Monday 31 May 2010

No sun day

I was just listening to the weather forecast over breakfast. The conclusion - the one thing they could definitely say is that it won't be sunny. Well, I've got news for them. We have clear blue skies. It's even warm enough for me to fling open the windows for the first time in days. I had the washing out on the line before 8am & things are already drying.

As we're off out for dinner today, I have no food to prepare this morning. Instead, as the day is looking so lovely, I'm hoping to catch up on some of the gardening chores that need to be done.

We managed to construct the mini raised bed we bought for the Fox's vegetables, so hopefully a few things will get planted out. I'm also hoping for a bit of a weed & tidy up of the herb garden & the bog garden.

And if I get all that done I'll be ready for an afternoon nap before we go off for our meal.

Sunday 30 May 2010

A memorable experience

I received an e-mail today from my cousin Trudy. It reminded me that I hadn't actually said much about our holiday experiences so far. I had hoped to have a photo to introduce this blog but we apparently didn't take one, even though I'm going to write about the most memorable visit we made.

And that visit was to the Chapelle du Rosaire at Vence. It was designed by Matisse for the Dominican nuns. Although an architect was employed for the building itself, he did decide on the proportions, materials etc.

It is only a fairly small chapel, but it has coherence of design which gives it immense power. Matisse had considered everything from the altar cloth with its fish design to the slender crucifix, the blue of the roof outside to the rough stone of the altar itself.

We were fortunate to be shown round by one of the nuns, a sort of French Sister Wendy. This nun spoke to no other visitors & yet she spent time pointing out the details & implications of the Matisse's work. She'd obviously spent much time studying the chapel. I suspect she reacted to our sense of awe & reverence as we slowly absorbed the peace & spirituality of the chapel.

Two walls are essentially glass, deep ultramarine, green & yellow. One wall is essentially palms, though the wave shapes are almost reminiscent of the sea. The other wall, behind the altar, is named "The Tree of Life", reflecting the cacti that grow around about.

The other long wall is dominated by two ceramic pictures done in tiles. The smaller is a portrait of St Dominic , the larger Mary & child. The nun pointed out that none of the faces had features. She reckoned that this meant that St Dominic could then be not just a portrait of the saint but of all Dominicans. In a similar way the Mary became the parent, the human, the sinner in us all.

The really haunting wall was the second short wall, facing the altar. Here was a huge tile depiction of the 12 stations of the cross. We were both struck by the violence & the pain it captured. It's easy to forget, to brush over, just how violent & painfilled that day was, to somehow assume because Jesus was the son of God he felt no pain, but there's no getting away from the fact here. You can feel the force of the hammer coming down to drive the nails through the feet, almost hear the crunch of bones & feel the shock & pain that had to have been endured. It's an image that will endure in our memories for ever.

Just to one side there is a small door, leading to the confessional. Through the carving of the door, the confessional itself looks bathed in pink. The nun pointed out the walls are in fact pure white. The pinkness is the effect of the colour of stained glass on the opposite wall across. Red is the complementary colour of blue & green light. Indeed Matisse used the flashes of colour from the windows to good effect throughout the chapel.

All in all the visit was a memorable one. No photograph could have captured it all. The experience was too intense, the images too strong.

If ever you are in the area, I would strongly recommend a visit. The chapel may be physically small but it is immense in feeling so give yourself time to absorb it through the very pores of your being.

Saturday 29 May 2010

A flash of gold

I was just in the midst of a telephone call giving PD a friendly telling off for not telling us that Fran, our mutual friend, had had an accident while we were away, when my eyes were caught by a flash of gold at the bird feeders. What's this? I wondered. I'm sure it's not a greenfinch, but what is it?

Earlier this morning, I'd dug out our binoculars as we were bemused by an unusual bird we'd seen over dinner last night. It looked not unlike an oversized robin. But it was so oversized it had to be a member of the thrush family, possibly a female blackbird. It certainly seemed friendly with the other blackbirds in the garden, yet it had this very rosy breast. Our only conclusion was it had to be an adolescent female. Nonetheless, the binoculars were out ready this morning, in the hope of getting a closer look at this phenomenon.

