Edited by Cathy Winsor, Sunday, 13 Nov 2011, 11:47
The day after climbing a mountain I always get a sense of well being, despite this time being a bit battered and bruised. It is always wonderful to wake up to clear blue skies. There was a huge backlog of washing after a week of wet weather, I'd put on a couple of loads yesterday evening, so soon had it all hung out to dry. Wednesday is Market day in Boulogne, there are always more stalls and visitors in good weather, I bumped into lots of friends, stopping to chat in the sunshine. Regardless of nationality, everyone adopts the French greeting here, bisous, or shaking hands if it's a tradesperson. Lunch was outside sittting at the table on the terrace, then we moved the sofas and cushions into the barn for the winter, there won’t be many days warm enough to spend curled up on a sofa with a book, we’ll bring them back out next spring.
The terrace looks over the pond, now full to the brim after a week of rain, it looks so much prettier than when there is a couple of inches of liner showing. After lunch I did some grass cutting, just the awkward bits that need the small lawnmower. I'll leave the rest of the garden until all the leaves fall off the trees; I can pick them up at the same time, the last cut of the year. The whole afternoon was devoted to outdoor activities, pruning, (I think I have may have over pruned the lavender, I checked on google afterwards, one shouldn't cut through the woody stems, so I may have killed it) and reseeding the bare patches in the lawn where the heavy rain had washed away the seed and soil I had laid last week. I managed to move some huge planks of wood the builder had used to mould the concrete. The van is so useful for making heavy tasks easier, by levering them into the back and I could push them in leaving a couple of metres overhanging and drive them round to the garage, I've stacked them in the corner. I hope the builder doesn't try and reclaim them, it was hard work. Yoga this evening, everyone is more purposeful on sunny evenings, there were ten of us, sometimes it is only two or three or in wet cold weather. Sandrine as in her 'let's push ourselves to the limit' moods, we left feeling quite exhausted but well stretched.
9th November
The day after climbing a mountain I always get a sense of well being, despite this time being a bit battered and bruised. It is always wonderful to wake up to clear blue skies. There was a huge backlog of washing after a week of wet weather, I'd put on a couple of loads yesterday evening, so soon had it all hung out to dry. Wednesday is Market day in Boulogne, there are always more stalls and visitors in good weather, I bumped into lots of friends, stopping to chat in the sunshine. Regardless of nationality, everyone adopts the French greeting here, bisous, or shaking hands if it's a tradesperson. Lunch was outside sittting at the table on the terrace, then we moved the sofas and cushions into the barn for the winter, there won’t be many days warm enough to spend curled up on a sofa with a book, we’ll bring them back out next spring.
The terrace looks over the pond, now full to the brim after a week of rain, it looks so much prettier than when there is a couple of inches of liner showing. After lunch I did some grass cutting, just the awkward bits that need the small lawnmower. I'll leave the rest of the garden until all the leaves fall off the trees; I can pick them up at the same time, the last cut of the year. The whole afternoon was devoted to outdoor activities, pruning, (I think I have may have over pruned the lavender, I checked on google afterwards, one shouldn't cut through the woody stems, so I may have killed it) and reseeding the bare patches in the lawn where the heavy rain had washed away the seed and soil I had laid last week. I managed to move some huge planks of wood the builder had used to mould the concrete. The van is so useful for making heavy tasks easier, by levering them into the back and I could push them in leaving a couple of metres overhanging and drive them round to the garage, I've stacked them in the corner. I hope the builder doesn't try and reclaim them, it was hard work. Yoga this evening, everyone is more purposeful on sunny evenings, there were ten of us, sometimes it is only two or three or in wet cold weather. Sandrine as in her 'let's push ourselves to the limit' moods, we left feeling quite exhausted but well stretched.