MY oh MY

My, oh MY, it is about a year ago that I tried to reinstate myself as a blogger.  I became too overwhelmed with ongoing challenges to return my thoughts to regular presentation of life in word and image.

I have had another super wonderful day, since I stayed in UK for all of January and February 2019 doing a variety of things successfully and not successfully.  Loads I intended to do but DID NOT as I was trying to help someone else.  Today was Productive, finding more information to those problems which are beyond my reach to solve.  

I made a little more progress in my garden and courtyard. Hanging baskets and toughs were prepped for front of road.  No geraniums wintered over.   I love feeling the soft warm earth and getting dirt under the fingernails, then having a hot bath to soak away the evidence!

Photos coming later...


Hey... I heard the cuckoo today ....oh ecstasy... I am overjoyed.... I wish to tell the world from the beautiful space one the planet where I live.   Cuckoo it called unmistakably several times whilst I pottered in my courtyard ...  there it 'twas ... sounding across to the north west as clear as a bell ... woops...as clear as a cuckoo... early afternoon not later!  Oh happy me!

Here is one of the four songs we are learning for the BRIGADE... 
It is the oldest canon known.

Sumer is icumen in, lhude sing cuccu

Groweth sed and bloweth med and spring the wude nu. Sing cuccu.

Ahway  bleteth after lomme lhouth after calvé cu

Bulluck sterteth, bucker verteth, murie sing cuccu

Cuccu, cuccu, wel singethu cuccu, ne swik thu navé nu.

Three others are from the TSIGANES of Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia:   for example Jag Bari

In between excursions to the sunshine in the outside world I stay indoors to write up final cope of the Serbian, Bulgarian, Romanian languages into my own phonetic language, so that I can pronounce and learn speedily,  as I missed two months of practice in the group! I have been in ENGLAND!!!!!!!!!! and did those feet ..... 
 I digress in song....
Absolutely sure now of the melody after three weeks and can mostly sing without hiccup reading the words but In wish to go the extra mile when I have never ever been able to learn by rote!

Will try to update as my life feels so full all of a sudden .... but maybe i need to write.....
bises xxxx

Another Songster

April 14th: whilst in the garden washing radiators the nightingale was heard in the distance.

I haven't felt like writing or posting for a long time.
Plus having guests leaves little time for my own indulgences.

In early March, my former partner returned yet again to help me tweak the last of the plan for the kitchen.  Having confidence in final measurements and decisions has escaped me.   But being able to discuss with a.n.other has brought about the final plan.

It is difficult to explain.  My conclusion after months of a mathematical headache is that Ikea and Schmidt software cannot handle the fact that the furniture measurement of a linear length is differen from the worktop linear length. Now the fitter friend has cracked the problem and even he did not see what could be done for ages.  He is a man who solves as he goes. I want the problem solved on paper before I waste money on an expensive error!

In addition to that conundrum as well as other things,  my friend says he can understand WHY it has taken me so long, not to mention that in between addressing the KITCHEN PLAN I have had other things to do!
He seems to accept my claim that if it were UK I would have had my new kitchen well before now.   Trying to have something suitable for the character of the house plus suitable for my pocket has been a scary issue.

One of the main problems has been that the estimate for the electricity***  is costing more than the kitchen furniture and worktop!
(*** this includes plumbing and replacing the last of the radiators to the walls and verifying the central heating system.. and now rather than staging payments and therefore WORK I have decided to PLUNGE ahead and hopefully avoid drowning!)

This week the electrical wiring has been replaced!!!!!! Quel horreur!

I will try to write about this soon but I am very glad I freaked out on Monday, after almost 9 months after getting the first electrician here to make an estimate for the kitchen.  This he did not do until February as in September last year there was miscomprehension between us when I asked for estimates for the water heater. I decided not to return to them and that was based on my previous experiences with a different electrician.

I freaked out because all the work we did last year was being ruined.  When he returned two days later he had a new system of installing the wiring, in compliance with my request that was agreed with the estimator.   I might try and explain this better later.  For now, I am too tired! 