Instead I trained the binoculars on the two mystery birds on the feeders. Sure enough they were goldfinches. We've lived here nearly 10 years now & only once before has a goldfinch visited. Neighbours have all said they've heard them from our direction, but as I don't know their song that hasn't helped much.

This pair have discovered our feeders at last. I hope they become regular feeders. Their red faces & bright yellow wing flashes are a welcome bit of colour in our garden.

By the way, the birds that featured much on our French holidays were jays & a blackcap. The blackcap was the regular garden visitor once he discovered our food offerings that I mentioned in my blog a few days ago.

Jays seemed to abound in all the nearby woods. I've only seen them a couple of times in my life in this country, but we saw a couple most days in Provence. Their russet colouring, fluffy crests & bright blue wing flashes were a source of joy to me.

Oh, and by the way, after a quick visit to A&E, it was discovered that Fran has severely sprained her ankle. There's massive internal bleeding but nothing actually broken. She's spent most of this week resting it up, so it's dubious if she & Den will make it to the meal on Monday. i hope she does. It's not as though there's much walking involved & she is a very gregarious person who thrives in company.

Friday 28 May 2010

Still trying to back to normality

I'm rather looking forward to next week. So far this week seems to be very disrupted.

Oh I'm still glad to be home. It's just that, so far, normality hasn't returned in the process.

We did get to the garden centre on Tuesday, so we now can get on with all the gardening chores we want to. The forecast seems to be rain so we may get held up in doing them.

Wednesday was the mammoth iron day. One thing about being on holiday for the best part of 3 weeks is that you do come home with a lot of washing & ironing. But now I'm now more or less on top of that.

Yesterday took us over to Grange-over-Sands. We were invited out to lunch, not a meal we often have. We went to the Netherwood Hotel, a hotel we've frequently passed but never entered. It turned out to be a remarkably comfortable Victorian establishment, with some updates such as the spa facilities. The food was good. We both enjoyed our chicken breasts in a white wine sauce. They managed to keep the breast beautifully moist & the veg was cooked just right. The dessert ended up being a selection of 4 tiny portions of desserts - strawberry cheesecake, vanilla ice cream, raspberry pavlova & steamed syrup sponge and custard.

Today we're off for the big shop, our first since our return. With fresh food supplies I should be able to get down to more normal cooking. So far I've just been using up, usually making very un-French foods. Today's meal is a fine example - beef curry.

The weekend is, of course, a bank holiday, always disruptive.

Monday will see us dining out again. This time because it's the last-Monday-of-the-month. We're going Chinese once again, mainly because Ricky's is the one place we can guarantee good service even on a bank holiday.

After that things stand a chance of getting back to normal. We'll have a full fridge & no invites out for a while. We should have got on top of the washing, ironing, post etc from the holiday.

AND I CAN GET BACK TO THAT DISABILITY LIVING ALLOWANCE FORM!

Tuesday 25 May 2010

Catching up

It didn't take long. PD was on the phone.

"Are you playing out?" he asks. In other words he wants us to go to the Pub & give him a lift back.

To be fair he does want our company there too & it is nearly 3 weeks since we last saw him.

So off we go, forgetting about the intended trip to the garden centre for some further compost to plant the last of the potatoes.

It was good to catch up on news & discover some of the changes there.

When we came back, our newly mown lawn was covered in black, a whole flock of starlings & the odd blackbird. From the raucous bird sounds that fill the air, I'm pretty sure the starlings are nesting somewhere in the garden, the first time for them. Indeed most years we hardly see a starling except in winter. The blackbirds have been nesting regularly for a few years now.

I'm trying to turn my attention once more to my Disability Living Allowance form. The form suggests it will only take half an hour to fill in. So far I've spent several mornings on it! And I'm still only half way through it! I'm telling myself it won't harm to give myself an extra few days to return from the holiday before I get back to such a depressing chore & the realisation of just how much worse my health has become since I last filled in the form three years ago.

Monday 24 May 2010

Back again

The Fox has beaten me to it! It, being the announcement of our return.

