At  00.20am on Christmas morning 2012 it had stopped raining for the time being and I walked back from my Breton neighbours where I'd spent a lovely evening having dinner, chatting and laughing - I do enjoy spending time with them it's always so relaxed and comfortable.  The sky was clear and the moon complete with large halo shone alongside Venus.

Christmas Day was the first I had ever spent alone and in spite of that I had a lovely day.  I did the animals about 09.00hrs and during the day had various Skype and 'phone conversations with friends and family.

I started off looking fairly normal and then got ready to do the animals up the lane.  Thought I ought to look the part.

 The kittens got into the Christmas mood too, under a window wreath.

Lunch was crab salad, roasted duck and all the trimmings and then Christmas pudding with pouring and clotted cream.  It was all lovely - for some reason the photos are turning sideways!

 

I didn't go mad with the decorations this year as I was alone, but the room looked Christmassy and I had lots of cards from friends and family too.  

One of the Christmas tree decorations.  The lovely tree, a Nordman fir was given to me by some good friends.














The weather was atrocious all through the Christmas/New Year period and when my son, Matthew, came over on the ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff on the night of 28 December the winds were very, very strong.  In the morning the boat was already going to be late, they had emailed us to tell us, but in the event they couldn't dock even at the later time of 10.00am because of the winds and had to sail out of the area and wait for them to subside a bit.  He finally arrived at 11.30am.

He brought me a present from him and his sister of a lovely slate sundial - a very unusual and welcome gift.  I shall have to find the best place in the garden for it once I can stand out there without being poured on.

Here he is having his prawn salad starter on New Year's Eve.  Friends B&J came over for most of the evening and left just before the first of the two New Year's we saw in, first the French one and then the English one on the television with all the fireworks at the Millennium Wheel.

On New Year's Day, I tried to drive to Lanrivain to get bread in the morning but a tree was down across the lane just past my field, so I had to drive to St Nicolas du Pélem instead.

Amidst all the rain there was a double rainbow across my field when I went up to do the animals in the morning.  I think you can just see it to the left of the normal one.

The following day I broke a tooth on a soft Quality Street toffee and had to arrange to go back with Matthew to Cornwall on the Wednesday to have my English dentist do a repair job.  I had two dry days out of four there - I'd almost forgotten what a dry day was - and returned on Sunday night on the last January ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff - very glad to be home again.

While I was there all of the family got together twice for a meal at Matthew's and here is a photo of all of us.

Three things I like:

1.   Christmas.
2.   Seeing all the family together.
3.   Coming home.

Catching up with the end of 2012

It’s been a long time since I’ve written a post, and I wrote this and then forgot to post it, so it’s a bit late, but there you are.  I have been late doing this partly due to problems with the internet connection, but also going into hospital for a large vein and a few smaller ones to be removed from my right leg and disappearing back to England for three days.

The operation on my leg at Clinic du Littoral went well.  The vein was removed because after a Doppler test it was found to be dead and likely to clot.  It had actually clotted after my mini gastric bypass last year, so I was pleased to get rid of before any other operation in 2013.

I went back to England with Andy, friend and worker, to collect a VW Camper from England via the Channel tunnel rather than the easier ferry route, as he doesn’t sail well.  Over 1200 miles altogether and too much driving at once for me, necessitating frequent stops for coffee and fresh air to stay awake for the next hour or so.  The best part was that I got to see three friends - Tricia W, who I hadn’t seen for five years, June, with whom we stayed the first night and finally Tricia H.  We couldn’t remember when we last saw each other it was so long ago.  We also passed by the Olympic stadium, shard, the sculpture thingy and Milennium Dome, none of which I’d seen before except on the television.  I did a bit of essential British shopping too, for items which are either impossible or too expensive to buy in Brittany.  So altogether the trip was very worthwhile in spite of being so shattered and, of course, I ended up with a camper in what appears to be very good condition – thanks to the seller for being so honest about it.

The kittens have had to be renamed as they were wrongly sexed.  The white one is now Claude and the tiny grey one is Grace.  This makes more sense as Claude is about a kilo the heavier and much more outgoing.  They obviously missed me during my three days in the UK and were very pleased when I walked through the door again.   I seem always to have one or both of them on my lap – they like to be in constant contact and are quite high maintenance on the affection front.

The weather was bizarre before Christmas, with rain freezing as it hit the ground and impossible to walk safely up the slope to do the animals until it had started to thaw. The nurse didn’t arrive on one day to do my anti-coag jab which wasn’t a problem for me as I did it myself, but I worried about her having had an accident as it was so icy.  When she did arrive at lunchtime it turned out that she had skidded on the ice into a ditch along with five other cars and they had to wait for a tractor to tow them out.  Luckily neither she nor her vehicle was hurt. 

My lung specialist had written to me asking if I would talk to another of her patients, J, about my mini gastric bypass who was being referred to Dr Lechaux for possible surgery.  J was very up for the op - unlike me – I knew I had to have it, but didn’t want it.  She seemed very positive about it all and it was good to have her over to lunch and spend some time chatting. I’m sure she’ll make a great candidate for the op and that she’ll reap the benefits just as I have and I hope we stay in touch.

Saturday morning saw more rain followed by a hailstorm in the middle of the day.  At lunchtime, seven of us from Book Club plus five assorted husbands were having our Christmas lunch at the restaurant, Veronique & Jerome in Lanrivain.  It was excellent – a typical long, French relaxed lunch.  There was a delightful impromptu performance on the harp by one of the young daughters of the restaurant and then the still younger daughter played the flute accompanied by Virginie on the harp.  These are the lovely moments which make good memories of an occasion.

 

I have saved the best news until last.  I am to be a Grandma for the second time.  My middle child, Oliver and his partner, Emma are expecting a baby on 20 July – congratulations to them.  I am so excited and happy and how lovely it is to have something so good to look forward to in 2013. 

 

Three things I like:

 

1.   New restaurants (to me) which turn out to be good.

2.   The weather getting milder after frosty, icy days.

3.   New family members.