Farewell November

The November blues

Farewell November

November you have really excelled yourself this year and it is with a smile of relief we welcome the arrival of December and Advent.

 

This was Mini last night. 

 

“Has November gone yet? Is it safe to come out?”

 

Is it safe to come out now?

 

If losing our friend Sue on the anniversary of losing Adrian’s dad wasn’t bad enough, we learned of the death of another British friend from the village, Richard, whilst we were at the crematorium for Sue on Monday morning. 

 

In another grisly November coincidence, Richard shared our surname, which led to some confusion with the people I work with, and it was a rather bizarre telephone call where I had to explain that the Mr Brown who’d just died wasn’t my husband, or a relative. The fact that all of this took place exactly a year after Adrian spent five days in intensive care at the hospital in Niort, just made it seem even more surreal. 

 

I think it’s safe to say we are all glad to see the back of November.

Coffee, croissant and great company

 

Advent Day One

We celebrated the arrival of December with a brisk but fresh bike ride with friends, cycling into Chef-Boutonne for coffee and croissants this morning. It might only be a Thursday and such luxuries are normally reserved for the weekend, but if November has shown us anything, it’s to seize the moment and do the things that make you happy, today. Croissants and good company always make me happy.

 

Something else that makes me happy is cheese and especially cooked cheese dishes, so tonight, I have decided we will feast on the first tartiflette of the season. This is French winter comfort food at its best in a dish that combines sliced potatoes, lardons, sauteed onions and oodles of melted cheese baked in the oven.

Mini's Advent calendar

 

Mini is celebrating her fourteenth Advent and despite her hearing failing her, her legs being a little wobbly at times and her energy levels being rather depleted, she has no problem with her memory. Just one glimpse of an Advent calendar and she remembers the routine: sit, paw up to select the window and out pops a treat. She even knows that no matter how good the rest of the treats smell, you only get to open one window a day.

 

I’d love to know what you will be doing to celebrate life this December. 

Destiny's dating game

Calm skies on Saturday morning's bike ride

Last week was quite a week with one thing and another, which made me appreciate the quiet weekend we had, before we launched ourselves into another busy week. 

 

It was a weekend of reflection for us, as exactly six years ago today we lost Adrian’s Dad to a stroke, and this is the first time the anniversary has matched that weekend, day for day. I can’t help but look back and remember what we were doing that Friday when the phone call came. How it felt to leave Adrian at La Rochelle airport to head to the UK, alone, while I spent the drive home preparing what I would say to Ed when I collected him from lycée. For Ed and I, the weekend was spent waiting for messages or video calls. For Adrian, his Mum and the rest of the family, it was spent at the hospital. Then the heart-breaking call on the Monday morning to say his Dad had died.

 

Do you ever wonder how destiny works? and how it is we end up where we do? and how some people we meet come and go, but bonds are formed with others? I do, and I usually enjoy discovering patterns or coincidences, especially when they involve dates and numbers. 

 

Back in the 1990’s we were living in Reading, Berkshire and I was commuting into the City of London for work. One of my younger colleagues lived on the Essex coast, so if we hadn’t have found ourselves working in the same small team, it is safe to say we would never have met. Over the years our lives became intrinsically entwined by shared memorable dates. The first coincidence was that she and Adrian share a birthday. Then, she got married on our first wedding anniversary and to top off the hat trick, her third son was born on my 37^th birthday. With lives in different countries, we might not see each other regularly, but we will always have those celebratory dates in common and we keep in touch, through Facebook. They are a sporty family too and didn’t hesitate to help us clock up the kilometres for the charity event set up in memory of our nephew Ben in the summer of 2020.

Autumn colours in the old vineyards

 

Destiny has been playing the dating game with me again this week, minus the smiles of birthdays and weddings. Exactly two months on from losing my Dad to liver cancer, a good friend in the village was admitted into the palliative care unit at our local hospital, also battling liver cancer. On Friday, her three children arrived at her bedside, exactly as Adrian had done for his Dad on Friday 18^th November 2016. Our thoughts and hearts have been with them all this weekend and destiny’s hat trick was the news that she died peacefully in her sleep this morning. 

