Oh,
I’ve often thought about doing so, and have mentally sketched out several
posts, but none have come to fruition. Today I realised that if this went on much
longer I would imperceptibly become an ex-blogger and I’m really not ready for
that to happen yet. So what has been going
on over the past couple of months in our French neck of the woods?
The
answer is not a great deal. It’s been a very quiet summer, with no visitors staying
this year. DH has been busier than usual at times, dealing with clients’
problems, while I’ve been occupying myself with the usual pleasant round of gardening
and knitting and cooking, with the occasional garden club visit or village fete
thrown in for good measure.
Over
the past few weeks I’ve spent rather a lot of time with my feet up, nursing a
sore leg, and not enough time practising my sadly-neglected clarinet. Because
sitting at the computer with my leg up isn’t easy, reading has tended to be
novels, rather than blogs and I’ve missed too many of your posts. Perhaps I
should treat myself to that tablet after all!
Nevertheless
it’s been another contented summer in our beloved small corner of Normandy. On
the whole the weather has been much better than last year, often sunny and warm,
particularly in July, and occasionally far too hot for us native Northerners.
After the last busy year, with the house move and my broken wrist, we feel
rested and ready for our return to Wales and our autumn activities. Who knows, I
might even manage another post before we leave…
 |
| Morning mist |
 |
| Midday haze |
 |
| Evening clarity |
 |
| Apple picking time |
Hari oM
ReplyDeleteYooohhooooo - &*> Lovely to see you, to see you lovely... I'm glad someone got summer. It totally bypassed this side of the Northery. Still and all, it has been a pleasant enough couple of months this side too. Glad you are feeling rested, though sorry to hear the leg has played gip. I resisted the whole tablet thing till 18 months ago - now I cannot quite imagine life without it for convenience on the couch and for travelling! Gooo ooonnn... Christmas is coming &*> YAM xx
Thanks, Yam. Lovely to see you too. :-) Yes, it looks like the whole western half of the UK has missed having summer this year, going by what my sister in Mid-Wales tells me. Such a shame. Our weather here last year was very poor, but this year has made up for it. The leg is much improved now, thanks, though I'll get it checked when we get back. If I get a tablet we'll have to get a WiFi router here, as we're on a wired network at present. Decisions, decisions...
DeleteHi Perpetua! So glad to see a post from you... and that you and DH are well and resting. Please don't become an ex-blogger. It's nice to hear what is going on in Wales/Normandy - even if it's just an occasional post or two. Summer is almost over here in Texas (although it is still hot), the kids are back in school, and Football season has begun. Before we know it the holidays will be upon us - and heaven help us as I'm not ready for that!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rian. It's good to be back. I'll do my best not to become and ex-blogger and this will be easier in the cooler months. Somehow my brain turns to much when it's very hot. I don't know how you cope. Today is much cooler and I feel really wide-awake. :-) French children go back to school today, but our grandsons in the UK don't go back until later this week or next week, depending where they live. As for Christmas, I refuse even to think about it until at least late October, if then!
DeleteWhat beautiful photos of a serene and lovely place, Perpetua. I am glad you are resting, and so sorry to hear about the sore leg - you have had more than your fair share of injuries. Yes, the tablet or an iPhone is the way to go; read posts whenever you have a spare moment, in a waiting room etc. Then you are ready to go when you get to the home computer. Temperatures are heading upwards here, with Spring officially arriving tomorrow. It is time for the great Climate Swicharound!
ReplyDeletePS Please Keep Blogging :))
Glad you like them, Patricia. I never tire of the views from our little house, even when it's misty, as it is again this morning. The sore leg is thankfully not an injury, but a complication of my chronic varicose veins and is very much better now, thanks. I don't really have a use for a smartphone, but do have a growing yen for a tablet. I'll do some more research when we get home...
DeleteYour temperatures are heading upwards just as ours are coming down a bit, though I do hope for your sake that your summer isn't as hot as last year. Your temperatures scare me! As for blogging, no, this was just a hiccup. I'm not ready to stop yet. :-)
Do take care of that leg....they have a nasty way of playing up. Just as well you weren't on a hectic social round.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that Facebook hasn't completely conquered you....I would miss your blog posts.