While we've been away the countryside seems to have burgeoned into greenness. The trees are now well clad with leaves. And so many luscious broad-leaved deciduous trees at that, quite a contrast with the darks of the Provencal pines & the grey-green of the olives we've grown used to it.

As we turned the final corner home, it was easy to see our garden too has bloomed. The herbs have bushed out. The chives have their pinky purple pompoms on. The garlic chives their white ones. The tarragon has grown so much it took me a while to realise it was the tarragon & not just a big weed! And down low, the violas show their cheery faces. We planted them last autumn & I thought they were goners after the ice & snow of this winter, but no, they are in full bloom now. The only casualty seems to be Basil Bush, but he may just revive with some water. The soil in that bed is very dry & sandy.

As soon as possible I checked out the bog garden, now rather dry. There too everything has bushed out. The dogwood is now well leaved, some variegated, some just green. The globe flowers have bloomed, but have yet more buds. The only worry is the hydrangea. It still has few leaves. However, those leaves it does have look very healthy, & there's even the first sign of a flower-head, so maybe it's just a case of being too young to cope well with the harsh winter, & it will recover over the summer months.

We're a little worried about the length of the lawn. Al, our gardener, was supposed to be coming around to mow it while we were away. There's no sign of him having been. I just hope he's not been ill or something.

Yesterday, after finishing the unpacking & sorting out the washing, we popped out to our village pub. The Fox misses his English bitter when we go to foreign parts. His first pint is part of the ritual of coming home.

Home to dinner of oh so non-French fish fingers, sat outside in the warm sun. As we ate we were deafened by all the bird sound. The tweeting & coos drowned the sound of the lawnmower in the next door garden. Maybe it's just we're more conscious of them at the moment, as so few birds frequented the garden of the villa we stayed in. Admittedly by the time we left, (& we'd put out some bread etc for them) some were turning up regular, much to the surprise, & pleasure, of the villa owner. Our birds seem to be rejoicing in our return, welcoming us back. The more sober side of me says most of the racket is "Feed me. Feed me" from young birds still hiding in the hedges.

Yes it's good to be back.

Now we're catching up. Most of the post has been looked at. We're catching up on news. We were sorry to hear that Lin, PD's wife, had to be rushed into hospital while we were away. She ended up having an op to remove a hernia the size of a melon. She's home now, but still unable to lift anything or drive. She's itching to get back to her beloved garden. We've yet to hear how our other friends are doing.

I've just been disturbed by the arrival of Al. All's well with him. He just forgot to do us. He even came to the house, had his lunch in his vehicle, chatted to our neighbour, & then forgot to actually come in do the gardening. Still, at least, there's been nothing amiss with him.

I gather there have been changes at the Pub. New toilets have been installed. About time. They needed doing. Apart from that he has no further news to impart, though he is pleased to see the Fox has got around to planting some potatoes - he did that yesterday.

All in all, this is to say we're back. And we had a great time despite bad weather most of the first week with thunderstorms, winds & cold. But at the end of the day, it's good to be home.

Wednesday 5 May 2010

Off at last

We're off on our travels later today. I'm a little perturbed to hear that the volcanic dust cloud is now covering Scotland, closing airports there. There seems to be a suggestion it may move south as the day goes on. But at this point, as English airports are still open & hopefully will continue to be, all we can do is journey down to our hotel at Liverpool airport & keep our fingers crossed that the airport is still open tomorrow.

So hopefully we're off to some French sun, good food & wine, & some much need relaxation. We're not taking our laptop with us so it is very unlikely you'll hear from us for at least a couple of weeks. Then we should have much to relate & maybe even a few snaps to show you.

Till then, bye for now.

Tuesday 4 May 2010

Nearly there?

And so we come to the pack. I hate this stage of going on holiday. It's not so much the putting of items into cases, that's the problem. It's the deciding what clothes etc to take. Yesterday the bed was covered with all manner of clothing for all weathers. It's always so difficult to know what to take, especially when you are going to foreign climes.

A look at the weather around Nice suggests it's not overly warm yet & we may even have some rain at first. But will that last the whole duration? The answer is layers. At least that way you can put on or off as needs demand. But how much of what? I don't really want to end up washing & ironing while I'm there. There is a washing machine in the villa, & I will pack a couple of washing powder tablets, but I am hoping to bring them home with me.

