Where did the road go?

As this is the view at the rear of our farmhouse, and Arthur is positioned to show where the edge of the lane should be, it is probably no surprise that on Friday I became chief picker upper and dropper off in my Land Rover.

Every year two events happen locally, one is a charity telethon held in Pontaumur, our nearest town, to which (normally) kids and parents flock to play table games and buy raffle tickets for cakes etc. On Friday I did the cake round, fetching all the lovely choccie, sweet and gooey goodies and ferrying them down for others to win. And no - I did not pretend I got stuck in the snow and had to eat the scrumptious goods to keep my strength up.

It is currently reading -1°C in my studio so I have not been hanging out much in there.

The second event is held by our commune, the village that we are part of. The centre of the village is decorated with nativity scenes from around the world and people flock to take a tour of the scenes in the snow, drink a glass of warm fortifying mulled wine and a slice of gateau.

   http://www.landogne.fr/attachments/106_105_depliant_creches.pdf

Brendan and I have been involved every winter we have been here, putting up Christmas trees, decorating them, setting up nativity scenes and helping out in the bar. Friday afternoon I took my contingent of helpers down to the village to get our huge nativity scene set up, it features a village in Provence complete with working windmills, automated characters drinking wine, grinding coffe, making bread and hanging out the washing. It has 8 large buildings, and over 20 characters. It took 4 of us most of the afternoon to set up the buildings and the backdrops and we are nowhere near finished yet.  I have another building to make over the weekend as well as some repairs to hands, feet, and clothing.

Saturday was very very very cold, -12°C when I let the chickens out (they were not impressed I have to say), -7°C in the middle of the day was the highlight.

But on the up side it was sunny and looked very pretty and the first weekend of December is our family's traditional time for putting up the decorations so now the inside of the house is also pretty with twinkley lights and fluffy feathery decorations.

Bring on Christmas.

On the flip side, Arthur seems to have developed a serious addiction to snow.

snow snow snow snow - I dream of being snowed in

The French farmers are far too practical here, so no doubt I will be able to get to work tomorrow as normal. In the meantime I get to keep cooking all the leftovers from the chest freezer - tonight spicy meatballs.

With the chickens wandering around, wading through the snow, I also took the opportunity to take a few photos and intend to get them loaded onto flickr tonight.

Have to make the most of the internet connection while we still have it - photos uploaded to flickr and redbubble.

But I did manage to take the dog for a walk today - our tracks through the snow were the only signs of life on the lanes.

Sunday lunch with friends....

...is great way to spend the day?

There are not that many of us ex-pats here in this forgotten part of France, and whilst loath to develop that enclave personality that can be all too prevelant in ex-pat communities around the globe, we have been very lucky to make some very good friends here. And spending time with them is the highlight of our social scene. A dinner party is our equivalent of a trip to the pub, a takeaway, a trip to the cinema or a coffee and a tour of the shops.

Got home this afternoon to find the cats rampaging around the house and Thea glued to the PS3 totally oblivious. Thankfully she had remembered to throw the odd chunk of wood into the Rayburn so the house was not freezing, which was extra thankfulness because the temperature had plummeted to -7°C by 6pm. We had driven home through sleety rain and green fields, through a blizzard and arrived back to our white snowy blanket sparkling in the sunshine but so very crisp and cold. Every town here seems to have its own micro climate, very diverse.

So this evening started with some tidying up, all the housework left undone through the week, you know the boring stuff like the bathroom and the dusting, while Brendan got to fitting the new car battery; when he came in and announced that the chest freezer in the barn had blown up. Knowing his penchant for exaggeration, I queried the 'blown up' part, and he told me he had just received an electric shock from it and so had tested the outside of it and found 110Volts - it was running live. Not good. I had been in it yesterday searching for dinner inspiration but due to my being a complete klutz I only ever wear rubber soled shoes in the snow and therefore managed to avoid the shock treatment myself.

Back in the UK we bought an upright drawer freezer for £10 from the local press and it has been used on and off as we have needed it for the last 4 years, until last winter when we needed more space for Ernie, and so took in a big old chest freezer and retired the upright. Good old quality goods, this tatty outdated upright, which must be 20 years old got a quick wipe over with a bleachy cloth to sanitise it and off it went again, saving the day and all my cuts of lamb as well as the best part of my veggie crop from this year.

Not that any of this was my plan for the day, but that got hijacked very early on this morning - instead of a bit of genteel Christmas decoration making, followed by some dainty Christmas card sticking and colouring, I have been tackling rugs. Or more accurately trying to clean white wool rugs after kitten rampaging that involved a tipped up lemon tree and the dirt being used as a litter tray, and then the dog bringing in a few chicken poo clinkers stuck to his fur and rubbing them into his bedding.

With thanks to my lovely mum, my early Christmas pressie cheered me up, a lovely new rug in the living room. Cue some rug shuffling. Soiled rug went to the bin as white wool does not come clean after being used for a toilet by naughty kittens, dog bed got bits cut off it ready for washing and patching up with the old living room rug also cut up to make a new draught excluder for the front door.

Naughty Ferguson come for a cuddle after being naughty again

Time for a Martini with a cocktail stick of cherries and a bit of TV.

Spontaneous acts of love

Thank you Thea.