I am wishing I HAD asked this company to replace the water heater.
Never mind!!!!!!  That was in the past.

It appears that I CAN get the water heater (chauffeau electrique) connected to heures creuses et pleins because very soon the new tableau electrique will be able to serve the system!
The other electrician ( not the one who caused me emotional angst) did not do that even though I had insisted it was HC and HP!
I am glad i did not choose a  third choice of electrician, an independent auto-entrepeneur because he might have had to order materials whereas this company has everything in the van and seems to be a man who can!

The number of wires in a kitchen has more than surprised me.
How can one have more Surprise!
Oh, oh so easily in France!

BUT back to hearing the nightingale.
It is a song that insists I must get out into the countryside for walks.
I haven't done nearly enough walking nor cycling since before my fever in February.

March has received guests every day, First "my friend" (in inverted commas because the blog tells all and my friends will understand). Then my daughter and only grand daughter, now aged 8 arrived for 8 days.   At the same time I hosted a friend who bought a house in the village but it is not yet habitable.  Days were eventful with the worst scenario of a car breakdown. Maybe more later if I ever get time to write - the starter motor died in IKEA car park at 20h after a 5 hour marathon in not the IDEAL home base. We were an hour and a half drive from home and I had to get them to the airport the next day. For some reason my insurance would not take us home or get the car repaired in time!
Miracles then began.
See, they can in France!
Then "my friend" returned from UK because he did not wish to stay here at same time as all those females!   It was best!!!!!!

And so... for the last week ...following all that has happened in the last year,  
THE NEW KITCHEN IS HAPPENING.
Tra la la la la!  A new song will be sung!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
Malheureusement, not in time for April 30th, the 6th anniversary of me, myself and I owning this property!!!!! 

Songster without song

I have not had even ONE Easter egg!!!!!
Must be the first time ever in my life!
First time this year at nine ish in the morning I celebrate MY first hearing of THE CUCKOO!!! 

POEM:  Songster calling
Copyright by SweetpeainFrance
28 March 2016

Stand at the edge of an ancient woodland,
where on higher land the wild wind blows 
straight from south west Atlantic ocean,
where Katie and her storm force troops blew her gales
as if to push winter northwards where she hails.

Perhaps this songster blew in with the wind, 
one only ambition 
to forge new generation
but hardly to sing!

In the early hours of morning I entered, ventured to the yard
whilst warm gusty, blustery winds were yelling at my side
as I closed French folding shutters blowing freely in the wind,
eased to fix the wooden gates creaking, moaning as they moved
checked the garden to the rear, make sure nought was unkind,
put on the kettle, made a cup of tea,
went back to sleep like a baby peacefully, 
slept deep and soundly 'til shoulders aching waked me,
walked to breathe oxygen, stretch legs, arms aerobically.

Hark, what do I hear? 
that welcome sound as the first in the year -
that refreshing call of spring time -
that sound so known for its songster calling -
that tune so known for its major third - 
when a cruel and wicked mother bird
ousts eggs which have a right to their nest
laying her own for another mother to do its best 
feeding insects to the cuckoo, a brood parasite
as the new born throws out others with its spite
an unsuspecting mother bird uses energy in flight 
to feed the growing imposter all day and night!

A refreshing call just after the Spring Equinox!
Bringing HOPE for summer 
Better than any chocolate box!

SO Sorry for UK and terrible experiences.
I have not ventured out of my gate in several days...other than this short walk
today.
I am ready for what I HOPE to be the final ( fifth ) IKEA visit to order the kitchen..
All is measured more than once; solutions to problems have been found with one other person to help add a voice and opinion, motivation, realise the difficulties and the frustration, realise that it wasn't all me that I became disillusioned and more!
So despite the accusatory tone from several people that I have not been doing my best.. if one saw the paperwork plans then one would realise the differences between a room which needed another 5cm linear length to comfortably fit ... but now it works in the room and on the paper and hopefully on the ickilogiciel....
Flooring is purchased and will be laid in two weeks time.
There is a choice of three electrician and plumbing companies... I am waiting for estimates to be updated.. and waiting an email response before the final decision!

Swallow in the sky

Into official Spring time ...

there above, in a blue sky,
flies a lone swallow, 

so exciting to witness,
so hopeful a promise
of happiness and hope.

Les Grues Cendriers

The cranes flew overhead in several batches crying to announce that winter is not far away.

It had been a really warm, sunny day yesterday.  The day began in winter clothing but by coffee time we were wearing tee shirts or thinner jumpers.  My returning friend had arrived one week earlier than expected. We did 6 hours hard labour each plus with another chap for three hours.  First of all the huge ivy ball hanging onto the neighbour's plum tree, sprawling further across the chicken coop roof where now I store certain cuts of wood for the woodburner was attacked and a huge bonfire pile created.   Meanwhile another of the wretched nuisance acacia trees which had been sawed at head height a few weeks ago and is growing through the metal fence had holes drilled around the base. It was treated with trunk-killer and allowed to continue to be a fence support. My friend decided to treat in the same manner the other acacia trunks which had been cut to grass level last year.  They were still sending up young shoots.

With two hours before lunch they agreed to repair the broken wood supports holding up the corrugated roofing sheets that look like or are asbestos!  These were covered with about six sheets of corrugated metal, more fibreglass/plastic corrugated sheets, wire netting, a flat sheet of metal, halved breezeblocks, rabbit hutch concrete feeding troughs PLUS old rotten wood supports strategically laid by the previous owner of this property. What a mess!  It took much more work and effort than anticipated!  One task leads to another. I am glad it is done and the space in the sky is more favourable.  The plum tree can breathe and probably the ivy will grow again but we tried to cut it back at root level as much as possible.

After clearing up tools, cable. clothing and useful wood as well as the neighbour's wild patch,  I mowed the lawn! Grateful for aperos we sat in the garden at dusk as it is an hour earlier.  Then we enjoyed pre slow cooked beef in beer, carrots, spinach and jacket potatoes.

I attempted to keep the gravel below free of metal and dirt by covering with blue baches. This is an ideal place to sit in the shade and shelter.  All was finished this showery rainy morning.  Now there is a mountain of wood to chop for kindling etc from the lilac, from the garden, and from this shed roof.

The garden is feeling under control and after tomorrow we can start in earnest planning the kitchen.
There will be two weeks to crack the conundrum plus do other jobs before my friend goes south in France and after that maybe to Asia to warmer climes again. 

May Observation

May is the Most Marvellous of Months in The Garden
May is the Most Marvellous of Months to have a Writing Moment
A warm May evening is delectable.

When the cuckoo vocalises its name from minor to major third, 
sometimes to a fourth 

or an interval in-between

that is why it’s sometimes hard for me to echo.

When the nightingale plays an operatic role 

it doesn’t need a chorus.  

He is singing now, waiting for a friend to cease his solitude.

My cat likes to be stroked in hot evening sunshine 

as she lies on the table. 

I forgive her as she stretches out in pure pleasure.
Naughty cat!

She frowns when she hears the neighbour say ‘Stop’ 

to presumably the dog 

as there was no reply.   

Big Feet’s fur is so incredibly hot as it absorbs the sun. 

Her head is cool 

but as I run my hand along her back 

it becomes hotter midway along her spine 

hottest three-quarters of the way, almost too hot to touch, 

then her tail is quite cool.  
How a cat responds to sunshine is quite phenomenal. 

How can she cope with such heat as she lies on the oiled skin / plastic tablecloth?

She loves it when I stroke and scrunch a right ear with my left hand.

This time she stretches closer to my pen, 
reaching out to touch lightly with both paws 

as an acknowledgement 

that I am writing about her.
A narcissistic cat!

Now she has turned so that her cooler tummy faces the sun.   

She has always been called a French tart, a French tottie.

She is very much at home in my garden.   

I stroke under her chin and along the jawline.  

She caught a field mouse this morning.

My loud voice told her to go ‘OUT’ of the house.  

It’s really warm 

so I remove layers of my own clothing 

and expose my skin towards the golden ball 

to enjoy the heat of sun for the first time in the year.   

It’s after six p.m.

It's the second week of May.

Oh my goodness me...

...when a Nightingale sings at the end and beyond of my garden with such strong tone and melodies it transports me to heaven.  I yearn to transcend all levels of humanity.  I want to lie down on dry linen on wet clover of lawn, where there is no moon, but where its light transforms trees on the horizon, black silhouettes in darkness. A cloud canopy, like lightnightness hovers above the earth, juxtaposed against the bright electric illumination from an atelier, a workshop which is not.  I feel as if I could listen to her/his song throughout the night but my feet are wet on the grass now that the rain has stopped.   A little while ago there was a definite HALT to the song.  I thought "that is it... the nightingale has gone to sleep until the dawn chorus". Then it re-commenced.  He/she sings triumphantly, beckoning such night lunacy.
I JUST LOVE IT... and what would I rather do if I were to have choices at this moment in time... yes, listen to the transcendence of the universe by this nightingale and by day hear the cuckoo, which I can tell you has already tried to change its tune, not in June,  but in May... cuckold that it is!
So with my living room door open I hear the nightingale as I type; it is a poignant luxury, but I MUST get to sleep at two in the morning.
This bird is so magnificent....voluptuous... enigmatic....romantic.... edifying!!!!!!
This posting will interrupt all others pre-posted!!!
I don't care  because it is a musicality that I wish to physically share with everyone!!!!
Thank you to my friends for keeping me awake so long......
If I have to die then let me hear the song of the nightingale in my hazel hurdle coffin. Let me hear the nightingale singing as scattered I am to four winds across French soil, Southwold as well as the North and Atlantic Oceans...Separate me as the tunes of the nightingale separates into its different voices. 

J.O.Y.

I have rushed to write.
The sun is shining... I spent thirty minutes in the sun, warming my face and heart, starting to read The Book Thief".  Then, gathered all the strength I could muster. to do what had to be done.
LONG STORY!...but...the mains drainage backed up into the garden.
I am cleaning a brick that has the word "SPECIAL" incised into one side...how silly and funny!... it's literally had a pile of poo on it, as have others.  This brick will have to take pride of place in my garden and not be hidden from view, to serve as a reminder of madness.  I am cleaning the area where a clematis struggles and maybe I shall plant a rose there!
HARK!
JOY mounts within my soul when I hear those cries.... those sounds I always associate with where I live and the passing of the seasons.  Les grues.  Apart from death there is one certainty, that whatever the shit in one's life, the seasons will come and go; they will bring forth LIFE and DESIRE to live. Spring will arrive to climb the ladder from recent despair and influenza.
Too late for the camera... but I heard them.  I opened the gates to Fort Knox, searched the sky from my street and there they were, towards the north / east flying, heading that way .. several v shape forms... SPRING AT LAST!!!!   I am in tears of JOY. They are JOY.
It's a long haul but I can get there., wherever I have to go! Death hasn't wanted me yet!!!!! I defy it! The last ten days or so have been absolute HELL and WILL (who is he?) has been more than rock bottom, battling with trying to keep me warm, stop me coughing, stop me crying, help me to sleep ...  I am not ashamed! Being ill needs a nurse, needs creature comforts, needs need to be pampered. It's hard!  I am human. Dramatic? Maybe but I don't care. I am who I am! 
SPRING SUNSHINE... LET ME HAVE IT! Let it shine into my house.  I need someone to instal a velux or sun tunnel.

Bobbing along out of the old and into the new

This chubby, cheeky, chappy was proud to pose by the River Anglin today. I hope a fortuitous omen!

Free bird

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QR28CzONi8

Go to 54.43 for FreeBird

I just love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A rook fest beneath a rock fest

This is a posting between yesterday and tomorrow! This not so little bird, a rook,

with its friend and friends...were accompanied by jackdaws which flew away from photocapture...
pip pip!

As free as a little bird

Whilst Living in France continues I increasingly feel as if I am achieving more and more to be

 as free as a bird... 

I recognise that I am only imprisoned in my own cage when I forget how to sing and dance or when sadness creeps over me like a dark cloud. 
Yet, when the sky is blue and the sun is warm my varying persona emerge as one and then I love to fly free ... in fantasy, in reality and I become happy.
Is that poetic nonsense or an artistic creative literary style? 

I would have preferred  'l'hirondelle' but this chubby chappy is such fun ...

he will look down upon me and I will always look up to my little bird!

Hurrah for the nightingale(s)

.... which was / were singing in the rural countryside beyond my garden tonight, at 7pm ish,  after I had finished mowing the lawn... It was my first hearing this year of the unforgettable song, that as one listens, one is immediately in heartfelt bliss. Swallows were flying and blackbird sang its song. My lawn smelt delicious. I'd cropped the clover which had failed to be killed by the nitrogenous weed'nfeed, as rain fell after I'd laboriously sprinkled the liquid on rampant clover a few days ago!
I'd intended to sit in my large garden but as night fell it became too cold.  I cooked my evening meal after lighting the woodburner, which for some reason decided to fill my Grand Salon with smoke. It was still warmer in the courtyard than indoors, so, with all the door windows (or are they window doors) open, I indulged in a simple meal with just a little more than a glass of Fitou and espied two fat bats above me as dusk fell.  SPRING has come; never mind the fouine which is what I think I hear in my attic.   Evidently, I can't kill what is a protected species and must purchase a trap at more than 80 euros. The trap is huge.  I would never get it beneath the floorboards of the attic!   No, if I hear it again, I will have to go up into the attic, stomp above the metre gap between my bedroom ceiling and attic floor and play music at whatever hour it is.  They do not like noise and nor do I when I'm trying to sleep!  Thankfully I think the neighbour will not hear me unless they are in the garden!!!!

Les grues cendres - Cranes

It had been a poor weekend .. perhaps it was the backlash of returning from UK, or fighting off illness, or I was tired, but the unmistakeable symptoms of Fibromylagia (M.E.) returned to make me sleep and eat erratically, drink tons of tea and water, shuffle about on leaden legs, and generally be unable to think or do very much.  Imagine though at almost midday, when I had opened up the doors to let in the warmth of Spring sunshine, I heard cries of birds.  I dashed into the courtyard, then the street, to see V formations of cranes flying towards the north east ... excitedly and joyfully I clapped my hands in glee ...Spring has arrived.  Maybe the cold nights and mornings have not ended, but certainly Winter has been banished. I have no idea how many, being poor at estimating I would say about 300. It's the most I've ever witnessed. At 6pm it was 14C outside in the courtyard. I even managed to sit in the sunshine, wrapped in a blanket during the afternoon and fell asleep with a book in hand!  I reflected that this is what my favourite aunt used to do!

Jewels for a Blackbird

Observations

I've watched the blackbird hungrily eating these beautiful pendants hanging in a garden not far from the river.  
I had a robin to help, scuttling in the borders of the courtyard when the birdseed was under several centimetres of snow, here more sheltered than in the back garden.
There is a miniature cave of bubble wrap over my bright red Camelia which was in flower shortly before the North Wind brought its gift of snow and ice.  
A cosy cave of bubble wrap where the wind has whipped it adrift and the darling little fluffedupballofredwhitegrey was sheltered in there saying "Hey feed me" as I peered out of the kitchen window. 
Blackbird, robin, blue-tit and long-tailed tit have been seen visiting my garden.  

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Today I was singing and dancing 
as I stepped through the snowy hedged woodland 
where the angled branches of the trees criss-crossed each other 
as the pattern was highlighted by the white snow resting on the tops of the lines of the branches. 
I had no camera. 
Today I was singing and dancing 
along the snowpacted lane feeling the joy of living 
to witness such regal majesty of the wintry phenomena of frozen water 
and the prints imprinted of animals, humans, wheeled vehicles, skis and tobaggons; 
all had been there before before me with tracks to places known and unknown. 
Today I was singing and dancing 
to let the bright light into my eyes and heart 
and let it make me tired and content.