Friday, February 16, 2007
Wednesday 7 February 2007
On Saturday morning at Saint-Denis we tidied and packed, and then after the usual complications with opening the big gates and driving the car into the courtyard and loading it (complete with an ailing ceanothus in a large flowerpot bound for a rest cure in the Normandy air) we set off for LNL, stopping for an afternoon’s music at Livilliers.
There were quite a few people there whom we recognised from our previous visit in January last year, many of whom kindly recognised us, and one gentleman who kissed all the ladies’ hands. Not sure whether this has ever happened to me before! Our host looked just the same, quietly filling glasses and filming part of the proceedings, but our hostess’ hair was a new colour - an improvement, I felt - which was more than could be said for her dress sense. Her singing was still slightly strained, with strange facial expressions especially when singing in German; she fared better once she switched to Poulenc.
We spoke briefly to a clarinettist we remembered from last time; he turned out to be an Englishman who had studied at Cambridge, but he left the party soon afterwards to go and sing the Mozart Requiem that evening before we could find out more, apart from him saying if I enjoyed choral singing I ought to do it more, and my saying it was difficult while living in two places at once.
N and the rest of the quartet played the Beethoven; I felt it really came together in the third movement, and N was surprised when I said this. Afterwards he was asked to play in an impromptu performance of a movement from a Schumann quintet with piano which sounded wonderful; there were a few stops and restarts, and the pianist suggested that next time they played it all.
The real highlights of the afternoon however, were two cello sonatas; the first by Schumann played by a cellist called Jean-Maurice whom we had met last time together with his wife - one of the audience like me - with whom we thought we had got on very well. The other sonata by Shostakovich was played by one of the more elderly guests; afterwards I thought how amazing it was that so much energy could come from a little old man in a grey pullover. Both were accompanied by excellent pianists. Those of us listening were quiet spellbound by these performances, and broke into spontaneous applause at the end; quiet unlike our reception of our hostess’ singing.
We left at about 7.00 and drove in the dark through firstly unfamiliar then more familiar roads, back to Normandy and La Neuve-Lyre, thanks to the satellite navigation. The house warmed up fairly well, and we checked our post-box the same evening, but several things we had been expecting were not there. A few days later it occurred to me just how efficient this new heating system is; once it’s got going again you don’t notice it at all, the house is just comfortable to be in and move around in.
On Sunday morning we inspected the garden; lots of snowdrops out, much earlier then last year, and even some daffodil leaves poking through, and half a dozen bright pink flowers on the camellia. I set off to the village shops in search of some meat for Sunday lunch; the traiteur was closed which surprised me, so I went on to the butchers for some lamb chops (we still have an good supply of excellent home-made mint jelly) and overheard in conversation that the traiteur had closed down definitively and that they had left! This was a great blow it seemed, to us and to the whole village; apparently they had only been there two years, I remembered Marie-Antoinette saying when we praised them that they were not as good as the previous traiteur. When I next see her must ask if she has any information.
Friday 9 February 2007
There have been many times since my move to France that I have felt I have really arrived; receiving a phone number, a Carte Vitale, a tax number, not to mention The Kissing, but now we are truly part of things as we have been counted in the census! There was a note in our post box explaining this soon after New Year and saying that it would happen in February - unlike Britain it occurs every five years and not for everyone at the same time - and that this year it was the turn of our commune. (And of a few others, too, I suppose.) I was especially interested as I had worked on the collection of forms in Cambridge during the 1991 census in Britain, where it was a just a case of delivering them and then picking them up again completed by the householders. I had expected to find our forms in the post box too, but on Monday morning the lady duly arrived, saying she had had some trouble finding us - I assume she had called several times while were away. She sat in the salon and wrote down our answers to all the usual questions, plus a few I didn’t expect, such as what kind of fuel did we use to heat the house, and how many cars had we got, and where were we living in 2002, date of the last census in LNL. Not sure if this is less or more efficient than the British system!
