I Love My Kindle

January 17, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 8 Comments

It’s about 1°C and I’m taking the metro to meet friends for lunch. As I walk through Palais Royal, I see that one of our regular pavement artists has begun work. I’m cold just looking at him. On the metro reading, I open up Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility” which I’m reading again. The French lady next to me asks if I’m happy with my Kindle. “Oh, yes, I love it!” “My husband bought me one for Christmas but it hasn’t arrived yet”, she says. I then proceed to tell her about my favourite features: you can increase or decrease the size of the characters which is wonderful when your sight diminishes and you can download an extract of a book before you buy it.

Pavement artist on Place du Palais Royal at 1°C.

As I mentioned in a previous post about Kindles, I’m one of those people who can’t survive without reading. I hear many book lovers say they have to have the physical object but I must confess that that I’ve now been reading on my Kindle non-stop for nearly 10 months and I don’t miss paper books one little bit! My preferred place to read is in bed and some paperbacks are just too big to read comfortably.

If you’re eating breakfast alone, you can prop your Kindle up in front of you. It fits easily into your handbag when you take the metro. If you’re going on holidays, you don’t have to find room for several heavy books and with the 3G version, you can download a new book anywhere! When you’ve finished one book by an author, you can then proceed to read all their other works. I’ve nearly finished the complete collection of Jane Austen, which I’ve never been able to do before.

Pavement artist nearly finished three hours later

It’s a great space saver of course and extremely environment-friendly. I unfortunately don’t have the back-lit version but I now have a little light that I can clip on so I can read when Relationnel’s asleep – a big boon for an insomniac like me.

Some people use their iPads to read, but I find it’s too heavy and the light isn’t comfortable for reading. The Kindle is just perfect. Another thing is that you don’t have to keep track of a bookmark. It always opens at the right place. The only thing I don’t like is that it’s a bit tricky to flip back to check on something you’ve already read though maybe there is a trick to it that I don’t know.

Kindle books are much cheaper than paper ones and you can get most classics free. I was amused to see that the only novel by Austen that is not free is “Sense and Sensibility” but it costs less than a euro. I love it when someone talks about a book and I can immediately download the extract and see if I like it. There is also a “share” function that I haven’t explored yet.

So with all these wonderful possibilities, what have I been reading apart from Jane Austen that I can recommend? I’ll let you check them out on Amazon as book reviews are not really my thing.

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman, which I really enjoyed, though it’s pretty tough. It tells the story of a returned soldier in Australia who went to live in a lighthouse. I chose this book after reading an excellent review on a blog called Word by Word.

The Blindfold by Siri Hustvedt who is one of my favourite writers and did not disappoint me. Its about a poor young graduate student struggling to find an identity.

A Month in the Country by J. Carr which combines the return of a WWI veteran with mediaeval church restoration.

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri, an Indian writer living in the US. It’s a collection of short stories whose main theme is the clashes of culture.

The Summer Without Men by Siri Hustvedt, whose main character is a mature woman whose husband decides he needs a « pause » in their marriage.

The Secret River by Kate Grenville who follows the lives of a family of convicts and first settlers in Australia and there relationship with the aborigines.

Sarah Thornhill by Kate Grenville, the sequel to the previous book.

Paris: A Love Story by Kati Marton, my favourite in 2012: the autobiography of a Hungarian woman who married two famous men, the ABC anchor Peter Jennings and the diplomat Richard Holbrooke.

Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult, which is a bit strange but readable nevertheless. It explores a man’s relationship with wolves and how it affects his family.

Do you have any books to share?

Dieting, Restaurants, Spain, Travelling, Wine

Off to Barcelona and one kilo down!

January 16, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 13 Comments

We’re going to Barcelona for six days on a home exchange in February. I can’t wait. Apart from our trip to Australia in September, we haven’t been out of the country for a whole year. We haven’t even gone anywhere except Paris and Blois during that time which means that I’m travel-starved.