 

Whilst news like this is always a shock, my coincidence alarm was on high alert and I would be lying if I said a little bit of me hadn’t been expecting the early morning message from her son. I'm not sure what to make about these crazy coincidences, but I am glad destiny put us in the same small French village and that I was able do what I could to help her navigate this beast of an illness with the added complication of medical appointments in a foreign language.

 

RIP Sue 21/11/22. A lovely lady and a good friend. 

 

In memory of David 21/11/16. The best father-in-law, who welcomed me into his family with a smile and one or two glasses of vin chaud.

 

As another year draws to a close

Three years of owning my Brompton

Today I am celebrating three years of Brompton bicycle ownership and I’m still enjoying the fun, fitness and freedom that #KTTinyTourer has given me. Every year has brought new adventures and new places to explore, as well as seen me challenge myself to longer distances and harder mountain climbs. It is no exaggeration to say that owning a Brompton has changed my life for the better.

 

January cycling

Despite turning fifty this year, I struggled to set myself cycling challenges for 2021. I would have loved a long-distance tour, ideally one that crossed France north to south, or east to west, or maybe from the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean, but that wasn’t going to be possible. I did decide on a mini challenge, to cycle a minimum of 10km every day, during the month of January, which was a real success in terms of helping to beat the winter blues, so my plan is to make it an annual January challenge. 

 

Having cycled less than one thousand kilometres the year before I bought Katie the Tiny Tourer, in my first two years I’d clocked up almost eight thousand five hundred kilometres, so decided it would be a good challenge to reach fifteen thousand kilometres by the end of 2021. Sadly, I have failed, but only just. For a year where Covid-19 restrictions and work slightly clipped my cycle touring wings, I still managed to cycle further than last year and have reached the grand total of fourteen thousand kilometres since December 2019. I can’t be too harsh on myself. 

 

My 2021 cycling highlights 

We knew there would be no summer holiday this year, as I was working from the beginning of July until the end of October, but we did manage to squeeze in some unforgettable short breaks. 

Salers in the Cantal
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In May we spent five days cycling in the Corrèze, Cantal and Puy-de-Dôme departments, where the climbing rivalled that of the Pyrénees and the gorges of the Haute Dordogne were stunning. 

 

Looking down on the Lot
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In June we returned to the Lot where we enjoyed cycling through vineyards and river gorges, as well as sampling lots of patisseries. It was only a five-day break, but we clocked up four hundred kilometres, including two 100km days. 

 

Aubeterre-sur-Dronne

In July we spent a long weekend in Chalais, in the south of the Charente department, where the weather wasn’t as kind and the accommodation was unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. We still managed some lovely cycling through sunflower fields and along old railway lines, taking in pretty locations like Aubeterre-sur-Dronne, Riberac and Montguyon.

 

Summer in the Cognac vineyards

In September we celebrated my birthday with two 100km days, one to Jarnac, through the Cognac vineyards, and one crossing the chemins de Saint-Jacques pilgrimage route to St-Jean-d’Angély.

 

Autumn in Angouleme
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In October we had an autumn overnighter to Angouleme, a short and sweet escape where we avoided the worst of the wet and windy weather and dined like kings on local steak. 

 

My library commute

I also really enjoyed the seven-kilometre commute to Chef-Boutonne for the four months I was working at the library. As well as proving to me that commuting by bike, even if we live in a rural village location, is a viable option, it was also a great way to clear my head and shift my brain between French and English at the end of the day. I was impressed that for a short commute, I still managed to clock up over one thousand, one hundred kilometres, meaning a huge saving on fuel for the car.

 

I can’t deny that these last two months have been rather sparse in terms of cycling, but the weather has been pretty rubbish, yet again. Even as I write this, the wind is howling outside, and the rain has been falling steadily since Boxing Day. I am, however, extremely thankful that Christmas Day was bright and sunny and so much better than forecast, meaning for the third year in a row, we managed our Christmas Day bike ride.

 

Morning coffee on Christmas Day

This year we cycled a fifty-two-kilometre loop, stopping at a lavoir (stone wash house) for morning coffee and then on to our favourite covered picnic table (with restored bread oven) for lunch. The village of La Faye also provided us with a fresh baguette from a vending machine, and my first experience at using one.

