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Rosie’sFrenchAdventuresandIrish Shenanigans.com

~ Letting ‘Life’ show me the way.

Rosie’sFrenchAdventuresandIrish Shenanigans.com

Tag Archives: good times

Cherishing The Changes of the Season: The Charabang Outing.

15 Tuesday Sep 2020

Posted by RosieJoseph in Change is a coming, For the live of dogs, Goodbyes, Learning and Evolving, My family and other furry creatures, My home, new adventures, New Paths, poignancy, Reflections, sunrises and sunsets, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure, The seasons

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Autumn sunshine, being grateful, Blessings, cats, Change, count your blessings, counting your blessings, Dogs, enjoying the moment, French autumn sunshine, French Countryside, French gardens, French sunsets, good times, Goodbyes, Moving on, Nature, new adventures, poignancy, Poignant, poignant memories, Reflections, reminders, Rural France, Simple things, Small things, The seasons, tranquility, Trees, walking through my garden, Welsh Terriers

Autumn has never enthralled me more than since moving here. I have written about it So often.

Autumn is a time for letting go, and no more so than this year.

So last Sunday, before I returned to work for what I thought was going to be a long stint, I realised that when I returned home in October the evenings would be dark, and the opportunity to sit in my garden on these warm autumn evenings would be passed; that this would be the final weekend evening ever when I could savour my garden as she began her preparation to move from summer to autumn. Because all things are changing.

It has been incredibly warm here for September, with the temperature in the early thirties most days, so as the sun went down RD and I decided to take a walk around our garden, and savour what we have, at times, taken for granted.

Off we went up the chemin (ooh matron!) that divides our main garden from our field behind our barn, as the sun started to set. Needless to say the Welshies were with us, excited that mummy and daddy were walking around the garden with them, as if they wanted to show us all the things we might miss. Like the crab apples, and Cobb nuts, crunching beneath our feet.

As we passed Daisy (fondly known as Pussy Upsey the Bond Villain ) she watched with interest…

And not put off by Welshies at all decided to join us on our walk. She is fondly known as ‘cat Dog’.

Up she came behind us, stalking the serial killer known as Wiglet (she is a Bond villain after all!) not put off my Wiglet’s penchant for killing small things, because Daisy is a bit of an oompa loompa!

As we walked on to the field behind our barn, with its newly repaired roof (the boy done good) the sun set reflected onto the old building, built in 1812, it shimmered in the sunlight, as if knowing that yet again it was being left behind. That building must have so many stories to tell. We are going to become part of it’s history now.

As we stood taking in the sunset RD reminded me of the fabulous view from just over the horizon of the field behind us. In five years I had still not walked down to see it. I will make a note to do that when I get home.

I looked at all my beautiful animals, and was reminded of just how much they love us.

I savoured the sunshine, and thought of all those beautiful creatures who we have lost in the last five years, poignant memories, the kind that make you smile with tears in your eyes. Autumn reminded me, as always, of the things we take for granted.

I realised then that I rarely show you the view from this side of our garden, or the sun setting from this angle. So time to share this walk with you, with all who have followed this adventure with me. From the fields surrounding us, to the old statuesque oaks, standing so tall in our garden. They will give someone else shelter next year.

I miss my home….

Rosie

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Belief. Life’s messages

25 Saturday Jan 2020

Posted by RosieJoseph in Belief, Learning and Evolving, Making our own way, mental health, People, Reflections, Simple things, sunrises and sunsets, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

a little place to sit, being grateful, Belief, believe, birthdays, Blessings, contemplation, Contentment, count your blessings, counting your blessings, Dogs, Faith, Feeling blessed, French sunsets, good times, Happiness, Helping others, home, Inspiration, kindness, learning, LIfe, life shows the way, Life shows you the way, memories, mental health, positivity, Reflections, Rural France, sanctuary, Simple things, Small things, Tears, tranquility, understanding, Welsh Terriers, Welshies

This is the Table beside my blue wing back chair.

It is a place I sit often to write, manage our life, and just look at life; and this table holds many things I use: my journal, my diary, my iPad, my book, books I am reading, currently Mark Nepo ‘The Book of Awakenings’, and ‘The Road Less Travelled and Beyond’. It has become a little sanctuary to me, as I look out on my garden, often with a Welshie sitting opposite me.

I took the picture of my table last night because today is my birthday, and as I placed the flowers that RD had bought me on my table (where else would they go?!) with my cards, ready to open this morning, I realised how much this table encapsulates my life, and just how blessed I am.