Blois from the cycle path on the banks of the Loire

During the same twelve month period in 2011, we went to Seville, to the south-west of France, to Normandy, to Angers and Loche in the Loire Valley, then on a four-week trip to Croatia in the summer that included 9 countries. After that, we went to “Wet” Champagne, then back to the Loire where we found Closerie Falaiseau. And we spent Christmas in Normandy.

So you can see why I’m so excited. One of the reasons I love living in Paris is its proximity to so many other countries. Over the years, we’ve been to Italy several times and have now started visting Spain. Ah yes, I forgot to mention Madrid in my list. We went there last March on our first home exchange. But it feels so long ago.

Harrap's Spanish method by Michel Thomas — Harrap’s Spanish method by Michel Thomas

Now that we’ve booked the airfares (we’re travelling with Easy Jet for the first time), Relationnel has started reading the guide book. He decides on how we fill our days, acts the tour guide and writes up the travel dairy while I organise accommodation, do the talking, find places to eat, take the photos, write blog posts and occasionally contribute to the diary. So I’d better start listening to my Spanish tapes again. I use Harraps’ Michel Thomas method. It’s a very effective, entirely audio method which exists for other languages as well. You can download ten free lessons to test it.

Our Spanish travel diary waiting for Barcelona!

I’ve checked the temperatures which should be 10 or 12°C during the day and it should be sunny which is fine by me. It’s 3°C and overcast in Paris at the moment. I’m not sure our home exchanger is getting the best deal, though she will have an unhindered view of the Palais Royal gardens. So any advice on places to see (particularly off the beaten track), things to do, tips for avoiding queues and things, and, especially, places to eat, are very welcome.

Le Comptoir de la Gastronomie Paris 1er arrondissement

And while we’re on the subject of eating, how’s the diet going? I’ve managed to lose a kilo this week, despite the galette des rois, an apéritif at Le Meurice (where I stuck to the olives and nuts and ignored the cheesy things), dinner at Le Mesturet (without dessert or café gourmand) and lunch at Le Comptoir de la Gastronomie (duck and café gourmand, I have to confess).

The main things that have changed this week are my greater intake of fresh fish from the market and no afternoon tea. I’ve also had fresh citrus fruit for breakfast as opposed to orange juice. I’ve been having a small portion of carbs at lunchtime and just protein and vegetables at night. Maybe a bit less wine as well. We also finished off our Christmas chocolates in Blois. We weren’t eating a lot, but two with coffee at lunch and dinner every day is definitely too much! The foie gras is finished too. There’s still the Christmas cake, but it’ll last a while yet.

Le Comptoir de la Gourmandise, restaurant and gourmet food store, 34 rue Montmartre, 75001 Paris, 01 42 33 31 32 http://www.comptoirdelagastronomie.com contact@comptoirdelagastronomie.com

Architecture, Loire Valley, Paris, Sightseeing, Travelling

House Hunters: Castle Chapter – The perfect gift for someone who is addicted to social media! – Paris Photo Giveaway

January 15, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 2 Comments

The three posts on my Wednesday’s blogger round-up today were all written by fellow bloggers whom I met up with in Paris this week. Searching for Home is a young blogger who presents some of my favourite châteaux in the Loire in an original and amusing way. Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris has encouraged me to revise my (over)use of the iPhone with comments from her children while offering the perfect gift for a smart phone user! Carina Okula, a most talented Australian photographer and blogger living in Paris is running a photo giveaway that you shouldn’t miss.

House Hunters: Castle Chapter

by Searching for “Home”, a half Swiss, half American citizen of Earth who shares the adventures and musings of an adult TCK* finding a place in the world.

