lost in translation

I'm so glad it wasn't me!

This afternoon I was diligently making lasagne for tomorrow before folk'n'jazz and starting to think about tonight's risotto when I heard voices outside the door. Unexpected visitors are a rare event here and imagine my surprise to find Edwige and Alain at the door - surprise because at that very moment I knew Trevor was just arriving at their house (30 kms away) to practise for tomorrow's folk'n'jazz.

The arrangements had been made by Trevor and Alain over the phone -always more difficult as there aren't those tell tale looks of despair and confusion when you don't quite get the whole story - Edwige and I were both delighted to be completely free of blame on this occasion.

I try hard with my French and increasingly I am able to have conversations but it is still hard work and I spend a lot of time digging myself out of linguistic holes after launching into an unplanned discourse. But still, today's little debacle reassured me that even Trevor with his much better language skills can make mistakes! Luckily for us Edwige and Alain are patient, they put up with my feeble French and were highly amused by this afternoon's linguistic muddle.

time to use my Christmas present

My Christmas present last year was a floor standing quilting frame - it has stayed unused in the box waiting for me to get underway with quilting my last big quilt. On Monday I took it along to Laguepie to get some ideas of how to quilt it , As I expected I got almost as many ideas ( and very firm ones too) as there were people to suggest them but it was useful. I have come home and done my own thing of course but they will never know if it was that or just one of their suggestions!








The quilting frame is a success - I did loads yesterday evening and it seemed to keep me in a better position for my back and because the quilt is big it takes the weight. There are some bits where turning corners will mean using the smaller frame but that's fine as my sewing has to be portable sometimes.








So far its going quite well, I may even get to like quilting but I have got a sore thumb today!



Huge excitement though as I have ordered a new sewing machine so that I can branch out into some machine quilting too on smaller pieces anyway. It won't arrive until the end of June so I'll call that a birthday present.

the altering cloth

The daffodils in the garden are fading and the first iris is open - time for the next stained glass patchwork to go up - unfortunately despite my best intentions I've only just started it. Hopefully I'll get it finished before the irises are over.

don't worry about the weather forecast

Today was forecast to be cloudy and showery at best - wet and  stormy at worst - in fact we had a day of morning fog lifting to reveal clear blue skies and hot hot hot - had a lovely walk followed by a barbecue and late evening sitting outside .

This walk around Najac does remain a classic -- and today we improved it with a final stretch along the ridge of the village

We came in tonight as the wind changed - a stormy feeling - some lightning flashes and a few drops of rain - perfect timing!

C'est quercy rouergue100 members

C'est quercy rouergue today welcomed it's 100th member

When I started this facebook page I resolved to give it 1 year to reach 100 members if not no worries it was worth a try . But we have reached that number in half that time. In the past months I have met new people, made some sales, found out about events I hadn't heard about , discovered new suppliers and been able to publicise events I am involved with. It is great that the page is used by French members as often as English and Dutch, it is so much more than an ex-pat venture much to my delight. It has a life of its own - long may it continue to grow

first barbecue of the year

What a glorious day ! Spring is well sprung - today was more like summer.

It was the first day of the year when we ate breakfast, lunch and dinner outside. This afternoon it was time to rethink the menu plans and light the barbecue!






After dinner, with the second bottle of wine opened we opted for a walk "around the block" mostly to reduce the alcohol intake !

the three towers of Puylagarde 4kms awy on the horizon

I can never quite get to grips with the fact that really
is my house in the middle of all those fields

And that's my house!

We are on the edge of a change in lifestyle into our "summer mode" - it was still warm enough to sit outside as darkness fell and the bats were flitting around. We will need to get the video space cleared to record anything interesting on TV in the next few months.

so you think you can sew

Finding time to write a blog every day is not going to become any easier now the weather is improving so much. Certainly there's lots to write about but I'm too busy doing it , that always has been my problem with diary writing.

Anyway I'll just have to carry on trying.




Yesterday I was kept away from the garden all day as I went on a machine quilting course. I am trying to get to grips with doing that squiggly all over quilting they make look so easy on videos. It did get better as the day went on - now I need to practice, practice,
practice

Today it was back to the garden. The greenhouse is bursting at the seams but the nights are still too cold to put any of the plants outside. During the day though it has been like summer - I even had to stop for a while this afternoon as it got too hot to be working. The sunshades are up and cushions out of storage so this afternoon saw the first sitting in the sun reading of the year - very welcome!

daily blogging

still presenting "challenges"

such good times

Pavillon - we will miss you but it really is time someone else enjoyed your unique charms. Today Trevor met with another estate agent and our little holiday retreat, bought in 2005, is back on the market. It is something of a quirky choice for a buyer ( as it was for us in 2005), no electricity, tendency for the river to get too intimate, prone to burglaries but we had some of the best holidays of our lives there and it is most definitely the reason we fell in love with this particular corner of France.









Last year we thought we had  buyers - a couple from Toulouse, one of them a keen fisherman, told us "consider it sold", they seemed to love it as much as we had when we first saw it. They returned with their kids the following weekend who unfortunately did not seem to regard it as a suitable investment of their inheritance.







In 2010 it became our only home for 3 months after we took the plunge and sold up our home in England and put our furniture into storage while we continued the search for our new permanent French home. We had a great summer!