Christmas 2020

 Well, what a freaking year it's been! I'm so glad that it's nearly over, but to be honest, we've had a really easy ride compared to so many people. This is not me being smug and patting myself on the back, oh no, I'm seriously counting my blessings when our finances ground to a shuddering halt and life looked very dire in the shadow of Brexit! However, we have our health and our animals continue to slog on, costing a fortune but bringing so much happiness, mostly!!!

We added to our animal family this year with the sheep and then last week the final piece fell into place when we collected our two little goats <3 They travelled in the back of my car, just like the sheep :D

I do not know what is going on with blogger, but uploading pictures has changed and editing is different, so I'm one step closer to just moving over to Youtube, despite my previous disastrous attempts!!!  Ah well, hopefully, this is Fleur and Roxy in their paddock!

Fleur is the light golden colour and Roxy is dark brown. They are both Golden Guernsey but Roxy may have some Alpine in there, breeding over here is a bit relaxed!

So now we are pretty much on the road to being self reliant, as the older of the two goats, Roxy is hopefully with kid which will mean milk for us from the end of April and of course cheese and butter and maybe a little surplus for making soap.

I made some gifts for my children in the UK and they were sent via a friend returning to live in the UK. I'm so grateful to them as none of my other gifts reached their destination, a combination of French system and Covid shutting down the uk postal services! My daughter called her Faery 'Fern' and my son was very happy with his Totoro :D

So my business plans are ticking along but due to the painful process of Brexit, who knows how I'll be affected. I'm not dwelling on that!

I would like to wish you all a prosperous New Year and one filled with good health and safety <3

I bought a harp!

Ibought this little beauty a month ago and have been so anxious waiting for her to arrive. I can play a little bit, but now I have more strings to practice fully. I'm very happy. Yes, I should have bought a new mattress for our bed, but hey ho!!!

I probably won't get much alone time with my harp until after school half term as we have students for  2 weeks, but I may have a little play when everyone has gone to bed. I'm not really up to performing to an  audience and listening to scales gets old real fast!

Our student this week  is a little poppet and so extremely helpful. He is wonderful with the animals and has an apptitude for art. I'm having such fun. I hope next weeks student is as good, but I doubt I'll be that lucky! Fingers crossed.

My post in the summer about the students was really quite grumpy but I was in pain and life was getting me down a bit. Well, me and the rest of the world, I expect!!!

I am moving into a new phase with my beloved Manchee and I'm being taught a huge lesson in acceptance!

He is struggling as he's getting older and has developed arthritis in a front leg. I suspect it's from a fall when we first arrived at this house. He tried to jump off the conservatory roof to chase Dexter who at that time was still quite feral. I'm learning to adapt how I go out and let Manchee be the guide to how far we walk. It's not easy seeing a valued and loved fur baby getting older, but I suspect Manchee still has quite a bit of mileage left <3

 I've spent the whole day painting and teaching and I even managed to squeeze in a little baking. These boys need to keep their strength up and I'm exhausted just trying to keep up with him, lol!

 

 

 

 

 

I fixed my phone, YAAY :D

My hair was getting sooo long that it took two days to dry and by then it was ready to wash again! I chopped it all off and then went to an actual hairdresser, lol! We were chatting and I kept saying 'yeah a bit more...' and then suddenly it was a bit too short! Never mind, it will grow back :D

 

So I'm hoping to be back to normal blogging and so sorry for losing touch with everyone.x

A better blogger

 I hope I can be a better blogger this Autumn.

This year has been such a rollercoaster and my emotions have been so up and down and I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling this.

We were hosts this summer to French students learning to speak English. It was extremely hard work having these, sometimes difficult, teenagers in our home. One girl clearly didn't understand very much and I spent more time talking French than I ever have before. That wasn't the point of having her here, they're supposed to learn by immersion in an english speaking home, but she was getting so depressed by not understanding anything that I had to translate constantly. 

Now I'm feeling emotionally exhausted and can't quite decide where to focus my energy next. We need to be looking at our businesses and different ways of earning money. Due to the virus our Gite has stood empty all year, and I'm not even sure I'll want visitors next year! 

I need to rediscover what it is that gets me started in the morning and where my inspiration comes from. That's not easy at the moment as I've hurt my back so badly that I can barely move without looking like a 99year old.  So I'm off to find myself, albeit slowly and with caution :D

Growing up in the 70's

There's been a resurgence in films and series set in the 70's and 80's for a while now and while I mostly emjoy the nostalgia, the memories are bitter sweet. Maybe they are for most of us remembering our younger years!

