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!!!!! 

Nightingale hovering high

A friend recently led me to be listening to THE MOODY BLUES... and whilst I was listening to the lyrics of Voices in The Sky  I heard a reference to the nightingale...
I am somewhat obsessed by its song this year as the bird is immediately at the end of my garden most of all night and most of all day!!! Maybe there is more than one.
This particular video is lovely to look at if you wish to meditate on the images and song...
It is amazing how creative people are!

"Voices In The Sky"

Bluebird, flying high
Tell me what you sing
If you could talk to me
What news would you bring
Of voices in the sky

Nightingale, hovering high
Harmonize the wind
Darkness, your symphony
I can hear you sing
Of voices in the sky

Just what is happening to me
I lie awake with the sound of the sea
Calling to me

Old man, passing by
Tell me what you sing
Though your voice be faint
I am listening
Voices in the sky

Children with a skipping rope
Tell me what you sing
Play time is nearly gone
The bell's about to ring
Voices in the sky

Just what is happening to me
I lie awake with the sound of the sea
Calling to me

Bluebird, flying high
Tell me what you sing
If you could talk to me
What news would you bring
Of voices in the sky
Voices in the sky
Voices in the sky
Voices in the sky

Each little bird that sings...

In Praise of my daughter's birth this day in 1978.  

May she grow ever strong 

Singing melody in song

Aloud from treetops high

In a beautiful clear sky.

Sing little bird with all your might

Fly with feathers very light

Do not carry any weight

Search the earth for sunny lands... 

This is a heritage song from my father's sister: Ivy Evelyn Shaw. It was a favourite of hers. It was a favourite of mine at my own primary school and when I taught in a Catholic school. I loved to play hymns on the piano for 120 children to sing.  My daughter was one of the throng. Hence, this song is my song for her and her daughter too.

All Things Bright and Beautiful

Ce­cil F. Al­ex­an­der

Hymns for Lit­tle Child­ren, 1848

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colours,
He made their tiny wings.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate,
He made them, high or lowly,
And ordered their estate.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

The purple headed mountains,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning
That brightens up the sky.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them every one.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

The tall trees in the greenwood,
The meadows where we play,
The rushes by the water,
To gather every day.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful
The Lord God made them all.

He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

THANK YOU GOD FOR HER LIFE WITHIN MY LIFE x

Sunday

I just had to complete my choice for the  "Days of the Week" songs! 

 Queen - Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon - 1975

Who indeed has any answers? 
Neither you, nor me
nor the wind, nor the sea
nor the ocean, nor the sun
nor the birds, in the trees
  yet to walk outside in the wild
seems to quell the quest
for the search of a nest
where I belong,
with one to share,
to sing my song.

First Saturday

Lynrd Skynrd - Saturday Night Special - 1976

 

First Friday Epiphany Treats

I love the roughness of the voices.   There was a group called THEM who played regularly at our Friday night school social club.  When we rushed to buy the release of the first 45rpm only to discover that this was not OUR group we were all very disappointed. So our THEM, became THEMSELVES.

GROUTING was achieved today. Then after the day had gone wonky it turned around with beer and galette des rois as an evening apero or supper! 
This was an unexpectedly good drink to have with the sweet pastry.  I have since read that in medieval times, warmed ale with stewed apples in it (a posset), was enjoyed with the cake.

It is the Feast of the Epiphany today.  From English Christmas Pudding, move to French Galette des Rois and within each one win the ceramic model (feve=bean originally {a different narrative}  to have the chance to be King or Queen for the day.  Although you will wear the crown, the reward for your servants is that you have to supply the next galette!! There are many different types in France as there are in other Catholic countries.  I prefer the one with less flaky, flaky pastry, which I think heralds from Normandy but the best are stuffed with a real and goodly amount of almond paste, unless it is a brioche, and so it goes on until we reach Candlemas day on February 2nd when it is traditional to eat pancakes. The French do not wait until Shrove Tuesday!

Well... this is my favourite type of Epiphany cake..all the better as it is from my local baker.  I bought it on Monday 8th January and  it should last the work force at least 4 days. I had to hide it to prevent someone having second helpings. Waistlines must be thought about!

First Thursday thoughts

David Bowie - Thursday Child 1999

Thinking thoughts

Best not to think, GET ON AND DO  but today I am led to think that:

We are so busy in our lives sometimes making mistakes that we don't make time to correct them.

So, if I find myself thinking in a certain way because I think I've been hurt or upset by an event or person, or probably have hurt them, I attempt to follow the Byron Katie model of enquiry and ask the 4 questions to arrive at a nearer truth or the actual truth and turn around my thoughts. This works well and leads to other enquiry.

I was looking in my collection of thoughts from others
which have inspired me in the last 3 years
and
randomly
came upon thoughtfulness from
Jim Morrison - The Doors
NB He was also in THEM

“The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can’t be any large-scale revolution until there’s a personal revolution, on an individual level. It’s got to happen inside first. You can take away a man’s political freedom and you won’t hurt him- unless you take away his freedom to feel. That can destroy him. That kind of freedom can’t be granted. Nobody can win it for you.”

“Friends can help each other. A true friend is someone who lets you have total freedom to be yourself – and especially to feel. Or, not feel. Whatever you happen to be feeling at the moment is fine with them. That’s what real love amounts to – letting a person be what he really is.”  

“People are afraid of themselves, of their own reality; their feelings most of all. People talk about how great love is, but that’s bullshit. Love hurts. Feelings are disturbing. People are taught that pain is evil and dangerous. How can they deal with love if they’re afraid to feel? Pain is meant to wake us up. People try to hide their pain. But they’re wrong. Pain is something to carry, like a radio. You feel your strength in the experience of pain. It’s all in how you carry it. That’s what matters. Pain is a feeling. Your feelings are a part of you. Your own reality. If you feel ashamed of them, and hide them, you’re letting society destroy your reality. You should stand up for your right to feel your pain.”

“People fear death even more than pain. It's strange that they fear death. Life hurts a lot more than death. At the point of death, the pain is over. Yeah, I guess it is a friend” 

“Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.” 

First Wednesday Wonderful Eats for Tiling

This album is Emotional.  This track, based on a true story,  often makes me cry or feel sentimental. I suppose it's poignant; a girl who left home when I never had the courage until I transferred to college at 18 yrs of age, officially becoming an independent adult. 

 

Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band alias The Beatles  - She's Leaving Home - 1967

Well, today is a wonderful Wednesday because grey floor tiles are laid in the bathroom but not without angst. The packs of 7 tiles are very slightly different in size and we are talking about millimetres, which sounds not a lot until they do not marry up with straight lines!  The last one has had to be adjusted and it's lucky not to be in pieces!

Lunch was a fine roast rolled shoulder of lamb from the local fields.  I have to say I rather excelled myself without much effort and reminisced about ditches and lunchtime dinners!
Yesterday I sautéed two leeks and threw in the frozen mâche, added the potato stock and seasoning and left to cool for a soup base. However, today, into the covered casserole dish went the soup with the seared lamb, studded with slivers of garlic, on top of it, surrounded by large chunks of butternut squash, 2 onions with their skins on, (laziness create deliciousness)  and around the top slightly pre-boiled potatoes (Cherie darling), and into a cold oven at the hottest of temperatures.  This is a kind of French roasting. the moisture permeates upwards, tenderising the meat. I roasted for about 1¼ hours and then took out the meat "to rest" before slicing into thick pieces.  The potatoes and squash were taken out of the dish and put onto the hot metal tray in the oven to crisp up for about 10 minutes.  I made a sauce from the liquid in the casserole dish adding a little flour to thicken and a touch of seasoning.  To serve I put a spoonful of the leeks and mâche onto the plate with the slice of lamb on top and around it the squash, potatoes, and one onion which I had removed the skin of.
For dessert... I'd accidentally cooked the Bramley apples for too long in water and no sugar until they were mushy. I'd made a thick batter mixture with flour, egg, milk, sugar (no weighing here!) and then espied a tangerine going 'home'   so I cit it in half and chopped up the eatable portion and threw that into the batter, then poured the lot over the apples and baked that in the oven I suppose for about 40 minutes ... but had turned the heat down a wee amount!  You can smell when it is ready! 

Wonderful Wednesday

Wonderful Food

FRENCH LANGUAGE:

mâche  nf  =  lamb's lettuce

First Tuesday Salad Days

Two beautiful songs to celebrate the first Tuesday moving stone, sand, gravel, garden pots then clearing and sweeping the courtyard now that the drainage solutions are complete.  

Another load for the déchetterie.  

Another fine lunch: different salads with fresh smoked mackerel from the fishmonger - a whole fish which I skinned and deboned, flaked with aioli and served on toasted 'sweet chestnut and fig' bread from the local bakery.   

In French markets and supermarkets, cooked "betterave" is often a long variety. I love the way the crunchy, darkened, brown skin can be pulled off.  A favourite salad is to chop beetroots, garlic, leeks, cooking/eating apple, then mix with sultanas or raisins, mayonnaise or aioli, lemon juice/rind and season to taste.

The whistling wind arrived late afternoon and so it was to batten down the hatches,  keep warm by the fireside with less physical activity.

First of all, The Moody Blues and Tuesday Afternoon 1967

followed by 

The Rolling Stones and Ruby Tuesday 1967

 

 

She would never say where she came from

Yesterday don't matter if it's gone

While the sun is bright

Or in the darkest night

No one knows

She comes and goes

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday

Who could hang a name on you?

