Being a proud Grandma and other stuff

Almost three weeks since my last posting and it's been a busy time both in the UK and here in Brittany.

Mia, my new grandchild, is thriving and gaining weight.  I have been sent loads of photos by her Mummy, Emma, so am keeping up with her progress even though I'm back at home in Brittany.

She has a lovely amount of dark hair and stands a good chance of being as beautiful as her Mummy.

My grandson, Charlie, and I spent ten lovely days alone together.  We didn't do anything exciting but just looked after the animals, podded broad beans, swam in the pool and played in the hot tub, chalked pictures on the terrace slabs, and he played CBBC games on the spare laptop which became "his" for his stay which went down very well.

His Mum and her partner came over for three days to take him home again.

Here Charlie is exploring the pond with the daughter of friends of mine - he spent a lot of time bending into the pond and marvelling at this year's baby fish and the insects and bugs drawn to the water.

The veggie beds and polytunnel are finally producing some good stuff after a slow start due to the cold, wet weather earlier in the year.  The weeks before I went back to Cornwall were very hot here and although the temperatures have been lower during the last two weeks they have been more comfortable and still perfect for bringing on tomatoes, courgettes, broad beans, cucumbers, runner beans, peppers etc. etc.

 

 

The cottages have been full for most of July and August with lovely guests from all over the world.  They've travelled from Russia, Costa Rica, Germany, Holland, Spain, Scotland, England, other parts of France and Switzerland so far.  I am amazed how many nationalities have stayed here. 

 

I have now called the cottages Rainbow Cottages in France and have a temporary website page www.rainbowcottagesinfrance.com as well as being with two holiday agencies. The reviews I've received have been very enthusiastic and complimentary and I am grateful to all my guests for these reports.

 

I am off this evening to an event about an hour away and will stay in the campervan tonight in a friend's driveway to enable me to sip a few glasses of alcohol without driving back to my own bed - kind friends will put the animals to bed and get them up again in the morning.

 

 

Three things I like:

 

1.   Having those precious ten days alone with Charlie - just the best time imaginable.

2.   Gardening up on the field early in the day before anyone else is up and about.

3.   Being able to cool off in the pool after lying in the sunshine and getting too hot.

 

Mia Olivia Anne Chubb - my new granddaughter

On Wednesday I travelled back to Cornwall to await Mia's birth.  Her due date had been the Saturday before, 20 July, but she obviously had other ideas.  On Thursday Emma started labour but it was a slow process.  We did visit the local maternity hospital but after examining her they said that although everything was going well and Mia's heartbeat was strong it could be up to forty-eight hours before she was born. Friday was a difficult day after little sleep on Thursday night and not much during the day for Emma.  She returned to Penrice on Thursday evening and this time they kept her in.  Dilation was very slow and by 03.30 hrs on Saturday morning she was ambulanced to Treliske Hospital in Truro so that she could have an epidural.  This followed the same pattern as the labour of my daughter Libby when she was having Charlie just over six years ago.  Penrice doesn't have the possibility of any pain relief stronger than gas and air or pethidine as it is midwife and not doctor run.  Again almost no sleep on Friday night so Emma, Oliver and Emma's Mum, Linda, were exhausted as Saturday morning dawned.  

I was meeting a friend for coffee and received a call to say that things were progressing and it shouldn't be too long.  We then went on to have lunch and just before 13.15pm I got another call to say that Mia was finally delivered safely at 13.07hrs and later I found out that she weighed in at 7lbs1½oz.  She has been feeding and sleeping well and seems very content and placid.  She has dark hair and perfect skin and looks like a clone of Emma, her Mum, which is no bad thing.  In other words, just a beautiful baby.  Her proud Daddy is holding her in this photo.

There will, of course, be plenty more photos to follow but I just wanted to put this posting on my blog as I'm such a proud and lucky Grandma.  A beautiful boy with Charlie and now my gorgeous granddaughter, Mia.

Three things I like:

1.  Being a Grandma to Charlie and now Mia.

2.  Sleeping better during the last few days than I have for a while lying, unbelievably, on a blow up air bed.  So much for my very expensive Adjustamatic bed in France!

3.  Being with my family for these important days.

Snakes, heat and baby waiting

The swallows were flying close to the ground here yesterday which usually means rain is coming in but we only had a few minutes of it after hours of continuous rumbling thunder.  They were swooping over the studio roof and across the terrace before wheeling back up and over the same roof again.  It’s the first time I’ve seen them behaving like this since last year.  Sometimes when the cats are in the open garden, instead of being in the flowerbed or lying against a wall or under a chair, the swallows dive bomb them which looks quite bizarre. 

It’s 35°C in the shade here at the moment and there are no cats to be seen.  I expect they’re all lying in the cool of the tall plants in the herbaceous border.  Although there’s fresh water down in the kitchen next to their biscuits and cat food dish and more under the terrace table, they insist on drinking out of the barrel fish pond or from the main fish pond by the pergola.  Why is that?  Why are puddles and ponds more tempting than fresh water?

The pool has come into it own this year.  It’s nothing posh, just a framed above ground 16ft diameter 4ft deep one, but I just love it and in this incredible weather have been cooling off every hour or less in there.  Today the temperature is 25°C in the water and I’ve really enjoyed swimming about and just floating on a body board.

The garden continues to suffer in the heat and in spite of my evening watering schedule there are definitely going to be some casualties amongst the plants.  A this year planted rose on the driveway is not at all happy and I notice that a neighbour has an umbrella over one of her roses.

