Looking tasty!

They are very cute funny pigs with a friendly nature. But that doesn't mean they are not going to the abattoir in a few months.

Snuffle is just coverd in mud, she is actually pink all over like Snort.

They weigh a bit over 90kg each now, so quite a bit more growing to go. Not sure exactly how much they will be at slaughter, maybe 130kg or something like that...

Plums

This tree is at the top of the drive. It is annoyingly tall and spoils our view a bit, but we have let it survive as it has good plums. This year is a bumper crop

These are mirabelle which are smaller and much sharper. I made sorbet from a mix of these and normal plums above as they give it a bit more zing.

Lots of plums have gone to the pigs. We haven't hade time to do as much as we would have liked with them, so good that they don't go to waste.

Bank holiday Weekend

We went to the beach near St.Jean de Luz

Here is Poppy and me paddling. We went swimming as well.

Walk along the cliff

View down on to the beach

We also had a lovely BBQ at some friends, went for a horse ride and did some useful stuff like trim the horses hooves, put bells on some of the sheep, move the other sheep and do some fencing -'as well as the normal animal feeding and checking.

Overall very resful.

Hay

In the sunny weather Doug was struck with a sudden enthusiasm to make hay.

Just cut

Dried for a day

Should feed the rabbits (the darn not mating rabbits!) for a few months

Here it is in the barn

Bacon

We just took a big chunk out of the freezer and sliced it up. Delicious!

House work

My foot dearing to walk on what will be the new floor (won't be screwed down until the ceiling below is done and the insulation put in on top of it. 

It looks a scary long way down! Doug has spent plenty of time managing not to fall from up here as he has been leveling for laying the floor.

You can see the two packs of cork (apparently although it doen't look like it) which will go on the joists under the OSB sub floor to damp the sound of footsteps.

View of the massive weed pack from the bedroom window. One day there will a lovely seating area here!

Dowstairs rails are going up for the ceiling to be attached to.

And the sound damping (and very heavy) plasterboard has gone up on the ouside of the toilet wall

Cycle in to town

Other years we have cycled in to town a few times over the summer, this year it has been very wet and there have not been any good opportunities where we were not doing something else.

Time and weather finally obliged this weekend.

We had tapas

New wing mirror - finally

It has taken some time, but finally got a new wing mirror after a horse frotted itself on then passenger mirror!

The very helpful guy at the garage speaks English  - after working in French ship yards where, apparently, the working laguage was English. I bought the replacement online and Mr Garage fitted it really quickly. Have driven to Toulouse a few times without so great to have it fixed.

Another skirt - but designed by me

It is cut on the bias with a circle frill. I am going to make it again with a few minor adjustments - bit wider at the hips and lower at the front. Very pleased with it though!

Toastmasters

Toastmasters International (TI) is a nonprofit educational organization that operates clubs worldwide for the purpose of helping members improve their communication, public speaking, and leadership skills.

I went along to a Toastmasters meeting a couple of weeks ago with some people from work. 

Although I hope to retire REALLY soon, I thought being able to articulate what I am saying more clearly would be good, as well as being a social activity which doesn't involve drinking!

The meetings are run 'by the members for the members' and there seemed to be a good mix of experienced people as well as newbies (like me). There is a reasonably standard format with scheduled talks as well as a section called 'Table Topics' which ensures that pretty much everyone speaks and gets some feedback.

Table Topics are impromptu speeches. The purpose of the Table Topics section is to help members think on their feet and speak on a given subject for between one and two minutes. It also allows speaking opportunities for those who are not programmed for other roles on the Agenda.

The Topic Master (a different member each week) states the topic and then the name of the person to speak. So you have NO TIME to think about what you are going to say.

In theory I like the idea of this and it could be fun - I enjoyed what others came up with. However under the stress of standing up in front of LOADS (10? 15? but looked like 1000s) of people I didn't know, my brain totally failed to work which intensified the stress. I had wondered before hand if I might just burst in to tears which can happen in stressful situations, but thankfully not - I did manage to say something which is a good start.

The theme of the meeting was the Olympics (a subject I am broadly uninterested in). My topic was 'What would you say to team GB to motivate them' - or something like that. The stress I felt meant I cannot remember clearly the question or what I said. You have 1min30 and there are green, amber, red lights that indicate where you are in the time - I have totally no memory of seeing them although I am sure I did.

