Yup, just as I thought. No sooner had I packed away my winter wardrobe last week, the wind and the rain cometh. Thankfully the sun held out until after the Easter weekend and the Grand Giant Omelette Picnic Day but since then its done nothing but drizzle and blow. At least the garden has had a decent soaking even if most of the blossom is now decorating the terre and the cars are covered in orange dust – blame the gales for that. I’ve spent most of my days holed up in the workshop covered in an equal amount of grime sanding down an oil-covered door – the wood underneath is actually quite beautiful although I have no idea what wood it is.
As I mentioned before, the Easter weekend stayed dry enough for Denis’ carefully planned family and friends picnic on the petanque ground just down the road. And yes, I did meet his mother who was very charming and apparently gave me her thumbs-up – well I did wear a skirt for once instead of the normal jeans and T-shirt ensemble. Between the delicious barbeque prepared by my beau, bopping to French pop and plenty of booze, it was a great day out. Except for the omelette. I was right, rum and honey do not mix well with eggs. Aside from my hopefully once-in-a-lifetime tasting of the traditional fare and a quick lesson in the afore-mentioned petanque (sort of like English bowls but with smaller ‘balls’ and less manners), I got to meet and fall head over heels in love with Denis’ grand-daughter. I have to admit I am not usually one to enjoy small children but the utterly adorable little minx that is Maria stole my heart and most of my attention for the entire afternoon. Even Gaya, D’s Springer Spaniel who rolls over for a tummy rub every time we meet, didn’t get much of a look-in – mind you she was happily occupied turning Bruce and Suzy’s labradoodle into a quivering wreck. It goes without saying that I left my woofers at home, open fields and food are not suited to a stress-free woofer day.
There were a couple of other celebrations on the calendar this past week. Thursday marked Simi’s 10 year ‘Gotcha day’ – the day I adopted her and Ash from Romania. Whilst Ash sadly passed away in 2017 and now lies at his master’s feet somewhere up there, Simi is still happily snoozing on the sofa or pottering around the gardens as she has always done. I think she is about 13 now but apart from being a bit arthritic, she isn’t showing her age. And speaking of ladies not showing their age, it was Mumo’s birthday yesterday. We had a quiet day as only my brother Simon and I were here and the weather wasn’t playing nice but since I made dinner and dessert, she put her feet up and gassed away to her various grand-children on Whatsapp. Considering she was taking calls from Australia, Kenya, London, NYC and even a motorway car park between Oxford and Reading (Louis, my nephew en route to Kent after buying a couple of square pianos as one does), she was on the blower from the time she got up until I called dinner. I’m pretty sure these calls were the best presents my Mum could have. I promised I’d take her clothes shopping when the temperature is suitable for summer clothes once more, Mumo doesn’t do wet and wind well.
According to the météo, we are to have blue skies or at least warmer degrees next week. Let’s hope. I need to get back outdoors and planting things – there’s only so much sanding and turps a girl can take. I’ve been procrastinating over the second book too, my excuse is having to get to grips with the self-publishing website and my technological no idea how. Trying to calculate interior trims, margins, pages and how much space needed for photos just so the cover designer can work his magic is a lesson in the art of how not to break a keyboard in frustration. I still have a month to go before hitting the button so I’ll figure it out eventually- I sometimes feel life would be so much easier if you didn’t have to argue with your computer on a daily basis. No wonder Denis is always so calm, he doesn’t own either the above or a smartphone which is probably why he doesn’t see a problem with adding honey and rum to eggs and setting them on fire….
“A computer will do what you tell it to do, but that may be much different from what you had in mind.” (Joseph Weizenbaum)
Widow plus woofs 