“A man’s home is his castle and fortress, et domus sua cuique tutissimum refugium (and each man’s home is his safest refuge)”

– Sir Edward Coke

Come one, come all, Ladies, Gentlemen, step right up, step right up. Looking for a palace to live out that “happily ever after” fantasy? Look no further. We’ve got the castles you want at the prices you’ll most likely never afford. Read more

The perfect gift for someone who is addicted to social media!

by Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris, an American by birth, Swiss by marriage, resident of Paris with a Navigo Pass for the metro that she feels compelled to use

It’s not always easy being the mother of adult-aged children, especially when they start discussing my foibles like I’m not even in the same room as them. I mean seriously, don’t they know that my hearing is still intact?!

Sara (sighing): Mom keeps tweeting.
Philippe (in an exasperated voice): I already told her that she had to stop tweeting at the table a long time ago.
Sara: Well, she hasn’t tweeted at the table…yet…but she has been tweeting on the metro…and the bus. And she even tweeted in the D’Orsay Museum even though I told her not to.
Me: (attempting to get a word in edge-wise) I was checking me email not tweeting.
Philippe: (completely ignoring my explanation) She would have never let us tweet at the table when we were young. Read more

Paris Photo Giveaway

by Carina Okula, an Australian photographer and rhildren’s craft creator living near Paris. She also has a blog

I’ve decided to have a giveaway, only I’m going to vamp it up somewhat.

Whenever I’ve run a giveaway in the past, I wanted everyone to win but there was only ever one gift waiting to go out. It got me thinking about how I might be able to make it possible to do a giveaway on a larger scale, and then it came to me; I could give away images!

Instead of choosing one person to send a gift to, I’m going to give everyone – yes everyone – an image of Paris, and I’m super excited about it.

Rather than select one person to send a printed photo to, I’ll send everyone a high resolution image that you can use however you wish. You’ll be able to print it out and frame it, or, use it as a screen saver. I don’t even mind if you want to use it on your blog – I just ask that you credit and link back to me if it used online for non-commercial purposes. Read more

Flowers & gardens, Paris

A Rainy Winter’s Day in Paris

January 14, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 5 Comments

It’s Saturday and I’m back in Paris at last. The scaffolding has been removed from our windows so we decide to replace some of our house plants because I’m not the only one to have suffered from Seasonal Affective Disorder. We go down our four flights of stairs with the shopping trolley and discover it’s spitting. Neither of us wants to walk back up for an umbrella. I have a hood and Relationnel has a hat. That will have to do.

We walk down Rue de Rivoli to the end of the Louvre then turn right towards Quai de la Megisserie. On our left we see a brass band and some sort of stall being set up in front of the Town Hall. It looks as though the neighbourhood association (1^er arrondissement) is going to be handing out galettes des rois. If you don’t know what they are, you can read my last year’s post, Galette des Rois – King’s Cake. We decide we’ll check in on the way back, despite my diet.

It’s winter of course so most of the traditional pet and plant shops don’t have much out on the pavement and the largest, Vilmorin, is closed for renovation. Relationnel wants to find a new fern to replace the one he loves best which I think is a fishbone fern. We also need a bird’s nest fern and at least one other plant. None of the stores has a fishbone but we buy a bird’s nest and another plant at Casa Nova and Relationnel sees two little maidenhairs that he wants. I object because, in my experience, they keel over within weeks of buying them.

He insists however so we get them. We decide to go and get the car and go to Truffaut, an enormous nursery on the other side of town. We go past the Town Hall again and there are lots of people eating galette and drinking cider and hot chocolate while the band is playing a catchy tune in the background. There’s a big banner up on the Town Hall that mysteriously says “La viande est un métier” (Meat is a profession).

I nearly crack my tooth on the fève, which is a tiny red handbag of all things. I go and claim my reversible crown (Reine on one side and Roi on the other which I’ve never seen before!). A lady comes up to me and asks to see my fève obviously very sad she didn’t get one herself but I don’t hand it over because I want to add it to my collection.

We move off and go past a bag and luggage store which is having its after-Christmas sales and buy a suitcase with four wheels to replace the one that disappeared on our way back from Australia, plus a cabin bag to match. I’ve been wanting a four-wheel model for a while. I love the way people just glide them effortlessly along the ground. We chose dark red so the suitcase will stand out better than black on the carousel and not get pinched again.

