Mon banc dominical / My Sunday Bench

 

  Beautiful Brussels courtyard of friends and neighbours here in Southern Touraine.

Stuffocation solution...

Many of you will know I have too much 'stuff' which,prior to us selling our house in Barrou, was not a major problem due to our large barn there. Losing that meant we had to come up with another solution. Part of that was to take advantage of some friend's generous offer of space in their barns but also to reinstate the little barn here at 'the project'. Part of that work was the replacing  of the floor on the in its 'attic'. I had been using it for storage but knew it was not really 'fit for purpose' as it was really just a series of loose boards over the joists. 

This entailed leveling up the supports for the new floor as the joists were all over the place with one,as you can see from the pic. simply too bowed to rest on so I had to leave it revealed. 

Vendredi et une vue - La Guerche from across 'the border' in La Vienne!

And we're off...

 

Last night, to help celebrate my birthday, we had our first little soiree in our 'sitooterie' in almost perfect conditions which went on well into the night under a starry sky - good fun. We toasted absent friends, among other things 🍷🍷

With age comes wisdom...not!

Think it was Oscar Wilde who once said that 'with age comes wisdom', if true then why,at nearly 68 was I out cutting up concrete in what will be our 'sitooterie' in temperatures in the high 30's last week? This also meant a second day with Pauline and I taking to and off-loading it at the dechetterie, crazy or what? 

This morning over La Guerche...

 

This morning over the house - beautiful morning to be up there!

Another from last night in La Guerche.

 

Sunday's brocante at Séligny...hello dolly!

For Sunday's brocante we headed over to Séligny near Antogny-le-Tillac where you could buy this patriotic bicycle or indeed one of the many other options on show.

Now as I have said before, at these events you can normally find everything including the kitchen sink but we had a first on Sunday...

though think they could be had under the trades description's act!

There didn't seem to be any takers for Mary or this clock which only works in springtime.

It is just good to get out and about again and by the looks of the roastings on offer Sunday's event was going to go on into the night...

although not sure the entertainment would have been my cup of tea,despite the outfit! 

37800 

Monday is for Chateaux...

 

Of course we have our own castles back in Scotland...took this on our visit last week. The formidable castle in the capital Edinburgh.

Staying 'Local'...

Joined friends for dinner at 'Le Local' in Oyré last night for a lovely meal in a good setting - first time but will be back.

 

Another day out with Ada...

Another good day out with Ada yesterday which started with a walk through Princes Street Gardens and a hello to the elephant.

Before lunch with unicorns

Followed by a visit to 'Camera Obscura' where Ada was on the menu!

She had a lot of fun - as did Gran and Papa!

She was amazing in the maze...

and had her own little castle where she and unicorn could view their kingdom.

Over to Edinburgh...

Arrived in Edinburgh yesterday with Paul in time to babysit Ada and allow Michael and Rose to continue with the birthday celebrations (officially) with a meal out. 

This morning she treated us to her reading skills which are amazing for someone at 4 1/2 !

 

More from the shore...

 

A family gettogether in Glasgow.

We got together at 'Doppio Melto' in Glasgow yesterday for a hearty family lunch as part of Michael's birthday celebrations. 

Glasgow was looking great under a fine blue sky.

After lunch Ada wanted to revisit the 'three men holding hands' in the small park by Strathclyde University and we were happy to oblige.

Always like to capture the iconic image below when in the city.

Bit of the Loire in Ayr and searching for a sunset...

 

We are in Ayr where Pauline's sister Eileen brought a little (?) of the Loire Valley out last night on a lovely summer's evening for our aperos - some fine 'Crémant de Loire'.

After dinner we headed done to the beach to try and catch a lovely sunset but being in Scotland the beautiful clear skies of the afternoon had now been filled with clouds and the temperature had dropped quite a few degrees.

As we got closer to the water's edge we caught the surprising site of a couple of swimmers - 10.00 pm in Scotland...brrrr !