Horses for Courses

29.1.14:
The last couple of days have been mild, 13° with sunny spells. Today started the same though it was 3° at daybreak and there was heavy rain tonight. This evening we were invited to André and Nany's for a meal along with Henri and Michelle, essentially to book their flights to Scotland later this year.

30.1.14:
There was a good layer of snow much lower down on the mountains than yesterday when we awoke. For one reason or another, there was only Terrywho went to the bar after the language exchange though we were joined by Michel on his way home from the Mairie. As Christian was at a birthday do, Michel invited me for lunch at his place.
In the afternoon, Christian went off for a check up with the cardiologist while I entertained Nicole to tea.
Finally, there was a campaign meeting in the evening for Christian which gave me peace and quiet to do my Spanish homework. Had just about finished when Christian arrived home with Jean-Jacques for a bite to eat.
Weather:
6° in the morning, 12° in the afternoon, sun

31.1.14:
Thankfully, Christian had a better morning than I did getting fliers sorted for André's campaign team.

For my part, my Spanish session was difficult and I felt well out of my depth. Relative pronouns are not my strong point in French, so making the leap to Spanish was a real headache.
To cheer me up, Christian took me out for lunch in a restaurant on a cat theme. This is the view from the road beside it. After a trip to Lidl, which is right next door to the restaurant,  we  were quiet for the rst of the day. By the way, the price of the veg was eye-watering low.

Start of the Year of the Horse. Apparently we can expect a fast moving year where negotiation and middle ground stratégies won't be to the forefront. If you're sure of your projects get going on them, time won't wait for you. Not easy for us oxen! 
Weather:
11° Sun with cloud later

Not a Haggis in Sight

26.1.14:

Had a lazy start in preparation for the copious lunch organised by one of the old soldiers' associations that was in store for us and about 120 other folk in the village hall. Canapés in abundance, choucroute, cheese, dessert, wine, digéstif, coffee and as if that wasn't enough, two types of galette.
Left at about 5pm and stopped in at Jean-Jacques to try and remove a splinter that he has in his foot. No success though as it was too deeply embedded.
Finally arrived home at 19h30.unable to eat another thing so settled down to watch the French version of "Young Morse".
Weather:
17° Sunny with blue skies
News: France beat Denmark in the European handball finals and Hollande's ending of his relationsip with his partner who left yesterday for a fundraising visit to India still making the headlines.
More seriously, in Uk there are reports that safe passage enabling women and children  to leave the Syrian town of Homs has been negotiated in Geneva.
 
25.1.14:

Appropriately enough, it being Burn's Day, we met up with Madeline and Bill who was staying with her for the weekend, after the market for lunch.
Weather:
15° The threatened rain didn't arrive, cloud and sunny spells

Another One for the List

Spent the morning doing the usual Friday stuff (Mairie, Spanish) after which, we left the village for vistas new. a couple of people had told us about a restaurant in Cistella so we decided to check it out. Cistella is a small place with a 12th century church, bar, the restaurant and not much else. "Restaurant Bado" has a terrace looking onto the village square (not for today) and inside vaulted ceilings and stone wall. The food was to our liking too; imaginative and well presented.
We didn't hang around afterwards but came straight home delighting in a view of the snow-capped Pyrenees.
Then while Christian had his belated snooze, I found a "work around" to put photos on the blog. Result!!!!
Weather:
14° Blue Skies becoming cloudier later

Life's Ups and Downs

23.1.14

This morning was no different from any other Thursday morning and this afternoon we went to a funeral at the crematorium. If you've been reading posts since the beginning of the year, you'll know that I went to see Geoff on the 6th Jan. Oh dear! How fragile is our hold on life.
Weather:
13° but feeling cooler in the wind, sunny skies

22.1.14

Following on from yesterday, we decided that if we were together, on the hour, we'd take time for a hug, whatever we're doing. Actually it's fun and really does lift the spirits.
We'd just finished lunch when Michel phoned to invite us for coffee in about an hour's time. He and his guests hadn't yet had dessert when we arrived to find Carmen and Daniel, his cousin from Amiens there.  There was no refusing a share of pud and a glass of champagne. I tried half- heartedly but frankly, why would we really want to?
Nick came around this afternoon to help sort out a few tekkie  problems and Christian went to put the car through its M.O.T and it passed. Then for the 3rd evening in a row, there was another aperitif; this time with Michel and Daniel and yet again, I racked my brain and managed to ring the changes foodwise.
And yes, we managed to keep up our belated New Year resolution.
Weather:
12° rain in the afternoon and evening

