Christmas at Causses

Season's Greetings everyone and best wished for 2014. This year we've foregone a Christmas tree, but have still displayed some of the favourite baubles and decorations.

Meanwhile, Shadow and Wellington aren't showing much interest in Christmas. Since our return from NZ and Cambodia, most of their time has been spent sleeping, either on our bed or in front of the fire.

Wedding: 23 November 2013

Our marriage. An absolutely wonderful day in Wellington, New Zealand, with family and friends. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day weather-wise; warm, sunny and no wind! The wedding was at Zelandia, a beautiful native bush and bird sanctuary. Guests could take a boat ride on the reservoir to see the birds and native bush while there was champagne, canapes and some photos on the lawn. We then moved indoors - unusually for November in Wellington an escape from the heat - to a cocktail reception. More photos of that to follow. A great day.

Autumn activity

Today we cycled via the Orb river to Valras Plage - a lovely beach on the Mediterranean coast. Stopped for coffee in the sunshine - 25C in November! Then along the coast to the Aude river, heading back inland. Lunch (omelette & frites) at Colombier by the Canal du Midi and back to Beziers. A 50km round route in superb weather.

Yesterday afternoon we went for a walk in the garrigue, surrounding the village. Gorgeous autumn colours in the vineyards and lots of berries, rosehips, acorns etc. 

Painting over … for now

The entrance hallway doors are now painted. Here's the before:

 And the after:

Bath

Exterior of the bath now painted - anthracite. One more coat to go on, and then the problem to solve of how to get it moved back into place in the bathroom …

Magnolia fruit

The magnolia tree in now laden with 'fruit'. They eventually turn black with bright red seeds in them and fall off the tree - hopefully when you're not underneath. Where the fruit has been, a flower will grow in spring. Looks like we're in for a lot of blooms next year ...

And last night we had a stunning sunset.

More bathroom progress

The bathroom lights have arrived and are now in situ. This week radiator was put back in place and over the weekend we've painted the door (Rolling Fog Mid to go with the walls - Rolling Fog Pale). The towel holder is also up. 

Still to do: painting the bath exterior and getting it back into the bathroom from the cave. Plus regrouting the floor tiles - firstly removing the previous grouting, which will be a really fun job to do ...

We've also started on the entrance hallway doors (five doors in total). When Jane's mum stayed in September she did a sterling job in taping round the small windows, making painting a lot easier. At this stage we are just doing the hallway side of the doors, the other sides are for rainy days over winter.

Meanwhile, Shadow and Wellington found watching us work quite exhausting:

Foraging

We are fortunate we can walk in the 'garrigue' (scrubland) and vineyards surrounding our village and come across, free, wild foods. We've just had wonderful figs, chestnuts and walnuts will be around soon and there's nearly always fantastic wild herbs to be gathered. But now it's time for pomegranate's. They grow wild and are usually just left on the tree's to rot. Clearly the status of pomegranate's as a 'superfood' hasn't reached French cuisine yet, so we're making the most of having this lovely free fruit on our doorstep.

Progress??

Quelle horreur - the screwtop has arrived on French wines! This is the first time I've seen a screwtop on the lovely local white wine, Picpoul de Pinet. No doubt it's the start of things to come. 

The vendange has been very late this year due to the cool spring and later start to summer. Picking is still happening now so the tractor traffic-jams aren't over yet. We wait to see what the verdict is on the quality of this year's wine.

I don't want to know you ...

Wellington was less than pleased to have his quarterly 'anti-puce' (fleas) medication given to him. 

Another area finished

After several false starts we finally have the entrance hallway skirting tiles in place. They match so well they look as though they've been there for as long as the floor tiles. We've now moved the hall furniture back, et voila, another part of the house is finished. 

A few logs

Yesterday we happened to pass the place where we get our wood for the fireplace, so stopped to order for this coming winter. The minimum amount is now six stairs, which will last us two/three years. They could deliver in the afternoon so we thought why not? This quickly turned to WHY when we saw just how much wood this involved.

Each and every log had to be moved and stacked inside the cave. Stack No.1

Stack No.2. We just got it finished before our last visitors of the summer arrived for a few days. When seeing the amount of wood moved, they were very appreciative of not being roped in to help. At least we'll be warm for the next few winters.

More produce

The pears are on the point of ripening - pretty much all at the same time! We've already had one and it was delicious. For the first time we have pears from the Comice, while the William has  produced great fruit every year, even though it's quite spindly and has very little leaf.

Meanwhile the aubergines continue to thrive, the plants are still flowering and producing new aubergines. Should keep us going for some time yet. Made a fantastic Baba Ganoush the other day and are seeking out new recipe's for aubergines.

