What do you think?
I'm not too sure of the colours. Any ideas?

Bits and bobs
On May 5th we’ve got a postcard auction to attend. I’m really looking forward to buying in new stock. Last time we went we did pretty well and our estimates for the prices of the lots were pretty accurate. Needless to say Rob will do the bidding and I shall be trying not to fidget.

Recently I’ve been giving English lessons to a ten year old. I’d really forgotten how much I enjoyed teaching children. There is a lot more preparation beforehand though. My pupil is a really nice boy, polite, well behaved and clever. He speaks Spanish at home but is fascinated that Olivier speaks English and French. His mum makes great coffee too!

We’ve decided that this summer Olivier is going to help with some jobs around the house. There are a lot of things which need moving around and sorting out. (I am told that humping doesn’t mean what it used to) His muscles* will come in useful when I take things to the tip/dump too. I just hope that I can prize him out of bed early enough.

*He’s recently taken up weight training.

Voting
was done at 8 o’clock this morning, we were second. We were about so early because we had to take Dom to the station; she’s registered to vote in Poitiers. We set off at around quarter to seven and Dom and Rob had a noisy row because he asked her if she’d got everything before we set off, which she hates. I was trying to quieten them down, I hope we didn’t wake the neighbours. It was a beautiful morning for a drive with pockets of mist across the fields. Rob is working today and Dom will arrive in time to come home with him. I’ve had such a peaceful morning – Olivier is in the black hole down the corridor which occasionally sucks him in a spits him out, usually for feeding.

I’ve got postcards to scan and prepare for eBay and articles to write so I shall spend most of the day on the computer. While we were in the newsagents I saw Dominique who owns the campsite and asked him about my idea of selling some postcards to tourists in their office. He thought it was interesting, so I must sort out a pile of local cards for them to look at. It’s all go. Hope everyone is having a sunny Sunday like ours!

What colour are your eyes?
Dom sent me this. They've been learning a lot from a set of videos about a very special teacher. If you've got time please watch all four.

School holidays are here.
Dom is now home for the two weeks leading up to her exams. She’s been telling us about the things she’s learnt and it is fascinating. She passed me a paper to read about a group of ‘sane’ people who infiltrated psychiatric hospitals in the States in the early 70s. They were undetected for the duration of their stays except for by the other inmates who spotted them very quickly. They also made notes quite openly as no one checked to see what they were writing about and often the note making was marked down as compulsive behaviour. Hopefully a lot of things have changed since the release of that report.

She’s been doing a lot on the way we perceive things which includes visiting this site with lots of pretty optical illusions to look at.

I’ve been working hard at my postcards and dealing with letters from the various administration organisations. A lot of letters are crossing at the moment, but hopefully all will be sorted out very quickly. The funniest was a paper about me employing other people. I shan’t be seeing a salary for myself for a while, let alone paying someone else!
Rob and I have an auction to attend at the beginning of May.

A new Trick
I
f you would like to learn how to do capitals Keith can help you.


I think I need a little more practise....

The earlybird catches the worm has to wake everyone up
I love to get up in the morning. I’m quite happy to enjoy the peace and quiet before most people have started the day. I have a cup of tea, shower and breakfast after which I’m ready for everything that the day can dish out. Unfortunately no one else living with me at the moment seems to share this idea. I call Olivier every five minutes for nearly half an hour before he shifts himself. If he misses the bus, Yours Truly drives him to school because she is up. Rob comes later with several pleas of ‘just 5 minutes more’.

We live in a bungalow, so if I was paid for every trip down the corridor I make every morning I could retire. I have thought of buckets of cold water, but guess who would have to clear up afterwards?

This could have been the April Fool
Except it was taken the day before. We needed ID photos for our ‘large family’ card so I went into a booth. I was hoping to come out with a new official picture for my blogs too, in colour, but the machine was black and white. The machine spoke “Are you ready?” . “Yes”, I answered and started to laugh. Olivier tells me you shouldn’t smile for ID photos….

The Sea

I was thinking about the sea and remembered this painting by Georges Lacombe. sometimes in the evening the colours are so varied in the sea that I always think that if you painted it no one would belive you. When I went to art lessons I copied this in pastel. that's why I didn't scan mine, imagine Rob's face if the scanner was full of coloured dust!

Happy Easter

Friendster images

I hope that everyone, everywhere has a lovely weekend.

Dogs sniff out mould
This is a sponsored post

All through the winter we battle against mould/mold (US English) in the bathroom and sometimes in other places too. The climate here is warm but the winters can be really damp. Now I really wish I lived closer to new Jersey. I’ve just been reading about how a company called New Jersey Mold Testing Company, uses dogs to help them sniff out mould you can’t see. I also didn’t realise how bad mould is for your health. I thought it looked and smelt bad, that’s all! I’ve spent a while reading some of the information on the site and have discovered that a ‘tight energy efficient house holds more moisture inside….’. Now I understand why we’ve been having so many problems over the past few years. Like I said I wish I lived closer to new Jersey, then I could have a visit from one of their lovely dogs!

April
“An April flood carries away the frog and his brood.”

Another quote from ‘The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady’. It’s difficult to believe that we are in April already. Suddenly, yesterday afternoon the sun felt warm – yes we had sunshine! In the evening Rob and I walked down to the beach and the moon was rising, it was big, golden and misty. The marsh sounded even more noisy that during the day time with different birds calling and the frogs croaking.

The 1st April marked the official start of my vintage postcard business.