Our Christmas Day picnic

 

We laid out our baguette, naan breads, humous, carrot sticks, pâté en croûte (like a cross between a pork pie and a sausage roll), coleslaw, tuna pasta salad, Pays Basque pâté, satsumas and mince pies, plus the bottles of beer, and then two friends turned up. With smoked salmon and prawns, oatcakes, sparkling white wine, sparklers and great conversation, they certainly added some sparkle to our Christmas Day.

 

Christmas Day blue skies and sunshine

The longer we sat, the warmer the sun got, and two hours had passed before we realised it. This was markedly different to last year when we got cold sitting for a quick picnic. Thanks to the great weather, we set off for a longer route home than originally planned, treating ourselves to hot chocolate, cake and pressies when we got home at 16h30. It was a lovely, relaxing but active day, with none of the usual stress of a big Christmas dinner.

 

Our Boxing Day turkey meal

 

We did have a more traditional turkey meal on Boxing Day with Ed and Pearl, but even this was an easier option than a roast dinner. The slow cooker sorted out the spicy red cabbage and while the dauphinois potatoes were in the oven I cooked the diced turkey with lardons, onions, mushrooms, sprouts and crème fraiche.

 

Life seems to have developed a habit of throwing the unexpected our way, so I’m happy to let 2022 show me where it’s going to take us and our Bromptons. I know there is still lots of France to explore by bike and many adventures waiting for us.

This post brings with it my sincere wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year to you all. 

   

Smile, it's World Naked Gardening Day 2021

A spot of weeding in the sun for World Naked Gardening Day 2021 

Smile

Welcome to May, where there is plenty to celebrate today; May Day, Fête du Travail and World Naked Gardening Day, plus the sun is out and I can almost smell the freedom of deconfinement.

 

A bunch of lily of the valley to bring you happiness

May Day

On 1^st May, in France, there is a lovely tradition of offering a small bunch of Lily of the Valley to your friends, to bring happiness or bonheur for the coming year. Since 1^st May last year we have lived through eighty-four days of confinement and over a hundred days of nightly curfews, so anything that offers the promise of happiness or raises a smile, works for me.

Stepping out naturally for World Naked Gardening Day 2021

 

World Naked Gardening Day #WNGD

The first Saturday in May is World Naked Gardening Day #WNGD, when gardeners are encouraged to step outside a little more naturally than they normally would. It is day to remind us to be kinder to the planet and the natural environment and to encourage us to reduce the amount of chemicals we use. It is also a day to remember to be kinder to ourselves (and each other) and accept who we are and what we look like. To stop obsessing about having a perfect body shape and love the skin you are in.

 

Enjoying the May sunshine for World Naked Gardening Day 2021

This year marks my ninth year of celebrating WNGD and I may have more grey hairs, wrinkles and saggy bits than I did back in 2013, but with so many rules, regulations and restrictions on our daily lives at the moment, the rebel in me was overjoyed at the chance to throw off my clothes and step outside to feel the warmth of the sun on my back. Here’s to carefree fun and silliness, that raises our spirits and makes us smile.

 

Deconfinement

As of Monday, our restrictions on movement will begin to ease. There will be no more attestations required for leaving home (outside of the curfew hours) and we will be free to travel where we like in France, for whatever reason we want. 

Deconfinement graphic from BFMTV

From 19^th May, non-essential shops, cinemas, museums and theatres, plus cafés, bars and restaurant terraces will be allowed to reopen and the curfew will be put back to nine o’clock in the evening. A sunny café terrace with a coffee and croissant and a spot of people watching, or a sunset bike ride; the things we’ve been dreaming of for so long, are now so tantalising close I can’t help but smile.

 

Keep smiling, stay safe and have fun.  

For the love of cheese

Tartiflette, comfort food at its best

Seeking comfort in cheese

All in all, it’s been a bit of a weird week. The weather has been miserably cold and wet, and finding out three local friends have been quite poorly, including our eighty-year-old neighbour Dominique, who is in hospital, did nothing to improve my mood. This coupled with the shocking news that two friends on Facebook lost their husbands this week, really has brought home how fragile life is.