Ladies who lunch

Merv, Jane and her mother, Dorothy, recently had a fantastic lunch at Auberge de Combes for a belated birthday celebration for Merv. The restaurant is set in a beautiful mountain village in the Haut Languedoc. Truly superb food, great service and stunning views. Definately will be returning for other special occasion meals.

More DIY done

Painting in the bathroom is now complete. The shower is also complete and is great. Nice view to the hills from it too. Still to do: the door, skirting tiles to be put in, lights, floor tiles scraped and re-grouted, bath exterior painted and then put back in the bathroom (for which we'll need at least 4 strong men to lift). So, a few bits more to do ...

What a difference a clean makes!

Redecoration of the entrance hallway is almost complete. Whilst waiting for a coat of paint to dry, started cleaning the doorways to the other hallways. Discovered a whole different colour underneath! Oops, guess we should have cleaned the wooden surround some time ago. These doors are going to be painted 'antique white,' and we can tell already they'll be very fiddly to do. 

Summer produce from the garden

This is some of the produce from the 'potager' this year. Still a lot more to come too. Not quite sure what I'm going to do with all the aubergines - any ideas gratefully received! 

The jars contain plum jam and green & red tomato relish. Today's cooking is spiced plum and raison chutney. You may have guessed the plums on our tree are now ripe.

Sunday in Mèze

After dropping friends visiting from NZ at Montpellier last Sunday, decided to stop at Mèze on the way home for lunch aka 'research'. It is a lovely old fishing village on the edge of Basin de Thau where oysters and mussels are cultivated. It has wonderful narrow streets, a lovely small, but bustling, port and a couple of nice beaches. How much better could this get? Well, Mèze is also home to a water-jousting team who were out in practice which provided great free entertainment.

There is a market on Sunday, now full of summer fare - beach bags, sandals and swimwear etc along with the usual wonderful food.

And then it was lunch by the port. A dozen wonderful oysters and a glass of the great Languedocian white wine, Picpoul de Pinet. Perfect. 

Shattering experience

Bit of a delay with bathroom progress. As the shower walls were going up, the largest one just 'exploded' and shattered into thousands of bits just as it was being put into place. Fortunately no-one was hurt, but it does mean we have quite a delay in finishing the shower. The replacement screen may be available by end of this month, otherwise it will be September; August being the sacrosant holiday month in France.

Here's what left of an increasingly expensive shower screen:

 We do, at least, have two screens up which stops quite a bit of water getting on the floor!

Needing some shade

 

Wellington under the shade of one of the pear tree's. He's doing a lot of sleeping in this summer heat.

Magnolia Tree

After the magnolia tree's severe pruning early last year, it's resulted this year in new leaf growth in the centre and an enormous amount of flowering. The flowers started to bloom in June and at their current rate will still be blooming well into August. They provide a beautiful perfume in the garden at dawn and dusk.

Summer Garden - July

The first tomatoes of the season; cherry toms obviously. We have four different varieties growing and a lot more fruit to come. 

 The lavender by the pool is in full bloom and has a divine aroma.

The 'new' garden on the west side of the garden is just coming into bloom. It was planted with a mixed-seed mix, so we await with interest to see exactly what is going to bloom (having discarded the packet which told us what was in it). This is the very early stage of flowering so there will be a post when it's in much fuller bloom. 

The 'cat' on the left of the picture was left in the garden by the previous owners and now has its special place as a sentry by the west wall.

Shadow

We don't have many photos of Shadow as she is still a fairly elusive cat and is generally around only to be fed and brushed (which she adores). Here's this week's new napping spot.  

Laundry's done!

The tiling and painting are now finished in the laundry. We're just waiting for a couple of sockets to be fitted and this is another room completed. As guests in our gite have the use of the laundry, we needed it finished before the summer season starts - as the first guests are here next week, the timing is perfect.

Evening nap

Wellington enjoying (yet another) nap, in the shade, with the evening sun on one of the grapevines.

Water workouts

A trip to Montpellier last Friday - IKEA, of course, and Decathlon where we came out with some more aquafitness equipment to complement the aqua-jogging belt. Sessions now in progress!

Laundry and bath update

The tiling in the laundry is almost done, then we can move in and start painting the rest of the walls. A new 'Beer Fridge' is there too - it will contain other beverages as well! We're also going to keep outdoor crockery, cutlery etc here so we can easily make drinks, snacks etc for guests relaxing around the pool. And for Merv, it will mean he can make his daily quota of lots of cups of tea without having to go upstairs.

And on Tuesday we had the inside of the bath resurfaced. After quite an internet search Jane finally found a company in Languedoc which renovates old baths. It has been painted with three coats of paint used for boats so, hopefully, should last for quite some time. The 'technician' did a great job and it looks like new - except for the exterior, which we will do. It has already been sanded and a sealant put on it. Still deciding on the paint colour ...