Bonne fetes!!

So unbelievably it's only a couple of days away from Xmas - this year has gone by so fast although I am pretty sure I say that every year! I have to confess that I don't really do Xmas - sorry but I really hate spending money on buying stuff that no-one really needs and just fills the world with more packaging etc - bah humbug ha. Having said that having our first wintery xmas is going to be fun and it's been nice driving through all the pretty little French villages with all there lights and decorations up. We went to Sarlat last weekend to show Chelsea as she hadn't been there before - it's one of my favourite towns in our vicinity - a lot less crowds too in the winter - the last time Paul and I went there for the Saturday market it was total bedlam! Here's some pics.

They had a little ice rink set up in the town square which looked like lots of fun for the kids..

It was one of the few days it hasn't been raining - I think it has rained nearly every day for several weeks now - the Dordogne and Lot rivers are both looking very full now which must be a good thing for everyone. Mind you it gets a bit tiresome as far as getting up and going in the mornings. We have (or I should say Paul has) removed the floorboards on the first story now - this makes the walk upstairs a little interesting as if you did fall off it would be pretty ugly!

Paul has also manhandled the two huge beams we bought a few months ago into their new positions - consequently he has a very sore back now - hopefully it's just muscular and won't be too bad in the long term.

We discovered that one of the chimneys was leaking a bit as the stones inside the attic have become a bit damp - Paul was not too keen on getting up on the scaffold but our friend John didn't seem too bothered so was roped in to do the job - here he is today fixing it up.

It's not looking like it will be a white xmas here like it was last year but we are actually headed to the Pyrenees for a few days skiing and it has finally snowed there last weekend - the weather is meant to be sunny but cold so should be perfect! Here is a pic of our house that John and Aileen took last year on xmas day - hopefully it will snow here soon!!

Le neuvième de Décembre

This will be a quick post this week. We have been cruising along the past week or two - putting finishing touches on the attic apartment and just generally enjoying life in general. Paul has spent the past couple of days helping out our friends who are doing a similar renovation but they have a gite business and have actually already taken some bookings for the house so have a very definite deadline! We, on the other hand have got a bit more time on our hands although it will be nice to have the next floor done by March when my parents are due to visit. But all the major jobs in the attic have been done and we are pretty well ready for Chels' visit in a couple of days time. She will be sleeping on a fold out bed borrowed from the neighbors in the store room at the side of the kitchen so not exactly ritzy but will still beat the barn :) Here are some more 'finished' shots of the attic.

We are still on the lookout for a couple of finishing touches - an armoir for our coats etc to put at the entrance and a tv cabinet or something that we can use as one. We have also got to do the shelving in the store room but will probably wait until after Chels has gone back to school so she doesn't feel too cramped in. But all up we are both pretty happy with how it has turned out. So far it has been easy to keep warm with our standard oil filled electric radiator heater - but having said that we have had very mild weather lately so hasn't really been tested yet. Hopefully the weather does get more wintry in the next couple of weeks as we are booked in to go skiing at the Pyrenees for Xmas. Well I say skiing but since none of us have actually done it before I think there might be only a slim chance of actual skiing happening but it will be fun trying. We did spend a day or so installing the satellite dish which nearly ended in divorce due to each of us thinking we knew which way to do it best. Hmmmmm this seems to happen to us a lot - both a little bit arrogant perhaps - haha who would have thought!! Both of us spent time up the ladder - in the rain - trying to use our iphones to align the dish to what we thought was the right direction. There is probably a very good reason most people get a professional installer! I ended up finding something on the net that uses google earth where you can actually click on the exact spot the dish is and it gives you the direction the satellite is in - this turned out to work much better and so we finally got the dish tuned in and we were away. Or so we thought... three days later Paul was woken during the night with bright lights coming on the box - mildly creepy since it was turned off when we went to bed but after a few minutes they all went off - well next day the stupid thing wouldn't boot up at all. So that took care of a morning while I researched what could be wrong with a brand new 'you beaut' Humax!! After a few calls and emails to the place in the UK that we had brought it from they emailed and told me to pack it up and send it back! Great... anyway we told our neighbors about it and they told us we could try to use one of their old boxes - quick clean - plugged it in and away she went. So we still have some English tv to watch which has been handy since it has been raining pretty much all week. Although unless you like X Factor or Dancing with the stars there aint that much to watch to be honest! (sorry Aileen!) I went riding again last week - was very lucky and got to ride a lovely young Friesian - I am now pestering Paul constantly about getting some fencing organised and maybe a little stable so I can have my own. However whilst I am now on the lookout for a horse Paul has been scouring the second hand websites for a motorbike - so is all fair. Here is a pic of me looking very happy with myself!

