise this morning to wake up to gentle rain after the blazing sunshine we have been experiencing.  The Tuesday before last the temperature showing at the local supermarket sign was 41°C!   Any rain is very welcome though for the veggies and the flower garden.

Self sown foxgloves in the garden stones.  It has been a terrific year for foxgloves and the lane verges are clothed with them.

















Gracie sitting on the table.

Red hot pokers - kniphofia - in the big flower bed.










Clematis on the house wall

I also enjoy the wild flowers in the lane and thought this umbellifer looked lovely against the dark tree foliage.

Ten days ago my first Workaway of the summer arrived, a French born, fluent French speaking, girl from Las Vegas - Leyslie.  She has worked like stick on the field tackling the nettles which were overtaking everything up there.  She has been lovely company and I shall miss her when she leaves on Friday.  I take her to Guingamp station  and then go on to my consultant appointment at the Polyclinic there.  When I get home my next Workaways should be arriving – two Irish men who will be here for ten days.  I shall be glad of this continued help on the field and with the animals.

At the weekend we were invited out to two events, lunch at St Nicodeme with friends, Jac and Ken (photo not mine I've just cropped it)

and then then to a BBQ in the evening with more friends.  The weather was blazing hot and it was so lovely to be able to sit outside all day and catch up with everyone.  

I have some family photos to share with you. Here we have Charlie, Oliver, Emma and Mia.

Here is Mia being a little Mummy - I love this one.

Mia and her Daddy, Oliver.

















This month the new smaller pool was delivered and my quiz partner, Phil and his visiting brother, Stephen, came round to puzzle out the instructions.   Leyslie, my Workaway, is pictured here too.

 

It is now filled and functioning and I have had my first swim.  Thanks, boys!










The ducks too have been missing a swimming area.  The pond started leaking after the geese managed to tear the liner with their claws as they came out of the water.  My first builder, Mark, came back at the weekend to reline and concrete the edges of the area and we are now just waiting for enough rain to refill it.

The extra piece going down the slope is to provide more thickness against the geese climbing out and we've had to anchor it down with the old pieces of aggregate from the pond sides.

Finally, some bookings are coming in for my holiday cottages which you can see on my website, www.rainbowcottagesinfrance.com   I currently have a German couple in Small Cottage and a few weeks ago had staying some of the owners of the horses which are at livery in the village - currently around 50 horses - some from as far away as Qatar.   I lost my friend and cleaner who did the cottages for me, at the beginning of the year when she returned to live in England, but I now have Maggi, who is very flexible about when she comes here to help me and we have a good laugh together too. 

I found this brilliant photo of a strawberry on the internet, with a little bit of leaf added for the beak of the chicken.Two of my favourite things combined - strawberry and chicken!

Three things I like:

1.   The Workaway system, letting me have lovely people to help me with lots of tasks including the veggie patch and the animals.
2.    The support and encouragement I have been receiving from so many people.
3.    The brilliant weather we've been experiencing here this summer - just my cup of tea!

Pain in the bum news, lots of visitors and beautiful weather

First the moany bit.  The last weeks weren't so good from a news point of view.  I was booked in for a colonoscopy and immediately afterwards received the verdict from the consultant, subject to biopsy results, that I had anal cancer.  I didn't need the results, I had felt that there was more to the very uncomfortable feeling I had than just a polyp.  I returned for the results with my oldest son who was visiting Brittany with friends.  The biospsies confirmed cancer of the anus.  I was told that depending on the depth of the tumour I would be treated by radiotherapy or by surgery, the latter almost certainly resulting in a permanent poo bag.  I had already been booked in for an echoendoscopie and an MRI.

On Thursday last I had the echoendoscopie (ultrasound up the bum) and afterwards the operator said that the tumour appeared to be only 5-6mm deep and that if the MRI confirmed this dimension then I might well get away with radiotherapy and not surgery. The MRI will be done this coming Wednesday, 1 July and the results will be told to me, with the suggested treatment, on 3 July when I return to Guingamp Polyclinic.  

Meantime I seem to have had a problem with my chest.  Initially I had thought I'd received an electric shock while lying on my ribcage fixing the pond pump.  Two days later the pain was bad in my last rib and I thought I may have cracked it.  Later my breathing became more difficult and I got radiating pain from the sternum area.  When I related all this to the consultant dealing with my cancer decided to send me to Guingamp hospital for a CT scan.  I had this on Friday last and it seems that there was nothing to untoward to see so that is good news.  Certainly my breathing is easier now and it only hurts when I lie on my front.

My oldest son, Matthew, and three friends have been to stay.   Their visit overlapped with a visit from my friend, June, and we were lucky to have incredibly good weather so we spent lots of time in the garden talking and drinking.

This was one evening at the Pizzeria in St Nicolas du Pélem.

This is our last lunch together in Roscoff before the boys caught the boat back to Plymouth.  

Here are Lesley, Fraser, Matthew and Brett on the long bridge at Roscoff - we had a lovely few days.

