Résurrection de mon blog

It was due to lack of time that I had to give something away in my life and unfortunately it was this blog that had to go.

Since returning to Australia for 4 months this year, I was asked repeatedly about my blog and when I was going to start writing and posting pictures again.

Well, I have been back in France now for 6 weeks and have finally got around to resurrecting the blog.

Enjoy the stories and pictures I will be posting. So much has happened since my last post in Sept 2017.

Maggie's maison

There were a few reasons I returned to Australia for that length of time and the main one was to return to work.

I caught up with a number of work colleagues and made a couple of lifelong friends.

Maggie - we had a ball. Maggie kindly put me up (or put up with me) for 10 weeks in Melbourne and it was such great fun staying at her grand maison with all her kids, partners, puppy and grandson. I already miss the G&T's Maggs.













There were lots of things we did together.
And before you ask - yes we did go to the Bastille Day celebrations at the Meat Markets in North Fitzroy. Fantastic Day.

Bastille Day in Melbourne

We also went to the Tulip Festival which was wonderful.

Tulip Festival Melbourne

Tulip Festival Melbourne

We had a day trip to Mornington Peninsular with the obligatory famous Vanilla Slice and an afternoon at a local winery listening to Jazz. We did a pub crawl around North Fitzroy (although I think we only managed 2 pubs).

Mornington Peninsular

There were birthday celebrations at a Mexican Restaurant in Middle Park (thanks to GG and Maggs for organising and for all the pressies).

Birthday Flowers

There were AFL Grand Final celebrations - YAY The EAGLES WON - absolute bonus for me and Bill really wish he had come out to Australia at that point. Thanks to Sandra for the finger food and drinks that afternoon.

I was also lucky enough to stay in a 1 bedroom apartment in South Yarra whilst Carrie (another work colleague and friend) traveled to Holland and elsewhere. Right on the river and close to be able to walk into the centre of Melbourne and to work. Thanks a bunch POB (Only Carrie will get this).

Carrie's place South Yarra

I also had a lovely 9 days with my parents (whilst catching up with a brother and 2 sisters at the same time).

My family

Cane harvest time right through the centre of Mossman

Also had time to visit the block up in the Daintree and the "LOO with a view".

Loo with a view - life in the Daintree

Then a week with my son in Brisbane and a weekend with my other son in Adelaide.

My babies

So that was great to be able to see them all again and to know that they are all enjoying their lives and are well and healthy and happy.

It was extremely difficult getting back into the routine of work each day. I had to catch 2 trains to work in the dark, cold, wet winter of Melbourne. The only saving grace was that I knew I would be returning to France at some point.

Me at work

Work was undergoing an Organisational Restructure so moral was very low and people were losing their jobs and having to reapply for their positions. But the cafe's were great, plenty of places to have lunch and I got to explore everything new on Carlisle Street. I also managed to catch up with a number of work colleagues and friends.

Bill stayed behind with a long list of chores that kept him busy around the house during the very hot summer months in France.

And I must admit that he did a brilliant job on the pointing of the walls and keeping my garden alive and well watered. A big thankyou to you Bill.

Side wall after pointing

Terrace wall after pointing

Back yard garden in summer

Fig tree just loaded with fruit

He did get invited to lots of lunches and dinners and social events that were going on through summer.
Plus he entertained our guests from Adelaide for 9 days - being a tour guide for La Creuse.

Since arriving home I have been extremely busy with projects that were on hold till my return.

The first problem I wanted to tackle was stripping the wallpaper off within the pink room wardrobe as it got quite mouldy last winter. I have now repainted with antimould paint and it looks 1000% better. Lets see what happens over winter.

Before

After

I was also busy picking all my herbs and drying them - Coriander, Chives, Oregano, Rosemary, Thyme, Sage and Parsley.

Harvesting

I also have been picking a never-ending supply of figs and making into fig jam, fig chutney, fig sauce etc. As it's such a strong taste, I mix it with apple sauce or stewed apple to make apple and fig pies to freeze (our french friends have given us 2 buckets of apples).

Dried herbs and all the fig stuff

I also picked the rest of the tomatoes that were still green as they weren't going to ripen and made them into a green verte hot salsa - very very yummy.

I have been trying all sorts of new recipes. One savory muffin recipe that Serge from "The Garage" cafe in Melbourne kindly wrote down for me. They turned out a treat made with corn, spinach leaves, and feta.