Such lovely colours...withe the rain you have had things don't have that washed out end of summer look.
Wouldn't a neighbour take your apples for cider?
My thoughts exactly, Helen, when the leg became so sore and I had to keep it up almost all the time. FB just became easier - short posts done in brief sessions at the computer. Even now I'm sitting at an angle with my leg up, but can cope much better for longer like that now.
DeleteYou always love the colours, don't you? - here and in the UK. Yes, we've had enough rain between the hot spells to keep everything beautifully green and lush, unlike areas further south which are parched and brown.
As for the apples, we've offered them to our neighbours, but one is too old and the other too busy to want them and in any case they have trees of their own. It's just easier to buy your cider nowadays than make it.
Sounds like an idyllic lifestyle there in Normandy. Hope the leg improves. Thanks for your message about Kath.
ReplyDeleteI bought a tablet (quite a large one) at the beginning of the year and love it.
You're welcome, Susan. I was so sorry to read that you'd lost her. The leg is much improved, thanks, but I'll go and see my doctor when we get back in any case. I'll also think really seriously about getting a tablet.
DeleteWe really love our summers in Normandy, but my thoughts are now turning to home and we'll be glad to be back.
I'm so glad to know you haven't taken the role of "ex-blogger," Kathy. It sounds to me like you have had some relaxation in Normandy, and that is definitely a good thing. There will more than likely be a long winter to get back into reading blogs and hopefully writing more often as well. You've been missed, but I think your summer sounds just lovely.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Debra. I was shocked to realise how close I'd come to slipping into that role. I never blog as frequently in the summer, but I've certainly never gone the best part of two months between posts before. It won't happen again. :-) Yes, we've had a lovely, restful time in between bouts of busyness and the summer has gone very quickly. Time now to go home and get back into routine again - including reading blogs!
DeleteSo pleased to see your return to the blogs Perpetua. Your lovely travelogues, laced with humour are a feature of our cyber community, and you have been missed.
ReplyDeleteI do hope you will get some attention for the leg as soon as you feel able.
It's good to know that at least someone has had a taste of Summer. We all knew it was around somewhere, just, we appear to have mislaid it :-)
Thanks, Ray. I'm sorry not to have given you more posts from France this year and I'll try to do better. In fact if this damp, misty weather continues, I may do better sooner than you expect. :-)
DeleteI plan to make an appointment with my doctor as soon as we get home and ask his advice. It's a longstanding varicose vein problem, but it really flared up with the heat this year. I'm sorry to rub in the fact that we've had summer and you haven't. Here's hoping for a really lovely Indian summer this autumn to give you some much-needed sunshine.
I certainly hope that your leg is much better, as I write this, and I am glad that you won't be giving up blogging. I find that my blog is rather haphazzard, and I also plan blogs in my head, but they never get written. Where did the summer go?
ReplyDeleteIt's very much better, thanks, Bonnie, though I'm still resting it as much as I can until I can see my doctor. No, I won't be giving up blogging deliberately any time soon, though it was disconcerting to realise how long I'd gone between posts. I'm glad I'm not the only one who has ideas for posts and never sees them through. As for where the summer has gone, I don't know, but it went there rather quickly. :-)
DeleteAnother summer in France almost over Perpetua! The photos are so serene and calm and I am sure you will have enjoyed this summer [even if blogging has taken a back seat]. Sometimes we need to just relax and take in the quiet.
ReplyDeleteWhat variety of apples were picked? And do you just eat them, or make apple pies or jelly? Freshly picked apples from ones own garden are always so much crisper than those in the shops that too often taste soapy.
Enjoy the rest of your stay.
Thanks, Shirley. The summer has slipped by so quickly - or is that a sign of my age? This is a quiet location and the view up the hill is very peaceful. I love watching the sheep graze. :-) I didn't intend not to blog. It just happened.