This afternoon the Fox is off to do his last minute chores while I try to get everything into cases, maybe modifying the pile a bit on the way. His chores are a haircut & a trip to get some euros. We've got some in hand but not enough to cover the deposit on the villa, let alone for drinks, buses etc.

And now, they're on about volcanic dust again. Irish & Hebridean skies are once more closed to planes. What is more worrying is that there is some suggestion the dust cloud will move more over England in the next couple of days. Once more our flight seems precarious. And now it will be too late to change arrangements & go by ferry.

We'll just have to pack, & keep our fingers crossed. Before I sign off today, though, I will have another check on forecasts & make sure the flight is still expected to go. I should have chance to have another quick look tomorrow before we set off.

Oh I do hope it goes. We're so looking forward to getting away for a bit & having a good relax.

Monday 3 May 2010

Feeding time

The Fox was in the midst of preparing the Kipper & Egg Kedgeree (and excellent it was too) when I happened to look outside. There was a blackbird pursued by four brown blackbirds. What's this, I thought. Now the women are chasing the man? Or are some thrushes rather than blackbirds?

I hastily found my glasses. Now the world was in sharper focus, it was clear. There were Mr & Mrs Blackbird with three youngsters, all wanting feeding. The high cheeps I was hearing were demands for food.

The parents seemed desperate to fulfil the pleas. They were even trying to get food out of the hanging feeders. I hurriedly got some more seed & put some on the table. They were soon back, once more feeding the young.

By the time we were sat eating our dinner the family had disappeared again. Soon though, on the very top of the evergreen just behind the garage Mr Blackbird was back. He was singing his heart out, most mellifluously, a mixture of pride & the need to proclaim his territory, I suspect.

Sunday 2 May 2010

Getting ready

It's a beautiful morning. It comes as quite a surprise. Last night was very wet. Once more a pond blocks up the way to the greenhouse & compost bin. Still the garden needed the rain. And I can feel content in the knowledge Basil Bush will have been well watered in.

The holiday is drawing nigh. I'm now on to the using-up-of-oddments-of-food stage. So today the Fox is going to do one of his famous Kipper & Egg Kedgerees. That will use up some eggs, cream & a half tin of tomatoes. Then tomorrow will be a turkey quiche probably to use up the last of some new potatoes, an egg & a half tin of sweetcorn. Finally on Tuesday we will have a prawn stir fry which will use up all manner of assorted veg eg some pak choi, peppers, shallots, spring onions, carrots.

Meanwhile I'm still reading the little guidebook to Nice that came with the tickets. On the whole it's not telling me anything new though it has revealed that the bus from the airport into Nice (where we're staying in a hotel for the first couple of nights of our hols) is wheelchair accessible & considerably cheaper than a taxi. It even stops more or less outside our hotel. That's useful to know.

Saturday 1 May 2010

Fresh herbs

Basil Bush is now in his new summer home in the herb garden. Hopefully he will flourish there until the frosts come in the autumn.

Yesterday's meal epitomised the benefit of having a herb garden. The Fox was having a go at Raymond Blanc's recipe for Fricassee of Wild Mushrooms. We had to vary it a bit, mainly because we're not forest foragers. I can't quite see it with a wheelchair. Nonetheless we had managed to buy what was labelled "Exotic Wild Mushrooms". It didn't specify which mushrooms were included. We recognised the oyster ones, but the others were a mystery.

The recipe proved to be a delight to eat. Part of the pleasure was the unexpected hint of aniseed flavour that came from the tarragon. We were aware of the parsley & chervil too, but the tarragon really stood out.

I'm particularly chuffed about the tarragon. Last year was the first time I've tried to grow my own. My understanding is that they are annuals, yet this year the tarragon reappeared. I can only assumed it self-seeded. Whatever the reason I'm not complaining.

The flavour of the herbs, straight from the garden seems to be so much more intense. And they don't look bad, with their variation of leaf shape & shades of green, not to mention their flowers & the purple leaves on the sage, the silvery grey of the curry plant & the bronze of one of the fennels. Altogether a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach.