#essoyes

Collection: Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States

Source : aesthypokgn

Collection: Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States

Morning all, 21c and we have rain, just gentle at the moment but at least it is more rain. We were fortunate to have had some rain earlier in the week too which was most welcome, it certainly took the sting out of the tail of the heat. Oh joy! I messaged my plumber and said that the “temporary” plumber had not come out to see to the tap in the garage. He turned up just after 1pm on Monday and got it sorted. I am so pleased part of that episode has been resolved. So just what I have I been doing with myself this week? Well it seems to have been dominated by disturbed sleep due to the ongoing problem with my back. I can endure most things, believe me, but disturbed sleep is really the worst thing for me……...I always think that during the night problems seem worse than they really are. Had my appointment with a “locum” at the doctor’s about the tendonitis in my shoulder. He said it is chronic tendonitis (been there a long time), I said I had previously had physio which improved it slightly but once I stopped going it just reverted back to how it had been. He has given me a prescription to go and have “shock” treatment…...I guess this is just like electric impulses to ease the pain, but we will see. I haven’t been to either French class, Monique took the one on Wednesday and I messaged Marie-Therese to say I would not be there on Thursday but she was welcome to call for coffee and cake afterwards. She brought me the exercises she had prepared and we went through those before we had our usual conversation about everything under the sun. She is such a knowledgeable lady and has given me lots of good advice. She has been under a great deal of stress with regard to her own health problems and had made the decision to go and stay with her son, at his home in Saint-Flour in the Cantal, for a week. This will give her a huge boost (I am sure) as I don’t think she has seen him for months due to the lockdown etc. Fortunately, after the class on Thursday she received a telephone call which lifted the weight of some of the problems from her shoulders, so her “holiday” can be a totally relaxing time for her. Although it has been hot I have managed a couple of little walks around 9pm in the evening, set two dogs off barking like mad one night and I was so scared they would get out of their gardens (both big dogs) I just retraced my steps. I have taken out all of the pea and broad bean plants, they have suffered terribly with the heat. The tomato plant I bought is like a triffid but it has quite a lot of little tomatoes and hopefully they will soon start turning red. The plants that my friend Marlene gave me have tomatoes on and I am looking forward to them ripening too. My friend, Anie, had given me the name of the osteopath and I messaged her to say thank you so much I was feeling much better. I knew she had been going to visit her sister but her reply mentioned that her brother had died. This was the man who had spent the lock-down with her at her home as he was recovering from an operation. I felt so sad for her, he had only returned to his home when the lock-down was lifted and she said that his deterioration had happened very quickly. I got a message asking if I was willing to resume “knitting with refugees”, we are starting up again on 21st August. Hopefully, I will have seen the osteopath again by then, my back will be feeling much better and I can have decided on what to bake to take for the ladies. On the 14th August 1898 my Grandad was born……...during his lifetime he lost a brother in WW1, aged 26, six years later his eldest sister died aged 30. He married and had six children, the youngest died aged 5 years then after suffering the loss of his wife, and a re-marriage it seemed like he was going to enjoy a good period of his life, sadly his eldest son died suddenly aged 40 and the following year his second son was killed in a plane crash aged just 36 years. I think about his life and one could say that it was very sad but I am sure my Grandad would not have seen it that way and he did have 19 grandchildren. I have had a couple of video calls with my granddaughter and how that child has embraced seeing Grand-mere in the telephone. Sometimes she takes the phone off her Daddy to take Grand-mere to see something, usually its the light fitting on the ceiling or the carpet, as she spins me round, its not intentional but it can leave me feeling a little queasy. I haven’t had any “props” lately and I think I will have to have something for the next time she calls. Not that it has really bothered her as we have managed to have singing time…….Row, Row, Row your Boat, The Wheels on the Bus and the other day we managed Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (haven’t had that for a while). The Daddy will be helping Mummy get the flat ready for a viewing tomorrow, yes the property is up for sale……..I know what that is like my house was on the market for 3 years before it sold but sold it did. “The Graduate” is stressed to the limit! It’s the final push for the dissertation and an exam at the end of this month, you are almost there…..keep focused…..you can do it…...this time next month…. I know he is not alone, lots of other parents will be seeing their “children” in this situation, but he is my son. Fortunately, when he video calls me we always seem to end up laughing and joking, sometimes it’s just a slip of the tongue or people round about him doing something which makes us both see the funny side of things and end up having a good laugh. One of my friends from Newcastle is also ministering to the needs of “The Graduate’s” stomach and that is a great help, thank you so much. It is still raining, yippee, and I had better get myself ready to face the remainder of the day……..blimey just realised it is lunchtime! A bientot.

Good morning, it’s an early start for me this morning as I am going out for the day and I have the picnic almost fully prepared, well I should hope that I have as I have been working on it since yesterday morning! I cannot believe how quickly these weeks fly over and we are hurtling towards yet another month. The visit to the doctor went better than I expected and I am going for x-rays and an ultrasound on my shoulder, hopefully, this will show up just what is causing me such pain. She has also requested an appointment with a cardiologist, don’t expect a letter anytime soon was what she seemed to say and I don’t, just as long as they are going to be keeping an eye on me. I have been to two French classes this week, the first one I taught and we did quite a few papers plus we were speaking and there were lots of new words so it was improving their vocabulary, then I attended Marie-Therese’s class on Thursday, she had prepared work and we were all speaking individually to improve our pronunciation. It is tiring for me and I know that Marie-Therese was tired at the end of it too, but there was a cup of coffee and piece of cake waiting at my home for her, we sat outside and she was able to relax before driving home. After my adventure, getting lost in deepest, darkest Haute Marne last week, I didn’t feel like getting in touch with the garage there again, it would have meant going through to test drive the vehicle and then going again if I had agreed the sale. So I popped to the local dealership, gave the man all the details and asked if someone could get in touch with me that day……..no-one did! I was up there again the following day and he rang through to someone who did ring me that morning. He rang back in the afternoon with just what I was looking for, we arranged for me to test drive it on Thursday afternoon and I was “over the moon”. However, Thursday morning I had a call to say the car had sold the previous evening, I was shattered. So now my plan isn’t a plan any more……………..what to do? I want to change my car, but I need to see the vehicle I am going to buy and test drive it before I commit myself, is that too much to ask? I met an English couple who are staying in a gite locally while they are house-hunting in the area. Apparently they lived in France for 30 years but in 2016 sold up and returned to the UK. They then discovered that it had been a bad move hence the reason for wanting to return here, rather a sad little tale. I must just say a big HELLO to my friends from Newcastle who appear to have got me sussed and know when the blog is published. Although they are not in Newcastle at the moment, it wont be too long before they are back there studying hard. “The Daddy” is still working reduced hours, how much longer he doesn’t know. “The Mummy” however has returned to work full time and this first week it was very tiring. My gorgeous granddaughter is now at Nursery four days a week (she spends Friday with “The Daddy”), I haven’t had a video call with her this week but I did have a telephone call with her the other day, really it comprised of us shouting “hello” to each other but we all have to start somewhere! They have put there home on the market and although they don’t want to move quickly it is a good idea to start the process now. Long before “The Daddy” was a daddy, he had seen a house in France that he kept saying he was going to buy, well after my jaunt today, I will let you know if it is still up for sale. “The Graduate” applied for a job two weeks ago and we are all waiting with bated breath for a response from the Company. Fortunately, I spotted another advert for a job and I think he is going to apply for that too – get those irons in the fire! Although the weather has been rather warm this week, I have been going out for a little walk, I am still trying to lose weight so a bit of exercise is good. I have been to the bar a couple of times, I just love sitting on the terrace losing myself in my own thoughts. It is amazing as almost everyone who frequents the bar know that I like to read the paper, it made me smile the other day when one man who normally just “nods” at me, brought me the newspaper. The peas, beans and tomatoes are doing really well, I have had some peas ready, the beans are starting to produce the pods and I hope that it will not be too long before I can pick some of those. Two tomato plants had well and truly had it so I got rid of those today. The cherry tomato plant has a lot of flowers on and I am praying that they will soon produce fruit, one of the other plants doesn’t look too big but it is starting to get some flowers so I am hoping that the other two will follow suit. Whatever happens, they have given me some pleasure this summer. My friend Marlene called when I was at the bar one day, she left two courgettes for me, I am going to make courgette and feta fritters (they sound good) and perhaps another courgette cake as I don’t seem to have a lot left in the freezer. Whatever you are doing today, I hope you have a lovely day. Apologies for the delay in posting this blog, photos were playing up this morning obviously waiting to see what photos were available after my visit to Essoyes and the museum, home, garden, studio of Pierre Auguste Renoir. We also visited the cemetery too. Until the next time…..