DeleteThere's one tree in the garden which produces an all-purpose apple. I've no idea what the variety is, but it's good for cooking and can also be used chopped in salads, though it's a little tart to be eaten straight. It also keeps well, which is why we take back as many as we can carry.
Good to have you back in the blogoshere, Perpetua! May I join the chorus of other commenters in encouraging you not to become an 'ex-blogger'. However, I do sympathise with your struggle to get posts written. I've only managed three since the beginning of July, despite having lots to write about. My excuses are the exceedingly hot weather which we are still experienced here in Prague, together with my hospitalisation at the beginning of August.
ReplyDeleteI love the first three photos showing the same view at different times of the day & look forward to the promised further blogpost before your return to Wales.
Thanks, Ricky. With all this encouragement from you and others, I don't think I dare consider becoming an ex-blogger. :-) However like you, I find very hot weather interferes rather badly with my thought processes, and though I haven't been hospitalised, my sore leg made sitting at the computer for long too uncomfortable for quite a while. Hopefully, with both those reasons now in the past, normal service should be resumed from now on.
DeleteI'm glad you liked the photos. I loved the way the weather changed as the day went on and tried to capture that.
As ever a lovely post. The photos showing the turn of season are beautiful. Safe travels back to Wales when the time comes,
ReplyDeleteThanks, Catriona. The season is changing so markedly that I wanted to capture it on the same day and from the same viewpoint if I could. The beginning of September is definitely the start of autumn nowadays and makes my thoughts turn towards Wales again. :-)
DeleteNice photos, Perprtua! We have had a very good summer down here in the Lot. Today will be the last very hot one for a while and I am enjoying sitting on the shady terrace with my tablet and being able to cooment to your post using a portable wifi routerwhich connects to the mobile phone network!! It is good to see a post from you and I am looking forward to seeing many more. You are very fortunare to have normal Internet access where you are. So far not possible at our address...but I have hopes for next year,
ReplyDeleteGlad you like them, Broad. I've been following the weather further south on the weather forecast sites and you've certainly had a scorcher down in the Lot. I've also followed your internet trials on your blog and am very glad you managed to get something sorted out. Yes, we're lucky to have ADSL here, though the speed isn't wonderful, but it's adequate for what we need. However we don't have wifi but a wired connection, so if I get a tablet we'll need a wifi router next year. Given the age of our present router, that wouldn't be a bad idea. :-)
DeleteSafe journey north when the time comes.
I know exactly how you feel about the blogging thing. But I don't want you to stop and I don't really want to stop myself, either. Let's keep going!! I have loved seeing the photos of your lovely, typically Normandy cottage - love the shape of these buildings - and the gorgeously green countryside.
ReplyDeleteTake it easy - rest that leg and yes, possibly time for a tablet!!
Axxx
Thanks, Annie. I may just treat myself to that tablet. I've comforted myself in my blogging hiatus by noticing that I'm not the only one who isn't posting as regularly as before, though I don't have your very valid reason that work and children take up my time. Yes, do let's form our very own blogger support society to encourage ourselves when the muse plays hide and seek. :-) I'm glad you enjoy the photos, as I love taking and sharing them.
DeleteYes, please keep going P, I'd miss your blog. I have a tablet but find it very hard to write a post on it. Which is why I'm slowing up on blog writing too because I've been away so much this year.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement, BtoB. l'll do my best. You have been much better at continuing to post than i have, even though you've had to wrestle with a fiddly virtual keyboard to do so. I don't think I'd have the patience, but a tablet for reading and commenting would be very useful.
DeleteYou've been on my mind so I am really glad to see an update from you. I'm sorry about your leg. I hope it feels better soon. I'm glad you're doing well otherwise. Take care, and enjoy these last days of summertime.
ReplyDeleteI'm touched you should say that, Jennifer. Thank you, especially as I've been so poor at reading and commenting recently. My leg is improving all the time, though I'll get the doctor to check it when we get back. After today's mist and rain the weather should be cool and sunny for the rest of our stay, which suits us very well. :-)
DeleteLovely to have a blog post to read from you, Perpetua, and complete understanding about the personal seasons of life that we travel through (not to be confused with seasons of summer, winter, spring and fall).