I have no religion, or ‘God’. Perhaps my ‘God’ is life. I truly believe that life does show you the way, if you have faith. But as with all faiths sometimes it is hard to hold on to them. I will do another blog to show how life has shown us over this month to believe in it, and ourselves, but today I want to share a gift I was given by our client.

I have often written about the awful people we have worked for, but yesterday our client paid their bill and then gave us a tip on top! A tip that will enable us to buy wood for the rest of the winter. But it was not the actual tip that was the biggest gift, it was the fact that it reminded me that there are good and kind people out there. It bought tears to my eyes because of that, because of their kindness, and because it gave me a lesson, and it gave me faith.

I think I will chalk that up as one of the best gifts ever, along with my son turning up at Christmas: spiritual gifts not material ones.

Rosie

You can read our other story by clicking on the link at the top of the page.

Making This Better the book is now available including the journal entries for the first 5 years of our recovery & the whole 21 days of ‘The War’. Available internationally in paperback and ebook  at Amazon and Barnes & Noble also available at Xlibris and Apple Books for iPad and Waterstones Bookstores for click & collect

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Two Christmas’s

25 Wednesday Dec 2019

Posted by RosieJoseph in Friends, Galavanting, laughter & giggles, My family and other furry creatures, People, Simple things, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure, The seasons

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

alternative Christmas, being grateful, Blessings, Christmas, Contentment, counting your blessings, Dogs, Family, Feeling blessed, Food in France, French Christmas, French towns, Friends, fun, good times, Goodbyes, Happiness, kindness, laughter, life shows the way, Life shows you the way, Love, making memories, naughtiness, new adventures, parents, People, Poignant, poignant memories, Rural France, Simple things, Small things, surprises, Tears, The seasons, Warmth, Welsh Terriers, Winter

It’s been a whirlwind few days after our son Tom surprised us on Saturday. We have tried to cram so much into three days, because he had already committed to going to my sisters house for Christmas day, and it was only right that he fulfilled that commitment.

We decided to have two Christmas’s one with them and one on the day.

On the Saturday we went out to visit someone who has been nothing but kind to us. She is alone and for me Christmas is about understanding and giving something other than gifts: time. We had already arranged to visit her, and Tom and Chris (the boys) volunteered to come with us. Trundling into the back of RD’s van (totally illegal!) and moaning about their arses hurting them.

When we arrived these two young men were so polite and kind, even sorting out some technical stuff for her on her computer. I was so proud of them both: another gift.

We then took a detour to the medieval city of Domfront, with its beautiful lights, and had a few drinks in a quintessential French tabac. The weather was awful, but it couldn’t damp our spirits.

It’s strange how we can all revert back to being ‘mum and dad’ with our kids. Tom has a good job, lives in Newcastle, contacts me when he wants and needs to, and I pretty much leave him to his own devices. He is an adult I am not an ‘over motherer’. I had him to live his life. But on Saturday they went out late and drove to a town near us to see if any bars were open. We didn’t go, we would have ‘cramped their style’, and also we were knackered! But they said they were coming back for chicken burgers and we waited up for them, knowing the bars in France do not stay open late. But when they hadn’t come back by 1am we started to worry, wtf! I looked at RD and we both started to laugh, because he felt the same. Our son looks after himself in Newcastle all the time, and we never worry, yet as soon as he comes over to us we become worried parents. I gave in and rang him. A very pissed Tom rang me back from a house in Lassay, they had been invited by some French girls they had met in a bar (nothing changes!) Tom thought it was hilarious that his mum was ringing him. I cooked the chicken burgers and left them out for them. When we got up the next morning they had obviously cooked chips, because they were everywhere. Nothing changes!

We visited Mayenne on the Sunday, where Christmas activities were taking place, and had mulled wine and hot chocolate.

When we got home we had an alternative Christmas dinner, of roast lamb and all the trimmings.

Followed by an evening in front of the fire and TV. Bless Chris he had driven for over ten hours to get Tom to us, so that was him!

On Monday we went shopping, I cannot begin to tell you the amount of wine and cheese they bought! We played Monopoly, and ate spaghetti Bolognaise very very late.

It was a joy to see RD with them. I realised just how much he misses the banter of being around men. They always used to love tormenting RD, but they never won, he always got them in the end, and nothing changes. I love this video, it sums these few days up.

https://www.facebook.com/moira.swindell/videos/2869801423030602/

It was all going too fast, and Tuesday came too quickly. Very early in the morning, in the dark before dawn, we hugged them goodbye. Am I crying now? Of course I am.