21.1.14:

Today is International Hugging Day and apparently hugging is good for our health, especially if it comes from a partner. 7 minutes a day is all it takes. Does anyone remember the popular series of little books about the merits of hugging featuring polar bears?
Our new matress was  delivered this morning, so that's a good omen, isn't it?
Jean -  Jacques came back with Christian after their meeting at the Mairie to eat with us and I even managed to russle up something different from last night.
Weather:
13° Chilly start, sun and blue skies
News: Violent demonstrations in Kiev against the Governement's  policy of strengthing links with Russia rather than Europe.

20.1.14:
The sun's back and when Christin came back from the Mairie, we wandered over to the bar for a

coffee. The day was uneventful but in the evening Jean-Jacques who had just arrived home from the States stopped by bearing gifts. He stayed for an apéritif, some soup and cheese and related his adventures in the "home of the free".
Weather:
12° Sunny spells

Having Our Cake

It had been our plan to go to the Haricot Bean Festival in Santa Pau, Catalunya South with Jean and Françoise as we had last year but the weather was dull and it was damp underfoot. The unanimous decision was to give it a miss. Spent most of the day in front of either the telly or the computer. Bought a new duvet after quite a lot of searching.
We met up with Jean and Françoise this evening, however, at Juste and Joséphine's for an apéritif dinatoire and a homemade "galette des rois". Yes, another one. Michel and Sylvie were also invited. I took Delia's coffee cake as it's Joséphine's favourite and it was pleasing to see people coming back for seconds. It's light, fluffy and very tasty. Give it ago, why don't you.
http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/party-food/austrian-coffee-and-walnut-cake-with-coffee-cream.html
Weather: 13° cloudy
News: Serious floods in the South of France especially in the Var

More Daily Doings

18.1.14:
Finally made it to bed last night sometime after 2.30am. Can't do really late nights any more so a trip to the market was a no go. did absolutely nothing of note.
Weather: 14° Bright enough start with heavy rain in the afternoon.
News: The last Pope defrocked 400 priests in two years. No comment, I'd be here all day.
PS. Father Brown wasn't one of them!


 17.1.14:
Deprived of lunch out yesterday, Christian was game for eating at the bar. You'll know by now that the food isn't in the same league as the restaurant but as they say "use it or lose it". In the evening We went to Maurice and Lucienne's as they were hosting a neighbourhood meeting for people to meet André and ask questions. An apéritif followed. On the way home we ran across Jacques and his son Pierre who's here for the weekend and were hijacked to the bar. rounded off the evening with Pierre rustling up some scramled eggs and chorizo to the sounds of jazz and salsa music. You can share Pierre's favourite song by clicking on this link. La Flaca can be translated as the skinny one. He sang it to me ...... tongue in cheek, no doubt!
http://learningbysingingspanish.blogspot.fr/2008/07/la-flaca-por-jarabe-de-palo-spain.html
Weather:
13° Sunny spells with a cold evening wind

16.1.14:

Oh woe is me! The restaurant being closed is throwing us out of kilter so home we just went for lunch after the language exchange. Giggled at a couple of épisodes of "Father Brown" in the afternoon over tea and macarons; not the almond biscuits that we all know but those lovely coloured delicacies that the French do so well. Click on
http://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/multicoloured-macaroons you'll get an image and the recipe as well.
Anecdote: At the language exchange, we leant why "x" symbolises a kiss. When people couldn't write, deals were sealed with a kiss. Later a "x" replaced the kiss on documents. Interestingly, the French have no idea why we put a row of xxxx at the end of correspondence. Any one remember Brian Hyland's "Sealed with a Kiss"? A couple of us tried to sing it but the rest of the group weren't too impressed! Click the link if your curiosity is aroused and you've no idea what I'm talking about
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbl90s__X4Q
Weather: 13° Sunny spells
News: Britain has the highest rate of gout in Europe. It's not just port that's implicated but other fortified wines and beer.