We had received a phone message from the garden centre to the effect that N’s chain-saw which he had taken to be repaired was now ready for collection, so went to Bernay on Monday afternoon, to visit the garden centre and to do some more serious food shopping. (The chain-saw had last been used in Italy some years ago, and is now needed to deal with dead branch from the apple tree, to make us some extra firewood.) N also bought an interesting blue plant called an agapanthus, lots of seed potatoes and onions and a little magnolia tree, which is my Valentine’s Day present, as I have always wanted one. It has been planted in the middle of the front lawn, and I feel it should have a red ribbon tied round it next Wednesday.
When I was hardly awake on Tuesday morning I saw what I thought were flakes of snow twirling about on the other side of the net curtains, and on drawing them back found that it really was snowing! It had not been forecast, but as N said, temperatures below freezing plus forecast rain = snow. As the morning wore on and it got warmer it all melted, and as I thought, was all gone by 11.00. It is the first snow we have seen here this year though, but we suspect there was some here earlier while we were still in Paris. Very unlike last winter, when it was much colder and frostier.
N received a message from « La Maison du Dictionnaire » (the publishers of the Lexique) thanking us for our visit and asking us for a Press Release in English, which could be sent to likely contacts in Britain, plus a list of English internet sites we thought would be interested (estate agents, property magazines, etc.) I spent several afternoons drafting the Press Release (which I very much enjoyed) and trawling through the English language French house-buying magazines Madeleine had brought last November looking for - and typing out - the website addresses, which I enjoyed slightly less as there were dozens of them. But it could all prove very worth while if it means extra copies being sold, and has all now been sent on to La M du D, who have thanked us for our efficiency.
One of the main reasons we are here all this month is the expected installation of the water purification system by Monsieur A and his team, and having heard nothing I phoned this morning for news, and was told he would be in touch on Monday. We are also waiting for an estimate for the re-doing of the garden wall and the famous Façade; this was promised for Monday too.
Sunday 11 February 2007
In between times when the weather has been fine and dry N has done more gardening; the vegetable patch is now completely clear and re-dug ready for this year’s crops to be sown - in careful rotation from last year - which N is very anxious to start. The last few Brussels sprouts were picked yesterday, and the bulk of them frozen; I’d forgotten just how much time it takes, it was like last July all over again. He has also got the chainsaw going (very carefully) and chopped up the dead apple branch which fell off last summer, and cut dead stumps off both the apple tree and the cherry tree, so that they look much tidier. The smaller apple branches have been burned on the fire today, but the larger ones need to dry out in the wood shed.
On Friday morning I called at the vegetable stall (and found another lovely Romanesco cauliflower!) There was no-one else there, and stallholders said it was very quiet, where were all the people in this village, were they all ill in bed? I laughed and said I hoped not, and on going to the boulangerie found it completely empty, and told the boulangère what they had said. She just said February is always a very miserable month. What with this and N anxious for March to begin so that he can plant things, I keep thinking of this, and how Valentine’s Day always comes just as the weather is at its dullest and there is very little else happening. (N said wasn’t the boulangère busy getting Valentine cakes ready for next week?) Last year we were so busy it took us by surprise, but this year I am planning a Gala Dinner. When we were last at Casa in Bernay N bought a Fondue Set on impulse (even though he has a cheap one and I have an old one) so next Wednesday we are planning Fondue Bouguignonne, and I think I should do something with my heart-shaped cake moulds which have not been used for many years.
Tuesday 13 February 2007
This morning I went on the bus to the market at L’Aigle, mainly for a change of scene, but also because the weather was so fine and sunny (8 degrees) and because there is still no sign of Monsieur A or any of this team. It was the first time I had been since November when Madeleine was with me, and there were quite a few changes in the stalls. I bought smoked haddock, local mushrooms, two kinds of Normandy honey, handkerchiefs for N, (the first time have seen a handkerchief stall there!) white tulips and a ring binder and plastic pockets for my latest project.