ReplyDeleteYour morning mist is a mirror image of what we had here this morning. Much atmosphere and misty mystery to our morning, that has burned off into a very hot and humid day, but, no complaints here, at least not yet, as it has been a mild summer.
Thanks, Penny. It's good to be back. I love your image of the seasons of life and I reckon I'm just emerging from a fallow season as far as blogging is concerned.
DeleteYes, this is very much the season of mists as well as mellow fruitfulness and we too had mist again today after some very heavy rain first thing. It's much cooler today and will stay like that this week, though the sun should put in an appearance again tomorrow. I'm glad your summer hasn't been unbearably hot as I know it sometimes can be.
Dear Perpetua - it is good to see you here, it hard to believe that your sojourn in France is coming to a climax, and that Wales is already beckoning.
ReplyDeleteI am sure that you will return home refreshed with your batteries recharged, and hopefully your leg will soon mend.
I have sadly just lost my very first follower, he has given up blogging - as the years roll by it can become more difficult, but we are in charge of our own blogs and can pop in or out as we wish.
Safe travels home Perpetua, and take care.
Thank you, Rosemary. It feels good to be back blogging. I too find it hard to believe that we've been here so long already, but the calendar doesn't lie. We arrived 10 weeks ago yesterday! Where has the summer gone? I'm glad to say the leg is much better, though I still rest it a lot.
DeleteI too have lost a few followers who no longer blog. Circumstances and interests change, so this seems quite natural, but I'm not at that stage yet myself. Blogging is still too much fun to leave.
Good to read from you again, and beautiful photos of serenity.
ReplyDeleteThanks, poetreehugger. The good thing about the bad leg is that I've spent far more time just looking at and appreciating our wonderful views, as the photos show.
DeleteI think a quiet summer is the very best kind. Have a safe journey back to Wales, and I hope you get your sore leg sorted out. Oh, and I would definitely encourage you to buy a tablet of some sort.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kristie. I'll see the doctor after we get home next Tuesday. Quiet summers seem to be the norm for us as we get older and I have no complaints. I leave rushing around to the younger generation. :-) I think a tablet will probably make an appearance before too long.
DeleteI have felt a bit like an ex blogger this summer P. However, I still love reading what our friends have been up to, and linking into their lives, even if it isn't quite as frequently as it once was. I love seeing what has been going on in your 3 parts of the world, so please, dont stop ! facebook keeps some of us connected, but it is blogging that takes our friendships further I think. Have a safe trip back to Wales.....lets be in touch again soon ! Jxxx
ReplyDeleteGiven what a busy summer you've had with all your visitors, I'm not surprised blogging has taken a back seat for you, Janice. I don't have that excuse. No, I won't stop blogging, but I doubt I'll ever regain the frequency of posting I had in the first 2 or 3 years. I'll blame it on my age. :-) I'm mulling another post as I write and with luck will get it finished before the rush of packing starts.
DeleteDear Perpetua
ReplyDeleteThe silence becomes worrying after a decent post outward journey/arrival interval, so I'm very glad to see you back. We are likely to pass you on the Channel shortly, so will wave as we travel by your lovely (empty!) cottage on our way south.
I hope the packing and return journey go smoothly.
Spindrift
I'm so sorry to have worried you, Spindrift and will try to do better in future. We'll be back in Wales on Tuesday evening, so we'll have to catch up when you're back from your travels. Where are you heading this time?
DeleteDon't worry, we'll all be ready for you when you're ready to take up the blog again.
ReplyDeleteI know how awkward it is to use a laptop whe you're supposed to keep your leg up - impossible!
Hope you gad a good journey back to Wales, and hope to see you here again soon.
(My own blg has suffered from nrglect this summer, too, but my enthusiasm seems to be returning. No idea where it went!)
Thanks, Jean. It's very encouraging to know that one has been missed. I'm hoping that with the shorter days and now we're all unpacked and sorted out after our return, I'll get back into the rhythm of blogging again very soon and not only blogging but reading and commenting properly.
Delete