Dimanche 27 Novembre

Ok, I guess it had to happen eventually. The cold, grey drizzle has finally hit our valley and I guess it means it's only just the start of a long cold winter. Luckily we have now moved into our cute little apartment in our attic. We have been sleeping here for about 5 days but it was only yesterday that we got the shower working along with the electricity. What luxury! This means the heating can go on and with only max of 5 or 6 degrees trust me we need it! We are having a bit of a lazy day today watching some downloaded tv on the computer and doing some cooking. We did venture out this morning to a brocante/vide grenier that was at a village about 20km away. Only came home with some cupboard handles but we had fun looking. It is nice to take a bit of a breather as it has been pretty hectic the past month or two - particularly for Paul who has been grappling, literally, with the French plumbing fittings as well as the French way of wiring. As far as the plumbing goes he tends to be too strong for his own good as often a leaky join has ended up with a broken fitting due to some over zealous tightening. Has been very frustrating though as just as it seems all the leaks have been sorted another one rears up. I wanted the toilet in place before we moved in but only after a couple of days Paul noticed there was a leak on the boards under it - after much investigating he worked out that the 'new' toilet had been patched on the underside and one of them wasn't holding. Pity we had bought it from Brive otherwise we would have taken it back but we have decided to try to fix it - will see how that plays out. In the meantime we have been tripping down the stairs back to the barn to use the loo. There may also be a small bucket involved for the night time ha.

Anyway here are some before and after shots - the afters will be added to next blog as there is still a few things to do but is a massive improvement on our camp in the barn!

Last week we had to head back to Toulouse as I had managed to pick up some wrong pieces for the kitchen cupboards in Ikea - so frustrating but it meant we could also drop our friends off to their flight to the UK so was all good. We also discovered an amazing charity shop with tonnes of secondhand stuff for really cheap prices. Two bedside tables of solid timber with matching marble tops that I am in the process of sanding and painting up came to the grand price of 10 euros. There was lots of nice furniture there but we only had the car - might have to see if the van is up to a return trip!

Note the bed that Paul has made us out of one of the oak beams that was left after the roof had been done and some of the floorboards from the attic. Recycling at its best! Other news is that I have finally been horse riding here. My friend Kathleen happened to mention that she had been getting lessons with her hubby who has managed to cut his leg with a chainsaw - ouch - anyway I said I would go with her and it was fantastic. Nice lively horses and we rode for over an hour around our lovely little valley - makes me want to get a horse here even more now much to Pauls distress! We went on one of the days that we have had most of November of - chilly start but clear sunny days - was all very nice. We have also been taking our neighbors dog for walks - well actually he tends to take himself and we just follow along hopefully behind him. I took some pics on one such walk.

Well the plan for the next week or so is keep going with finishing off up here - still have overhead cupboards to go in and the little storeroom/utility room still needs some plastering once the wash basin in the bathroom has been installed. Sanding of the stairs - plenty to do. Hopefully we may get the windows for the second floor and they will need painting before Paul installs them too. We have debated at length what to do with the windows. Initially we wanted to keep them the traditional French style similar to those that had been in there but to get them made from oak and double glazed, which is pretty much a necessity here, will cost nearly a grand a window and the ones we have seen didn't really look that great. We can get very cheap double glazed ones at the 'dodgy' brico which are single panes - benefit being once you paint them they should look reasonably good/unobtrusive and the second floor has really nice views so it will maximize those. Anyway since they are so cheap if down the track we decide we should have gone the artisan option we can always do it at that stage. In the meantime getting the rest of the building as airtight as possible is pretty crucial. It is quite strange walking through the first couple of floors that look like bomb sites to arrive here in the clean white freshness at the top of the stairs. Can't wait until it all looks this good! Oh and by the way Geoff if you are reading this the product on the floor is something by 3v3 called Huile Blanc - yep white oil! We didn't really follow instructions as it wasn't as white as we wanted so didn't remove the excess off with a clothe after painting on. This meant it did take longer to dry but seems to be holding up ok. Last pic is of some 'mushroom/fungi' growing on some of the trees around here. Apparently it is 'cepes' or wild mushroom season but we wouldn't know what was edible or not so just choose not to go there. This lot certainly doesn't look edible but who knows??

