It seems like we have been away for so much longer than we have, purely due to the amount of items for the house we’ve had to buy or services to organise. It’s a good feeling, particularly now the big ticket items have, in the most part, been sorted and we know that when we return to our little French home in December, we can sit back and just enjoy it. What’s it has meant though, is that I’ve become somewhat muddled about when we did what, or what happened when. Or, to be fair, maybe it’s just because I’m just that teeny tiny bit older than I used to be? Whatever the reason for my lapsing memory, and in no particular order, here are some of the highlights of the past few weeks, hopefully for your reading pleasure, but certainly to remind myself again when we arrive home, what exactly it was that we got up to. 😊

1) Our French friends, Josiane and Claude and neighbour, Colette, came to afternoon tea. It was lovely to invite them to our little house this time, after having been fortunate to have spent time in their homes, both in June and again in November, when we returned to Montmorillon to purchase the house. We had a absolutely delightful afternoon, munching macarons (yes, there is a Musée du Macaron here in Montmorillon!) speaking lots of French (yay!) and trying to teach me how to pronounce the French word for squirrel, in fits of laughter. It’s ‘écureuil’ and I challenge anyone to manage it…anyone who’s not French anyway. So now I have some homework , as I’m determined to throw it into conversation at any opportunity, perfectly pronounced, in December. Not too many opportunities to use it are likely to present themselves in Brissie, but hey, never let it be said that I didn’t rise to the challenge!

2) My lovely friend, Petra, also came for coffee. She is a dear friend now and we had a great afternoon, sitting on our (new, of course) couch, drinking coffee and yes, eating macarons! And when we are back in December, we’ll do it again. Jeff and I both love her company.

3) Jeff and I took an afternoon off and drove to Le Blanc for lunch. Le Blanc is only about 30 minutes from Montmorillon and we’d read somewhere that the surrounding Regional Natural Parc de Brenne, was spectacular and included many lakes and ponds. The literature was absolutely right, it was a gorgeous place to visit. Not something we expected, nor are likely to see in Australia, were signs indicating ‘les tortues traversent la route ici’ (tortoises cross here). I’d suggest not going to the region at all, if you were on any sort of time restriction, as there’s a very strong possibility you may be held up for hours, should a few decide to dawdle across the road ‘en masse’ You can’t hurry them, they have got a mind of their own and can be quite stubborn, you know (I may have made that up 😃). What we DIDN’T see though, were any hares…. 🐇

4) We invited Hazel and Iain, Scottish friends whom we met back in June, for dinner. We had a great night and are really looking forward to catching up with them both again in a few months.  I decided to make Shepherd’s Pie and had been told the local ‘boucher’ was very good, so decided to buy some mince meat there. Quite a contrast to Australia, ‘steak hachée’ bought from a ‘boucherie’ here in France, means that the butcher selects pieces of steak and puts them through a hand mincer, while you wait and watch. It was more expensive, of course, although not ridiculously so, and I have to say it was absolutely delicious. It’ll be very hard to have the Coles variety again, now…

5) Jeff and I consider supermarkets in any overseas country to be our personal equivalent to a tourist destination, there is so much variety, there is the challenge in deciphering what it is you are actually buying and they are a brilliant vocabulary builder! On this trip, I found  a ‘bougie répulsif ‘ which certainly piqued my interest. There’s something for everyone, of course, but I did wonder who would ever need, or want, to buy a repulsive candle?? Of course, french cannot be translated literally, so I very quickly understood that, similar to a citronella candle it, in fact, repulsed those nasty little ‘mouches et moustiques’ ( flies and mosquitoes). It clearly pays to read the fine print. 😃

6) I mentioned in a previous post, that we had a day of snow, which was very exciting. What I didn’t mention was that we needed to drive to Poitiers on the day the snow arrived, to buy a fridge, washing machine, TV and microwave. Anyone who knows my husband, understands that he is someone who likes to do his research thoroughly, not buy the first thing he sees and definitely not pay the advertised price.  Many years of working in sales has certainly rubbed off on him. I understand and have benefited from his diligence many times over but, given we had limited time ( by that stage, little more than a week left in France )  I was much more inclined to do slightly less research and make a decision quickly. It made for an ‘interesting’, somewhat fraught day, shall we say, given our conflicting agendas, and one made even more so, by the increasing snow fall and the subsequent stress a hazardous drive home presented, on icy roads. Let me just say that the frosty conditions weren’t only outside the car…  However, the ice was (literally) broken when I spied a French workman, in his high vis gear, standing right on the side of the road, with no thought or concern for the slowly passing traffic, peeing in full flow. Since it was soooo cold, I guess he had no fear of there being a random penis peak…  Thank goodness for (very) small mercies (hehehe, did you see what I just did there?)    ❄️ ❄️ ❄️

On that note, I’m off to bed!

Bisous et Bonne Soirée