Painting, honey and heat .

Eben painted bananas at school today in the following colours, chocolate, blue and jaune. Is the poor boy confused or what?!

Gwils has decided to crawl, he was trying to stand straight up and walk but kept landing on his nose. He is also pulling himself up right and pushes his playpen along so he can reach the things little people aren't supposed to touch. We collected loads of mirabel plums from a small tree in the garden and we are all enjoying those. Our greengage tree only seemed to give one plum this year and that landed on Gwils when he was sat on a blanket under him. I went out and he was covered in a sticky mess and the stone was on the blanket next to him. Lucky or what?

Flo is now in a class of 13 students we got our 3rd class back. There are still 3 levels in the class but it is much more manageable. They have a temp teacher at the momment but it is one they know as he did a day a week in Ebens class last year.

Gareth helped Flo extract the first honey from her bees on Wednesday. She sold her first pot to a neighbour. What actually happened was that we suggested she give it away and she didn't like that so Gareth gave her 3 Euros for it. Quite the little business woman, keep it up I say. I just saved a bee that was stuck in the honey pot. Its daft they make all that honey then go and get stuck in it.

We went to Auxerre on Monday and managed to get the wood burning fire we wanted. We were expecting to pay 466 Euros for it but it must have been in stock for a while as it only cost 186 euros, a positive bargain so hopefully it will heat well. Of course the weather has turned hot again so we haven't tried it yet. It was really hot yesterday and I went running with our friend Florence and picked a route in full sunshine not realising quite how hot it was. By the time we got back I was as red as the t-shirt I'd been wearing. The kids are enjoying the swimming pool and the last of the tomatoes are ripening. We have hundreds of courgetted from a neighbour who is on holiday so I've been juicing them. Its a bit strange but drinkable.

Baby Hand Swats

Have you ever noticed that if you swing something in front of a baby they can't catch it but if you loose concentration for a second as you move a spoonfull of food towards their mouths they swat down and grab the food leaving you with an empty spoon and them with a handfull of squidgy purée and a big grin on their faces? 

Winter Heating

The first week of school is over and Florence is having a great time. Yesterday she had to explain the maths to her classmates as she was the only one to understand. Eben keeps telling us hes been naughty but the teacher says it just hard at times to keep 8 little ones all concentrating on the same things at the same time. There are 5 children in Ebens year this year, last year he was the only one most of the time.

This morning all 3 are up stairs playing and several toys seem to have died and are to be thrown in the fire water. Eben is keen on the idea of death at the momment and told me that if I touched his music powpow then I'd be dead. What a charmer!

We have ordered wood for the winter and now are looking for a decent wood burning stove the one we had last year wasn't very good and we had two chimney fires with it. Its a Godin colonial and looks fantastic but doesn't heat enough for the size of the room. We nearly bought a Godin chatelaine cooker but it was damaged so we are back to square one. Last night we ate tartiflette with Maurice and Jacqueline it was lovely but hopefully not a sign that winter will be here early.

Back to school

Florence and Eben started back on Tuesday. Flo was delighted and Eben was sullen. So far he just told us how naughty he has been and is bringing the school sandpit home in his shoes, a little at a time but if this continues I'm sure the difference will be noticed. He has moved out of our room and into the same one as Flo. Hes gone out of a travel cot and straight into a double bed which is a bit strange for him. I think he quite likes it though. Flo school days consist of working, playing and eating, nothing more nothing less can be got out of her. We are waiting till next week to see if the school system will let us have our third class back. It was taken away with an expectation of less students but in fact there are more and in Flos class at the momment there are 27 children in 5 different years so it is hell for the teacher. She thinks she can cope for a week. There are 7 schools that need a teacher but only 3 posts available. Its daft our kids are our future and the school system seems to be going to pieces.

Blood and sausage

Flo and Eben want a duck and a rabbit and having been told that they would be to eat Florence has devised a plan of reproduction to ensure she always has a pet duck. We'll see if they have any at the next foire in Corbigny. There used to be loads of people selling poultry and rabbits but with changing habits and the worry of bird flu it has diminished and last month there was only one seller. We mentioned it to Robert when he was here earlier and he says he remembers being 5 or 6 and them living in one room with a dirt floor and a bed for his parents and one for him and his sister. His parents were killing a duck and his mother held it whilst his father chopped its head off. She then let go and the thing ran headless under one of the beds whilst spraying blood all over the place. A duck may only have a pint of blood but it would look like a damn site more when it was sprayed all over your house! He also told us of the time when they were sticking a pig. The butcher arrived and whilst six people held the pig (weighing about 150kg) he stuck the knife in its throat. Normally one of the women would have come in with a bucket to catch the blood for making black pudding but the people holding the pig let go and it ran off with the knife in its neck. The village chased after it complete with bucket to collect any left over blood. The pig ran for 2km and down a gully and came to rest under a bridge. Needless to say that year there was no boudin (black sausage) and everyone had to help with dragging the now dead pig back up the 2km to the village.  

Invincible dragon and a mothers instinct.

Before going to bed on Wednesday evening I could hear squeaking under the tiled floor. In the past rats had burrowed through the soil it stands on. In one place is a hole that I have put poison down before and we had stuffed it with plastic bags. Now I could here squeaking and see moving plastic. I bashed into the hole a few times with the end of a baseball bat and stuffed more bags down the hole. I didn't want to open it up then in case loads of baby rats came flying into the room. The noises stopped so I put a heavy weight on the hole and went to bed. In the morning I looked properly and there was lots of plastic shreded to make a nest and one solitary baby rat, hairless and with its eyes closed. I used tongs to get it out, it was still alive and squeaked a couple of times. Now came the dillema what to do with it. I hate bashing creatures on the head to kill them, especially such tiny ones. It was looking so helpless that my instinct as a mother was to get a pipette and feed it milk. It may have been a rat but it was still a baby! I hate rats and really wouldn't want one as a pet. From a distance they can look great when they have glossy coats but they cause us problems and are a health risk, our neighbours son nearly died from Wiels disease a couple of years ago. So I just put the baby rat out in the hedge where it would either die a natural death or a predator would find it.  

Yesterday morning Eben decided to wear a dress of Flos because it was blue and he likes blue. He didn't keep it on for long as it was too long so was soon back in his Taz top. Our friend Florence came over with her two boys and we all went running together, including Griff with Gwilym in the push chair.

Today we took our neighbour shopping and both Flo and Eben were on a sugar mission and persuaded her to buy them cake and sweets in the supermarket then even before tasting them went into silly mood and behaved as if they had never eaten in their lifes. We then went and had a drink with Robert and his son and family and ate loads of shrimps.

Gwilym wants to walk, he is only nine months old but is trying to pull himself up already. Yesterday I saw him with feet flat on the floor legs straight, bum in the air and nose to the ground. He just wants to get on and play with the other two. They are creating a scary party upstairs in their room at the momment and have made spiders and webs out of pipe cleaners. I've just heard Flo tell Eben of for playing as it's tidy up time at the momment. Its great they have great big boxes for toys now that they can't tip over so its easy for clearing things into and once the things are in they can't find them again so less stuff gets spread around the floor. They don't really stand much chance with me as their clearing up roll model!

We found out a bit more about why one of our neighbours hit another with a bottle at the pig party, it was because the one who was hit rents some fields from the other and hadn't cut the hedges. Serge is obsessed with hedge cutting and gets at us each year about cutting ours. He always cuts at the wrong time and has more brambles than hedge. It seems a shame to do something that makes you feel as bad as this has done just over a few hedges though. Our other neighbours Maurice and Jacqueline will be staying longer than expected though because she fell over and sprained her ankle whilst mushrooming, ordinarily she wouldn't have gone but he had a swollen foot from gout and she insisted on going with him as he was handicapped and now she is the one on crutches!

Flo and Ebens game is degrading, I can hear her saying she'll take back the Scooby Doo toy she has given him and he won't be able to come to the party, followed soon after with, 'you're not coming to the party, you're not coming to the party, you're not coming to the party! We'll get them out cycling between the rain showers I think.

At the scary party Eben was a dragon and Flo was a witch and we had pumpkin soup and pie. Eben won't believe that if he swallows the small toy he is sucking that he could die because he didn't see any dragons die in Goblet of Fire. Theres logic for you.

Back at Champignolles

Guess Who? ""I need to find my Taz top, where's my Taz top? Where's my Spiderman top? Where's my Scooby Doo top? I've found my Taz top.""

The Tigger top is then discarded and replaced by a Kangeroo top. ""This one talks just like in Whinny the Pooh, this is the baby, I've got my Taz top on too, can you find me my stripey top as well? Where are my adidas shorts? Where are my Taz shorts?"" Thus starts Ebens morning.

My first sight of Gwils was him sitting up in his bed far too early, looking very pleased with himself. He has sat up by himself twice now without me seeing either time, since seeing Cassandre this morning and hearing how clingy she has become he has been clingy all day. He has now surcommed to sleep at last! Phew.

The other two are in bed too since going on an adventure. Flo asked for her passport earlier to go in her bag with her money and tissues. They were going to the port to catch a boat for China. A few hours and several thoughts later she decided that an adventure would be better so they could come back before they got too hungry. Bags were packed and at 7.30 they headed off both wearing dressing gowns, armed with soft toys, water, toothbrushs and paste, some money, not much honey and definatly no five pound notes. They wandered away, and went up the hill and drew pictures of things that they saw. After an hour they returned with gifts of pine cones, no quince but plenty of feathers and flowers. After a rest and stories to tell they dined on bananas and milk. Then bravely headed up the apples and pears to bed!

