Kevin's Fancies

We drive past this little old van on the way to and from Seilhac. Kevin has never managed to drive past yet without commenting on its loveliness. 
Kevin thought it was important that I see these pumpkins 'just growing by the road'. They're actually tumbling down from someone's garden. Pumpkins do that, Kevin.


The Unannounced Sweet Chestnut Challenge

 While wandering up the footpath to the forest, we waded through ball-ponds of fat sweet chestnuts. We nonchalantly gathered a few special ones in our pockets as we strolled, but with no intention of collecting further fruits to return to England with.

 On returning to our farm, Kevin announced the unannounced challenge: Who had collected the most chestnuts? Kevin can be quite strict with unannounced challenges, and he made me estimate the number of chestnuts I'd gathered before unpacking them from my pockets. I guessed that I'd stashed about 37. Kevin guessed that he had more, nearer 38. (But he, of course, had had the opportunity to count as he gathered, as he, presumably, already knew about the unannounced challenge, so that wasn't really fair, was it?) 
I emptied them onto a chair, and there were 51! This photo shows Kevin carefully counting his clearly much smaller stash. It fills me with pity. 25. Why is he bothering to count? I'd clearly won the challenge!
He then stated that his estimate had been closer. Well, yes...



I don't think Kevin can appreciate the beauty of moss on rocks. He picks it off absentmindedly. Don't do that!

Kevin turns off the water and empties the system in another little plumbing nativity scene. This is funnier than you realise, as we have just one toilet, and we've kept the water in that. There are no other pipes. What's funnier is how long it took to drain. Ah well, no frozen and bursting pipes* for us!
A last little strim before we go... I love to mow, but I don't like to strim. The strimmer weighs a ton and it hurts my body after ten minutes or so of waving it around.

 * pipe

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The tower finds itself in high demand

Image
I've been asking Kevin to hurry up and finish the work on the south wall for AGES as I wanted the tower in order to paint the north wall. FINALLY, he scaled it and reattached the flailing planks and the loose edge-tiles. He also finished and painted the outside of the little window frames, installing mosquito nets too. It's such a relief to get all of these little jobs done! But was I to get the tower? No. Kevin fell into a frenzy of loose tile fixing all around the house! Eventually, I did secure ownership of the tower and repainted the grubby-looking north wall. No, you can't see the finished job, as, to be honest, it's still a bit grubby. And, after our aerial efforts concluded with no dramatic falls, we returned to some familiar territory of bygone renovation days: fluff puff! We have never managed to finish our master bedroom, mainly because we were waiting for a stretch of good weather in order to build the second dormer window. However, due to Covid-19, we didn&#
Read more

The sad ending we never expected to see

Image
You'd probably guessed, but we've sold up and moved back to England. Six years of renovating in our Correzian paradise had to come to a sudden end due to the folly that is Brexit, and the plague that is Covid. These unpredictable twin horrors meant that we could no longer flit between two countries with ease, and neither could our family and friends.  I thought you'd enjoy seeing some of our last views of our little French farmstead.  What do we miss the most? Friends Freedom Stunning scenery Great restaurants Beautiful villages Vide greniers Good wine at good prices Sunshine Empty roads Over and out. Thank you for following our adventure.
Read more

Renavoidance?

Image
Don't ever buy a property with 8 acres of land. Unless you have a vast array of top grade farming machinery. I'd like to be sharing with you our achievements with the renovation (and I know that's what you're here for!), but most of our time has been spent mowing, strimming, raking and visiting the dechetterie. Our ride-on mower has more or less given up the ghost, and I really don't think it'd be worth mending/servicing it. I'm not sure how we're going to continue to tame the land with just two push mowers and a scythe. We've decided to leave a lot of our land as meadow, with creative paths mown through it. Farmer Joel has very kindly mown and gathered hay, but this has exposed acres of dry, unpleasant stubble. And you wouldn't believe the amount of dust and grass seed that's kicked up during the processes of cutting, turning, lining up and baling! The time of dust coincided with the time of refreshing the exterior white paint. Thankfully, n
Read more