The journey was as always, comfortable but long.  On arriving in Geneva, snow still on the tops of the mountains, but quite pleasant weather.   Everything is very green, and the fields swathed in gold with buttercups and rape flowers.   The poppies are just appearing.  Apparently the weather was very severe this winter, down to minus 15 c, and I can see some of our plants have suffered.  Our old large rosemary bush, I suspect is gone.  Out greatest anxiety is for our fig tree, now quite big, but not looking good.  No buds or leaves, but I don’t think its completely gone.  Just need to some warm sun to get it going perhaps!

Its Saturday morning, just listening to the gentle sound of the clip clop of a horse, passing by pulling a small trap, a pleasant sound in this old worldly place.   The blackbirds are singing too.

We are sorting ourselves out and gradually getting over jetlag.   It has been raining overnight, so I am really pleased that Monsieur Charmouton dug the veggie patch and cut the grass.  Everyone had warned us that the weather was dreadful, rain and more rain.   When we arrived on Wednesday evening, it was warm with a pale sun, and the next two days were just perfect - even hot in the afternoon.  

However, this morning is grey again and we don't mind, as we both have a great deal of work to do at our computers. Never mind the ironing basket which is sky high.... Lots of work to do in the garden which I find to be much more interesting and helps sort out the melatonin.  I have a few plants and seeds which must go in today and establish themselves before we leave for Ireland.  Tomatoes, salad, beans, etc etc.  My roses look strong and flourishing, and everything else looks fine except for the weeds!

It is lovely to be here, and enjoy the sounds and smells of our valley, of course more noticeable when we first arrive.  It's such a beautiful valley, birdsong so beautiful -  a contrast to our birdsong in Aus -  gentle and melodious.  We have been able to eat outside on the galerie ever since we arrived on Wednesday evening.   The warmth radiating from the old stones of the galerie in the long light of the evening still feels remarkable, these stones have stories to tell.  

It's so strange to have this really tiny kitchen again after my enormous kitchen in Tallong. I spent yesterday evening getting in my own way all the time, just have to learn all over again where everything is, and I suppose first rule of a small kitchen is to "be tidy" !

We are going to Ireland on 22nd, mostly to do research for John for his family memoirs.   This time we will go to Cork where the Lombards arrived in 1290 and surprisingly there are good records. In the 17th c, they founded Lombardstown and built Lombardstown house near Mallow.  We will stay in Mallow for three days, then go north to Galway, Connemara and of course Monivea again, before returning via Dublin on 31st May.  

I am chewing over a new book at the moment, mostly about this village, so look forward to discussing it with friends and locals.   This village goes back to Roman times, with a strong footprint here on our house site.   I found a wonderful book - a transcription of interviews from the Inquisition, early 1300s, translated from the Latin by a scholar.  It is extraordinarily revealing about intimate details of village life at the time. What a valuable resource official records can be when we can access them. So although I made a small start last year, I have not spent a moment on it in the past six months when we were in Australia, just didn't have the time. 

 In Tallong, everyone will be basking in the success of Apple Day I hope.

Brittany

The harvest on the day of our return!
A duck with fourteen hungry babies.
The black sheep just released in the morning -skipping with joy.

Chartres, Brittany, and back home to Château.

Although what we could see of the cathedral was very impressive, much of it was under scaffolding for repair and cleaning. The windows were magnificent, and the interior cool and such a relief from the heat outside (38c). There was a funeral/memorial service going on for a canon who had recently died, so we had the opportunity to hear part of a sung mass. The crypt is the oldest part of the building, and on a guided tour of the crypt, we learnt quite a bit about the building. One of the most impressive stories was about saving the windows during the war. In fifteen brief days before the Germans arrived in Chartres, the 2,500 sq metres of windows were taken out, some temporary glass put in their place, and the precious glass taken by train to a hiding place in the centre of France. After the war, they were restored of course. Looking at the huge magnificent windows, I couldn’t help wondering how that whole operation could have been achieved, amazing.

After dinner we had to wait until almost 11pm for the son et lumière. Very impressive, so many buildings with colourful images telling stories with a background of music.

The following day, Tuesday, we set off very early and arrived in Vannes in good time to take John’s elderly uncle out to lunch. Sadly he has deteriorated a great deal since we last saw him. Later in the afternoon we arrived at Méslène and had a very pleasant evening with Maria and Helen. I enjoyed walking around with Maria when she was feeding the animals, lots of gorgeous babies.

We stayed overnight at a Chambre d’Hôtes run by friends of Maria, Angela and Albert Brown. They have a lovely house in the country, and provide a great service. Everything is homemade, they are interesting to talk to and we enjoyed ourselves – this is our second visit, we stayed there a couple of years ago when we were last visiting Maria.

The next day we set off for Quimper, and met Maria’s daughter, another Maria. We were delighted to meet her very lovely family for the first time. She is very interested in John’s work on the Blake family history, and we were very much occupied with that discussion.

Friday we had a very long drive over to Vichy, but the positive side was that the journey was across country, on reasonably quiet roads, and that was three quarters of our journey back home to Chateau. Vichy has a fascinating history. It is in the centre of thermal springs, which the Romans discovered and developed them as baths. Later in the time of the three Napoleons, it was a fashionable place to “take the waters”, and I am sure Kathleen ffrench visited there with her grandmother. The architecture is very much influenced by all the attention it received from royal families, aristocrats, with very decorative grand houses. Beautiful parks and promenades between the thermal centres. After a couple of hours of walking around following the stories of history, we set off home to Chateau and were back here in no time. No rain since we left, so friends have been watering the garden, and there was lots of produce to harvest.

In the evening there was the village feast, with 120 participants, there were two sheep being barbecued on spits. A lovely evening, full of chat and fun and we staggered up the hill to bed some time around midnight.