Mardi - le seizième de Novembre

Ok - well instead of sitting around watching paint dry - literally - I thought I would come in and do my blog now.  I think it has been about 10 days since the last one.  We are so close to getting the attic finished but still so far!  I am in the middle of finishing off the oiling of the floorboards.  Here is a photo taken about an hour ago - the coat I did last night is still a bit sticky but I think another hour or two and I should be good to go. You can see where the second coat from one end has already been done a while back.  Yes I am doing it white.  I am not sure if this will haunt me later but I figure this space will end up really only as guest overflow so shouldn't be used that much.  Since it is oiled too it doesn't take much to give it a quick sand and re coat if it starts looking too grotty.  Paul was dead against it until the drama with the floor shrinking then he said I could do what I liked with it - I think he may be regretting it now but too late ha.. I think it looks great - so much nicer then the yellow piney color and I didn't want to stain it dark as there are only very small windows up there.

Work in the attic has been slowed down due to Paul having to shift to getting the bottom floor ready for the concrete crew to lay the concrete.  I have kept going though - and have pretty much now got it all airtight as I have now mudded up to the plasterboard and also the floorboards - very messy job but does finish it all off nicely. 
Here are some pics of Paul getting the bottom floor ready.  He has worked his butt off this week - most nights he was still in there shovelling and digging in the numerous conduits and wires etc until really late. 

But it has been worth it as yesterday Arthur the concreter came with a couple of workers and they have left us with this!

Front door

It's going to be so good to not have muddy, dirty floors to constantly track upstairs!  Unfortunately Paul is now spending the afternoon chipping away some of the concrete at the front door as is too high to fit in the underhoor heating system plus tiles etc.  He was concerned when it didn't look like the levels were being checked when the floor was going in and rightly so.  It is not too much of a drama as we can always reduce the amount of insulation we put in but still not fun to have to redo something.

Looking from the little snug/tv room through to the living room

On Saturday we went back to see the couple we bought the beams off who are renovating a cottage about an hour or so away.  The weather has been really nice - surprisingly since November is traditionally very gray and miserable or so we are getting told.  So going on jaunts in the van is a treat with the sun shining and everything so green again since we have had some rain.  We went back to buy their fireplace from them after letting them try to get more money for it.  As we don't need the stone to use in the fireplace,  I just want to use it in my island bench in the kitchen, we didn't want to pay too much for it.  But they didn't get any takers so we got it for a bit of a bargain.  Here are the stones - as you can imagine Paul had some fun removing them and loading them into the van and out again.

Stones for kitchen bench..

I also went to the local Brocante (junk shop) and bought an old singer machine to use as the base for my washstand in the attic bathroom.  Paul found me a plank of oak (or walnut we're not sure..) to use which I am half way through sanding up to use in it also.  I saw an old chair in the brocante that I really want now but will have to take Paul back with the van to get it.  It is an enormous old carved armchair that needs a lot of work but is awesome.  Might have to see if I can get the price down first though!

Sanding the plank for my wash stand

40 Euros from the Brocant - lucky only want to keep the base as the machine is not too flash!

Well I think I should go and do my second coat of floor oil.  With any luck by Friday morning it will be dry enough for us to start transferring the kitchen from the barn to the attic.  Going to be a big job - it's amazing how much stuff we have managed to accumulate in such a short amount of time.  I can't wait to have a proper kitchen and bathroom though.  Hopefully I will have some real before and after shots for you next time!!

One of our barrels cut in half to make a pot for my bulbs!

We took this shot during the week from our house - if you look closely you can see a balloonist in the sky - you can see them all the time much further to the North West of us but this one must have got off track as was much closer and more to the South.

