The song of the 'mais oui' bird.

There's a little bird that sits in our birch tree and calls 'mais oui, mais oui' every morning. I'm not sure what bird it is exactly but to greet the day with such a positive affirmation is a good thing.
I talk to myself often, in my head and out loud, I walk through the garden and the potager, feeding the animals and muttering sometimes quite passionately about the state of things. I try to do it alone, as sometimes I feel a bit foolish, lost in my thoughts and in my own head space. It's no small comfort to have this little bird chirp in often with his shriek of agreement 'but yes' he squeeks, and I smile and carry on talking. I expect I'll be making a name for myself soon, if I haven't already! I worry about the world, about my children and other people's children and talking to myself helps me to put things right, into some kind of perspective.

Since looking at how other people live more simply, I've discovered the harp in a big way! I love the idea of sitting alone and just making a little music for myself. I used to try to play the violin, but that was less than relaxing for myself and especially anyone within earshot! So along came the harp and  with it, this band. I adore their music and their passion for life and the world. Please take a look and be ready for something beautiful <3 Also, if you look at their other youtubes, you can see why they appeal to the younger celtic/hippy set (god, I feel old writing that!!!)
Omnia 

I've ordered a cheap little harp online and will collect it when I go to England next month, I'm so excited.
I've also done a thing!!!
I've started the process to buy a little plot of land on the other side of our lake. Eventually it will be somewhere for the horses to have a break and give our fields a rest but it's not going to be cleared in a hurry. I don't want any heavy machinery on the land, I'll be working slowly and carefully as that's how it's been treated so far. It's a little oasis in an intensely farmed area.

The owner planted lots of willow and had made a little natural campsite beside the stream. It's a very special area and I would love to run some healing workshops here. With this in mind, I've enrolled on a psychotherapy counselling course! There are many women here, French and English who seem a little lost and out of touch with the Earth, I know I'm feeling it right now. I hope we can grow closer to the natural world using this haven to recconect to our mother Gaia.
I'll be using the willow for basket making as well as planting some different coloured willows or dogwoods. This has been in my mind for a very long time, so to find somewhere planted with all my needs in mind is more than coincidence, it's the nudge I've been needing to take the next step. I'll also have a large herb garden for medicines and dye plants, using the herbs that are too big or invasive to have at our potager. Saying that, no herb is ever unwelcome if it turns up at Wildewood, but I love the thought of rampant, chaotic abandon  at our little field :D

The caravan is pretty dire and I hope we can do something to make it look better, no, I'm sure we can. It couldn't look uglier or more out of place!!!

 

So today I began the counselling course and fell asleep before the end of the first page, haha, it must be good then :D

Wrestling!

Does anyone else write their post title first and fit their words around it, or just ramble on and hope a title presents itself later?  I guess I do a bit of both unless I have a very clear view of where I'm going when I sit down to write.

It's been a wrestly few days already in the Wildewood! The painting that I was struggling with was being so very uncooperative and I began flicking paint in a snowy kind of way and almost ruined the whole thing. A  panicky 10 minutes had me wiping and dabbing until most of the damage was undone.
I had a big cup of tea and consulted the work of my dear friend Eric Velhagen. Now, I call him a dear friend for two reasons, 1. he's gorgeous and 2. he wished me happy birthday online last year, swoon! His style is so free and when I get tangled up in the details, I browse his webpage and try to loosen up! Refreshed, I went back to the painting and it would seem that the client likes it. What a relief! She is a very dear person, so this has always been way more than a normal commission and of course I want her to be happy with the result.

Still on the subject of wrestling, I wasn't the only one struggling to sleep last night, another storm raged and Merlin dog was extremely restless. To be honest, he's been like a speed addict for the last 18 hours!!! During the night he leapt out from under the covers and collided with my head more than once and when he wasn't wriggling he was kicking me in the back and stomach! He was either having trouble with the feathers poking him or a dreaded flea was the cause. The bed is now stripped and he is asleep under a blanket, lucky boy! (or something beginning with B!)

So now I'm walking around with gritty eyes and a slightly grumpy demeanour!!! To cheer myself up I contacted our estate agent as we're still hunting for extra land. That may seem extravagent, but the cost of feeding the horses this year would have bought us another field, if only we can persuade people to sell up! The hunt for little Wildewood continues.

Thoughtful.

I've watched a couple of you-tubes about an incredible lady called Emma Orbach, please do look her up. I discovered this lady 4years ago, roughly, on a Ben Foggle program about people living in the wilds! Emma had become increasingly dissatisfied with the modern world and changed her life while living in a woodland in Wales. You must hear her tell the story, she's a wonderful story teller.

When I first watched the program I was already contemplating Wales as my next home, but I wanted a conventional life, a farm and all of my animals. My children were coming with me, so we needed a house. However, I re-evaluated my needs and began to see how a version of Emma's lifestyle might suit me better.  Then I met my sweet man and love filled my head and France became our focus. Of course, some of that is because the weather here is far better for my health, yes, it's still pretty damp, but when the sun comes out it's warm and my muscles relax.

However, the reconnection with Emma now has come at a point when I've begun to feel out of sorts and her story has highlighted the reasons.  I've been so caught up with rennovations and stressing to make money while at the same time spending more and more money on the house that I've completely lost touch with why we're here! We came here to change, to leave the hectic world behind, not bring it with us!

So today I've been clearing out for all I'm worth. The car is loaded to the roof and I'm going to the Deschetterie which is a far nicer word for garbage dump!!! I'm on a mission to downsize, de-clutter and re-evaluate EVERYTHING!

I hope to clear out the studio as well and make it simpler, a little haven instead of a headache!

I've also been working in the Potager in between storms and have now made two chestnut wigwams with our own coppiced wood. Little by little I'm working towards a more self-reliant life but the simplicity is what I'm lacking and therefore that's where I'm aiming!

If any of you do look up Emma, please let me know what you think and if you feel as moved by her as I do. Could you live that life?

Stormy!

Storm Ciara has been causing havoc in Brittany as well as Britain and living on a hill we've felt her full force!
The cats have all retreated into the warmth of our solid stone house and although we have no proper heating, they do provide us with cosy neck-warmers, lol!!! Although Piper is making it very hard to type and she loves to stick her butt in my face!!! What is that all about???

Taliesin has made himself totally at home and Finn will cuddle anybody!!!

This is what I'm struggling with this week and I will admit that I hate it! I'm working to a strict brief which if anything has really stilted my creativity! I've changed the horses feet and legs as the snow was obscuring the shape but the problem is the ice! The client wants warmer colours but that doesn't fit with the reference so I've literally ground to a halt! I still need to work on the people in the sleigh instead of leaving them blank!. If it was up to me, I would throw a lot of white paint around and create something a little more impressionist!!! Perhaps I'll be a rebel and do that anyway!!!!

A fresh start.

Oooh, that feels sooo good. A new start and the freedom to talk from the heart. The old blog had a few followers from my private life and I don't care to share my thoughts with them so this is a compromise without losing all of the stories that led me to this point in my life.  Thank you to everyone who left a comment and thank you for sticking with me and my sporadic posting!

Today the wind is howling outside and I'm watching the old cherry tree as it tilts ever closer to the ground. It may not come down this time, but I know it's days are numbered. I'm sad as it's beautiful, but ever practical, I'm thinking of all that lovely firewood!  We'll replace it with an apple as the old apple trees are also falling one by one!

I managed to watch an episode of Gardeners World on Friday night and Monty was talking about Espalier apple trees. I'm in love! I think I'll have a couple alongside the Potager and they'll be the perfect height for the horses to grab as they walk past, haha :D


So why did I choose Woodwife as my new blog name? If you look it up online, the definition varies from sweet woodland spirit to dangerous hag! Well, I guess I can see both aspects in myself but mostly my reason is because of my passion for the woods and this beautiful land we live in. I walk the woodlands every day with our dogs and it renews me and fills me with peace while taking away the noise in my head. I find it so healing and magical here <3

Silence.

I've been living with silence for some time and enjoying the peace of writing in my journal for myself. I want to blog again and I want to read blogs, but I'm finding a huge lack of will to put my words 'out there'!

Facebook has become such a toxic place full of criticism and forceful opinions. I was recently told that I was very negative, based on a couple of Brexit posts I shared. The person hadn't taken the time to read any of my other posts and it basically shut me down!

I feel that the way forward now is to change this blog name and re-shape my writing, with it being more for me and how I really want to express myself. To do this, I need a new blog name and a new beginning.

Re-naming my blog will mean that I won't be accessable to you all on the old link, I think! So, if you want to stay in touch, message me and I'll give you the new link. I don't want to start yet another new blog as this one holds a lot of history about how I came to be in France, starting my life over. However, I really do want to leave certain things and people behind, so if I move on at all, it will be in a new place :D