French versus Japanese cooking

We were talking earlier about restaurants in the Languedoc and were talking about how staid the French are when it comes to cooking and the way they still think they have the best cooking in the world. I remember Robert saying that the Japanese only eat the way they do because they don't have access to French cooking! I've met French men who think they are great cooks and can remember the only two meals that they have ever cooked in their lives!
They may have had cook food in the past but standards are slipping and so many people don't have a clue how to cook anything.

Swimming

Both Florence and Eben are swimming well now. Flo on her own and Eben with arm bands. They both have much more confidence though. Griff is out cycling, he's managed quite a few rides this week which is good. I've done no running at all. Hopefully I'll get back into that when we get back to Champignolles on Tuesday.
Our friend Phillippe came in to see us last night and the one before. His girlfriend is on holiday and much as he claims to like being alone he also loves to talk so we've had a couple of late winey nights. He's gone on a yoga retreat today so we might get an early night!

A weeks holiday

We've been at Mums now for a week which is why I haven't posted daily as intended. I saw Vero just before we left and Lucas just had a small mark next to his belly button where Eben had tried to give him a piercing using his teeth! He's been quite well behaved this week though. Flo and Eben are watching Scooby Doo whenever we let them. Gwils is very happy most of the time although hes been bit feverish after getting too hot on Thursday but seems better this mornign and is watching TV with the other two. We are all tired from partying though and need to get back to Champignolles to get settled down and quiet again before school starts on the 29th. We've seen our friends Julie and Gigi with their boys who are here from Italy and had some fun with them.

A quiet momment

Or so it should be. Gwilym is sleeping and Flo and Eben are supposed to be resting. Eben has already got up once to tell me he's had a good sleep despite only being in bed for 5 minutes and has handed me a toy antelope that he dipped in the poo in his potty yesterday, yuck. Hopefully he'll sleep now then I'll take them up the road to Vero's later. Gareth has finished making 2 new bee hives and is waiting for the sun to come out to put the bees into them. Its grey and windy at the momment but not cold.

We're going to Mums on Sunday for her 60th birthday party. Flo has made a present and Eben has gathered together lots of toys to give her, I'm not sure if she'll want them all but we'll see!

We're inundated with tomatoes at the momment and have some lovely potatoes, we tried Charlottes this year partly on Roberts recommendation and party because they were on special offer with good shoots at the time the kids veggie patch was ready for planting. So each meal has at least one or the other in it at the momment, coupled with ham or bacon from the pig we bought from Olivier we are eating really well. We've been eating loads of raw foods, sprouts and juices too.

Washing Holidays

Jacqueline only comes on holiday once a year. Her husband Maurice would like to come more often but it not hot enough for her. Each year before she leaves she washs and irons all the tea towels and towels then when she arrives the following one she does the same again as they smell musty after a year in a cupboard. Manic cleaning really is an enviromentalists nightmare what with all the water, chemicals and electricity that are used.

They're a funny couple but we like them and spent a pleasant evening with them yesterday. 

Wood worm

Another thing we noticed when we got back from England a week ago was that. Gregs and Donas virginia creeper was dead. It seemed strange as it has always looked beautifull before. It turns out that they found some wood dust from wood worm in their loft. Which they panicked about and presumed the whole house was about to fall down and started treating the visible parts of the beams immediatly and cut the creeper at the bottom as the beetles must have crawled up it to get in to the loft. They failed to realise that capricorn beetles fly!

Yesterday Dona was bitten by the spider that had laid eggs in a blouse of hers so now Greg thinks he'll have to treat the whole house for that too! A bit of housework might help! 

Bottleing at the pig party

Each year for the past 5 years we've got together as a village for a suckling pig roast. Olivier raises pigs so we are sure of quality and it is melt in the mouth good. Everyone brings something and there are about 40 of us usually once we count all our kids and friends who come too. Not bad for a village of 14 houses!

This year though we missed it and the water fights that ensued (the adults not the kids) ended up with Mikael being hit with a bottle by Serge as he didn't like getting wet. Oliviers eldery mother got clobbered on the side of the head too which didn't go down well. Serge or Sludge as we call him is now going around with his head down. He also threatened to kill Gregs dog as it had eaten one of his baby rabbits. The cage must have been badly closed or Duvel would never have managed to open it.

Buying a house in France

In December 1991 I bought a house in France and moved into it with Gareth. This is the story of our present, past and future here in Burgundy