This project is the sorting and editing of various family letters I brought back with me from Ipswich, dating from the 1914-18 War. Some of them are very fragile, as can be imagined, so after having typed the texts - so that all the family can read them easily - I am filing them carefully in the ring binder. It is very absorbing work, and some afternoons I have almost felt I was living in 1917 myself. Since arriving back here from Paris 10 days ago there was first of all urgent work to do on the Lexique plus so much catching up in the house, that I have divided my time up more strictly. In the mornings I do whatever needs doing in the house or kitchen, and in the afternoons spend time in my study; work on the computer, e-mails, letters or other paperwork, and most recently the War Letters. It’s proving a very good system.
Thursday 15 February 2007
The Valentine dinner was a great success, just as well as we plan to have more Fondues when we have guests. The little heart-shaped moulds were fiddly to turn the cakes out of, but the cake very good eaten with chocolate sauce, and there was enough mixture for a larger round cake for the freezer. The other event yesterday was N announcing at lunchtime that he had ordered flowers for me which should have arrived during the morning - he had to spoil the surprise and tell me as we were due to go out to Bernay! When we came back there was a large box by the front gate, containing a beautiful big bunch of pink roses, green chrysanthemums, strange but petty pink and red berries and lots of greenery. It took a long time to undo the raffia ties - as instructed - and separate them all, and they filled two vases, one for the dining room table and one on the sideboard in the grande pièce. It is lovely to have so many fresh flowers indoors at this time of the year. After dinner we had a very enjoyable time watching a free DVD sent by the Paris Opera; N usually receives brochures and schedules but this time they sent a DVD to give an idea of the season’s programme. We are going to Paris later in March to see a ballet based on music admired by Proust, which I am very much looking forward to, especially as it is at the Palais Garnier - the original Paris Opéra, as opposed to Bastille opera house, which is very fine but only dates from 1989! This is particularly fitting as Proust himself was a regular visitor to Palais Garnier, just down the road from where he lived in Boulevard Haussmann.
We had gone to Bernay in the afternoon for a regular visit to the supermarket and also to the furniture store Sesame. N bought a high-backed chair for his study to support his back while at the computer, playing the viola or sitting at the keyboard, and I continued my search for a footstool - most of them were entirely the wrong colours but I found a tiny little wooden one with a rush top for 12 euros to be going on with. We also called in at Casa, where previously I had seen square pouffes in lurid oranges and turquoises - only afterwards did it occur to me that I could cover one in something more muted. They were no longer there, but I bought a square white woven plastic pouffe - N said it looks like an upside down bird cage, but is just the job and looks fine next to the white-clothed coffee table and beige sofa in the grande pièce, and most important of all it is lovely to rest my feet on, especially now I have found a cushion to go on the top.
Today the weather is beautifully spring like - like it was on Tuesday, with heavy rain in between yesterday. N has been in the garden most of the day, emptying the original compost bin on to the newly dug vegetable garden, and then moving it next to the second bin at the other end of the plot, leaving the end wall bare ready for when Monsieur A’s men (if ever) start repairing the face of the garden wall. Apart from snowdrops, and mini daffodils by the verandah door there are now one crocus and quite few primroses, and the regular daffodils in the middle of the garden will be out soon. N has found a tiny nest - about the size of coffee cup - in the middle of the star-flower bush. Presumably when it was constructed it was well hidden by branches. There are more and more birds in the garden now, and in the mornings it is light by about 8.00 when we have tea and coffee in bed and we can draw back the curtains and watch them in the big fir tree, or on the balcony.
I have finished the first part of the Life of George Sand, and am now well into the second - the timing of the changeover was not good - in the middle of my Eurostar journey to Ipswich, so that I ended up carrying both volumes around with me. When I bought the second volume (in Paris in between Germany and Ipswich) I read the synopsis of her life in the train on the way home, and it is frustrating to have to read all thorough a treatise on Jesuit doctrine when I know there are such fascinating things such as voyages and affairs with Chopin and De Musset to come!
We are here until almost the end of the month; I shall go to Paris for a quick visit from both daughters, and then both N and I will go to Le Mans for a couple of days to visit Simone (who came here last August) N to play music and me to sit and enjoy it, and also to be shown round the historic sights of Le Mans. After going to Milan at the end of March, we then hope to have three lots of visitors here in Normandy in April, though at the time of writing only two bookings have been confirmed!