When you change with every new day

Still I'm gonna miss you...

Don't question why she needs to be so free

She'll tell you it's the only way to be

She just can't be chained

To a life where nothing's gained

And nothing's lost

At such a cost

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday

Who could hang a name on you?

When you change with every new day

Still I'm gonna miss you...

There's no time to lose, I heard her say

Catch your dreams before they slip away

Dying all the time

Lose your dreams

And you will lose your mind.

Ain't life unkind?

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday

Who could hang a name on you?

When you change with every new day

Still I'm gonna miss you...

FRENCH LANGUAGE:

betterave /bɛtʀav/ feminine noun =  beet ~ rouge beetroot

aioli = garlic mayonnaise

ail  pluriel = l'ails or l'aulx /aj/o/ masculine noun = garlic 

poireau, pl ~x /pwaʀo/ masculine noun  = leek

First Monday Wrong Shoes

Fleetwood Mac - Monday Morning 1975

Up relatively bright and early to witness the final skim of floor-levelling compound in the bathroom-to-be, then to help raise flagstones in the drive to reveal the guttering drainage pipes which have to be re-routed.  I keep finding myself saying, "Wrong shoes", as I try to keep outdoor and indoor shoes separate.  I have tiled floors and am constantly sweeping, vacuuming, mopping.  Clean sand, mucky sand, stones and rocks, have been dug out and heaped onto polythene sheets so we can drag and tip back in the dug channels after the new pipe has been laid.  Stone rocks are being carried to the growing rockery at the end of my rear garden and rubbled earth was scattered on the dips in the 'lawn', Broken slabs and rubbish from the ground was collected for the déchetterie. All mains drainage pipes had to be tested with the real thing!  Not nice but it had to be done as the drop, I think is 1mm or 1cm in every 100.  I never remember figures.  My friend is experienced in drainage difficulties! Then we had to lift and carry sand in the wheelbarrow from the rear garden to the front courtyard.  Kept after the beams were blasted, it was bound to be useful.  Back and forth helping the main man.

Meanwhile, I re-organised and cleaned the laundry/larder room.  And why on earth did I choose clinically white floor tiles?  Yes, I can see the dirt! I've now organised 'ballet shoes' by the door so that I don't wear 'wrong shoes' and make footmarks on the floor!  This is where the aerodynamic water boiler is situated and I'm sure one day it will take off! I also carried a lot of logs in..for the two woodburners as well as chopped kindling wood from the waste wood piled in a dry outdoors area.

Lunch was mainly pre-prepared: home made beef and mushroom casserole found in the freezer, which I served with wild rice and savoy type cabbage.  Yesterday the freezer section of the fridge which also acts like a freezer needed to be urgently de-iced... and hey, I have a guest invited for New Years day dinner!  For dessert it was more of the Tesco Christmas pudding that I cooked yesterday. Blackened, dried fruits had 'coagulated' into a rich and creamy consistency.  My daughter gave it to me... and being never too much worried about sell-by and eat-by dates decided to give it a try. It was dated 2007/2008 and was remarkably delicious with cream and brandy butter. By 16h we were wilting. Tea and the shared final slice of a New Year chocolate gooey French cake indicated we'd had it!  Here I am resting and reporting but the next task is to tackle the paperwork.

How unusual is this?
Daffodils in my garden are so small that I have had to carefully place the metal wine rack on the grass to protect them from being trodden on.  They were not dwarfed last year!
Yesterday, the blackbirds sang as if it were Springtime.

FRENCH  LANGUAGE:
déchetterie; noun feminine  = waste recycling site

Today's Choice

Reasons to be Cheerful Part 3 buy Ian Dury and the Blockheads 1980

WARNING for sensitive souls: There are expletives in the lyrics.

It's becoming a delight to find the songs and music of words that come into my head when I talk/ write to myself or others.  This one, for me, is about being happy with who we are and not striving for perfection. It's very appropriate for me and maybe many people.  Ian had an untimely death from cancer of the colon.  A loss.  Read more here.  I'm doing my best to find happiness in music so that I don't get dragged down. GOT TO MUCH TO DO!  I like the ending of this video - makes me laugh! 

Winter Blues

is what I'm a sufferin' from, I reckon, so I've found me some music to cheer up my soul.  I accept the need to curl up like a hedgehog and sleep a thousand leagues under my duvet ... for the winter darkened days... trouble is ....I need to get on and my body and mind just don't seem to let me!  I just love the music and imagery with the second video.  An accomplished guitarist too and the stones and woodland remind me of where I live.  Winter Bones and Stones. I miss my Summer Spirit.