So it’s Christmas day, and we are still in bed, even the Welshies are worn out from the whirlwind of fun.

We will have our traditional turkey dinner, and have a very quiet day. But we will have the greatest gift of all: memories.

Have a mellow Christmas folks.

Rosie

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Le Soiree part II: It all went well

14 Saturday Dec 2019

Posted by RosieJoseph in a sense of community, Food in France, Friends, laughter & giggles, My home, People, Recipes, The continuing adventure

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

canapés, chilling, Christmas decorations, Christmas in France, cucumbers, embroidery, Friends, gifting, good times, Relaxing, salmon and fish eggs, sparkling wine, taking time, vintage Karen Millen

We had a lovely evening, just as everyone predicted we would. Our French friends loved our decorations and how we had arranged our house. It is common here to sit at a table rather than comfy seating, and when they saw a little seating area in the window, where we sit so often looking out at the view they were enamoured.

I made canapés with a lovely tuna ready made mix that I found in a local supermarket (good old Aldi) I added some fish eggs and cucumber and the women of our group loved it. Cucumber is not often served here and I explained that in the UK it is very popular.Nadia and Martine loved it but Marc and Michelle were mot so keen. But the tuna was very popular, I was chuffed when they asked where to buy it.

The other plate is canapés of cream cheese, salmon and fish eggs, again very popular. But the most popular were good old cheddar cheese and silver-skin onions on cocktail sticks. So seventies!

I also did a few canapés Anglais, with cream cheese and marmite all for our friend Virginie, she and I have decided that she has English blood as she loves all English food.

When I moved over here I brought with me some expensive beautiful clothes, you know the type: you ones you always aim to get back in to one day! But over the past few months I have let so much go, and realised they were too beautiful to languish in my cupboards. Last night I showed them to Nadia and asked if she would like them. Bless her she tried them on and looked stunning. I rescued my Karen Millen vintage jacket from the wardrobe and she loved it.

I would rather give such beautiful things to a lovely person such as her than sell them to people who will want them for nothing. I am so pleased she liked them, it made my night.

I love our friends, we had an evening of sparkling wine and whiskey (traditionally French), good chat snd lots of laughs as always. It reminded me again that I shouldn’t let the language get to me, I can speak some French, and when with good friends language no barrier. I am not ready to leave yet.

I am tired now, and allowing myself a weekend off. Why Not? My house is sparkling, so here is to an afternoon of embroidery and writing. Perfect.

Rosie

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Farewells

15 Wednesday Aug 2018

Posted by RosieJoseph in Change is a coming, Friends, People, The continuing adventure, The good life, The seasons

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

adventures, baguettes, BBQ's, Blue skies, Boys of summer, Change, Contentment, Dogs, Don Henly, end of summer, flowers, French churches, Friends, Good Food, good times, Happiness, Inspiration, laughter, medieval cities, memories, Moving on, new adventures, night skies, Piscines, Poignant, ruby beer, Stars and hearts, summer, summer weather, Swimming pools, The seasons, Welsh Terriers, Welshies

‘Nobody on the road,

nobody on the beach

I feel it in the air

The summers out of reach…’

Don Henly..

A week ago a dear friend bought me these flowers from his garden. We had invited him and Matt our young French friend around for a bbq, we wanted them to meet Jenny and Karen and despite the thunderstorm that hit just as we were serving the food a wonderful evening was had by all.

But as with anything in life everything must change, and our holiday has been and gone, Jenny has flown back to England and my flowers have died.

To finish the last few days of Jenny’s holiday and to celebrate Karen’s birthday we visited the vide grenier at Evron on Sunday, and found it’s beautiful medieval church and monastery and a small little bar in the square, a rare thing in rural France to find a French bar open! We were so excited we sat there for a couple of hours drinking in the atmosphere, and ruby beer of course!

As you can see we had a typical French time, beer and baguette!

We meandered our way home and sat in the garden star gazing, and drinking wine (no! I hear you cry!) and had a supper of minted lamb chops, chips, peas and tomatoes …….mmmmmmmmm.

For Jen’s final day we took her to Fourgeries, I did say recently we have decided we should visit more often….. we are looking forward now to visiting this breathtaking city in all seasons, with the different colours that they bring to the old French buildings.

