Au Revoir France
We are now winding down after nearly 3 months at Garde. The house is being cleaned, clothes are being washed, as we countdown to Wednesday the 30th. Of course, the weather is just beautiful, temperatures in the late 20’s and no pool although Moya did avail herself of the local Piscine (swimming pool) with the local school kids and others. The local piscine is great, it is the community pool and there is room for picnics and for families just to enjoy. There doesn’t seem to be restrictions on jumping into the pool and off the diving tower and you can guess the local kids had a ball. Not too good if you just want to swim lengths though. Last Saturday evening we travelled to Aubeterre for a dinner and band. It was a rock band, the band members were in their 50’s. I guess the audience were 100% English! Anyway it was a great night, and the food was superb. On Sunday we attended a music festival in Villebois Lavalette which was part of a national music day. Young people played in the afternoon and the evening was given over to a country and western band. Another good night. As the summer gets warmer there seems to be more of these festivals, pity we will miss them. On 23rd June, we travelled yet again to one of our favourite villages, Brantome, to celebrate Kevin’s birthday in, I guess we could say, our favourite restaurant. The food was amazing as usual. We thought we would share some of the wildlife with you as we will miss the Hoopoe who feeds on the insects in the grass, the White Wagtail that eats the insects from the water on the pool cover, the crows in the belfry, the thrush that has just arrived, the bats that fly off at sunset and the many coloured butterflies. We will miss the bird song especially the cuckoo, and the doves. We will miss the deer, the rabbits, the fox, the many lizards, the toads and waking up to count the number of molehills that have appeared overnight. Maurice even saw a dead snake. Lately a doormouse has shown his presence late at night by scampering along the beams and then hiding when chased. We will not miss the flies, the bees, and the hornets.
So we are now off to pastures new. Sue to return home via Barcelona and Paris travelling with her friend Susan, who arrives here for a couple of days 27th June. We are off to Ireland and you can follow us on our blogsite. It has been a fantasic journey, even though we are told this is the worst June weatherwise for some time. Don’t ask us what our favourite thing has been as we have enjoyed all our experiences. We have even been able to follow the fortunes of the All Whites and All Blacks. Don’t talk about the French team though! New photos posted to show the before and after of the property, especially the trees and the molehills.
Au revoir from France until we “top of the morning” from the Emerald Isle.