French diaries part deux

This morning I feel a little weary. This is due to a very traditional Burgundian evening spent in the village (montberthault) at the house of Claude and Annie. Several aperitifs proceeded a lovely local meal. A salad of crayfish tails, asparagus and egg followed by escargot in garlic butter. I challenge you to taste better snails anywhere, Claude collects them locally and then prepares them. For main we had local deer shot by their son with accompaniments including lambs ear mushrooms also collected by Claude. Then the obligatory cheese and on to homemade tarts of custard, plums and cherries. All was washed down by copious amounts of burgundy wine. Of course we couldn't leave without a digestif and l'eau de vie of pear and also plum warmed the cockles. It was a great evening, these people speak little English and have little money but open their home to us willingly and shared the delicious local produce served simply but there is nothing better.  Claude has lived in the same house all his life, his mom the village school mistress. By the end of the evening we were all chatting amiably in a mixture of French and English.
A super evening leading to a quiet morning as we all recuperate. Tres jolie!

And breathe......

Bienvenue from France. It's been so long since I have blogged I don't know where to start. The big build is virtually finished, I had become intimate with my work men Tony, Matt, Dan, Loxley, big Jim, often more intimate than I would have liked to the point I feel like they should be on my Christmas card list and invited to family parties but they have now departed and I have my house and garden back to myself. Just in time to come away on my holidays.
So here I am in France feeling very relaxed but mindful of the decorating I have to do back home.

In other news (another reason the blog has been neglected) the fact that my mom had a fall here in France and ended up having to have a hip replacement before being repatriated home to the UK. A stark reminder of the march of time and the fact that we are all getting older. My mom and dad have always seemed so hardy but they aren't invincible and I don't really want to think about what that will mean in the future. Having to make regular visits to them both brings this home.

I'm sure lots of things have happened some interesting some mundane but these seem to have escaped my memory which leaves this particular entry a little lame. Apologies readers I hope to be back on form soon. Watch this space!