2009/12/31 A visit to the Ardeche.....

Eleanor cleaning her teeth !!Jon, with his own picture of Papa Noel..

The Family
The New House

2009-12-26 Cutting up the Pork !!!

Dave chopping up the winnings !!

Butchers beware.....
10 elephant chops and a roasting joint !!!

any for meeeeeeeeeeee???

2009-12-25 Christmas Dinner at Restaurant L'Orb

Dave, Myself, Cheryl and Roger...........Christmas Dinner at the restaurant L'Orb.

Love the hat Roger !
How about this for a Bûche de Noël ( not Bouche!! sorry to all who spotted this gaff)

Its the traditional cake here for Christmas.

Here are our very welcoming hosts, Ben & Bill.

2009-12-24 Christmas Eve and THE lotto

We now traditionally go to a lotto (bingo) in the village every Xmas eve, I now traditionally make a meal before we go down, and Dave and I end up washing up about midnight, after we get back, these are pictures of that night, there are some more which i will add later on....

Cheryl and Dave take over in the kitchen as i have a hypo.....whoops

Before we go, with Frederic, Roger and Almuth.....we all look ready for the lotto dont we.....French numbers......... ouch, 60 10 7 is the short way of saying 77 !!!


OK so most of you know by now, I had a big win at the lotto, these are SOME of the winnings 6kgs loin of Pork, 3 pintard (guinea fowl) and about 3kg trout( fresh and smoked) all local, and all for the meat eater in this family ......

2009-12-18 Snow and Xmas greeting

Kiwi tries out her snow feet...

Icicles
snow topped mountains..........blue sky !!

Voler

Snow on Karl's roof, with some childish scribble.....



Icicles in the sun..........


OK so i cant stand still but i thought you might like to see our xmas lights....
(pagoda and house roof, for anyone stuck on where this is !!!)

2009-12-16 The New Garden

OK, I'm cheating here, these are from the garden at the house.......well some are quite straight !!

Planting the comfry, its called consoude here, and is used for compost and liquid feed.....

Kiwi followed us down and gives the garden her inspection....
Broccoli going in, i am confused, i bought these at a garden centre, but I'm sure its not normal to plant these at this time of year, oh well they have two chances....
Kiwi sitting on the already sowed Cerfeuil tubereux (Google it !!)

2009-12-15 Alfies Biscuits

Thanks for the biscuits Alfie, they were lovely !!


Dave being a gingerbread person....

Avec a tasse de thé.......uuuuummmm

2009-12-02 Snail Art !!

Snail Art........the beauty of organic gardening.....

2009-11-29 Kaki tree

This is a beautiful tree half way to St Pons from us, the first year we thought it was oranges.......but it is in fact Persimmion, Kaki or Sharon fruit.

2009-11-29 Boletus

This is a Boletus Dave found on the way down from Dausse.

We think it is Boletus erythropus.....but if you think differently....please let us know, before we eat it !!!

2009- 11-28 The Allotment/Garden

We were very pleased to be given permission to use a garden/allotment, in Cailho-le-Bas.
It is about 200 m2 and has been used as a garden many years ago, but it will need a lot of digging!

Of course some manure is also needed..........so......

This is the sheep shed......

Jean-Luc, digging out the poo.....

And me doing a bit too....

Here is the Allotment.........quite big , lots of room for the tatties. Not too many weeds, we hope!!

Dave and Jean-Luc, mucking out the trailer.

A picture from the other end, that is Dave and Jean-Luc unloading the trailer.

2009-11-20 Fondu at Dausse

We had an entertaining day at Dausse, we had a fantastic fondu, with a wonderful cake for dessert. After we got home at 5.00pm we slept until 8.00pm!! Roger and the hostess!

Roger , Almuth, Dave and Cheryl in the candle light.......

Frederic cutting the cake.