February 2026 and the Days are getting Longer

1.2.26: No comment!

 

Here's to a Happy, Healthy 2026!

Off to a Promising Start, n'est-ce pas?

Where ever you are, whatever you're doing, I hope you're having a great day with people you care about. May this coming year bring many happy memories and few hiccups along the way!

1.1.26:

 

This year's calendar brings a change; scenery and nature have given way to humour.   

15.1.26: 

With the café and restaurant closed until mid February plus a dip in temperatures the village is quiet. JJ, Jacques and Michel are away so social life is pretty quiet as well! Or maybe I should say quieter. Françoise took pity on me and gave me lunch; Henri and Michèl.e took me with them to Collioure so that Ben, who's over from Oz, could have some English conversation.

 

While Henri took refuge in "Les Templiers", we went for a wandered round to walk off the lunch we'd had at "La Marinade". Just as well as we all came back  here for tea and Christmas cake.

I  started the year well with invites to my neighbours for an apéritif dinatoire. Shame it had to be done in two parts due to a bit of friction between a couple of them. Jacques was back earlier in the afternoon and Camille forgot so we were only six!

Even though it's not the Epiphany until tomorrow, Galettes des Rois have been in the shops for days and two made an appearance this evening. Marcelle and Anna both found a charm and got to wear a paper crown. 

And there were more to come . . .

Thierry found the charm at Kapka's birthday lunch which Jacques laid on. My Torte Royale had the candles and thank goodness it was not the catastrophy that yesterday's Whole Orange Cake was. Had to make a last minute dash to the mini mart for a replacement to take to Lynn and Colin's for tea. Double ignominy; I should have been hosting the tea but concerns about my stairs for Terry resulted in them stepping into the breach. There was, however, not a galette to be seen.

The tables at the Maire's New Year wishes were laden with them; MsF's less so though Françoise did find a charm. We didn't stay long as JJ is now back and sharing left over tapas from a soirée the night before.  There were more after the Twinning AGM but I didn't partake of either food or drink. Bumped into Lisa on my home who reminded me that I should be at the not knitting "knitting group" at Monica's. Angela had forgotten, too, but she didn't make it at all.

Luckily it's not been all food; a walk above Paulilles with Françoise was welcome though not strenuous; maybe it was welcome because it wasn't strenuous! The weather was clement, found a plant I'd never seen before and came across a shepherd and his 450 sheep that were eating their way between the vines.

Apart from that, English conversation with Lisa has been in Céret and I met up with a couple who live in the States and have bought friends' house on the outskirts of the village. That makes 2 Scottish couples, an Irish couple and an English woman who've sold up this last year and another who's selling .

16th - 31.1.26: Best laid plans and all that . . It's the 19th February and here I am, shelving a load of things in favour of a bit of Chitchat. 

First up was meeting up with Pilar, a language teacher who wants some English conversation in exchange for Spanish. This promises to be a whole different ball game to my sessions with Lisa. I'm going to be way out of my comfort zone. Pilar's an interesting woman; Catalan, a singer, politcally active, feminist, of course, and has a fun personality. Oh, and I must forget patient! Guess who's got the best end of the deal. Despite my years of dabbling , some would say massacring the Spanish language, I have made ziltch progress.

 The highlight of the long list of lunches, dinners and apéros and the only one with a photo, was Henri's birthday lunch. A good meal followed by champagne back at their house, they don't stint. I didn't slack either. Did a lunch, an apéritif dinatoir and two teas. not as much as I received but an imrovement of late.

Less interesting was a trip to the dentist for an extraction. He appeared with full PPE and a visor which made me do a double take but he did the job. Whats more, I had no pain and no infection.  And also a shopping trip to Perpignan proposed by Nicole, that turned out to be a search for her new matress! Won't fall for that one again. The search, which was to no avail by the way, was broken up by lunch at a Thai buffet. Plenty on offer but not my choice and nowt out of the ordinary. To cap it all, she had a puncture as we were leaving so there wasn't time for me to go to Action, the Dutch cheapo store that I'd put on the table as something I wanted to do. As they say, you win some, you lose some.

What else? There was a mini, my-era concert, given by a multinational trio (French, Belgian, British) followed by an apéro in the village hall.  

Being Burns' Night I wore my red tartan scarf and did a bit of on the hoof cultural education. Political tracts for the upcoming Municipal elections in mid March have been appearing and there was an introductory meeting to the EvS (Espace de Vie Sociale) but more of that next month. Suffice it to say, that it ended up it with a slice or two of Galette!

Notes of Nature: blue skies, snow on Canigou and a splash of mimosa to cheer up drab January

As for the weather we've had temperatures ranging from -1 overnight to an unexpected daytime high of 18° and a lot of rain. In fact, there was more rain this month than we've had in the last three years! That is something to celebrate.

Rain in Normandy, Sunshine in Brittany and Hot at Home

June 2025: 

First day of June and the last day of the twinning visit. Another moving day.  We set off in the bus for Ver sur Mer to the British Memorial site overlooking Gold Beach where the British came ashore and died on D Day.  

The memorial begins with stone tablets that give an overview of the D-Day landings, then leads into a large open pavilion. At the centre is a tomb of the unknown soldier, surrounded by a pergola-like structure made up of stone pillars. Each pillar is inscribed with the names of the fallen, organised by the date they died, along with their rank and age.

   

 Known as "Standing with Giants", the adjacent field is covered with 1,754 x 2m silhouettes of soldiers, as far as the eye can see.IEach silhouette represents an actual casualty of the landing, creating a particularly emotional and moving experience. Two other ‘giants’ represent the only two women on the Memorial, nurses Sisters Evershed and Field, who died while saving 75 men from a sinking hospital ship.