Peace and Understanding

Peace is essential for living. Not only do we try to remember those who without dignity died fighting in the most dire conditions that you would not even expect an animal to endure but also we try to remember that they died struggling for peace, understanding and acceptance of the differences between different lands, cultures and peoples.  Sometimes perhaps we should try and forget past aggressions and wars so that inner peace within us has an opportunity to develop and bring harmony to the world as well as to our inner soul, our family and friends. 
For many years I upheld the Catholic faith to the best of my ability which was never good enough and I knew that.  But what is perfect? Before that I had my own beliefs which I continued to believe with modification and despite loving much of the Catholic faith especially the songs and hymns which I used to play every day on the piano, I never became a Catholic in the 23 years that I worked within the Catholic environment.  Two more years and I would have been eligible for a Papal medal if the secretary was awarded one after 25 years service to the establishment!   I made mistakes but I did my best not to be hypocritical (yet I think I probably was) and I did my best to keep the peace and to teach children that respect between people is a gift and is something to be valued in our attempt to acknowledge that people are very much the same despite differences in appearance, faiths, beliefs and much more.
When my father died this is the song that came spontaneously and which I sang all alone in a Church in Spain where there was no other family member except my daughter.  He saw terrible atrocities in the war and told me about some on the very last day I ever met him. It was as if a burden had been lifted for him because he said he had never ever told anyone this part of his story.  His only sibling sister was dying and he knew he would never see her again.  Tragically, he died soon after from a traffic accident and lost the power of speech.  He made his own decision not to burden anyone. 
This is the song I sang spontaneously today just after 11am on 11th day of the 11th month of the year 2011 as I sat in my garden listening to the clock strike the hour, as I sat and with my own reflections with hands covered in dirt and imagined those who fought in trenches, those who fought for the Fair Winds of France and England to bring freedom from fighting, to give those who came after Peace.  Each verse is repeated but Peace is replaced with Love, Joy, Hope.

Peace is flowing like a river,
Flowing out through you and me,
Spreading out into the desert,
Setting all the captives free.

On another note:
Today I was speaking to a friend about the larger pansies which compared to the diminutive ones seem to have a disappointed attitude as they bow their heads. 

Zaidi Zaidi - a Macedonian Song

Exquisite Sevdah sung by Amira Medunjanin from Bosnia and music from Sidonia, Romania, Estonia.
Listen to the delayed acoustics and the beautiful duduk, a variety of shawm. 

I'd been rejected but I was still in love

He says this in his speech - Steve Jobs 2005.

That's how I feel exactly ... but hey ... I love so many people and so many things and even I am beginning to love myself ... passion must be like a fire or a candle - it needs to be kindled so that it can burn brightly before it dies.

Love is a treasure. It is not sacrifice. It is patient and kind. It too has to be kindled and kept alive.

I learn in life that wherever there is a hello there is bound to be a goodbye ... 
who are we to know when our joy and sorrow will arrive.
I am able to laugh and then in almost the self same moment pour forth tears and vice-versa.
It's probably healthier to be somewhere in between.

There are stages in my life when I return to a most beautiful source of wisdom for solace - the book called 'The Prophet' by Kahlil Gibran.  

On Joy and Sorrow  

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine, the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
Some of you say, "Joy is greater than sorrow," and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater."
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits, alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.
Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.
Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.
When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.

My very, very, very fine house

May 2010

My very, very, very fine house

It consists of two buildings joined to make an L-shaped property:

1. the original long farm house with a centrally placed chimney / fireplace

2. a barn conversion

A neighbour, who used to live in this house, remembers the farmhouse section being one room,   The position of the entrance doors and chimney confirm this.  She used to wash in a lead bath in the room behind what is now the kitchen.  That room now contains the oil fired central heating system which I'm not using.  It was a very grubby, damp and unpleasant cellar type room.  I now call it the buanderie (laundry room).  It's interesting because this particular part of the property is on the Napoleon cadastral plan.  The neighbour also remembers the house being divided into three small rooms. What is now my ‘small room’ was once the kitchen and what is now the kitchen was once a bedroom. And what is now the oval room was once the living/dining room and still is.

The barn conversion has a bedroom and bathroom and a large living room with a staircase to the attic plus access to a workshop and the rear garden.  The house decoration and barn conversion were made in 1985; the date under the removed wallpaper confirms this!  The large French-brown gates can be closed on the outer world for privacy in the courtyard or be opened wide!

This photo was taken in April just before I bought the property.

The neighbour's garden is behind my barn. The workshop has been constructed of old doors and windows but the footplan is concrete so it will be easy to gain permission to convert it into a pretty verandah. I have a huge water cistern in the ground which collects rain water from the gutters. Looking at the photo the building on the right is not mine.  Out of view is a scruffy shed area and a hen house. No I don't have any inclination to keep chickens.  The garden is L-shaped. It's a wonderful garden because it is very private!

A heritage song comes to mind:  

Crosby Stills Nash & Young - Our House (Live 1974) with thanks to YouTube