I got a shock when I walked out into the drive a few days ago when I nearly trod on this.

 

I now know that it is a harmless grass snake but I didn't at the time.  As usual I had a camera in my hand and so took some photos before 'phoning my neighbour to come and identify it.  He came armed with shears and a forked ended stick as he thought it was in the house and might have been a viper.  The snake had disappeared during my 'phone call so it was lucky I'd taken photos before I rang him.

 

 

My small harvest this morning from the polytunnel and field was destined for my lunch.  I podded the broad beans, sliced the courgettes and cooked them in garlic and butter before adding them to roast chicken wings - lovely!

 

 

I am waiting to hear from England that my granddaughter is on her way.  The due date was yesterday and I’m really looking forward to her being here and trying hard not to keep asking her Mum if she thinks it’ll be today!  Here's Emma five days ago - come on Mia - time to face the world!

 

 

Last night I went with a friend of my son's, spending a few days at his French house, to Le Pelinec, my favourite restaurant around here for dinner.  I meant to take photos of each course but only managed to remember once I'd started tucking into my pudding.  It was a lovely meal with crab galettes to start, then trout in beurre blanc with puff pastry, cheeses and then this lovely desert of three different sorbets and fresh fruit.  All from the €18 set meal menu - scrumptious!

 

 

Three things I like:

 

1.   Finally harvesting the veggies and eating them within the hour.

2.   Having a rare night out at a lovely restaurant.

3.   Knowing I'm going to have a granddaughter in the very near future.

Napoleon complex, Boules Museum and Houdini chicks

Yet again the man fitting the belt for my post-op weeks was late for our appointment.  First meeting he was 30 minutes late, last week I just received a ‘phone call as I was leaving to say that he couldn’t make the appointment at all and again this morning he was late.  The people in the shop said to go off for half an hour so I went off to visit a Museum I’d seen a sign for on my way through Guingamp – the Museum of Breton Boules! 

It turned out to be a corner of the Tourist Office but the assistant behind the desk was very helpful and photocopied without charge the Rules of Breton Boules which I collected after I’d had my delayed appointment so that was a real bonus.  There were all sorts of bowls on display, some wooden and studded all over with nails and some, probably the earliest ever used which were cannon balls.   Among bowls from various parts of the world there were two woods used by Tony Alcock, who was World Champion twice in outdoor singles  (1992 and 1996), and three times World indoor singles Champion (1986, 1987 and 2002).

The visit also led to a bizarre coincidence.  Last night I visited a road I had to look up on Googlelmaps to find from where I was collecting five Buff Sussex chicks.  The road was called rue Mathurin Méheut and was in Rostrenen.  While in the Museum of Breton Boules I was looking at not only different types of bowls but also pottery depicting bowls games and paintings.  I recognised the name of the artist – it was Mathurin Méheut. He has an exhibition being advertised too.

 

I had never heard the name before last night so how extraordinary to come across it again within 14 hours.  How strange coincidences are!

The very unpleasant man fitting the belt was shorter than I am and appeared to be suffering from Napoleon complex which according to Wikipaedia is “an informal term describing an alleged type of psychological phenomenon which is said to exist in persons, usually men, of short stature. It is characterized by overly-aggressive or domineering social behaviour, and carries the implication that such behaviour is compensatory for the subjects' stature.”  He was unpleasant and rude.  He didn’t apologise for cancelling last week or for being late today.  He took an inordinate amount of time to process the payment and swore – merde, merde, merde - all the way through the procedure.  I hope I don’t encounter him again.

The weather continues to be extremely hot and when JackieN came round this afternoon we sat out under the big parasol chatting.  She’s doing fine after her gastric bypass operation and it’s lovely to hear of someone else losing weight thanks to Dr Lechaux.  We went up to the field to see the new Buff Sussex chicks and it was only when I got back home again that I realised I’d lost my glasses.  It took some hunting for them to find them again and I was lucky not to tread on them – hard to see without glasses on!  

One of my Breton neighbours, Jean-Luc, came round for the first time ever.  He was asking if I could let him have some eggs as he had three very broody hens and didn't want to waste their broodiness.  I am hardly getting any eggs in this very hot weather, but managed to scrape together a dozen mixed eggs and he promised to let me have two young poussins which were born earlier this year.  As I've lost six Light Sussex hens to some predator on the field - the general consensus is pine martin or pole cat - I think I will incubate some Light Sussex eggs when I return from Cornwall after my granddaughter's birth - due in three days.

While we were up on the field we noticed that the four 5 week old Cream Legbar chicks had escaped through a small chick sized hole in the fence through to the goat field.  We had to round them up and mend the hole temporarily by weaving bailer twine into the gap.  Why is it that for all animals the grass is always greener ...?

It has been really hot and I've really enjoyed having the pool.  Here's Claude trying to make a decision ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Right choice!

 

Jewel coloured nasturtians in the garden with the evening sun backlighting their petals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow will be the second anniversary of my mini gastric bypass operation.  I am still the same weight as I was last September and eat really well so am very happy. ?

Backlit poppy in the garden - lovely isn't it

 

Three things I like:

1.   My run which now has thirteen young chicks in it.  They are so cute!

2.   This gorgeous weather - perfect for a sunworshipper like me.

3.   Having really pleasant guests in Small Cottage this week.