All bottled up

Where have the last few weeks gone?  The summer went on for ever here and our last visitors left the day before we went on our own holiday to Portugal, from which we returned yesterday.  We stayed in an apartment in a little fishing village called Vila Cha not far from Porto.  The weather was hot and sunny, even though there was a bit of a sea breeze.  Apart from going to the beach, walking to the local restaurants and sitting on the terrace we spent one day in the town of Porto and that was it!  Now its back to work!  First job - bottling up the wine that has just been delivered, along with our personalised labels.  It needs to settle for a while but as there is always a not quite full bottle at the end of the bin we will drink that tonight.  Just before we went away Mark started on a project to rebuild a ruin, who knows what it will end up as, perhaps another small gite or perhaps a gallery - we'll see and it depends on how the finances go!   A very quick trip to England for a family wedding in September also gave us the welcome opportunity to catch up with people we hadn't seen for a while.  Today it is overcast and a bit damp and even though its not cold its a real contrast and Mark is planning to clean the flues for the log burners in the next day or so.  Meanwhile there are still tomatoes, squash, apples and the last of the figs to deal with.  What figs there are left that is as the birds have had a feast whilst we have been away!  Pics of the ruins next time - I need to find out how to upload a folder for them. 

Hot air

At 6.30 this morning Mark spotted an air balloon in the distance - not that unusual as there is a flying centre at Chauvigny, about 15km from us.  They quite often go up in groups and are a lovely sight.  Today started very sunny and then clouded over, at which point the balloon started to lose height, not sure if there is a connection, maybe they just ran out of hot air ( no chance of that here ). I was still in bed at the time, having only had one cup of tea, but then Mark got all excited about said balloon going over the gite and getting lower and lower and I should come and have a look and bring the camera!  So being very obedient ( ha ha ) I rushed out in my pj's with the camera - by which time the balloon had landed in the field opposite our swimming pool.  Of course the batteries on the camera had gone flat again, so in I go to get the re-charged ones ( why don't they re-charge properly, we only bought new ones a few months ago ), holding my pj bottoms up with one hand as the elastic needs re-charging as well.  So here is a pic!  I think the guy pulling the piece of string thought it was a bit bizarre when I waved at him but he still waved back and luckily he was far enough away not to notice that I wasn't dressed!

Introducing Gorrie ,

Gorrie ( aka Le Gorrilla ) is the propreitor of the Cheval Blanc ( White Horse ) in our village - superhero of darts as you can see by the trophies.   Not so long ago the Cheval Blanc team " Les Malloises" reached the final in a national competition at La Rochelle. Now, when I say national - this is serious.  Literally thousands of teams from the whole of France. All in  local costume or carrying regional flags, and there's a lot at stake - not just the reputation of your village but a place for the winning team to play in an international tournament in Las Vegas!  So, no chance at all for Gorrie's team from the tiny population of 356 at St Pierre de Maille.  Until ... Gorrie the superhero is joined by a certain Mark Judson and .... off the team go to La Rochelle .. ( with a few others ) and there they are in this huge place with darts competitions going on hour after hour - I was expecting him back the next day but then the phone call came " we got through to the next round " and then the next day " we're in the quarter finals " and so on until they were through to the finals!!!  By this time the village was totally immersed in darts talk - especially Pascal - the propreitor of the 8 a 8 ( small supermarket open at all other times except 8 - 8 ), whose wife was away with the team.  Sadly ( though not for me, I couldn't imagine anything worse than a trip to Las Vegas for a darts competition - could have made a good raffle prize though - Guernsey WI perhaps !!) they were beaten in the final - next time perhaps! 

Hare today gone tomorrow

It was thundering and lightning and very very frightning, and I can't remember why we were outside, but anyway suddenly there was that feeling of being watched, a real beady eye moment.  Quick, quick, get the camera.  Run, run, got the camera.  Creep, creep very quietly whilst getting the camera going.  Oh no!  Flat batteries.  Run, run, change the batteries.  Creep, creep back again.  Is hare still there?  Yes. Phew. It's gone now, probably watching us from a luscious flower bed!.    

August 1st 2005, the day we arrived to live here at Chenevaux permanently.  The time has gone so quickly!  As you can see it hasn't all been hard work - lots of friends and family have been to visit, many more than once,  and we've had some great times, as well as working like mad to build up our gite business and Mark's art studio and classes.   Wonder what the next 6 years will bring?

Au secours! Help!

There's a nasty alligator in the pool!

Gummidge or Worzel?

Yesterday was our anniversary so we exchanged cards as usual - when I say as usual it is because we have now exchanged the same cards for 3 years!  The one Mark gives me has a wheel with different numbers on it so he just turns it round and the one I give him gets the number re-written inside.  It saves all that hassle of having to choose and makes us laugh!!  Anyway, after all of the excitement that caused, we decided to escape for the day to a small town called Montmorillon, about 20 miles away.  I just want to point out here that it is Mont mor ill on, not Mont mor illi on as so many English people here keep calling it!  Maybe they are getting confused with a rock band in the 80s called Marillion!  Anyway here is Mark having a rest on the bridge - he kept his cap on as he needs to go and see Uncle Roy to be de-Gummidged.  (This is our latest talking point, Mark keeps saying why not de-Worzled but that doesn't sound nearly as good to me).  We had a wander round and came across a new art gallery where the owner specialises in Raku.  She might be interested in doing a joint exhibition with Mark at some point, or perhaps stock some of his ceramics, we will see.  Having booked a table for lunch at 1 we wanted to make sure we were in good time so arrived at 12.45, after all the morning had been strenuous.  The specials of the day sounded fab so we didn't even look at the menu.  Ecrevisse (crayfish) in a filo nest with a cream and mustard sauce topped off with a piece of smoked salmon - yum.  Then we had a sudden memory of a meal a few years ago when Mark ordered ecrevisse.  A very large bib was fastened round his neck and some alarming utensils that looked as though they belonged to a dentist were placed on the table.  Then the waitress appeared with a huge copper saucepan, plus lid, which were ceremoniously set in front of him.  This waitress loved the theatre of taking the lids off all of the dishes, waiting for the attention of all involved and raising them high above her head - a bit like an unveiling.  Several diners were heard clapping during the evening! So, lid duly removed Mark looked inside with relish.  His expression then changed from anticipation to consternation as the antennae of these supposed delicacies appeared to be moving.  Neither of us could work out how to use the utensils either so most of this dish went back to the kitchen.  

Our luck was in though, this time the crayfish were orderd with full assurance that there were no antennae or shells to deal with!  The main course was delish too and we eventually staggered out feeling very well fed.  This photo was taken from the restaurant - maybe the man is catching crayfish?