Painted

Our house is now painted and looking lovely. We enlisted the help of 2 seasoned professionals, who spent 3 weeks transforming the place into a light, airy space.

The colors had been deliberated upon for some time (Elaine loves color studies), and all eco paints

The colors of the house next to the stone barns were incorrect and a bit jarring. And the shutters had also become quite weather-beaten. So, we selected colors taken from the stones of the barns for the house shutters and doors. All now makes sense together

The finish makes the place look tres grand and welcoming

Previously, these front doors were dark, poorly stained wood. Now they suit the space and the original old iron bar makes a lovely home for our brollies

The original oak stairs were hardly grand before. The beam had been paneled over, and when removed, old matt pastel green paint covered its character. The walls are now a matt warm white, with all woodwork in a satin version of the same color. We intend to do the stairs justice later with some rubbing and oiling

The floors and ceilings are a warm, putty grey, also in satin. This allows the aged textures of the wood to show through nicely without looking stark

The stairs leading to the attic had been a melange of paneling and grey paint

The landing (sans furniture). The porcelain lamp now looks at home. The copper pipes will be buffed to a shine shortly

The hallway to the guest room still features fetching wallpaper, and en-suite bathroom & wc with 70's brown tiles. Another project for later

Bare but great. We'll post more pictures when all the furniture is back in place

Hallway leading from the landing to the closet

All the difference for morning dressing

The master bedroom fireplace, without its usual ornaments, we're still putting all back into place. Pictures only go so far to show the difference. The house feels cleaner and grand, but also cosy, and finally ours

First Solo Flight

It's amazing to see her almost up and walking without our help. With the painters here the last 3 weeks, the stepladder ended up downstairs and little miss curious noticed immediately. In a few short minutes, and Papa's careful guidance, she had fashioned it into her personal walker for the morning.

Pre Paint

Before the painters arrived to transform the maison, we had a few jobs to attend to on the second floor (first floor for our UK readers)

Our master bedroom featured the final portion of the delightful pine paneling

This is our bedroom fireplace, which is original, but treated shoddily with a terrible dark stain

Beneath the paneling lay many cobwebs, a few ex-critters and some lovely old beams full of character

All of the walls on this floor required much plasterwork, sanding and cleaning

There were gaps through to the attic and between rooms

The walls were the color of rancid butter; the color of sadness. Many had never been painted and were raw discolored plaster

The pine floor had never been treated, and displayed a fine array of stains and scratches

This is the closet half painted. A fine example of how the dark ceilings sucked light out of the rooms, creating a general dinginess

Very Cloudy

Neil purchased a new whisky with some of his birthday money. It tastes very lovely

Thanks Herb and Nancy, I'll drink to your health

The Girls' Birthday

The 23rd was Elaine's and Lucius's Birthday. The card shown above was not for Elaine

Lucius starts the unwrapping, at breakfast still in jim-jams

She scrutinized all the cards (and still can't get enough of them)

All dressed and saddled up, on her new rocking horse / bunny / motorbike / mouse from Mamma & Papa


Like a fish to water

Ready to go for lunch in her Sunday best

Lunch was had at a sweet little vegetarian restaurant (in France??!!) in Pau

We then continued with a leisurely mooch through town. We found a store with a plethora of gorgeously colored wool and patterns galore for busy knitting Nanna's and Great Nanna's

Neil bought a bottle of Cloudy Bowmore whisky (using some of his birthday money) at Les Papilles Insolites: a new and delightful wine/whisky cellar/restaurant

We then returned home where Elaine found her Birthday mini macarons

And Lucius found her first birthday cake...which confused her and she even shed a little tired tear...
(a special applesauce sweetened carrot cake with whipped cream frosting too- made by Mamma & Papa)

...so we tried again at lunch today

And it was good!
(see newly learned clapping action)

Neil's Birthday

A frosty start to the day soon turned to bright sunshine. The smattering of snow we had yesters convinced me to spend the morning on the mountain.

Naturally, the flask of tea rode shotgun

The journey was a joy

Landy performed beautifully, and when we hit the snow-line we hugged the slippy surface as if on proverbial rails, whilst 2 wheel drives were spinning tyres all over the shop. I listened to Neil Young the whole way back, due to me no longer being Neil young

Returning home to find a lovely late lunch, finished off with a splendid carrot + walnut cake, which caused Elaine to rise at 4am to commence the complex kitchen alchemy, courtesy of Ottolenghi's rather complex cook book

My thanks to all for cards and e-wishes

Spring is springing

New life's waking up in the jardin again, even though we had a whole day of lovely snow yesterday

Our bulbs are coming up

Elaine's birthday Magnolia made it through the winter

New dress

Lucius finally fits into her dress 'n tights that Aunty Mel gave her for Xmas. Too sweet and suddenly looking quite grown up. And sitting on our new, insulated, perfectly level subfloor in the attic

L skates

Lucius has been getting way rad with her first skating efforts.
Instigated by Papa, squeals of delight by both

The 'Seated Flyer'

The 'Belly Out'

Hanging five on the nose!!! Check out her style!!!

The weekend

Last weekend John and Lula drove up from Spain to visit and get out on the snow. Leigh was flying in from England to join us...

Unfortunately this is as close as Leigh got; his flight was canceled due to a French air traffic controller strike. He was notified after driving to Stanstead, checking in, having his bags on-board, going through security, etc... Terrible (but not as bad as my hasty Photoshop work)

The old Cauterets train station. This was my first visit to this resort. A very sweet old town linked to a single ski bowl with about 7 lifts and some nice off-piste

View down the valley towards the Spanish border from Artouste Fabreges, one of the more local resorts. After much French head-scratching and strolling about with big hand-tools, they got the lift running at 1pm and only opened half the pistes due to storm damage and low snow levels. This allowed John and I to spend the morning drinking coffee and getting sunburned

The conditions were far from perfect, but we made the most of it, finding some spring lines off the beaten track. Thankfully there was barely anyone else there

John getting all sequential, oooohhh

Kicking up a bit of off piste spring slush

And then cooking by torchlight as Hurricane Xynthia knocked out our power and phone lines; we always try to provide a bit of adventure for our guests