The garden has been lovely this month

This is a trough I bought from friends who were leaving Brittany.  I filled it with bedding plants from B&Q which I brought back with me in April, and some herbs at the far end.  It is huge and took 375 litres of compost!













Poppies outside my sitting room window

I've been collecting lots of seed heads for me to sow and for friends who always ask when they see how beautiful the poppies are here.

Roses on the pergola by the pond.  They aren't climbing so I have to tie them into the post.

On Thursday, June and I drove up to Dinard Airport stopping in the morning at Lamballe for the market and lunch.

Then we spent the afternoon on the promenade at Dinard, people watching, having a glass of wine and deliciously cool icecreams.  It was a gloriously hot, sunny day and a lovely way to make a journey day into something nice.

A tiny, tiny bird who I found on the ground outside the utility cottage.  It seemed unhurt but died about ten minutes later.  I'm not sure what type of bird it was.

My first Workaway of the summer, Leyslie from Las Vegas, but with French and US nationality, arrived at Guingamp station on Friday and is now working clearing nettles in the animal areas.  Hard work in this very hot weather - most days are now reaching almost 30°C and very little in the way of a cooling breeze.  Apparently next week will be heatwave weather so watering will become a priority.   When Leyslie leaves I have a couple of Irish Workaways arriving for ten days, so lots of help in the next few weeks.

Three things I like:

1.  The written and verbal support I have received from friends who know about my current health situation.

2.   The incredible wall to wall blue skies and very hot sunshine which I am enjoying while reading books.

3.   Having so many visits from friends and family this month.

Summer has arrived - bring it on!

Apart from an appalling four day visit from an incredibly irritating and boring man I met on an internet dating site, you know who you are, these last few weeks have been good.   I have had lovely visits too, thank goodness, from two lots of friends, Carole and Geoff and then Les and Roy. 

The garden, the veggie patch and polytunnel are all producing well and I can’t stop taking photos.  

The poppies outside my sitting room window have been gorgeous although the stiff breeze earlier this evening has scattered scarlet petals over the terrace.  

My geese have laid so well this year, or perhaps I should say, my goose, as I was told I was buying two geese but believe I may have a gander.  I have sold lots of goose eggs but finally allowed them to keep three and these are being covered by the goose so perhaps I may go up to the barn one day and find three goslings – fingers crossed.   One of my bantam hens has been a surrogate to three eggs and they hatched  about two weeks ago.

The ducks too have never laid so many eggs.  I am inundated - so  I designed and ordered two signs which I have placed at the top of the lane and opposite my house to encourage customers to buy from the honesty shelf I have at the front of the house.  

Yesterday, a Breton chap, who comes through the village twice a week on the way to his gardening job, came into the garden asking about goose eggs.  I only had two from two weeks ago which I wouldn’t sell as they aren’t fresh, but he insisted saying he loved them.  Today a Breton woman who has a horse in training in the village came to buy both duck and hen eggs and my first customers, only ten minutes after I put up the shelf, were French walkers who bought half a dozen hen egg.  None of them could understand the honesty system but seemed to approve once I’d explained it.

My Land Rover has been costing me a lot of money having repairs done.  A new power steering pump, radiator and door hinge have been necessary and the rear windscreen washer and service are still to be done in July.  There is a Land Rover garage an hour away over at La Chèze, run by an Englishman where I’ll get all work done now that I’ve lost my worker back to the UK.  

Luckily their building borders a lake so it's possible to have a lovely walk and sit and read by the water.

Onto medical matters now and it seems that I have another operation in the pipeline.  I have had rectal bleeding for a couple of months.  Two weeks ago I saw my GP and two days later had a consultant appointment.  After a very uncomfortable examination he said he’d found a polyp which would need to be removed in surgery.  I am going into the Clinic at Guingamp to have a colonoscopy on Monday when he will see whether there is anything further untoward to deal with at the same time.

A couple of weekends ago I attended Part 1 of a Beekeeping Course.  Luckily this is held only about 10 minutes from home so not a huge effort required to go.  I was re-enthused and have already received my bee suit, hat, veil and gloves from Simon the Beekeeper in the UK ready for Part 2 on 14 June.  There were about eleven people on the course and all were very friendly.  

I do hope that I shall be able to get a hive set up before the end of this year so that I am ready to go next year without delay.

 

More friends arrive from the UK next week and they are closely followed by another friend and my oldest son and three of his friends too so it will be a busy month.  Almost no bookings for the cottages yet this year – perhaps it’s just a slow start.

On Wednesday, a friend, Sally, had an impromptu birthday barbeque.  She lives about an hour from me.  I drove over and it was a beautiful warm, sunny evening, absolutely perfect for alfresco eating, well worth the drive.

It’s been a lovely sunny couple of days and I’ve enjoyed lying out in the sunshine reading and napping!

Three things I like:

1.    Good friends visiting and catching up.

2.    The prompt French healthcare I’ve received.

3.    The pretty filly and mare in the field behind me.