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.