Two days, two walks and two meals

We all went on a one and a half hour walk yesterday afternoon along the woodland path which goes from the swimming pool in St Nicolas du Pélem to the Lanrivain/St Nicolas road.  We didn't quite do the whole walk as it was getting very cold and we had to turn round and come back in time to put the ducks and hens away too.

The stream which runs through the mill here, is full at the moment and running really fast.  It meanders from one side of the lane to the other rushing over the boulders in its bed.

Gareth and Charlie seemed determined to put Libby in the water, but even though she was carried away she escaped.

They've been doing lots of logging high up from the path and Gareth and Charlie walked up on the high path and then had to find a safe way down.

And then over the clapper bridge

Charlie played with bubbles which Libby was blowing - not a very clear photo, but I still like it.

We went to the Creperie in St Nicolas du Pélem in the evening and after his galette, Charlie went to sleep on the bench seat of the table next to us, with a fleecy blanket from the Land Rover.

Today there was a less biting wind, but it still seemed jolly cold out there.  We decided to go for a walk around Corlay Lake, next to Corlay Castle.

A really grey day, but a lovely happy photo of Libby, Gareth and Charlie on a bridge across the lake.

Charlie and Gareth took a high path, like yesterday, and ran down the slope back to our level.

The reflections were lovely, but not as good as the ones I took here in the Autumn with the copper colours of the beech and oak trees.

Here's Corlay Castle which is alongside the lake and then the old wooden-bounded steps which lead up to the playground.

Lastly, the "children" playing on the seesaw, which I also joined them on for a few minutes - it's a long time since I've been on a seesaw.

After this, we went to the Pizzeria in St Nicolas du Pélem and had beer and pizzas for lunch.  It was good to see Muriel and Ahmed again who manage it, as I hadn't been there for months and months.  Charlie and I couldn't finish our pizzas so we packed the remainder into takeaway box and I had mine again later in the afternoon, warmed up under the grill.

Early start tomorrow as we're leaving at 8.30am to get to St Malo in time for the 11.30am ferry back to Plymouth.  I'll be sorry to see them go - it's been a really lovely visit!

Three things I like:

1.   Having my log pile by the wood burner piled high again thanks to Gareth and Charlie.

2.   Going for a walk each day with the family.

3.   Seeing the last of the laundry loads dried for their return to England.

Family and Cold Weather

I can't believe how cold it's been over the last week or so.  For several years I went away somewhere really warm during February and now I remember why.  Sri Lanka and Tobago are definitely appealing to me at the moment.  In fairness, it has not been as cold here as in other parts of France, but cold enough for me.  As I write this it is lunchtime and still only 1.2 degrees Centigrade.

There was a tiny bit of snow the day before Libby, Gareth and Charlie arrived in France.  Here it is settling on my wellie boot cleaners.  Not much compared with what they've had in England and further south in Brittany and France proper.

I know this is a really fashionable look, but I have to try to keep the bitter wind out of my ears, and I wear my "too big now" red fleece, so I don't get my decent fleece mucky up at the field.

I have to wrap up really warmly to go and do the animals and really just want to stay in the warmth of the woodburner.  This week, my five year old grandson, Charlie, is staying and he's been helping me with the ducks, hens, goats and rabbits every morning and evening. 

In the morning we see the sun come up into the trees down the lane and in the evening he

loves looking in the nest boxes for eggs and bringing them down carefully in a small plastic bucket and we admire the sunsets, which have been brilliant in this frosty weather.

Here's Charlie doing "it rocks" while dressed up for the twice daily animal walk. I love the coloured fingers on his gloves.

 

Charlie liked the catkins on the hazel tree at the entrance to the field.  The catkins are the male flowers on the hazel tree, pale yellow in colour and up to 5 cm long. They open in February, and are one of the first obvious signs of spring in the countryside.  The female flowers are tiny red tufts, growing out of what look like swollen buds, and are visible on the same branches as the male catkins.  The trees aren't self-pollinating though and need other trees in the same area to pollinate successfully and to produce hazel nuts in the Autumn.  Although I see the nuts before they are ripe, by the time they are ready to be harvested they all seem to have been taken by wildlife around here.

For some reason, Libby has become even more camera shy than she has always been and it's almost impossible to get a photo of her - I have no idea why, as she is a lovely looking girl. 

Yesterday I had a visit to the Nuclear Medicine department of the hospital at St Brieuc.  This was for a scintigraphy to see whether I had a recurrence of last year's tumour on one of my parathyroid glands as my parathormone levels were more than twice the maximum normal range.   Unusually, the hospital was really cold and nearly three hours later when the radio active material had worked its magic and I was in the scanner, without me asking, they put my fleece over me as they must have realised how cold it was.

In June 2011, I had one of the right parathyroid glands and its tumour removed.  Unfortunately, the news wasn't good and I have a tumour on each of the left hand side parathyroid glands and possibly another tumour on the remaining right hand side parathyroid gland.  This will mean another operation once I've seen the endocrinologist again and the new surgeon.  My lovely surgeon from last year has retired unfortunately. 

The cats have been ousted from their usual settee sleeping places while the family are staying.  They all found a new place to sleep together yesterday evening.