The bases of the stillages used to transport the silhouettes are decorated with a total of 22,442 knitted poppies, made by the Women's Institute (WI), representing the total number of fallen service personnel on D-Day and the Battle of Normandy combined.

2.6.25: Time to Wave Goodbye and Move On 

The bus set off for the village and I went to Caen to take the train to Le Havre, which was 50 minutes late due to a child having been reported to be on the line. 

Jojo met me where we fell into our usual routine of an overnight, scallops, some shopping, lunch out, a beer on a terrace near her flat and a walk to the sea. This time I discovered the Parc St Roch with its pond and waterfowl.

3.6.25: Another Bed in Another Part of Town: 

Valérie's turn to host me with the added bonus of her having taken some time from work. A couple of days with a mix of Relaxation and Chat with a visit to Maureen and Maxym's new house and night's in watching Department Q on Netflix 

 

 

Culture with a visit to the Musée Malraux for an exhibition of posters relating to the Transatlantic Cruise Lines. Nostalgia at it's best that you could almost imagine yourself in a Ginger Rogers and Fred Astair film! 

 

Normandy Countryside with a day out in Beuvron en Auge, a picturesque village with timbered buildings, craft shops and several restaurants. Had lunch at the "La Forge" and visited the (uninteresting) church in the pourring rain. 

 

Afterwards as the rain eased we went up to the viewpoint and a nearby small church a few km from the village.

Stopped off in Pont Levêque' where the very tasty , soft cheese comes from, to stretch our legs before Valérie dropped me off at cousins Kathy & Sylvain's. Should have been at Sylvie and Christophe's along with Irene and Alain but as he had been taken into hospital for heart surgery plan B kicked into action. didn't get to See Cousin Janine and Yves as they were off in Turkey for a grandson's wedding.Nice evening; cooking and serving done to perfection by Sylvain.

7.6.25: No Surprise that Normandy is very Green!

It was raining  when the other Valérie came to pick me up to take me on to the next leg of the visit and it continued to rain all day. So once in the house, we stayed there.

8.6.25:

 Took a Sunday morning walk en family with Léonie and Zoë joining us. 

After lunch  it was a trip to a circus festival in a verdant park.

 

In the evening the family expanded to 14 of us for dinner at the "Puits Fleuri".

9.6.25: Pastures New

The day dawned for a new adventure. Stéphanie in her little Audi whisked me off to St Malo. Missed out on lunch and when we'd puffed our way up the narrow, steep stairs to the top of the building we found the freezer had defrosted and there was rottten food to deal with. duty done, we alked down to the beach for a beer and then on for cider and crêpes.

10.6.25: Staying Local

Morning coffee, a visit to the market and discovered the boutiques, bookshops, Delis, wine merchants and bistros along the main street. What a pleasure to have access to independent shops rather than chain stores and charity outlets. Such charm is becoming rare.

  

 

After lunch at home we strolled into St Malo, which despite it's austere architecture was  every bit as charming not having fallen prey to tacky tourism. Had dinner at home and watched "Anatomy of a chute"  

 

 

11. 6.25: Took the ferry to Dinard with its Orson Wells connection and had a good walk around. Lunch was long and slow at the "Cartagena" owned by a friend of Léo's whonoffered us a glass of wine to go with the spritz royal and the bottle of wine that we'd already had.

 

 There was a full strawberry moon this evening but it was too cloudy to see. Watched "Sulemain" and it wasn't an easy watch either.

12.6.25:

Went out and walked the Pointe de Guerin 

and then went into Cancale 

and found the maison des épices. Last evening in St Sevran so we went out for dinner at "La Bourriche".

13.6.25: Paris Bound

For once I didn't go in search of any exhibitions; after a busy few days  I spent my time pottering, walking locally, a trip around the market, along the canal, took pleasure in dropping into oriental shops to look for spices, and catching up with the family. There was a visit to Nolwenn in her new flat for an apéro then I saw her again when we went to where she works for Sunday brunch. Elsa joined us so I caught up with her news, too. 

That just left Léo to see so it was over to Butte aux Cailles. Streets were busy with a vide grenier but we luckily we still found space at a café before we needed to head home and Léo needed to prepare for work in the evening.

16.6.25:

Was able to take it easy as my train home wasn't until the afternoon. Journey went fine even though it was hard going what with the heat and my case. Thankfully there were some helping hands when I was confronted with steps up and down. Jac C was at the station to meet me and in no time at all I was at home and enjoying the last episode of Dept Q. Yes, it was that good and anyway, it was too late to do anything that needed any kind of effort.

 

Rest of June:

 

Oh dear, my plants didn't fare well in my absence. Amazing how the weeds manage to survive though. Soon got back into the usual round of coffees, apéros and meals; there was even a dinner chez moi, which took me all day to prepare, with Mark and Trevor.

 

18th Dinner chez Jacques 

 

  

  

 

 

21st: Fête de la Musique   

 

  

22nd: Lunch in the Shade 

 

23rd Dinner with Joëlle 

 

So happens that the 23rd is the Feux de St Jean which involves torch light processions, bonfires and youngsters jumping over dying embers so our meal had an added extra.

 

 

Chez Frank & Penny 

 As the end of the month arrived the temperatures rose, hitting the high 30s. June's hottest was 39° while Patt and I were staying with Frank and Penny for the weekend. Any idea of doing sight seeing was hit on the head; too hot to be outside so we stayed in and the three of us talked and talked. One evening we were joined by Pauline so we were never short of topics of conversation.  Apart from meal times, when he was an attentive host, Frank wisely made himself scarce leaving us to range far and wide on subjects only of interest to women! 

 

Nature Notes: