We have friends coming over for supper tomorrow so advance preparation was needed, lots of shopping and cleaning. As we drove over to Castelnau we could see fresh snow on the mountains, but not enough to open the ski resorts, it must be hard for the ski related businesses and towns. There’s no snow in the alpine resorts either. The market was quiet, the number of people shopping is always directly related to the temperature and it was cold. The stall holders must find it difficult to keep warm, standing in the same place all morning. I bought my usual loaf of soda bread. In fact this soda bread cropped up in conversation at last week’s book club, the mystery being how to make them taste so delicious. One of the girls had asked the Irish woman who made them for her recipe, but she wouldn’t give away any secrets. Philip has tried various permutations of flour, but it’s not the same as the one from the stall. We bought lots of vegetables, for what will be a vegetarian meal. Oddly, most of the British people moving here seem to be vegetarians, so they find eating out in restaurants very limited. The French haven’t really discovered vegetarianism.
Back at home I tackled the cobwebs, every room has beams crisscrossing the ceiling so it is a spider’s paradise, or was, I have swept them all away, one of the guests we’ve invited I know is extremely house proud, her house is always spotless, she even irons sheets, so thought I’d better make an effort. I vacuumed and cleaned all the rooms upstairs. Even unused rooms accumulate dust and dead flies, at least I won’t have to do that again before Christmas/ News Years Eve house guests arrive. It was all quite exhausting.
3rd December
We have friends coming over for supper tomorrow so advance preparation was needed, lots of shopping and cleaning. As we drove over to Castelnau we could see fresh snow on the mountains, but not enough to open the ski resorts, it must be hard for the ski related businesses and towns. There’s no snow in the alpine resorts either. The market was quiet, the number of people shopping is always directly related to the temperature and it was cold. The stall holders must find it difficult to keep warm, standing in the same place all morning. I bought my usual loaf of soda bread. In fact this soda bread cropped up in conversation at last week’s book club, the mystery being how to make them taste so delicious. One of the girls had asked the Irish woman who made them for her recipe, but she wouldn’t give away any secrets. Philip has tried various permutations of flour, but it’s not the same as the one from the stall. We bought lots of vegetables, for what will be a vegetarian meal. Oddly, most of the British people moving here seem to be vegetarians, so they find eating out in restaurants very limited. The French haven’t really discovered vegetarianism.
Back at home I tackled the cobwebs, every room has beams crisscrossing the ceiling so it is a spider’s paradise, or was, I have swept them all away, one of the guests we’ve invited I know is extremely house proud, her house is always spotless, she even irons sheets, so thought I’d better make an effort. I vacuumed and cleaned all the rooms upstairs. Even unused rooms accumulate dust and dead flies, at least I won’t have to do that again before Christmas/ News Years Eve house guests arrive. It was all quite exhausting.