Well, it's almost Easter and no, we haven't sunk or emigrated - apologies for belated blog...
Even though we've been in Winter mode and not doing that much, the time since Christmas has simply flown by.
Our New Year's Eve party aboard The Jubilant was a great success, good curries, good wine and great company - thanks Helen and Steve.
The weather has been pretty mixed, not great, but not as bad as we were expecting. We've had some grey days and some rain, but also some sunshine and not the very severe frosts we had been told about. There has been some snow but not enough to cause any problems, but it looked pretty for a while. Looks like we got away with it this year.
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| A snowy Saône |
We've been walking as much as possible and driving to some local attractions and doing a little bit of shopping, sometimes for ourselves and sometimes for the boat.
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| I was persuaded to buy a warm hat for winter |
We have visited Dijon several times and we have enjoyed some reasonably priced lunches at a small but very busy café. Dijon has some beautiful architecture, some of it quite surprising and not what you might expect.
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| Dijon or Asia? |
Towards the end of January, we were invited to a birthday party and spent a great lunchtime enjoying wonderful home cooked food in good company - thank you Uschi and Steve.
Unfortunately, the same day, a local boat caught fire.
No smoke...........
An elderly gentleman, living alone on his boat, was lucky to escape the inferno. The boat is gutted and most likely a total loss, but the local community, both residents and boaters, have been wonderful, finding him clothing, accommodation and generally helping him to put his life back together.
There's a lesson for us all here.
We entered one of the Wednesday cookery contests with our Broccoli and blue cheese soup. We didn't win but it was great fun.
Glen joined the Patchwork Group. Somewhat unexpectedly, she seems to be enjoying it and is taking great trouble to produce us a pair of cushion covers for our front step which doubles as a seat much of the time. However, this, she says, is probably a one off -
Slo-Motion is unlikely to be festooned in patchwork, she hasn't got the patience.
Those of you who know, will remember that we planned to "pimp" our mismatching fridges. Having paid over the odds for a silver door on our new fridge before we left Upton, we were dismayed to find that it was totally different to our existing silver fridge. After lots of research Glen found that young guys wrap their small, old cars in vinyl to personalise them, it's called "pimping your ride".
We've had the black vinyl for some time, but have only just found the courage to attempt the job. BUT - with a scalpel, a hairdryer and lots of swearing, the transformation is complete.
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| Pimp away! |
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| Half way! |
We're also continuing our objective of everything on the boat serving a dual purpose - the clothes airer makes a great drying rack for our painting and varnishing jobs.
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| Airing cupboard (doors) ? |
Helen, from Jubilant, has started a T'ai Chi class which we are attending twice a week. Although we find it difficult to memorise the movements, we do enjoy the exercise and the discipline and she's an excellent teacher.
We were invited to house sit for the month of February, in the South, near to our friends Les and Jude. We didn't need much persuading!!!!!!!
We spent the month in a wonderful, beautifully converted farmhouse with a big cook's kitchen and a huge log burner. Bliss.
It was great to catch up with old friends and to visit the coast and some of the towns we know from previous visits.
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| Grau du Roi |
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| With Nick and Val |
The weather was often cold from the North wind, the Mistral, which seemed to blow for most of the time, (we even had snow one day) but the blue skies certainly made a welcome change and we did enjoy some warm sunshine.
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| A girl could catch her death here! |
We enjoyed some friendly cook-ins at the farmhouse with friends old and new, Tapas just down the road and seafood on the coast.
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| Old and new friends together |
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| Heaven or what? |
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| Reunited |
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| Seaside food |
A very memorable meal was lunch with a friend who lives in a wonderful apartment high up in the rooftops of Nîmes.
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| Great lunch in Nîmes, thank you Judy |
The views from her terrace are breathtaking and the apartment is full of light.
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| This could be a film set |
We always find Uzes a treat to wander around.
Last weekend was our anniversary and we decided to treat ourselves. We booked a night away in the Jura, which is very close to where we are but is an area we haven't explored.
We visited the Royal Salt Works:
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| This was a factory |
Followed the River Loue to its source and stopped at several small towns along the way...
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| Ornans |
It was warm and sunny on Friday and we did the old people thing and took our Tupperware to the riverside!
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| OK! I know! Give us a break. |
Our overnight was at a Spa Hotel in Salines Les-Bains, where we swam in the brine pool and enjoyed a good meal in the restaurant.
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| Happy Anniversary Glen |
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| Happy Anniversary Pete |
Saturday was cool and grey but not raining, so we continued our touring and visited scenic waterfalls, lakes, dramatic gorges and acres of vines. We had a great time and really enjoyed ourselves. Just the thing to set us up for our preparations for the new season.
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| Box Canyon |
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| Cascade de Hérisson |
So we're varnishing and painting and generally getting ship shape and looking forward to beginning our waterborne adventures for this year.
Watch this space….