On Saturday morning at Saint-Denis we tidied and packed, and then after the usual complications with opening the big gates and driving the car into the courtyard and loading it (complete with an ailing ceanothus in a large flowerpot bound for a rest cure in the Normandy air) we set off for LNL, stopping for an afternoon’s music at Livilliers.
There were quite a few people there whom we recognised from our previous visit in January last year, many of whom kindly recognised us, and one gentleman who kissed all the ladies’ hands. Not sure whether this has ever happened to me before! Our host looked just the same, quietly filling glasses and filming part of the proceedings, but our hostess’ hair was a new colour - an improvement, I felt - which was more than could be said for her dress sense. Her singing was still slightly strained, with strange facial expressions especially when singing in German; she fared better once she switched to Poulenc.
We spoke briefly to a clarinettist we remembered from last time; he turned out to be an Englishman who had studied at Cambridge, but he left the party soon afterwards to go and sing the Mozart Requiem that evening before we could find out more, apart from him saying if I enjoyed choral singing I ought to do it more, and my saying it was difficult while living in two places at once.
N and the rest of the quartet played the Beethoven; I felt it really came together in the third movement, and N was surprised when I said this. Afterwards he was asked to play in an impromptu performance of a movement from a Schumann quintet with piano which sounded wonderful; there were a few stops and restarts, and the pianist suggested that next time they played it all.
The real highlights of the afternoon however, were two cello sonatas; the first by Schumann played by a cellist called Jean-Maurice whom we had met last time together with his wife - one of the audience like me - with whom we thought we had got on very well. The other sonata by Shostakovich was played by one of the more elderly guests; afterwards I thought how amazing it was that so much energy could come from a little old man in a grey pullover. Both were accompanied by excellent pianists. Those of us listening were quiet spellbound by these performances, and broke into spontaneous applause at the end; quiet unlike our reception of our hostess’ singing.
We left at about 7.00 and drove in the dark through firstly unfamiliar then more familiar roads, back to Normandy and La Neuve-Lyre, thanks to the satellite navigation. The house warmed up fairly well, and we checked our post-box the same evening, but several things we had been expecting were not there. A few days later it occurred to me just how efficient this new heating system is; once it’s got going again you don’t notice it at all, the house is just comfortable to be in and move around in.
On Sunday morning we inspected the garden; lots of snowdrops out, much earlier then last year, and even some daffodil leaves poking through, and half a dozen bright pink flowers on the camellia. I set off to the village shops in search of some meat for Sunday lunch; the traiteur was closed which surprised me, so I went on to the butchers for some lamb chops (we still have an good supply of excellent home-made mint jelly) and overheard in conversation that the traiteur had closed down definitively and that they had left! This was a great blow it seemed, to us and to the whole village; apparently they had only been there two years, I remembered Marie-Antoinette saying when we praised them that they were not as good as the previous traiteur. When I next see her must ask if she has any information.
Friday 9 February 2007
There have been many times since my move to France that I have felt I have really arrived; receiving a phone number, a Carte Vitale, a tax number, not to mention The Kissing, but now we are truly part of things as we have been counted in the census! There was a note in our post box explaining this soon after New Year and saying that it would happen in February - unlike Britain it occurs every five years and not for everyone at the same time - and that this year it was the turn of our commune. (And of a few others, too, I suppose.) I was especially interested as I had worked on the collection of forms in Cambridge during the 1991 census in Britain, where it was a just a case of delivering them and then picking them up again completed by the householders. I had expected to find our forms in the post box too, but on Monday morning the lady duly arrived, saying she had had some trouble finding us - I assume she had called several times while were away. She sat in the salon and wrote down our answers to all the usual questions, plus a few I didn’t expect, such as what kind of fuel did we use to heat the house, and how many cars had we got, and where were we living in 2002, date of the last census in LNL. Not sure if this is less or more efficient than the British system!
We had received a phone message from the garden centre to the effect that N’s chain-saw which he had taken to be repaired was now ready for collection, so went to Bernay on Monday afternoon, to visit the garden centre and to do some more serious food shopping. (The chain-saw had last been used in Italy some years ago, and is now needed to deal with dead branch from the apple tree, to make us some extra firewood.) N also bought an interesting blue plant called an agapanthus, lots of seed potatoes and onions and a little magnolia tree, which is my Valentine’s Day present, as I have always wanted one. It has been planted in the middle of the front lawn, and I feel it should have a red ribbon tied round it next Wednesday.
When I was hardly awake on Tuesday morning I saw what I thought were flakes of snow twirling about on the other side of the net curtains, and on drawing them back found that it really was snowing! It had not been forecast, but as N said, temperatures below freezing plus forecast rain = snow. As the morning wore on and it got warmer it all melted, and as I thought, was all gone by 11.00. It is the first snow we have seen here this year though, but we suspect there was some here earlier while we were still in Paris. Very unlike last winter, when it was much colder and frostier.
N received a message from « La Maison du Dictionnaire » (the publishers of the Lexique) thanking us for our visit and asking us for a Press Release in English, which could be sent to likely contacts in Britain, plus a list of English internet sites we thought would be interested (estate agents, property magazines, etc.) I spent several afternoons drafting the Press Release (which I very much enjoyed) and trawling through the English language French house-buying magazines Madeleine had brought last November looking for - and typing out - the website addresses, which I enjoyed slightly less as there were dozens of them. But it could all prove very worth while if it means extra copies being sold, and has all now been sent on to La M du D, who have thanked us for our efficiency.
One of the main reasons we are here all this month is the expected installation of the water purification system by Monsieur A and his team, and having heard nothing I phoned this morning for news, and was told he would be in touch on Monday. We are also waiting for an estimate for the re-doing of the garden wall and the famous Façade; this was promised for Monday too.
Sunday 11 February 2007
In between times when the weather has been fine and dry N has done more gardening; the vegetable patch is now completely clear and re-dug ready for this year’s crops to be sown - in careful rotation from last year - which N is very anxious to start. The last few Brussels sprouts were picked yesterday, and the bulk of them frozen; I’d forgotten just how much time it takes, it was like last July all over again. He has also got the chainsaw going (very carefully) and chopped up the dead apple branch which fell off last summer, and cut dead stumps off both the apple tree and the cherry tree, so that they look much tidier. The smaller apple branches have been burned on the fire today, but the larger ones need to dry out in the wood shed.
On Friday morning I called at the vegetable stall (and found another lovely Romanesco cauliflower!) There was no-one else there, and stallholders said it was very quiet, where were all the people in this village, were they all ill in bed? I laughed and said I hoped not, and on going to the boulangerie found it completely empty, and told the boulangère what they had said. She just said February is always a very miserable month. What with this and N anxious for March to begin so that he can plant things, I keep thinking of this, and how Valentine’s Day always comes just as the weather is at its dullest and there is very little else happening. (N said wasn’t the boulangère busy getting Valentine cakes ready for next week?) Last year we were so busy it took us by surprise, but this year I am planning a Gala Dinner. When we were last at Casa in Bernay N bought a Fondue Set on impulse (even though he has a cheap one and I have an old one) so next Wednesday we are planning Fondue Bouguignonne, and I think I should do something with my heart-shaped cake moulds which have not been used for many years.
Tuesday 13 February 2007
This morning I went on the bus to the market at L’Aigle, mainly for a change of scene, but also because the weather was so fine and sunny (8 degrees) and because there is still no sign of Monsieur A or any of this team. It was the first time I had been since November when Madeleine was with me, and there were quite a few changes in the stalls. I bought smoked haddock, local mushrooms, two kinds of Normandy honey, handkerchiefs for N, (the first time have seen a handkerchief stall there!) white tulips and a ring binder and plastic pockets for my latest project.
This project is the sorting and editing of various family letters I brought back with me from Ipswich, dating from the 1914-18 War. Some of them are very fragile, as can be imagined, so after having typed the texts - so that all the family can read them easily - I am filing them carefully in the ring binder. It is very absorbing work, and some afternoons I have almost felt I was living in 1917 myself. Since arriving back here from Paris 10 days ago there was first of all urgent work to do on the Lexique plus so much catching up in the house, that I have divided my time up more strictly. In the mornings I do whatever needs doing in the house or kitchen, and in the afternoons spend time in my study; work on the computer, e-mails, letters or other paperwork, and most recently the War Letters. It’s proving a very good system.
