Repas de voisins

 

Lots of catching up before sitting down to eat.

That means a neighbours lunch.

After a year in our new house we were invited to join the neighbours lunch party. Because we now live in the countryside and never see any but our immediate neighbours, Jean-Bernard and Danielle, we had never met any of the other nearby residents. We were grateful to be included  though nervous of meeting such a group.

A little something to begin

There were twenty of us all together and we were the only english speakers. That makes for a stressful experience as trying to keep up with conversations in a second language is hard when you aren’t very good at it - but we managed. Everyone was kind and welcoming and we met people from houses we didn’t even know existed near us. Even the owner of the sheep and goats in the field behind our house. We told him how we enjoyed their noisy bleating for breakfast every morning – a reminder that we are indeed in the countryside.

The long table

The repas was held in the garden of Alexander, the local stonemason, under the trees beside his pond. There was a hammock hanging from the trees on an island in the centre and his daughter made good use of this for her afternoon nap. Such a pleasant, tranquil spot.

The water level in the pond is a little low due to our lack of rain,
but still a relaxing spot.

Everyone contributed food, and wine of course. We took chicken, salad, and an apple tart. Alexander barbecued a variety of meats. One neighbour makes her own red wine, and a limoncello, and a delicious mandarincello. Another neighbour shared his collection of exotic rums. All very generous people.

The afternoon was finished off with a game of pétanque.

 

Our neighbour, Jean-Bernard, showing off his petanque skills

Lovely people and an enjoyable long afternoon.

Summer is coming to an end this week and the weather is slowly changing. Looking forward to cooler days. We are harvesting peaches, figs, apples and pears from our garden this week and made jam from the mirabelles. Still waiting for the kiwifruit and walnuts to ripen. Won't be long before the grape harvest begins and the roads will be full of tractors pulling trailer loads to the wineries. Love the change of seasons here.

Bonne semaine à tous

Lac de Pombonne

There is a man-made lake on the outskirts of Bergerac with a popular "guingette" - loosely translated that's an open air tavern. The lake is popular with dog walkers and joggers, and during the holiday season, there is a sandy beach with a netted swimming area. 

On Friday nights during summer they have live music. We went along with friends for a casual dinner and enjoyed the music of Limmie and The Blue Beat.

With lots of tables set up under the trees, some families brought along a picnic so the children could enjoy running free while also enjoying the music.

Limmie is a blind "blues" performer and, with his accompanying musicians, pumped out some good blues tunes but importantly not too loud and forceful. Their performance was excellent.

The entire environment was wonderful, with tourists and local families mixing and taking advantage of the amenities......so peaceful to spend a warm evening here. The food was okay but certainly not "haute cuisine" and the entire evening was worth the visit.

Always something happening here during the holiday season. 

The temperatture is predicted to hit 40° here on wednesday so we will be hibernating.

Hope you are enjoying wherever you are

Saturday morning drama

 Early Saturday morning and already the dramas have started.

Just before dawn and a herd of sangliers ( wild boar) were walking down the road and surprised a local going off to work. In his effort to miss them his car ended down the slope on our lower field. Luckily he is okay. There were no dead or injured sangliers around the site so we presume they have escaped into the forest relatively unscathed. Not so the car. You can see the smashed windscreen and dented roof.

While everyone was watching the tow truck at work a deer dashed across the road. 

The "pop", "pop" of hunter's guns in the forest nearby later in the morning – maybe after those pesky sangliers.

Bon weekend mes amis

New house and a new year

It's been a while, I know, and we are still here.

It's taken almost a year from A to Z but we are finally in our new house out in the countryside. It's a big change from a 19th century house in the centre of a busy town. Lots of frustration to look forward to with renovation work in France, as so many know. The stove and all the light fittings and curtains had been removed before our arrival - nothing new here. Regular trips back into town for replacement purchases, visits to kitchen designers and ,of course, bricos ( hardware stores). We did have to sell off/give away lots of furniture as this place is half the size of the old but we are still looking for suitable pieces for the new rooms. That's part of the fun, isn't it ?

Don't you love an avocado bathroom !

We've had our first lunch party, our first overnight visitors, lit our first fire of the season and the christmas decorations are up so we must be settling in. 

The neighbour's goats visit the field next door regularly and we've seen deer in there too. We have a little red squirrel that darts around the garden and there is always the birds. It's getting cold and the leaves have fallen from the trees and now it's time to do some pruning in the garden. Then we can make plans for spring.

We are looking forward to being in Paris for christmas and the forecast is for snow there. Will let you know how that goes.

joyeuses fêtes à tous