As with rural France in August everything shuts for the vacances, so our plans to eat were scuppered and I rustled up a mean spaghetti bolognaise and garlic bread with some help from the girls when we got back home.

And then that was it! After all the weeks of building up Jen was going back home; and we are left with the memories of the last ten days, with the laughter echoing around the garden. It really has been brilliant….

It is as if the weather knows that our mad, crazy, wonderful days of summer are coming to an end; the sun is not showing it’s face until the evening, and, although it is warm it feels kinda sad. Only six days to go and Karen will be on her way, where has that time gone?

But I know that, sad as I am, we have to let go to make way for new things, nothing can stay the same; and as if to remind me, my husband bought me some new flowers for our wedding anniversary yesterday, just as I let go of the old the new came in the door.

There is lots to tell you soon…… and there will be lots of change, so keep reading folks, things are starting to get busy…..

Moisy

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La Coupe du monde

04 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by RosieJoseph in Change is a coming, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The good life

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

bars, despair, egos, England football team, English football, English penalties, excitement, exhilaration, Football, football in pubs, football pundits, French flag, French football, French football team, fun, good times, Harry Kane, pubs, Sainte and Greavsie, St Georges flag, supporters, the world cup, women and football

When I started my blog I never thought I would be writing about the World cup, but that’s part of the adventure I suppose, we all change.

This is the first world cup since we came to France, and my husband lives it, all of it. This picture is the French flag fluttering in the wind in our garden.

Rich used to be an avid England fan, but, after some events in our life, he stopped being so obsessed and realised that he was being an arsehole about it when they lost, understanding it was only a game. So he then came to just watch the World cup with no pressure, and enjoyed all the games instead of focusing on the few, quite simply, he ‘got it’.

It was a good time to realise this really, because, despite all of the skilled and excellent players the English team had at their disposal, they were, quite simply, atrocious. They did not qualify for the World cup in 2014, there were too many egos in the team, too many people who thought that they were the most important. My friend used the old cliche yesterday ‘there is no I in team!’

So now we live in France and we support our home team, France, of course; but the English team are now a young team, skilled young men whose egos have not had time to become so inflated that it is all about them, and they are playing well; and you want their passion and lack of ego to be rewarded, and you want yhem to silence the doubters.

But how did I come to join in? Well since Karen arrived poor Rich has been watching the World cup with the female version of Saint and Greavsie sitting on the sofa beside him. (Sorry to all of my non English readers, they were football pundits from the eighties, and I am showing my age now?!)

We have giggled about this, Karen has conceded that she is Greavsie, because I have dark hair!!

So poor Rich has been sitting, beer in hand, on one sofa, whilst we sat on the other putting the world to right about whether it was a penalty, red card or yellow card. That is until something catches our eye like a nice looking bloke on the bench with a tight T. Shirt, or a particular haircut that we liked, when we would go ‘oooh he’s nice’, or ‘loving that haircut’, or ‘he’s good looking’. Then Rich’s eyes would glaze over, and he had a look on his face of ‘God help me!’

So we felt pity for Rich and decided that last Saturday we would go to a French bar to watch the French match, and give Rich some male company. But when we got there it was empty, apart from a man whose eyes looked to the right and to the left independently. Mmmmmmmmmm the French are clearly not big on watching the football in the pub!

But never deterred, my hubby in his French football shirt and Karen and I persevered, and got excited as some more people came in, four in fact!! They all sat there and as the game became exciting we ‘les Anglais’oooohed, and aaaahed, whilst the French looked at us as if we were mad! For such a passionate race they sure were not showing it when they watched the football.

As the game wore on we cheered when France scored, we roared when they scored again, and the French looked at us as if we were not only mad, but had all grown two heads. But we did not care, we like the passion of the game, and by the time goal three came the French had decided to join the ‘mad Anglais’ and began to cheer with us; they started to laugh with us (or it might have been at us) and the atmosphere changed and France won.

Despite igniting their enthusiasm we still came away feeling a bit flat. So last night we decided to go to an English bar (something we would never do) and watch the English game there, and even treat ourselves to burger and chips! Our old neighbours and friends had arrived on Monday and were excited to watch the match in a bar in France, so off we all went, into the humid and hot night, to a bar not far from us. It was full of English, mainly men, Rich loved it! Despite the adventure he still misses watching the football with other Men, particularly English men. Despite loving your new life there are times when you do still miss some cultures and comforts from your country (I won’t say home, this is my home now.)

