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Cathy Winsor

2nd November

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Edited by Cathy Winsor, Sunday, 13 Nov 2011, 11:54

I have finally finished making the five metre cushion, complete with piping, maybe this is an indication that I could finish writing a book. Like writing, once one gets in the throes of sewing it quickly becomes an obsession. It is sad that the onset of winter means we have to bring in all the terrace furniture. It is like a sitting room, sofas, carpet, table lamps. On the odd occasion we have driving rain we have to push everything into a sheltered corner and throw over tarpaulins.

Other useful tasks accomplished were spreading grass seed over patches of earth created by building work.  Then I started to tackle a huge pile of sharp sand and gravel that the builder left behind. The blue Ikea bags are so useful for removing unwanted masonry. Hoisting it into the back of the van was a bit tricky, but I managed to get ten bags full to the local dump, where a helpful young Frenchman helped me decant it into the right place. I'll try & finish that task tomorrow. Philip is busy helping son number two with job applications so I am quite happy to do manual labour. I'm not much good at job applications.

Yoga was good, though I was a bit exhausted and kept wobbling when attempting the balancing postures. The class is given in a restored chapel next to a chateau. Stone walls and oak floors, mullioned windows and an array of Tibetan and Indian wall hangings and statues make it perfect setting. Sandrine gave a short recital with a didgeridoo at the end of the class, it stands in the corner of the chapel and we'd never heard it played. Interestingly, none of the French girls had heard of a didgeridoo, they were evidently brought up without Rolf Harris.

Back home and Etienne was out on his tractor in pitch darkness, ploughing the field next to us, in preparation for the winter wheat. He works so hard. I can still hear the noise of the tractor engine as he drags the plough up and down making neat furrows in the clay soil on the hillside opposite.

Philip had defrosted one of the butternut squash vegetarian curries for supper. Just forty two more butternut squashes to use up. They look quite decorative, arranged along the ledge running the length of the barn.

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