Jazz band in front of the Louvre on Place du Palais Royal — Jazz band in front of the Louvre

As we reach Place du Palais Royal, just opposite the Louvre, we hear more music. It’s a jazz band this time with a big pink and white tuba. They’re all clowing around and enjoying themselves. The classical orchestra that is often on nearby Place Colette hasn’t made an appearance. I guess they were put off by the rain which fortunately has ceased.

At Truffaut, there is a still no fishbone fern, so Relationnel very reluctantly settles for another kind instead. I promise to cut the old one right back and see if some TLC and a lot of light (in my office) will revive it. We get home and replace all the dead plants, taking particular care when replanting the maidenhairs. I’ll let you know how long I manage to keep them alive!

Architecture, France

Monday’s Travel Photos – “Wet” Champagne Half-Timbered Churches: interiors

January 13, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 5 Comments

Last week, I posted photos of the outside of eleven half-timbered churches in the area known as “Wet” Champagne. I thought you might like to see what they are like inside. Unfortunately, the last three churches were closed by the time we got there. The recurring feature of course is the timber frame, sometimes unfortunately covered up with a false ceiling. One of the sad things I find about churches in France is that the original decoration and period are rarely respected when additions are made such as altars and stations of the cross. It should be remembered that, for the most part, these are country churches.

Mathaux (taken from a photo outside the church)

Dieting

How I lost 20 kilos after 50, for good – well, almost – part 7

January 10, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 17 Comments

You’ll be pleased to hear that the balcony renovations are finished and the scaffolding has moved over to the next set of windows. This doesn’t mean there is no noise. The same drilling and hammering is still going on, only it’s not right next to my office and I won’t hear the trade union fellow trying to convert his fellow workers any more. The worst case scenario is four months which means that, theoretically, it will all be gone by the end of April if not before.

But that’s not what I’m going to talk about in this post, though it is related. The subject is actually my unwanted weight gain since last April, which has crept up to an annoying five kilos. The problem is the change in my daily routine. Being part-time in Blois and part-time in Paris and going to Australia for 5 weeks holiday upset the apple cart completely. When in Blois, Relationel – it has to be his fault! – does far more physical work than in Paris so I have to feed him and it’s not always easy not to eat the same things as he does.

Also, when I’m gardening or renovating, I get hungry and don’t necessarily have the time (or energy) to cook or prepare appropriately nutritious food. Not to mention the periods when I was by myself in Blois. I certainly sympathise with people who regularly have to cook for and eat by themselves. Often I just didn’t feel like it. It obviously requires a different strategy when you’re alone.

One of the first things I did when I got back to Paris yesterday was to ring and get an appointment with Doctor Séjean, my nutritionist, who recommends the “four bowl diet” (see previous posts). I was able to see her practically straight away, to my great relief, because I want to get rid of these extra kilos before they set in. She was very pleased to see me after all this time (my last visit was in October 2011) and delighted to learn that I had been including her in my blog.

The first thing she suggested was to concentrate on chewing well to prevent bloating when eating raw vegetables and to eat more slowly, putting your cutlery down after every two mouthfuls. The idea is to pay more attention to the food you’re eating and take pleasure in every bite.

Four-bowl plate: 1 bol salmon, 1 bowl quinoa, 2 bolws of vegetables — Four-bowl plate: 1 bol salmon, 1 bowl quinoa, 2 bowls of cooked vegetables

She then said it would be a good idea to cut out all raw vegetables for the first one or two weeks of the diet and to have fresh citrus fruit rather than fruit juice at breakfast. I wasn’t sure if and when I should be eating carbs. She said to limit my intake to 3 to 6 tablespoons per meal (40 grams of bread) and have them at lunchtime rather than at night. I need one hundred to two hundred grams of protein and 1 to 2 tablespoons maximum of oil or butter at each meal.