15.1.14:
Went out in search of a new matress, well, two in fact and managed to strike a deal. Even so, we were into 1,400 euros. Now there's just a new duvet and some sheets and we're set.
The evening was rather more fun with a get - together at Jean and Françoise's. Juste and Joséphine, Thérèse and Joan were there too.
Weather: 12° Cloudy

14.1.14:
Christian went off to the Mairie for a short while before we treated ourselves to a day out in

Figueres. I really wanted to find some trousers but I ended up buying a black trilby and a load of veg. Christian bought a matching hat so the village mafioso had better watch out. Had a late lunch in Roses overlooking the marina. Came back in time to see the cardiologist as Christian's latest blood test showed a thyroid deficiency and seemingly one of his tablets causes this. Luckily, he hadn't followed his GP's advice to stop it as he really needs it . Upshot of the visit is that there's to be another blood test to make sure that it wasn't a blip. Hey ho.
Weather: 14.5° and warm sunshine in Spain which was better than th 11.5° and showers here.

Daily Doings

13.1.14:

Worked at archiving and relinking all last year's posts on the association website. Boring as it was, I was going great guns until the afternoon when something strange happened. Luckily for me, Nick is on hand to help sort things out.
Finished off the two remaining quails, this time in a curry sauce
Weather: 13° Cloudy with rain in the afternoon.
News: Ariel Sharon was finally buried after remaining 8 years in an a coma. No comment.

12.1.14:

Set to today and cooked a lunch for once. Quails with Potatoes and Prunes. Very tasty and one quail each was ample so there were two left over for tomorrow.
You can find the recipe on www.allrecipes.co.uk
Weather: 14° Cloudy but bright

11.1.14:
The market as usual this morning. Had an apéro with Jean in one bar and then with Chantal and Gaby in another
Weather: 12°  Sunny in the morning but clouding over later

10.1.14:

This morning, our Spanish group joined forces with the other two groups to mark "Los Reyes" which is a bigger deal than Christmas for Spanards. So, another "Galette des Rois" to eat, washed down with either cider or sparkling wine.
Christian fancied going out to lunch, so we went to Pont de Molins and on the way back, called in to see Juste, Joséphine and La Mama who's staying with them for a while. Had a cuppa with them but couldn't stay long as Christian was going to the "Vœux" in a neighbouring commune and I had an "apérobio" with les anglaises.
For once we couldn't go to the restaurant as there was a big party in so we went to the bar. Exceptionally, les hommes were invited to join us at 9pm as Barbara is returning to live in the Uk on Monday.
Weather: 13° but felt warmer. Sunny
News: Great consternation! It's been revealed that Hollande is having an affair with an actress.

9.1.14:
After the language exchange and apéro in the bar, it was back to the restaurant for lunch
Weather: 14° Cloudy

8.1.14:

Les Vœux du Maire was  the main event of the day. It was well attended and all went without any problem. The guy who is standing against André was there and even kissed me on both cheeks. Years ago we used to buy our wine from him until he gave up working his vines. Some of you will remember coming with us carrying a five litre jerry can to buy our wine straight from the huge barrels. Although you wouldn't know it from this photo was taken at the end of the evening when only the diehards were left finishing off the apéritif, the hall had been full with a large number of women present. On the way home we stopped by at the restaurant for a bite to eat even though we weren't really that hungry. Well, I wasn't anyway!
Weather: 14° Cloudy

7.1.14:
Weather: 14° Cloudy
News: Spanish princess charged with tax evesion and money laundering

Funeral, Friends and Food

There was a funeral to go to at 10h30 this morning, the mother of a friend. The church was freezing cold but at least it wasn't a requiem mass which with communion etc would have taken much longer. After that Christian wrent off to try and get an appointment with his cardiologist who's been off sick and I went to visit Geoff who's undergoing chemo. He was in good spirits but the cardiologist is still off sick. While Christian was waiting for me he went for a coffee and bumped into Henri who invited us for an apéro.
We saw him and Michelle again in the evening at the association's get-together for the Président's New Year wishes, galettes de rois and cider or red wine. Poor Christian had his surgery with Michel to keep him company and needless to say, no clients.
To finish off the evening, Henri and Michelle came back to ours where we cracked open a bottle  of champagne to toast 2014 before coming back to earth with soup, bread  and cheese. As a dessert I made up a recipe for a chocolate fridge cake mixing together cereal, raisins and mixed peel soaked in rum, chocolate, mincemeat and golden syrup. Gulp ..... a seismic number of calories!
Weather: 16° Blue skies, sun and light cloud
News: David Cameron's hairdresser receives MBE!
Stop Press: There are problems with the site and I can't insert any images. Apparently, I'm not the only one but that's little comfort. In the meantime, I hope it won't be too dull. Sorry.