Le 6e Novembre 2011

I know - I'm late - I keep getting hassled by everyone but I have been waiting for more exciting news.  But I finally have some.  We have moved out of the caravan - woo hoo - I could not stand one more night in the extremely dodgy bed made out of the van 'lounge' cushions - it was crampy for me and I am only 5 foot nothing - not sure how Paul has coped for the past 5 months or so! But wait - don't get too excited for us as we have only moved a few feet or so - out the door.  We have bought a mattress and have put it on the floor of the barn for the past two nights.  Luckily it is not too chilly here at the moment so it has been fine.  I had been hoping that I could report that we had moved into our lovely attic in the house but that is still another couple of weeks away I would think.  The past two weeks haved seemed a bit like groundhog days but we are getting there slowly.  The plasterer left after the ten days he had alloted to the job but unfortunately him and Paul had not been able to have the couple of walls up and installed by then, which meant Paul has taken on the job of plasterer since then.  A solid week or two of rainy days has meant plaster that just refuses to dry out and so it is taking much longer to get it done.  But hopefully today was the last day of actual plastering and now we can finalise the painting etc.  We have done a lot - sanding - painting - wiring etc.  Here is some shots of the attic - probably not much different to last week!

Yes - I do work sometimes - I just usually have to take the pictures - here I am sanding the beams..

We have done some other stuff other then being stuck in the attic.  I have experienced one of the local delicacies that I was determined not too!  We had dinner a couple of weeks ago at our new friends Yves and Kathleens house and her little pre dinner snacks looked like yummy little pastries - as I am naturally a bit of a pig I dived in as they looked like spinach and cheese.  After a couple I started to wonder about the meaty chunk at the bottom of the pastry so stopped eating them.  Yes - they were escargot!!  They were definately edible but I wouldn't rush back for more..  We had a great night though - good food and great company - they are Belgian and bought their house from the same people who sold us our house.  Theirs is a different kettle of fish though as it is HUGE and for the most part renovated.  It also has a couple of 'gites' or self contained accomodation - they now have also bought a run down house right next door to theirs and are going to renovate it for a bed and breakfast. 
We also have been doing some long runs in our old van.  In the past two weeks we have driven it to Brive, Cahors and yesterday drove to Figeac.  It hasn't missed a beat but it has a problem with the alternator so the couple of times we ended up driving in the dark Paul was concerned we could end up cooking the battery and have no lights etc.  But we made it.  We went to Brive to get the bathroom bits and pieces - Cahors on Friday to buy a mattress and yesterday to Figeac to buy a lovely table that I had found on Leboncoin - a French website I am mildly addicted to - the table was only 70 euro (included 4 chairs) so was worth the hour and a half drive!  Good for me to practise my French too as it is very easy to get away with only speaking it rarely - and then only the basics for buying the shopping etc.  I actually wonder if I am getting worse as I have not been learning or practising at all lately.  I am meant to be getting some lessons from a local soon so hopefully that will eventuate.

 This week we hope to finish most of the painting, plasterering and sanding in the attic - although Paul has to down tools a bit as we have had someone come and give us a 'devis' to do the concreting on the bottom floor and he thinks he can do it next Monday - this means Paul needs to finish off his plumbing in the kitchen and also dig out the cellar to the same level as the living room. The cellar still has the old wine barrels etc in it at this stage.  Talk about a sucker for punishment!!  It will be great to have no more dirt floors though and we don't want to wait until it gets really cold as this can mean bad things for the concrete apparently.

The most amazing colour of autumn ivy - Catus - on route to Cahors

Cemetry at Catus - decorated with Crysanthemums for All Saints day



Lovely little walled garden in the middle of Cahors



Ok well I am off to go trawl on Leboncoin - currently emailing someone with a nice 1920's bedroom suite consisting of double bed - armoire (wardrobe) and bedside table for the grand sum of 150 euros!!

Lundi, Vingt quatrieme Octobre

So lovely day here in the Lot today - well not quite.  It was doing what we would say in Aus 'blowing up for rain' and man was it blowing!! My boys stayed in the barn all day today and Will was a bit scared of the noise the wind was making - lucky he had his very relaxed bro to calm him down and give him a cuddle.  This was how they spent pretty much all day - good life for some!

 We on the other hand have been pretty hard at it the past 10 days.  Well Paul has anyway - I have been keeping the food and coffee coming and helping when I can.  The verbal abuse given to the trades assistant sometimes gets a little too much and I have to take a break before it all comes to a bloody end since there are lots of sharp tools involved!   However I have gotten better at holding the dumb end of the tape and cutting the steel for the wall framing - we actually didn't stop work last night until after 10 as we were trying to get the internal walls done as much as possible for the plasterer to do his thing today.  We didn't get as far as we would have liked but it is really coming along.  The bathroom and kitchen areas are close to being done with just the wall around the stairs to be done tomorrow.  Then the finishing will be done on the plaster - so that will lead to painting and then installing all the cupboards - bathroom bits and all the other stuff.  Should be an exciting couple of weeks!

