The reason we moved to France

Here are the photos of the reasons we moved to France.

Just so magical to have snow falling at your front and back door.

We visited some French friends in Chatelus- Malvaleix which just happened to be around the 6th Jan. They had spent about 25 years in Australia and returned to France to retire back in 2005. It was extremely funny as when we walked into their house it was decorated with all Australiana stuff. Plus we reckon that they are the only french people that have been to Leonora and Menzies. They spent their years grape and fruit picking their way around Australia and have covered most areas except Darwin and Tasmania.

Bill helped them with their computer so they fed us. 

A little tradition in France:

The galette des rois is a cake traditionally shared at Epiphany, on 6 January. It celebrates the arrival of the Three Wise Men in Bethlehem.

Composed of a puff pastry cake, with a small charm, the fève, hidden inside, it is usually filled with frangipane, a cream made from sweet almonds, butter, eggs and sugar. 

Anyway Bill won the the prize so was obliged to wear the crown.

It was snowing the day we visited them.

We have also been busy completing jobs around the house.

The shelves and hanging space in our bedroom are now complete.

I have finished some new curtains that we are temporarily hanging from the first floor landing to try and block a cold breeze coming down the stairwell. 


Works perfectly and we can take down in summer.

Then there's the traditional Lamington making.

Thought I had better do a test batch run before Australia Day - absolutely perfect. 
Lots of ingredients but worth the result.

And then we had some electrical work carried out by our Spanish electrician called Carlos. 

He only spoke spanish and french so made for an interesting time for Bill out in the barn trying to direct him as to where to install the lighting. 

All worked out in the end and everything in it's place. 


Carlos did a great job.

All is well in the land of the french.

Wendy

Our start to 2017 in France

What can I say - It's been freezing.............................


Still it's better than the 36 degrees Brisbane had overnight or the 40 degree Melbourne days.

Don't miss that at all.












We are still working on the heating in the house. Things like making thicker, heavier curtains. Making draft stoppers at the doors, ensuring all drafts are covered or sealed. We have a doggy door left over from the previous owner which is letting in cold air into the kitchen so that's the next task to fix - although won't be a problem once the renovations are complete.

We were invited over to a French friend's house for dinner and drinks just after Christmas.









What a lovely night we had with her family and friends.
We were served a traditional french evening meal along with lots of wine and champagne.



Rejane then pulled out a spray can of snake repellent which I found to be totally hilarious.

Just had to take a photo of it.

Perhaps I could import these into Australia.

She sprays it around the entrance to her house during summer.

Apparently the snakes don't like the smell.











Our New Year was celebrated with pre dinner drinks at our place.

We then headed 2 doors up to the Salle Polyvante (local hall) where we had more drinks and a 6 course meal and dancing.

A great night to see in 2017.

We finished up at about 3am but the rest kept going until after 4am.

Our table of guests.

Me being served a drink by the mayor.

The party gets wild......

Pete, Bill and a french neighbour.

Saw this HUGE pack of pasta in at the supermarket.

All this for only 2.14 euros.

Now if we get snowed in we can live on pasta.




More socialising this week with a few lunch dates, morning tea's, markets, meeting with the bank manager (and he rang us to arrange out of the blue so we are not sure if we should be concerned or not).

Had a couple of opportunities for house sitting which we passed up for now as we want to get some of these projects completed around the house. One was in Bergerac and the other was Paris for a week - bugger. But there's always next time.

Wendy