Thursday 15 February 2007
The Valentine dinner was a great success, just as well as we plan to have more Fondues when we have guests. The little heart-shaped moulds were fiddly to turn the cakes out of, but the cake very good eaten with chocolate sauce, and there was enough mixture for a larger round cake for the freezer. The other event yesterday was N announcing at lunchtime that he had ordered flowers for me which should have arrived during the morning - he had to spoil the surprise and tell me as we were due to go out to Bernay! When we came back there was a large box by the front gate, containing a beautiful big bunch of pink roses, green chrysanthemums, strange but petty pink and red berries and lots of greenery. It took a long time to undo the raffia ties - as instructed - and separate them all, and they filled two vases, one for the dining room table and one on the sideboard in the grande pièce. It is lovely to have so many fresh flowers indoors at this time of the year. After dinner we had a very enjoyable time watching a free DVD sent by the Paris Opera; N usually receives brochures and schedules but this time they sent a DVD to give an idea of the season’s programme. We are going to Paris later in March to see a ballet based on music admired by Proust, which I am very much looking forward to, especially as it is at the Palais Garnier - the original Paris Opéra, as opposed to Bastille opera house, which is very fine but only dates from 1989! This is particularly fitting as Proust himself was a regular visitor to Palais Garnier, just down the road from where he lived in Boulevard Haussmann.
We had gone to Bernay in the afternoon for a regular visit to the supermarket and also to the furniture store Sesame. N bought a high-backed chair for his study to support his back while at the computer, playing the viola or sitting at the keyboard, and I continued my search for a footstool - most of them were entirely the wrong colours but I found a tiny little wooden one with a rush top for 12 euros to be going on with. We also called in at Casa, where previously I had seen square pouffes in lurid oranges and turquoises - only afterwards did it occur to me that I could cover one in something more muted. They were no longer there, but I bought a square white woven plastic pouffe - N said it looks like an upside down bird cage, but is just the job and looks fine next to the white-clothed coffee table and beige sofa in the grande pièce, and most important of all it is lovely to rest my feet on, especially now I have found a cushion to go on the top.
Today the weather is beautifully spring like - like it was on Tuesday, with heavy rain in between yesterday. N has been in the garden most of the day, emptying the original compost bin on to the newly dug vegetable garden, and then moving it next to the second bin at the other end of the plot, leaving the end wall bare ready for when Monsieur A’s men (if ever) start repairing the face of the garden wall. Apart from snowdrops, and mini daffodils by the verandah door there are now one crocus and quite few primroses, and the regular daffodils in the middle of the garden will be out soon. N has found a tiny nest - about the size of coffee cup - in the middle of the star-flower bush. Presumably when it was constructed it was well hidden by branches. There are more and more birds in the garden now, and in the mornings it is light by about 8.00 when we have tea and coffee in bed and we can draw back the curtains and watch them in the big fir tree, or on the balcony.
I have finished the first part of the Life of George Sand, and am now well into the second - the timing of the changeover was not good - in the middle of my Eurostar journey to Ipswich, so that I ended up carrying both volumes around with me. When I bought the second volume (in Paris in between Germany and Ipswich) I read the synopsis of her life in the train on the way home, and it is frustrating to have to read all thorough a treatise on Jesuit doctrine when I know there are such fascinating things such as voyages and affairs with Chopin and De Musset to come!
We are here until almost the end of the month; I shall go to Paris for a quick visit from both daughters, and then both N and I will go to Le Mans for a couple of days to visit Simone (who came here last August) N to play music and me to sit and enjoy it, and also to be shown round the historic sights of Le Mans. After going to Milan at the end of March, we then hope to have three lots of visitors here in Normandy in April, though at the time of writing only two bookings have been confirmed!
# posted by Chez Katherine @ 3:34 AM 