But my big question was what to do at afternoon tea time when we’re in Blois and are gardening or renovating. We usually have Gerblé raisin biscuits (when there isn’t any Christmas cake!), which are very compact low-sugar biscuits that are supposed to give you vitality. Sadly, they have to be eliminated and replaced with 5 to 7 walnuts and some protein or fruit.

My new jacket from Un Jour Ailleurs that I’ll be able to wear when I’ve lost 3 kilos

I came out feeling motivated again and stopped in at the store where I bought one of the winter jackets that disappeared with my lost suitcase. I was delighted because they had practically the same model on sale and I was able to buy it because I know it will fit me properly when I’ve lost those extra kilos!

Who’s going to join me in my weight loss? If you have never used Doctor Séjean’s four-bowl diet, you should go back and read my other posts first, because the present diet is aimed at losing weight fairly soon after putting it back on.

The Natural Skinnies and Us

How I lost 20 kilos after 50 – for good: Part 1

How I lost 20 kilos after 50 – for good: Part 2

How I lost 20 kilos after 50 – for good: Part 3

How I lost 20 kilos after 50 – for good: Part 4

How I lost 20 kilos after 50 – for good: Part 5

How I lost 20 kilos after 50 – for good: Part 6

Travelling

Europe in the winter – 6 tips to travel well – Itarod, here we come – A Day Trip to the Great Wall

January 9, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 4 Comments

This week’s blogger round up, slightly later than usual, starts with some very useful tips for travelling well in Europe in the winter from Frugal First Class Travel, followed by a horrendous tale of dog sledding in Lapland from Sylvia at Finding Noon (not a destination on my wish-for list) and ends with a day trip to the Great Wall of China by Susan from Days on the Claise. Enjoy!

Europe in the winter – 6 tips to travel well

by Frugal First Class Travel, an Australian who loves to travel – especially in Europe – and who has gradually learned how to have a FirstClass trip on an economy budget, without missing out on anything!

In this, the third part in my series of traveling to Europe in the winter, I look at traveling safely and how to get the most out of your trip.

1. Dress warmly, but in layers

You will be outside a lot sightseeing and traveling from place to place. If you aren’t used to snow and ice, don’t underestimate how cold it can be and cold you will get. Also don’t underestimate how over-heated European interiors such as shops and museums can get. Dress in layers, starting with thermals and work your way outwards. See my previous post on dressing for Europe in the winter (complete with packing list) for more details. Read more

Itarod, here we come

by Finding Noon, an American living in Paris who appreciates fine art, good music, succulent food, and breath taking scenery

Our first morning we awoke, slightly disoriented but excited about the day ahead; we were going dog sledding!

Arriving at Husky & Co the chipper Hungarian guide told us to put on one of their ski suits.

“But I already have this quite swank, rather high tech ski suit on,” desisted Mr French, “is that really necessary?” Read more

A Day Trip to the Great Wall

by Susan from Days on the Claise, an Australian living in the south of the Loire Valley, writing about restoring an old house and the area and its history

On 11 December last year we were returning from Australia via China. Because we had a long wait between flights at Beijing we took a hotel (Air China provides a free hotel room if you know to ask). We had obtained a 72 hour transit permit when the plane landed for a couple of hours in Shanghai before continuing to Beijing and Simon had booked a guide and driver for the morning. Part of the Great Wall is about an hour from Beijing and our guide was confident he could get us there, spend an hour on the Wall, then get us to the airport in plenty of time to get through security (we’d checked our hold luggage all the way through and only had hand luggage with us). Read more

Architecture, Loire Valley, Renovation

The Fireplace is Finished – well, almost

January 9, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 11 Comments

We are on our way back to Paris. It’s 10.30 pm and by one o’clock, we should be in bed. Not like last night when Relationnel hit the sack at 4.30 by which time I was asleep, woken from time to time with hammer blows. But today was our last today and it seem inconceivable to leave Closerie Falaiseau without finishing the fireplace.

