More 'pavement plants'

On Grande Rue and Route du Grand Pressigny here in Barrou 

Creeping back to 'normality'

It was good to see the village had been out cutting the grass along the river  here in Barrou on our 'freedom walk', getting things a little like 'back to normal'. 

  

In spite of our current situation it is always good to return to our  'place of confinement'.

Things that make confinement a little easier - nature

My favourite rose at the moment in the courtyard of the cottage

Well,well, I've got a new door!

Things that make confinement a little easier

The wall rose at the Old Walnut Mill

A better day...

I had to do the 'big shop' yesterday which meant going over to Intermarche in Yzeures-sur-Creuse. Thanks to advice from a friend we had done our shopping on-line so I was just going to pick up, which made for a slightly less stressful experience. There was one little hiccup however, you had to pay by cheque or cash which I thought they were discouraging - a bit confused, I had to go along to the bank and lift cash before returning to the store and a very helpful store lady. As suspected we did not get all we asked for and there was a little confusion over one item but was so much better than trailing around the store. What made the experience even better was the fact that Bricomarche was open...joy of joys! Managed to pick up some items to allow for the progress of more little projects!

Later we took our 'freedom walk' around the village and as we passed one of our neighbour's garden we caught the scent of this beautiful rose bush. I had to go back and take a pic...can you smell it?

Ah now I hear you asking how did they get in the vase? When I returned to take the photo my neighbour was in the garden so I asked if it was ok to do so. Not only did she say yes but insisted that I should cut a bunch for Pauline and promptly produced a set of secateurs to allow me to do it - how kind ! 

We had spent the afternoon tidying the courtyard of the cottage so ended the day having aperos and dinner alfresco 

So all in all a better day - oh and by the way did I say Brico had re-opened? 😁

Continuing my little projects...

Well at the stage where it is waiting for roof tiles,which may be a long wait as they are in 'confinement' at a friends property! Still, I can press on with new door.

Also started chipping out old pointing to the rear of the barn to redo so no shortage of things to do!

From a single rose to this...

From our first rose in the courtyard of the cottage on the 10th of April to this display last night with the setting sun having its effect makes you appreciate what a wonderful thing nature is!

Freedom walk interrupted...

We have taken to using our daily,hourly, walk to pop into Clare's for any shopping we need . En-route yesterday we were met by a couple of  Gendarmes who were stopping traffic at the junction at the road to Lesigny and checking that they had their necessary paperwork. We were also stopped and had to show our own attestations. I really don't have a problem with this as controls are necessary during this difficult time...but it did feel surreal! I do wonder how they can cover small villages like Barrou and can only imagine they must have some rota system in place so we may not see them again for some  time! One disconcerting aspect of being stopped was that the female Gendarme who stopped us had no PPE at all and we had to be at arm's length to show our parerwork!

A spring scene,Barrou

Pavement plants...

On our 'freedom walks' around Barrou its hard not too admire the 'pavement plants' 

  

Bon dimanche...

The muguet is out in force in the courtyard of our cottage

Who knew?

Like the fact that our boulangerie lets us know on a daily what saint we should be honouring! 

What a difference a week makes...

From the first rose last Saturday to this and after last evenings much needed rain will soon be a mass of colour!

Friends celebrating 20 years in France

Raised a glass tonight for Les & Eileen who celebrated 20 years here in France today...2020 may not go down as their happiest year but we wish them many more happier years... santé!

Mocking in the courtyard...

Our 'Mock Orange' in the courtyard of our rental cottage.

More colour in the courtyard...

At the 'Old Walnut Mill'

Yesterday's bit of freedom...

We are finding our daily walk invaluable as a means of stopping us go stir crazy - only problem is that in Barrou we are not spoilt for routes we can take because of the distance restrictions but then we could be in an apartment block somewhere so mustn't grumble!

Missing this a lot...

Getting together in Le Grand-Pressigny

Easter Sunday walk ...

We took our hour's exercise around the village again yesterday on what was a beautiful, hot sunny day. It is difficult to comprehend the difficult times we are in and how some people are being so badly effected when you are walking here in Southern Touraine with no one else around.  

As we walked past the church it was somehow reassuring to see the village had gone to the trouble of opening it up and with the help of a lit candle, leaving a light on!

Virtual dinner party...

Joined friends Mike and Liz and Dave (who organised) for a virtual dinner party last night...great to catch up.

A day of firsts...

On a beautiful day here in Southern Touraine yesterday we had our first rose opened up and we had our first barbecue.

Jigsaw boy...

While the 'jigsaw girl' was busy creating her masterpiece I had a little project of my own using a jigsaw of a different type. The timbers covering our well have rotted over the years so I have decided to make a little cover for it.

The fact that we cannot buy material means a bit of recycling of what timber we have - which is not such a bad thing.  

Jigsaw girl...

What has Pauline been up to recently?...well I know what she has been doing for the last 3 days...1000 pieces and a real stinker of a puzzle! Anyone want to try it?

Made me think of this...

           

Hard nut to crack...

We returned from Provence with a large bag of hazelnuts courtesy of Richard and Francoise's garden. They are very tasty but so hard to break into - so much so that they broke our walnut cracker!

The other thing about them is there is a lot of shell for not a lot of nut...btw the nut cracker above was hopeless for this as well,above was the reward for using the 'hitting with a hammer' method!

PS Growing up I knew a family of 'Nutts' who cruelly named their daughter 'Hazel'(true). Fortunately she was thick skinned.