I've been planting up the flower garden in front of the house and found some little pots of 'Pinks' in the local supermarket. As I planted them, the scent reminded me of a strong memory from my youth and the bouquet of pinks I carried at my cousins wedding.

I was 11 and had finally, at last, been asked to be a bridesmaid, something I'd wanted for so long as so many of my friends had shown off photos of their own happy days at school. I was slim with very long blonde hair and I had every intention of being a perfect princess. The day started with a trip to the hairdresser where my hair was to be adorned with a multitude of flowers, I was sooo excited. Once I was sure no scissors were involved I relaxed into the pampering of many women. I opened my eyes and actually cried in the chair. I had a freaking massive beehive studded with a million pink silk daisies. So many of the 'lovely' women including my mum and the bride herself convinced me that I looked great, no, beautiful, and I caved in and stopped trying to rip that shit off my head. I left the salon and walked right into a boy from school who laughed so much that he probably wet himself, serves him right!

I spent the day looking like a 50 year old bar lady (Rovers Return, for the Brits) in a long pink tutu! I went to bed and left the monstrosity in place just to see how long it held and there was so much hairspray on that helmet that I woke up looking like a blonde Marg Simpson!

Sunday night, I pulled out every single one of the 100 pins holding the mess in place and my hair fell in a cascade of curls down my back. Just how I should have looked on that horrid day! I went to school the next day, a fair, tousled Kate Bush and not a single boy laughed!

Isn't it amazing how a simple scent can bring back such a vivid array of memories. All of this went through my head as I planted my garden!

This is the border before the hard work. It's been seriously neglected for a couple of years as the house and then the Potager took priority.

 Empty of weeds and a top dressing of store bought compost it was ready to be planted. Some pale pink and blue perrenials and some wild flowers were added to tone down the bright pink roses. Whilst the colour of the roses is a little too electric for me, their scent is intoxicating, hence the addition of cool blues and soft pinks. The Rosemary and sage at the front are our favourite kitchen herbs so I added some Tarragon and chives for culinary use.

I'll share another picture as soon as it all starts to fill out. I've also planted some mixed wildflowers, but I haven't a clue what's actually grown! I'm hoping the slugs stay off long enough for me to find out!!!

Catching up.

Good morning and happy Sunday dear bloggers.

I've found that blogging from my phone has it's own challenges, especially as my phone loads the photos any which way it wants!!!

A couple of weeks ago our darling Taliesin developed an enormous abscess on his cheek. This picture was after getting back from the vet who drained the abscess. It quickly filled back up and Talie was in a terrible state. He slept beside us for the entire week he was ill!

A few days into the treatment the abscess exploded!!! The white bedding went straight into the washing machine and Talie went straight into the bath. Mainly because the smell of the blood made me feel so sick and it was all over him! He didn't mind too much because he loves water!

We've been doing a lot of decorating inside the house and finally it was in a nice enough state that I could take a day out to practice painting roses. I love all the roses in my garden, so I really felt the need to paint some. It's a rough start, but I'll get there!

In typical Brittany fashion, last night we had a big power cut just as we were starting supper!
My little fireplace looked so sweet with the candles but you know, it's a pretty ugly surround and it keeps all the heat from the fire inside so very soon, we'll be bashing it out! Our new woodburner is on order and I'm so excited to get a new heating system installed. 

Last winter was grim for me with the fibromyalgia as the house was not only cold but incredibly damp. This year, I'm already knitting lots of woolies to help with outside chores and inside should be lovely and cosy with our fire and back boiler to run the central heating!

I had a lot to say about the world and the state of everything we've been through globally, but right now, my brain is so weary of dealing with what I'm reading on social media. I think that will be another post.

Stay safe friends.x

Still alive at the Wildewood!

Hey guys, I'm still here but haven't had the heart to blog for so long. My phone refuses to upload pictures to my laptop, so that's put me off from just wordy posts! The solution was suggested by my daughter, blog from my phone. She's brilliant 😍

So, here at last, my little fiber flock have arrived & settled in. They are utterly adorable ❤

We've been working really hard in the house & it's starting to pay off. We're creating cosy little corners in our home & this is my favourite kitchen window. In the winter the cats sit here above the radiator but in the summer it's mine 😍