Three things I like:

1.   Seeing Libby and Gareth so happy.

2.   Spending so much time with Charlie, who has grown in every way since last summer here.

3.   Eating the Anzac biscuits Libby baked yesterday afternoon.

Changing Weather, Stuffed Mussels and a new Duck House

I can't remember which day now, but perhaps Thursday, the temperature soared to a high of 15°C by lunchtime and there was wall to wall sunshine.  It hasn't been the same since and I have now got into the habit of breaking the ice on the animal drinking water containers each morning. 

The hailstones which fell at 5.00pm on Thursday afternoon were still there well into Friday and it was very cold out there.

Camelias are flowering everywhere now, in spite of the frost covered ground when I go up the lane to let the animals out in the morning.

Early one evening this week, as I drove to collect a Sky+ box to replace my faulty one, the sky was beginning to blacken and soon all the clouds were really dark and the rain started, and boy did it rain.  Everywhere was sporting great big puddles.  Thank goodness they cleared all the ditches round here last week which stops the roads flooding.  When I lived in Cornwall sometimes the two lanes leading from Boswinger to the main road were completely flooded and impassable.  At least that doesn't happen here.

I bought a Drizabone long riding coat secondhand from the expat forum this week.  It was too far to drive so I paid for the postage to get it sent to me which was less than the diesel would have been.

This is going to keep me dry when I walk up the road to do the animals in the pouring rain. I just need a souwester or something similar for my head, as it doesn't have a hood.

This morning I drove with my worker to collect a play house which looks ideal for a duck house.  We brought it back and installed it on the duck field next to their pond.  The inside had fitted carpet and gripper rods.  We removed them and put lino in on the floor before strewing it with straw.  An attachment was added to fix the door back in the daytime and once it has been painted black it will look ok.  It will certainly be good to have the ducks in their own house instead of mixed in with the hens.

The door's about 4ft high, luckily I am not a tall person. However, it will still be a struggle cleaning it out. I am hoping to be able to reach all corners with a long rake. Under the straw is lino, so I can pull that out, if necessary and give it a good wash outside the house.

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We had so much trouble getting them into their new house tonight, I can't tell you how difficult it was. They all stood by the gate waiting to go into the hen area and then on to the barn and henhouse. In the end, as it was dark, we had to let them go into the barn and catch them one by one and carry them through to their new home. Hopefully that won't have to be done too many nights before they realise where they sleep and go in happily!

Three things I like:

1.   Getting a delivery of English groceries today.  However much I enjoy French things, somehow there are always things you miss when you aren't in your original country.

2.   Finally getting a duck house after looking for something affordable and suitable for ages.

3.   Enjoying stuffed mussels, a first for me, for supper yesterday and again for lunch today.

Loose cattle, Sunset and Flowers

This afternoon I went walking along the lane and saw one of my neighbours in his garden raking up leaves. I mentioned to him that his two loose white cattle were in another neighbour's orchard again this morning and had visited the veggie bed with my newly sown onion seeds during the week and left huge footprints in the earth. 

He said he hoped to sell them within eight days and didn't seem unduly worried about them being loose. However, when I walked up the lane to put the animals to bed this evening he was in the field looking at the footprints in the veggie bed and then drove off, presumably looking to see where they had got to now. I hope something happens as I don't want cattle trampling my veggie beds once things start growing. He did say I could put a rope across my wide field entrance to deter them, but that's really inconvenient when I'm driving in and anyway, why should I have to take precautions against his loose beasts? Moan over!

Five days ago the sunset was truly spectacular.  I was on my way back from shopping and had to drive past the end of my lane to park with an open view.  I just love these winter sunsets, the colours are so intense.

On Thursday, a good friend came for a chat in the afternoon and she brought me flowers.  This is a photograph of  one of the sprays in my vase. 

I bought myself a begonia when I was coming back from lung specialist on Friday - what a red!

In a previous blog, I talked about a fire which had happened on Boxing Day night, and how badly damaged the house was.  By chance yesterday, I passed by the house concerned.  How lucky the owner was to be rescued by the pompiers, but what a terrible thing to happen in the early hours of the morning.

When I got home there was an email asking me to drinks with neighbours which was a nice surprise.  There were just five of us and it was a good evening catching up with each other's news and for me learning some more about the area around my village.

The weather has been so mild this winter and the birds haven't stripped the berries of the holly in my garden or on this tree in the lane.  I even have a rose in bud in the garden.

Petrol on the lane yesterday and moss on slates along the verge outside my immediate neighbour's abandoned house.

Here's a peek through my driveway window as I arrived back home after putting the animals safely away for the night.

I received my blood test results in the post last week and my parathormone levels are almost twice the maximum normal range and rising in spite of my calcium being within the normal range. This is worrying to both me and my doctor who I saw to discuss the results and who contacted my consultant endocrinologist to see if I could have an earlier appointment than the 21 February one I had with her. It seems that the most likely reason is that there is another tumour on one of the other remaining parathyroid glands.  I had a tumour and gland removed in June last year.  Almost more worrying is the bony growth which is evident on the right clavicle, directly under the original parathyroidectomy scar.  Unfortunately, my previous surgeon has now retired so I shall have to have a different surgeon if surgery is necessary.  The endocrinologist has brought forward my appointment to tomorrow, so I shall see her then and presumably then have to go for more tests.  I'm trying to think good thoughts, but am rather worried.

Three things I like:

1.   Beautiful winter sunsets.

2.   Having a long and happy 'phone conversation with my daughter today.

3.  Only two weeks before she, her lovely partner and my grandson arrive in Brittany.