All the speakers get feedback, including the people who give the feedback. The feedback I got was very kind and gentle as it was my first time. Someone did mention that I wring my hands which I have now noticed I do when I am nervous about what I am saying at work and other places too. I will have to go back until I have fixed this, as I have become very aware of it and it puts me off what I am saying. What ARE you meant to do with your hands?

Overall enjoyed it and looking forward to going back and doing better!

Sadly (thankfully!) no photo for this entry!

Whisky Tasting

Coincidently Doug went to a whisky tasking in France and I went to one in the UK within a few days of each other. He impressively cycled MILES to get to his (not much point going if you have to drive and cannot drink!)

The lady who talked us through it all was super keen on whisky. Was interesting.

Don't know the person behind the bottles here - unfortunate timing of the photo for him anyway :)

These are my very quick notes to remind me what we had:

Auchentoshen - Cambell town - 17 year old - loved it

Glenlivet - Speyside - 24 year old - no 

Glen Spey - Speyside - 21 year old wine cask - ok

Cadenhead - Special blend matured for 12 years 30% blend added after 12 years - 24 year old total. Sherry cask. Horrible

Tobermory - Mull - Bourbon cask - 21 year old - ok

Springbank - 2.5 times distilled - lightly peated - 15 year old sherry cask - liked

Islay - (Lagavulen) 3rd use sherry cask ie pale colour - loved it

Special experimental from cask - 30 year old Islay - this was in a mini wooden cask that you can buy and make your own mixes in. I thought it had added a too woody flavour though. Maybe the cask needed filling with sherry for a long time first or something

For each one we tasted, we tasted it then added literally one drop of water and then tasted it again. This made an amazing difference to the flavour and it was interesting that some people preferred before and some after, differently for the different whiskies.

I was most AMAZED by the 7 year old Lagavulan - was my second favorite (or possibly favorite I would need to try the Achentoshan and it side by side). 

Reenforced my view that I am not mad on things from port and sweeter casks.

She talked a lot about the bad effects of chill filtering also, so interesting to look out for.

Train NIGHTMARE

Every week recently the trains have been messed up going to and from Gatwick. This week I am in Blackfriars instead of London Bridge as for the 3rd week in a row the London Bridge ones were cancelled - I had the forethought to check this week!

Blackfriars is a cool station now. Quite recently renovated and the station is on a bridge over the Thames - you can exit to either side.

Eeeugh

We tried some new fly traps this year. They are filled with a smelly liquid which attracts the flies. Unfortunately I don't think they attract the biting flies as they go towards movement rather than smells. But it has reduced the number of house flies - which do get really really annoying. All that black stuff is dead flies! Gross! 

Summer weather

lA bit like in the UK, the weather in France has been very variable and not very like summer. Colder and wetter. For the past few days it has been lovely though.

I think it is ones like this that make the summery chirpping sound.

Hurt my leg

I fell on (not down) some stairs near Waterloo. Gross huh? Sore too.

Then my ankle went all swollen. From the bruising not infected!

Is getting better now. Could have been much worse. For first trilly second after I tripped I could forsee my trajectory taking me to landing head first at the bottom of the stairs. But quick like a cat, I twisted and landed on my knees essentially, but actually on my shins on the edge of a step - not consious reaction, just happened.

I have to wear long dresses to cover it up! I showed it to someone at work, I thought he was going to faint, doesn't like blood apparently. Oops.

Floor is level

The leveling of the beams so that the floor upstairs can be laid is finally finished. It has been a big job. Nice to see the area without all the wood and wood shavings at last! Can you imagine kitchen, living, dining space here??

A walk, and where are we?

We went for a walk up the Pic de Labassère which is in the view from the house.

The hill with the green top without trees in the center of the picture.

This is from part way up our land, looking South, again Pic de Labassère in approx center of view - just to right of center - and all covered in trees except slither at top. Stables in the foreground.

I took some photos back towards the house so you can see where our land and house are. This is looking north towards the house from the mountains and the house is south facing looking towards the mountains.

Blue dot in very South of France is us.

House and barn in center of our land. Barn looking white and house to the right of it.