In yesterday’s post, I was up to the first coat of limewash. When we got up next morning, we were surprised to discover that the pale ochre colour in the bucket had turned almost white on the fireplace. I applied a second coat and a certain amount of homogeneity appeared. It was quite amazing.

Bricks arranged like miniature Roman bath ruins

In the meantime, Relationnel began work on the hearth which – obviously – turned out to be much longer than expected. First, we were using refractory bricks of various shapes and sizes which Mr Previous Owner had recuperated from somewhere or other, thus saving us quite a bit of money. Second, there have to be little air tunnels in the hearth under the top layer of bricks. By the time he had laid it all out (upside down), it looked like miniature Roman bath ruins.

So while that was going on, I started the rendering on the walls. I must say I had been somewhat apprehensive. I’d looked for a video on You Tube on applying “removable” rendering with a roller and there weren’t any. I did watch one on applying ordinary paint with a roller and got a few tips though. First, we mixed in the colour (well, Relationnel did with his neat machine) hoping we wouldn’t need a second batch halfway though because it didn’t look very repeatable. Relationnel then demonstrated how to apply it and it didn’t look easy at all. The paint seemed to fall off the roller before it even got to the wall.

Now, how to get it onto the wall without it falling off first

He told me to begin in the middle of the right wall (which will be hidden behind a large bookcase) until I got the hang of it. One of the things I saw on the video was that you should do the edges with a paint brush first (after putting adhesive tape on the adjacent wall for protection). My efforts didn’t look too bad and the paint got better at staying on the roller once it was totally impregnated.

Fraussie learning the techniques of rendering

That bit was done standing up. Then I had to climb a ladder to do the top bit. I’m not that keen on being that high up and by then the paint-soaked roller was really heavy. Also, since my technique was better, the paint wasn’t as thick, making the join a little obvious. There was also the hard-to-get-at bit between the mantle and the oak beam that you more or less have to do blind.

The wall on the right of the fireplace after rendering

After the middle and top sections came the bottom bit which is hell on your back. While I was doing it, Relationnel appeared. “That’s dangerous, you know”. “Oh là là”, I thought, “What have I done now?” “Oh, why?”, I asked, hiding my apprehension. “Because now I’ll want you to help me all the time.” “Ha ha!” The whole wall only took a couple of hours and I was rather pleased with the result though a little uneven. I attacked the second wall with much greater aplomb and it looks most professional.

Meanwhile, Relationnel was still messing around with his bricks and finally came to the conclusion that some of them would need to be cut. Eventually, everything was ready and he started cementing them into the frame. After tea and Christmas cake on the worksite, I added another coat of limewash. The result was getting better all the time.

But the bricks were very tricky and when Relationnel went to bed at 4.30 am, he hadn’t finished. This morning, he finished them off while I put on another coat of limewash. After lunch, it was my turn to help again and I learnt yet another skill – putting refractory mortar (my old friend) between the joints. We finished off the job together and at 7 pm, the only thing left to be done was to add the ventilation grills but two of them require a special metal bracket but that will only need another hour or so next time to we go to Blois.

The fireplace as we were leaving Blois (with the coat of arms taped up for protection)

We’re not satisfied with the mantel which needs another coat of fine-sand rendering to get rid of all the bumps but we can live with it for the next two years. The next time we go to Closerie Falaiseau, we’ll go hunting for a sofa at the dépôt-vente, buy some firewood, find a way to get our 150 kilo fireback upstairs, lit the fire then crack open the champagne !

Architecture, Loire Valley, Renovation

The Fireplace is Still Not Finished

January 7, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 6 Comments

This is the post that was supposed to announce that the fireplace at Closerie Falaiseau is finished and that we have opened our vintage champagne and eaten our home-made foie gras to welcome in the New Year.

The state of the fireplace in the last post

Well, we’ve eaten some of the foie gras because of its relatively short lifespan. But you’ve guessed it – the fireplace is not finished despite the fact that we’re staying an extra day and that I have contributed far more than I initially thought I would. You may remember from my last post on the subject that I was going to put rendering on the wall on either side of the fireplace after priming it.

