4th. On a walk through the village this morning I passed a Gite which has been closed up every time that I have passed it till now. Today these shutters were open and very fine they are too.
6th. Some really good news has come through it the last few days. I have received the building permit from the municipality for my fence. Since it is already built this is a good thing! I also received an invitation to a meeting at the Prefecture in La Rochelle to have my fingerprints taken for the issuance of my residence permit, this is exceptionally good news as it looks as if the STUPID British Govt is about to crash out of Europe.
Today I put up my Christmas tree outside to share with my neighbours and my somewhat limited in house decorations. I was motivated by the grand show put on by Roland & Catherine down the road.
Photos taken of the tree through a rain spattered window.
9th. Great news. Today I went to La Rochelle to have my finger prints taken at the Prefecture in preparation for the issue of my post Brexit ten year residence permit.
10th. Rolande and Catherine have added even more lights to their display. Other houses on the developement are adding their own Christmas touches but nothing quite matches this one yet!
11th. In the village the church and market place have Christmas trees, the main street is festooned with lights and they even extent out to the main road.
12th The Christmas card factory is in full production to get them all finished in time. 59 have been made and posted to date so I’m down to single digits now. Mostly copies of this stylised robin but I have also added copies of Helen and Steves lovely Christmas tree.
19th All the Christmas cards are finished and posted except for those that are very local and will be dropped into post boxes. With off cuts of card and parchment I made a few book marks. Drew them free hand and am quite pleased with them. The drawing and painting of about 50 cards might be paying off in terms of improved skills! Lets hope so.
23rd Distributed Christmas cards and mince piesm hot from the oven, in the hood today. Forgot to photograph them in my rush to get them out before the next rain shower!
24th. Lemons from my trees and sprouts from the garden (for tomorrows lunch).
As I was drying Cassidy off in the garage with the door open, following a wet morning walk, Tracey called by to drop off a Christmas card and Catherine and Roland (they of the extravagant garden Christmas lights!) dropped off the beautifully decorated jam jar filled with home made traditional European Christmas biscuits.
In the evening, against my better judgment, I joined Martine & Monique in Martine’s house across the road for “Aperos” which involved 5 hours round the table with a constant flow of very special food and drink contributed by all three of us and lively conversation. It was a lovely evening.
25th Got up to clear blue skies and bright sunshine. Opened my festive Christmas mug full of home made chocolate truffles from Martine and Steve and Helen’s painterly hand creams and Belgium chocolates. YUM!
Such a shame the parcel from Jon, Nicki and Marian failed to make it in time.
After our walk I started on the Christmas lunch. A roast turkey leg with stuffing balls, roast parsnips and potatoes and Brussel sprouts from the garden. very good it is too but almost better still is the prospect of left overs! This evening after C and I have had our second walk I will settle down to some TV (hopefully a good film or I’ll just have to haul out “love Actually” again!) some Christmas cake, some cheddar cheese and the other half of the half bottle of Champagne that I started with lunch.
Chears all and hope you have had a lovely day.
capetocarpe 