Making curtains has also kept me busy. Wanted the "Harem" effect in the lounge room.

New sheer curtains

I will save the rest of the news for my next few posts.

Happy to be back blogging again and I hope you all enjoy the adventure.

Wendy

Bonnes vacances

Grüß Gott
guten Morgen
Gudde Moien

We have just returned from a wonderful holiday in Bavaria.
We had a week in Schliersee and it was absolutely magnificent. So picturesque and stunningly beautiful.

View driving along to Schliersee

View from our hotel room in Schliersee

Biergarten on the lake

Typical Bavarian house

Main Street of Schliersee

Sunbaking and hiking and eating were our main activities. I know, it sounds bizarre to say we were sunbaking in Bavaria but that's what we did.

Bill doing it tough in Bavaria

The hiking was pretty amazing as well.

One day we caught a gondola up the mountain at Spitzingsee and climbed down which took us nearly 2 hours. The old knees were giving us hell by the end of it. But the views were worth every ache and pain.

Riding up in the gondola at Spitzingsee

Hiking down the mountain

We hiked around both lakes at Schliersee and Spitzingsee.

Spitzingsee lake

Just beautiful. As was Switzerland as well. Except for the roadworks in every village we went through.

Our Tom Tom had us going through 3 Swiss mountain passes so lots of hairpins bends and lots of snow storms through each pass. We were worried that we weren't carrying snow chains (who would of thought we would need snow chains at the end of summer) and may break down on one of the passes with only one jumper between us. But alas, we made it though them all safe and sound.

Driving through the Swiss alps

Getting near to the top of the first Swiss mountain pass

We are already planning to return to Bavaria and Switzerland and hope to arrange a house sit sometime next year.
On the way over we stayed for 2 nights in Besançon which was magic.

Besançon

The citadel was amazing and they made perfect use of a place which they had to spend money maintaining by setting up a zoo within the fortress.

View of the old city of Besançon from the Citadel

There were monkies placed within the moat - seemed like a natural habitat.

There were a lot of Australian animals including kangaroos (big reds), kookaburra (looked lonely as only one of them) plus animals such as Tigers and Lions and very colourful birds from South America which we had never seen before.

Besançon Citadel

We thought it was a fantastic use of space and bought a whole lot of different people visiting the incredible fort.

When we left Bavaria we stayed for 2 nights in Annecy driving around Lake Geneva and past Interlaken and signs to Grindewald.

Annecy market day

Annecy

Lake Annecy

We drove to Chamonix to have a look at where the rich and famous ski plus to have a gander at Mont Blanc. Friggin' amazing with the glacier heading towards the town - although Bill said it was a receeding glacier - didn't look like it was receeding to me.

Mont Blanc

Chamonix with Mont Blanc just appearing in the background

Glacier Mont Blanc

There's just so many amazing and wonderful places in Europe that we have yet to see and explore. Probably will only scratch the surface in the time that we are here but the more we see the more we want to explore.

Our next adventure is to the Vendée region of France (the west coast) for a house sit. We will get to explore La Rochelle, Cholet and Il de Ray. So can't wait.

PS - Paving presque fini.

Wendy

Paving and Mechoui

The back yard has been completely dug up and the paving commenced and nearly completed.

Andy and Bill laying first stone paver at front of house

Tradie Bill

The paving and grouting at the front of the house is finished.

The terrace is also finished.

It will look magic when all done. Of course we had to pick the hardest pavers to lay - called crazy pavers. Not one piece is even in any way and the thickness varies greatly. So the cost to lay is quite high. That's why we took over the laying and grouting ourselves (never having done any of this sort of work before). Andy has shown us what and how to do it as Bill has been his sidekick now for a few weeks.

About one third complete

We took a break from all the hard work and attended the Mechoui on Saturday at the local Salle Polyvante (Local hall 2 doors up). It's the celebration for the beginning of the hunting season - La Chasse.

A grand luncheon of 2 lambs on spits with over 80 people attending. We got to meet some more neighbours which was great. A long lunch that went well into the afternoon.

Lambs on spits at the Mechoui

Carlos and Bill enjoying themselves

We have also managed to see some local brocantes. One at Chenerailles on Sunday was huge. The one at Ventement, not so grand but still interesting.

Apart from the paving and grouting, our socialising has been at a stand still so we could try and get it all completed before heading off to Bavaria this Thursday via Besançon for a much needed rest.

A bientot

Wendy