Tea for 50

The last few days have been up and down. I think that the problem is that when I've taken the pain killers my leg feels ok so I try and do things in the house when in fact I should still be resting.The xrays didn't show up anything, however, I do think my 3 sessions of physio a week are doing me good as I'm slowly reducing the amount of "little helpers" I'm taking.
Today, I ventured out to the square where the Association was holding its get-together to mark International Women's Day. As usual, tea, coffee, cakes and hot chocolate were served to the women by a few willing males which as usual included Christian. I contented myself with sitting and selling raffle tickets.
At the end of it all, the Mayor suggested that we join him, Jeannie, Pierre and Bridget (the in-laws) for lunch somewhere. Christian came up with Pont de Molins. As he treated us, I guess he was well pleased with the good meal we had. The weather was pleasant enough for us to sit out on the terrace overlooking the river where a cormorant was sitting majestically on some driftwood, to have our coffee and for Pierre to smoke his pipe.

Another Celebration

Even though I had a bad night last night, I swallowed down some pain killers and made an effort to go out for lunch as it was the 25th anniversary of our meeting in Glasgow. Christian had lamb shank and I had squid cooked in ink. Looked like a plate of coal but it tasted good!

Meals on Wheels

Christian's birthday, despite my incapacity, proved to be a jolly affair. Michel came by with a bottle of malt at the same time as Juste and Joséphine arrived at lunchtime with apéritifs and a super meal which included duck with olives and a truly delicious tiramisu. What's more, their new granddaughter was born a little early that morning so you can just imagine Christian's delight.
In the evening I went for my first physio session, driven there by Françoise, while Christian, Jean, Thérèse and Joan got stuck in to the apéritif dinatoire that they'd brought with them. So, in the end, Christian was spoilt and had a lovely day full of surprises. What good friends we have.

A Sorry Tale

We should have gone to the Auvergne for a few days to meet up with Christophe and the family but instead spent spent the time trying to find a comfortable place to rest. Started off languishing on the settee, then stayed in bed and was waited on by Christian who has become chief cook and bottle washer. Then tried the bedroom downstairs which was abandoned after two days ... well, there's nothing like your own bed especially when you're not feeling so good. Saw the GP on Thursday who has referred me for hip and leg xrays next week and had visits from Michel, Anne , Joséphine, Jean, Françoise and Ethel who tried some Reiki on me.
Today, we should have gone to Barcelona with Juste and Joséphine for an overnight to celebrate Christian's birthday tomorrow but it was not to be.

A Reason to Celebrate

After 2 days of feeling sorry for myself and not going out apart from a trip to the osteopath, it was good to have a nicer reason to go out. Took Juste and Joséphine to Mas Salelles to celebrate their wedding anniversary and it was warm enough to put the hood down on the car. We drank cava, ate snails and scallops , went for a stroll by the lake and gathered some kindling for the fire. Once back to theirs we were joined by Marie-Loudres and Jean who had been invited around for pancakes and we even managed to keep off contentious subjects relating to village politics. Juste's Mum has been found a place in care so they can concentrate on the imminent arrival of their first grandchild.

Purple Haze

Managed to walk up to the committee meeting but the leg hurt even more so I saw the GP this afternoon. Came away with anti-inflammatories, something to protect my stomach from the anti-inflammatories, cream, heavy opium-based pain killers and advice to see an osteopath. There was no prescription, however to deal with the constipation that the pain killers can bring. I guess it will need to be prunes!
I did make an effort to go to the local wine bar with Juste and Joséphine for tapas and latino music.

Ouch!

From out of the blue, my right leg has become so sore, that I've had to rummage in the first aid box to find some pain killers. On second thoughts, it must have been when I carried up that overloaded basket of logs from the garage last week.

Lemons and What to Do with Them

Christian who we hadn't seen for an age called in with a huge box of lemons from the garden where he is staying. Some will go to Joséphine and ours will end up preserved à la Claudia Roden or as juice frozen in ice cube trays for future use.
http://www.thegoodsoup.com/recipes/preserves/claudia-rodens-quick-method-for-preserving-lemons/

Plan B

Wandered around the market without buying anything and as it was a lovely day, decided to go to St Laurent de la Muga for lunch. We had hoped to find our old favourite open but we were out of luck. Stopped off at "La Fornal" which lived up to it's reviews with some creative cooking that was well presented. Stopped by at Juste and Joséphine's to catch up with their news and stayed to eat a Spanish omlette

Weather Update

The cold weather has finally eased up a bit but the wind is still blowing. I don't remember it being so strong for so long. Even though the sun has been shining, we're fed up with having to wrap up, both inside the house and out. And don't talk about the heating bills .... we've had red day after red day, though that does mean that there are only 4 to come before the end of March.
Today, France said "adieu" to the franc. Italy did the same but the Governement hadn't publicised the fact that they'd brought forward the cut off date and made a packet in the process!