Pheasants for Peasants

A lazy Sunday which started with Dominique coming around with some lovely, hand crafted wooden spatulas for us that he'd made. After an apéritif it was time to dine on the pheasants that Maggie had given us. They were served simly roasted with braised chicory, broad beans and potatoes. Otherwise it has been an uneventful day with only some tv catch up on the menu.

Weather: 15° Blue skies, sun and a little light cloud.

Headlines: French Interior Minister takes a hard line with the comedian, Dieudonne M'bala M'bala for his anti-semetic comments during his show.
Foreign cars go on sale in Cuba or the first time since 1950 but at a huge price

Picking up the Threads

Went off to the market and bought some fruit and veg to keep us going over the weekend. Met up with Michelle, Henri, André, Nany and her brother Michel who is ove here on holiday from the States. Had an apéritif and then came back to the village for lunch at the bar.

Weather: 16° Mild, blue skies, some cloud and sunny spells.

Headlines: Phil Everley died aged 74 (If you haven't a clue who I'm talking about, listen here http://www.deezer.com/artist/1883r )

Wild Rovers?

All the time that we were in Paris Christian slept in until 9am or after, this morning, despite a late night he was in the kitchen preparing the porridge before 8am and at the Mairie just after 9am. Continuing in the Holiday spirit we went to the bar for an apéritif to catch up with the news and then to the restaurant for lunch. On the way home, we were waylaid by Sylvie and invited up to Jacques for more coffee and dessert. as it would have been too rude and not in the spirit of the season, we allowed ourselves to sample the goodies on offer. Patrick and Lizzie arrived a little later for a musical rehersal and we sowed the seeds of a soirée St Patrick. So, now al it remains for us to do is look out some Dubliners and Fureys records and draw up a list for them to perform. Never a dull moment, eh? It's not just in Paris that there is culture to be found.

Weather: Cloud and sunny spells 16°
News: Divorce where both parties are in agreement, no longer needs to be heard in front of a judge in France.
Blizzards on the East Coast of the States brings life to a halt.

All Aboard!

Time to pack and give the house the once over. Said  “goodbye” to the cat that had eventually come out of hiding to sleep with us from time to time and went over for our last meal with the family. I'm sure they'll be pleased to be back to normal. We had a cuppa with our b & b hosts, Anne-Laure and Virginie and then it was off to the Gare de Lyon in good time for our TGV going South. If you've never been to the station, next time you're in Paris, it's worth a visit. The edifice is impressive and the "Tain Bleu" restaurant legendary. We had lunch on Valentine's day there when we were living in Paris in 2004. https://www.google.fr/search?q=train+bleu&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Q5PGUqjEBMqH0AXVtIHYBA&sqi=2&ved=0CEIQsAQ&biw=1199&bih=623

The train was 20 minutes late so we were home for about 20 minutes past 12. Unpacked the few bits and pieces that we'd taken with us. Christian slept straight away but I had things going around in my head until about 3am but as there's nothing for me to do tomorrow other than to catch up on the blog, no matter.

Weather:
Cloudy 12°

News:
Sale of cannabis legalised in Colorado

Happy 2014!

There was no time to linger long this morning as we were booked to go and see the Freida Khalo and Diego Rivera exhibition at the Orangerie near the Louvre.  Freida, has been the mai selling point of the expo but there were more of Rivera’s work than of hers. Nothing can compare to his murals in Mexico City which I saw back in 1982. Still it was all very interesting and we were glad to have seen the film “Freida” which prepared us for the agony of many of her paintings. There were also colourful paintings of herself in better health and of Mexican women to give some relief. To our surprise, the permanent collection was also interesting with a number of works by Renoir, Cézanne, Picasso, Derain, Soutine and other others. http://www.musee-orangerie.fr/   From here we went back to where we were on Friday night in the hope of getting into “Le Chartier” but the queue was too long so we made do with an Italian restaurant on the opposite side of the road. Looking at the website, it was a real shame that we didn't persevere http://www.bouillon-chartier.com/index.php/en Ah well, next time.

Weather:
Cloudy 10°

News:
Entry restrictions on Bulgarians and Romanians entering most EU countries have expired.
Brittany and West UK continue to be hit by floods and high winds