Check out the thickness - 24 cm of insulation - hopefully will be cozy up there!

Many days work right here!

It was actually extremely chilly here this past week - down to below zero one morning.  It was cold enough for me to order the heater for the attic and buy a little blow heater for the van.  Most of the past week though, despite being cold in the mornings and at night, the days would warm up to being absolutely gorgeous with sunny blue skies and not a breath of wind.  On one of these days I went on a hike with my friends John and Aileen - 13km and 3 hours later we got back!   Was a really great walk though with lots of Autumn scenery going on - it really is a pretty good spot we've found ourselves in.  I really would like to get a horse or at least have access to one - I keep meaning to make contact with the riding school that is only a km or so away but my experience with riding school horses is not great.  However their horses actually don't look too clapped out so will have to do it soon as there is so many nice places to ride through.  It is prime hunting season at the minute so you do have to be a bit careful - lots of men strolling around with guns and bright orange vests on.  We actually got home from a trip to town one day to find a hunter and his dog (covered in blood!) in our driveway.  He obviously wanted to speak to us which always scares us a little due to our awesome grasp of the local language... but as it turned out I could understand him reasonably well and he told us our house once belonged to his wife's family - with the family name of Malvey, which of course we have found written and carved in several places - once of which says "Paul Malvey 1881".  He said they lived there up until the 40's which fits in with what we have kind of worked out with the what the other neighbors had told us.  They would have been the last people actually living here.  It would have been good to get more information from him but I had used up my complete French vocab already -was very interesting though to know they are still in the area as he lives in a village not that far away.

We are still getting heaps of walnuts from our tree.  Paul has a mild obsession with picking them which has lead to an invention of a method to collect as many as possible at one time - it involves attaching a largish rock to a rope - slinging it over the tree as high as possible and then pulling the rope and basically shaking the nuts off - it is quite amusing and fun too.  Here is a shot of Paul with his contraption after collecting walnuts from the two trees down closer to our front entrance.  After today's wind he also picked another half a large shopping bag full.  I have been using them in pastas and salads.  I have actually developed a strange addiction to something that goes very well with walnuts - Blue Cheese!! Yum - yes Murray Royce you were right - Blue Cheese is amazing - never thought I would be saying that ha.  Particularly good with the fig jam I made too.  I have got a microwave/convection oven on it's way so I can finally bake something (walnut and date loaf anyone??) - 5 months of cooking with a two burner camping stove has gotten a little bit old.  Although I do have a slow cooker which has come in handy and will do so even more now its gotten colder.  I actually made some Grape Jelly in the slow cooker using the grapes from our vine - they have all become ripe at once and we are struggling to eat them all so I thought I would make some juice from them.  However it's quite labor intensive and after I saw how much juice I was getting I decided to make jam from it.  I only used sugar initially but it was super runny so I then added in some pectin and it did set pretty well.  Peanut butter with grape jelly and French bread - yummo! Lucky it's winter - we need a good layer of fat to help us survive a French winter - or that's my plan and I'm sticking to it - ha.

Nuts galore...

On Saturday we had our first relatives to visit.  Well sort of relatives - my dads sisters husbands sister and her husband came to visit.  Joe is French but they live in Canada, however they still have a house here in France which is only and hour or two away from us that they visit a couple of times a year.  Was lovely to meet them and show them around.  Joe is a plumber so Paul also picked his brain a little re the plumbing which was handy!  Here they are outside our barn.

Ok well I think that is about it for the goings on over the last 10 days.  You'll see from the next lot of photos the attic is coming together nicely - Paul and I are off to buy the bathroom fittings tomorrow whilst the plasterer does his thing.  We are going to take the van to Cahors - might have to have John on speed dial ready to come and rescue us if the van doesn't make it there and back!

Paul gyprocking!

Bathroom taking shape - Green board is the water resistant gyprock..

And the plaster finishing begins!

Bathroom framing

Door goes on the bathroom!