 

Mini, cosy on the sofa

Even Mini the dog has been out of sorts. She is now thirteen and I know we can’t expect her to be immune to the aging process, but it was still quite a shock to have to deal with a soggy sofa and dog bedding on Tuesday morning. The older she has got, the more relaxed we’ve been with our rules, so as well as the sofas, she can often be found curled up on our bed or Ed’s. I guess I was therefore quite lucky as it could have been a much bigger clear-up, on a cold and wet day. Hopefully it was just one of those things, but being a super-hoarder, the sofas are now covered in washable cot protector sheets, bought in Mothercare twenty-one years ago, and the bedrooms are out of bounds once more.

 

Cyclocross by Brompton

Our cycling, along with the weather, has been extreme, although not in terms of kilometres covered. We’ve been out in cold winds and temperatures as low as -3º, that left our faces burning and gloved fingers numb and sore. Rides have been brief, rather than leisurely and enjoyable, but whatever the weather, it’s been good to get out. One afternoon, desperately seeking something a bit different, we decided to take the road less travelled and investigate some routes previously undiscovered by us. The road we chose wound up to an old vineyard, before becoming more of a track as it rolled gently towards the woods, where the gravel become a muddy path through the trees. Soggy soon became too wet to cycle, but the great thing about the Bromptons is they can easily be lifted up, the saddles resting on our shoulders, as we splashed through the puddles to drier land. It was certainly an adventure, although I think I was the only one having fun puddle splashing, as Adrian is far too sensible for that.

Cauliflower and pasta cheesy bake

 

It has been one of those weeks where I have turned to the comforting and healing properties of cheese. Dinners have included a cauliflower and pasta cheese bake and tartiflette, one of my favourite comfort food meals where the Reblochon cheese melts into sliced potatoes, onions and lardons. There is just something about cooked cheese dishes in cold weather that make everything feel better. We even treated ourselves to a local goat cheese in this week’s vegetable basket, whose creaminess went down very well as an early Valentine’s treat with a glass of our homemade sloe port. Valentine’s Day certainly seems the perfect excuse to indulge in our love of cheese, so tonight, we will be celebrating with a slightly unusual Sunday evening meal of homemade pizzas, fully loaded with cheese. 

 

After a strange week, hopefully things have now turned a corner. The weather is forecast to get warmer and as if to prove it, this afternoon we’ve been treated to flocks of cranes flying low over the house, on their annual migration north. It is always a spectacular sight to see that never fails to make me feel better. Spring will be with us soon.

 

Sending you all lots of Valentine’s Day love from France. 

For Valentine's Day, a selection of books set in France, on the theme of love

Our Covid-19 Christmas

Our 2020 Covid-19 family Christmas photo

I hope you all had a peaceful Christmas and managed to celebrate in some way, even though this year was never going to be the same as we are all used to.

 

As for many, ours was a low-key Christmas, but that didn’t mean we had any less fun. We started the day with croissant from the village boulangerie for breakfast and as it was Christmas, we served them with homemade jam and a glass of sparkling white wine.

Morning coffee in Embourie,Charente

 

All the food preparation had been done on Christmas eve, so all we had to do in the morning was pack our Christmas lunch picnic into the bike bags and set off. Our first stop was an old lavoir, or wash house, sat by a stream outside the village of Embourie in the Charente. Here we used one of the old wash troughs as a sheltered spot for the gas stove so we could make our coffee, which we served with homemade chocolate brownies. This was just what we needed to climb the hill into the village on our way to our lunch stop.

 

The forecast for the day, was for a cold but dry day, with a fresh wind. As we cycled through the countryside, the distant skies looked heavy with rain and there were a couple of times we got a bit damp, but we were also treated to a Christmas Day rainbow, which I guess we wouldn’t have seen without some rain. 

 

Gorse flowers in Charente on Christmas Day

Cycling slowly in winter gives you a perfect opportunity to see so much and we had to stop to take a photo of the first yellow gorse flowers of the season, but sadly we were too slow to snap the deer. Four beautiful deer, in formation, ran from the field to our right, across the road in front of us and away to the woods on the left. All that was missing was the sleigh for a real sight of Christmas magic.

