Shiny new bridge

When Olivier came out to lunch with us in Bordeaux a couple of weeks ago, he told us that he hadn’t explored that part of town. That weekend he went for a stroll along the quays with some friends and he took this picture of the rainbow over the brand new bridge. He did take other pictures and some captured two rainbows, but this is the best one. As you can see he wasn’t the only one. The platform lifts up to let shipping pass underneath:

This weekend we had Dom and J-M, as well as Olivier home (although Olivier goes out most of the time with his friends). Dom bought me a pile of books by John Irving including the English version of Last Night at Twisted River which I read recently in French. If you know John Irving books at all, you’ll know that it is a hefty pile. I will be occupied for months to come.

As usual she sorted out my computer so that I can get at the pictures on my phone at long last. We had a lovely weekend which went much too quickly.

Olivier went back to Bordeaux at lunchtime; the house is very quiet

Things to do

If you have a half hour over the weekend with nothing to do but twiddle your thumbs. Twiddle them while listening to David Sedaris. He is so funny – it’s really interesting to see how an American views Europe. The programme will be left up to listen to for a week.

You could also pay a visit to my new store which is just on the right with the pretty flowers. I’ve used them to create some gifts and things. I’ve also used our eBay Store picture too. I’m rather pleased with the results and I’ll be looking at my other favourite postcards to use to make things. Please let me know what you think.

Just another Sunday

I’ve been time travelling today: First I celebrated the 6th birthday of a little girl who was born in 1899. Then I ogled the handsome young cyclists of the Tour de France in 1950. Next I admired the new white cape and ‘Kepi’ worn by the French police men at night from 1949 onwards and then I finished off by watching the Russian troops march through a French town when they joined the First World War effort. Not bad for a quiet Sunday.
How about you?

Wonderful Weekend

I really had the most wonderful weekend. It was my birthday on Saturday. We had to go to Tours for an auction viewing, so going somewhere different was a treat in itself. My heart sank a little as we left the station to look for somewhere to have lunch. All that we could see were fast-food restaurants. Fortunately we found a little brasserie and had a lovely meal. Then we spent an agreeable 2 hours looking at postcards. We went to our expert’s shop(yes the shop front really does look like that and the website doesn’t do it justice). If you ever go to Tours you most look it up in Rue Michelet; A real Aladdin’s cave of treasures. We didn’t have much time to explore the town. The area around the station reminded me of Birmingham, but I’m told there are some historical streets

I was quite happy going home on the train with my book, but we had to wait an hour for a taxi when we got back to La Rochelle. Quite a few drunks, but only a danger to themselves when and if they fell over.

Dom and J-M came for the weekend and so did Olivier in the end. Dom and J-M cooked Sunday lunch, steak in pepper sauce and they made an amazing lemon pie (are you reading this Nicky?) with a crushed Speculoos (little cinnamon biscuits) base. We were glad they all went home so that we could finish it off on Monday evening.

I also had some lovely cards. My sister made me a beautiful card, hand painted with sweet peas on it.

The weekend draws to a close

Some times the world seems turned upside down. I had an email from Dom. Last weekend she went to Paris to stay with a friend. The visited the Louvre. They get special treatment because they have a friend who is studying there. Can you imagine studying at the Louvre???? Dom’s great discovery was that you can have pancakes there. (This is my arty, historical, intellectual daughter speaking.)

Olivier arrived home two hours earlier than expected and there was only fish in mustard sauce and broccoli and cauliflower to eat – dreadful! Anyway I quickly made him some pasta so he didn’t die from vegetable contamination. I think he was a little disappointed with his weekend. It was quiet. The students all seem to have gone home for the weekend. He says would have liked a tour of Nantes and he only saw the river Loire from the train. They ordered a salmon pizza last night and it was awful. He told me he was glad to be home. (Isn’t that nice to know).

While Rob and I were out for a walk this afternoon we met a couple we knew years ago. Rob taught all three of their sons English. There were all lovely boys. They are all grown up now and one even lives in Canada, installs computers and stuff into control towers, all in English thanks to Rob’s influence. It was lovely to catch up. We like to know how the youngsters we saw in the past have got on in life.

A good weekend

This has been a strange weekend altogether. Olivier went off to Nantes on Friday evening for the weekend to visit a friend who is at university there. I made spinach tart for lunch yesterday and chicken and bean casserole in the evening and there was no one to complain! I lay awake for a while during the night wondering if he’d been beaten up and thrown into or perhaps fallen into the River Loire in a drunken state.

The weather has been magnificent, 25°C yesterday and no wind. This afternoon I went out and cleaned out the gutters which was easy as the leaves were dry and just needed brushing out. I don’t mind going up a ladder but I don’t like coming down. Managed to get my foot tangled up in some rosemary on the way down once, but I only panicked a little bit.

I think I’ve seen more butterflies this weekend than I have all summer. Yesterday two gendarmes were mating on the kitchen windowsill. They are very quick and both run off in opposite directions afterwards. Once out in the garden I did a little tidying up cutting and pruning, I’d forgotten to look out for these (don’t look if you don’t like spiders). They weave magnificent webs and have very plump bodies. Fortunately, I didn’t find one in my hair.

Special Saturday

Yesterday was a very good day for me. It started off with my visit to the post office to post off postcards to customers and then collect the post (a lot of ‘posts’ in that sentence – sorry). I had a surprise package with very beautiful handwriting indeed! When I got home and opened it up it was a letter from Keith plus a book on “Good Handwriting” which he had used more than half a century ago in the past to improve his handwriting. And it wasn’t even my birthday. Thank you Keith!

The day went well too.

In the evening as the sun was going down, Rob and I went for our usual walk to the sea and witnessed a really beautiful sunset. The sea was calm and reflected the red of the sky. The water on the marsh was blood red. It was really cold and the sky was clear. We kicked ourselves for not having a camera with is. We often have lovely sunsets but that one was exceptional.

It is Sunday!

There is a new quiz game coming to French TV in September, you’ve probably seen it, "Are people as clever as the average ten year old?" or something like that:

OLIVIER: Did you know that more Americans know who Ronald McDonald is than know who Jesus was?

ANJI: Do you know who Jesus was?

ROB: Jesus was the son of God.

OLIVIER: Don’t be ridiculous, God didn’t have children!

ANJI: (amazed that she could remember it all)l “God so loved the world…..”

Happy Easter

Friendster images

I hope that everyone, everywhere has a lovely weekend.