What it looked like behind the mantel before Relationnel covered it all with refractory mortar

Well, since the mortaring of the inside of the mantel proved far more time-consuming than Relationnel initially thought, I figured I should volunteer for something else more urgent. I was told that I could fill the joints between the lintel stones. Not with putty, of course, but with lime mixed with sand and water. We’re doing this the traditional way. The information came from Nicolas, the man in charge of renovating our balcony in Paris who is apparently a superduper expert when it comes to stone.

Damaged lintel before filling the joints and reconstructing the stone

My experience with mortaring the back of the fireplace came in good stead and I eventually got the knack of filling the joints. Then I filled the other cracks and holes. Relationnel said I was doing so well that I could reconstruct the missing bits of stone. Great! I was very skeptical at first but in end I managed to create something very reasonable. However, half the reconstruction fell out of one of the gaps I had filled, which was disappointing to say the least. So I didn’t even look at the biggest one.

Partial reconstruction on the largest gap

Next day, I surveyed my handiwork and declared that the sand was too coarse so Relationnel produced some ultra-fine sand. Now why didn’t he tell me about that the day before? It produced much better results and I was able to reconstruct the one that broke and, with infinite patience, complete the gap I hadn’t even attempted. I was getting the hang of it.

The lintel after doctoring with a multitude of different colours and textures

On Friday we needed more mortar so we both went to Brico Depot together. It was the first time in four days that Relationnel had set foot outside the yard. I’d been grocery shopping in the morning, so I was marginally luckier. We decided to go out for dinner on Saturday night to have a côte de bœuf at Au Coin du Table in lieu of champagne in front of an open fire and not talk about renovations or fireplaces. We almost succeeded.

On Sunday morning, I got a new job – putting a coat of light-coloured rendering on the mantel using a water-down version of the fine-sand and lime concoction applied with a spatula. That was a joke! The first batch was too thick but we eventually found a workable consistency and did it together, with me on either side and Relationnel at the front. When it dried, it looked very uneven and not much lighter than the first time, just not as rough. Hmm …

Mantle after second lot of rendering on the mantle

When Susan and Simon from Days on the Claise arrived for lunch, with half the meal to boot, we were definitely glad of the diversion. They also run a tour business called Loire Valley Time Travel, taking visitors to the châteaux in Celestine, a Citroën called a traction avant which started life in 1953. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t brilliant and we didn’t get to meet Celestine, though maybe we’d never have got back to our renovations if she we had!

After lunch, I volunteered to whitewash the fireplace. Well, I gathered that was what “fleur de chaux”, water and a savvy mixture of pigments corresponded to. I was a bit doubtful about its ability to cover up all my handiwork, not to mention someone else’s plasters and the remains of a colour job somewhere along the way, ranging from dark red to yellow and pink. So we got out the scales and made up our extremely liquid mixture.

Relationnel started panicking and said it wasn’t even worth trying but I was more philosophical. It looked a darned sight easier than anything else I’d done up until that stage. Why not give it a try? The result was not quite what we expected. I’ll tell you what we did about it in the next post!

Architecture, France, Travel photos

Monday’s Travel Photos – “Wet” Champagne – Half-Timbered Churches

January 6, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 11 Comments

Like most people, our only view of Champagne was Reims, Troyes, Epinay and vineyards but late one September, we were looking for somewhere to spend a long weekend and do some cycling before the cold weather set in. We found a gîte near Lac du Der and discovered, to our amazement, the existence of no fewer than eleven half-timber churches in the area, four of which we visited by bike and the rest by car. It was like a treasure hunt as we went from to the other and as you can see from the photos, it was an absolutely perfect day. Many of these churches used to exist in Normandy, but were bombed during the war. The ones in Champagne,mainly built in the 16th century, have been miraculously preserved.