The burger was good, the game was thrilling and England did not disappoint. Those young men worked their backsides off, the Captain steadied his ship, and they won the penalty shoot out for the first time in twenty two years!!

It was thrilling to watch, painful to watch, and, at times, I couldn’t watch! But they won, a testament to not letting ego get in the way.

Now we have a dilemma, because they could meet France in the final and what do we do then? We love them all so as always we will adopt our philosophy and let life show us the way; and continue to fly the French flag in our garden, our wonderful welcoming neighbours and friends in France love it.

Come on England……. Vive le France …….

Moisy

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Small steps, can make all the difference – as long as you listen and understand

08 Tuesday May 2018

Posted by RosieJoseph in My home, Reflections, The continuing adventure

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

adventures, attitude, bad luck, courage, Friends, good luck, good times, Hard times, howling winds, journeys, life shows the way, Negativity, positivity, small steps, the road less travelled, upvc

A long while ago someone once gave me, at the most difficult time in my life, a good piece of advice; she said “Small steps.” At the time I did not understand her advice, but came to understand it over time, often as I fought against something I could not change, and tried to make things improve quickly, when only time, and small things would make the difference.

It was a lesson that I learnt well, and I am grateful every day for the advice my dear friend Avril gave me.

So fast forward to today, and we said goodbye to the hundred year old door, (see previous post with that title) and a new one has took its place; a set of UPVC French windows (or are they just double windows over here given that we are in France, and, thereby all the windows are French!)

As I said in my previous post we had no choice and had to be practical. We had a new frame built and to tie it in with the rest of the house we painted it blue, but decided to leave the door white to show that the house has stood the test of time and this is its latest addition.

Since having it installed we have had cold and windy rainy days and it has been a joy to stand in front of it and not feel a puff of the wind that was ferociously blowing at our house. The light it allows into my kitchen is fantastic and now when I stand cooking I look out at this…

I love it. But more than anything we finally feel as if we are getting somewhere, achieving and really starting to get our life on track in France. It is a small thing having the door fitted, but it is something that makes us warm and makes us feel empowered.

Another reason for my post was that someone asked me about my recent post, ‘it all depends on how you look at things I suppose’; She asked “how do you know that when bad things happen to you, that it means that life is not telling you to give up.” I asked if by that she meant was life telling us we should go back to England, and she said ‘yes it was.’ My immediate response was to explain that we could not go back even if we considered it (which we are not) because, apart from not particularly liking the way England is now, we would have to rent at our time of life, which would be a nightmare in England with animals, and our money would not last long from our house if we went back.

I have thought about this since then and have surprised myself that I answered her in such a materialistic way. In fact after considering it here is my answer…

When I say life shows you the way, I think it shows you the way and teaches you lessons to enable you to move forward; yes sometimes the lessons are hard but they are ALWAYS about moving forward (although we may not feel that at the time) and never about going backwards, after all what would be the point of that?

I do see life as a journey, my biggest inspiration has been ‘The road less travelled’ by M. Scott Peck, and as you learn things in life those lessons should make you stronger to enable you to keep going, and be able to deal with adversity in the future.

I suppose my friend was saying how do you know life is not telling you to change what you are doing, or where you’re going, and go back to what you know, how do you know life is not telling you that you have made a mistake? Again, what would be the point of that? I believe that if it is, then the lessons will become harder until you listen, but they will always be about moving forward and not back.

Importantly life does not only send you hard lessons, it sends you good things as well, to tell you that you’re on track and need to keep going; and I know from some of the lovely people we have met, and others who are now in our lives that we are on track. I listen to all my lessons not just the hard ones!!

As I said in my previous post it all depends on how you look at things; Do you look at it from a positive angle and ask what can I learn from this to carry on? Or do you look at the negative things to use as an excuse to give up, and go back to what you know? That is not an adventure my friend.

Where there is good there is bad, and where there is bad there is good. Everything goes in a circle, but if you just focus on the bad then that is all you will get because you fail to see the good, or allow it a way in. Negativity begets negative things. If we are being told to give up this adventure then we would not have been able to get the door. I know we will have the roof before the winter, I believe!

I will say this though: When you really want something badly and it does not happen then listen, because life is telling you it is not the right thing for you, no matter how hard it seems that you cannot have it. Something else will come along instead if you just believe and keep the door open…..

Moisy

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In the top 25 bloggers about living in France

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Categories

  • a sense of community
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  • Change is a coming
  • coming home
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  • Food in Ireland
  • For the live of dogs
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