 

Our lunch stop was a by the restored bread oven in the village of La Faye, where the council have placed a picnic table under a covered shelter. Just behind us was the village Christmas tree and as a real 2020 treat, public toilets that were open, clean and stocked with toilet paper.

Christmas lunch picnic in La Faye, Charente

 

With the winter sun falling on the table, we laid out our picnic of pâté en croute (bit like sausage rolls), homemade houmous with carrot and cauliflower, tuna mousse (a gift from Ed) on a baguette that was still warm when I picked it up from the boulangerie, and that was just starters. We had beer and sparkling wine and then moved on to salad and Christmas quiche (guinea fowl, leeks, mushrooms, sprouts and walnuts in a creamy sauce), and that’s when we realised our eyes were bigger than our bellies. We had to pack away the cheese, that we’d bought in the Pays Basque in August, especially for Christmas, the satsumas and the mincepies, as we were too full for anymore.

 

Great friends, garden grotto and Christmas Day Cheer

It was a bit of a cold start to the return cycle, but we soon warmed up when the sun came back and rain stopped. By mid-afternoon we had arrived at our friend’s house where a garden grotto had been set up and decorated. The French government had requested we stay sensible over the festive period and keep our gatherings to a maximum of six and I don’t think anyone could complain at our celebration of six, outdoors and nicely spaced across a wide table. As the afternoon wore on, the candles and lights added to the magic of friendship, fun and laughter, but we were all back home before the eight o’clock curfew came into play.

The grotto after dark, but before curfew

 

Today Ed and Pearl arrived for a few days. They got to taste our Christmas quiche for lunch and tonight, as it’s Saturday night, we’ll all enjoy homemade pizzas. As a nod to Christmas, mulled wine will be served as we all select our favourite toppings.

 

If you are looking for some great kindle bargains to get you through to New Year, here are some that are either free for a limited time, of reduced to less than £1 on kindle UK. Happy reading.

Lockdown Diaries, day twenty-eight, Giving thanks

Thankful for our moules frites

Day twenty-eight, Thursday 26^th November 2020

 

Giving thanks

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you celebrating today, even if your normal plans are out the window this year. I’m not American, have never celebrated Thanksgiving, or even eaten pumpkin pie, and it’s only thanks to blogs and social media that I’ve come to understand it a bit more. I think this year, more than any, we have a lot to be thankful for, even those of us whose families have lost loved ones. We won’t be tucking into a roast turkey and all the trimmings tonight, but we will certainly take a moment over our moules frites to give thanks for the good things in our life this year. 

Thankful for the memories we've made on the bikes this year

 

I’m certainly thankful of having the bikes, the fitness and good health to be able to ride them, and the time available to get out on them. They have made such a difference to our lives this year and I can't imagine how we would have got through the last eight months without them. Not only have they given us access to the great outdoors and a way to exercise in the fresh air, they have also given us a focus and the means to set ourselves challenges too. Whether it’s been local rides with Ed and Pearl, restaurant rides with our friends, or holidays just the two of us further afield, we’ve certainly made some great memories. We lost our nephew Ben to suicide during the first lockdown and I’ve found there was something quite healing about pushing myself on the bike, as I climbed mountains I never realised I was capable of. When all I could hear was my breathing and I could feel my heart pounding, it reminded me how precious life and being alive really is. 

The stunning scenery of the Pyrenees

Being surrounded by beautiful mountain scenery as I climbed was pretty special too.

 

Thankful for great friends

I’m also thankful for the friends I’ve made here in France. The ones who are there no matter what the problem, the ones who’ve cycled with us, the ones I’ve sung my heart out alongside (usually after a wine or two) and the ones who have taken the time to help me improve my French. My eighty-year-old neighbour Pierrette certainly falls into the latter category, even if things are running a bit late here today thanks to a lengthy, gossipy phone call with her. It’s not quite the same as our early natters on Sunday mornings as we strolled to the boulangerie together pre-Covid-19, but it’s better than nothing.

 

I know it has been a tough year in many ways for a lot of people, but I hope you can think of something that you are thankful for too.