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Tag Archives: Simple things

The leaning cherry, what tales you could have told

26 Tuesday Feb 2019

Posted by in My family and other furry creatures, My home, The seasons

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Nearly four years ago when we moved here we were told to chop down this old cherry tree. But she was covered in leaves and we didn’t have the heart. So Rich propped her up with a length of pine, and every year she came back, with her beautiful blossom under which we sat drinking wine

And her copious amounts of cherries. She fed the birds, she fed us.

Last year Rich set up the swinging seat I bought him (for 3€) for his birthday from it’s boughs. But when I look at it now I can see her leaves were dropping in July, and I believe she was dying even then.

Just last month I took a picture of it and you can see where the seat was. But then we noticed two weeks ago that if you decided to sit in the seat, your bum would be scraping the floor! The hooley from a few weeks ago had wreaked the final damage on her that she could take.

So Rich removed the seat and we deliberated on whether it was time to let the old girl go. She had some buds, but some parts had died and her trunk was sounding hollow. We didn’t have the heart to chop her down, but had a dilemma with the Welshies.

But as we considered what to do nature took the decision out of our hands. Yesterday, on a bright, warm, sunny day, as my washing blew in the wind

As we chopped and split yet more logs getting ready for our new venture, there was suddenly the sound of loud cracking and snapping. The Welshies stopped in their tracks and Rich shouted ‘that’s the tree’ as an almighty crack and the sound if splitting filled the air and down she came.

It was time to let the old girl go.

Poor Rich, he had just put his chainsaw away, after the chain became too loose, only to get it back out. More wood!

so in the evening sunshine we took two garden chairs up by the tree cracked open a beer, and said goodbye. We felt sad though, that cherry could tell so many stories, but nature showed us that sometimes things come to an end. It has changed the whole landscape of our garden. Everything must change.

Moisy

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Spring: Blue skies, warm sunshine,babbling brooks and hope…

23 Saturday Feb 2019

Posted by in My family and other furry creatures, Simple things, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure, The seasons

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Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy
Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry
Sunshine on the water looks so lovely
Sunshine almost always makes me high

Sunshine on my shoulders: John Denver

There is nothing like the warmth of sunshine to make you feel better; and there is nothing like the promise of spring to give you hope.

I am sitting here now with sunshine streaming in through the window, the warmth providing me with all I need – there are no heaters on in February! Spring has well and truly sprung over here and we are reaching temperatures of over twenty degrees on our patio. It has been like that all week, apart from a few foggy days (but let us not forget it is February after all!)

for those of you who read my blog you know that recently I have returned back to my old self: and part of that means that I can be quite driven (as my last post explained) read here

But the thing with that is I can also be hard to keep up with. Years ago (during ‘The War’) my sister told me that I was like a speedboat, I pick something up really quickly and I just run with it, leaving everyone else behind in my wake because they haven’t even got their head around the idea yet. It was a fair analogy, and we used it: so we likened it to me being in the speedboat and Rich on the ski’s behind desparately trying to keep up; and we had a safe phrase for Rich to use which was ‘whoa I’m on one ski! or ‘I’m in the water! When he said this I knew that I was going too fast for him and that I needed to slow down and go back and put him in the boat with me. If you would like to read more about that time in our lives here is the  link: click here

I think that Rich has felt like that recently. He does get down,( I have never hidden any sturggles we have had because I passionately believe that people should talk about mental health,)and he is not able to put into place the coping mechanisms that I can as quickly as I can, but bless him he does try. But last week I decided that I was going back to pick him up and take him with me. So on Saturday morning I said that we were not doing anything to the house or garden, despite all of the things that we have to do. It was a beautiful day and I said we were going out to another town for a walk.

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It is so easy over here to just keep working and working, wearing old working clothes and doing the same old thing and I believe that it is important that sometimes you just go ‘sod it!’ let’s just get out there and let life show us the way, in all her simplicity.

When we got to the pretty little town of Lassay Les Chateaux, only a fifteen minute drive away, the sun was shining, the sky was blue and the brooks were babbling.

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The town is steeped in history: during ‘Le Terroir’ (the French revolution) the chapel in the chateaux was used to interrogate people, and we found a tiny little alley that was probably a main thoroughfare,or possibly escape route,  all those years ago

It led us down to a small bridge over the babbling brook and out behind the chateaux.

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We walked around the chateaux, through the rose gardens, and by the church, and then just sat on the hill and watched the world go by. A simple thing; we didn’t spend any money, we didn’t even have a coffee (the price of two coffees would buy us enough chicken breasts for the week!) but we chilled.

When we got home Rich looked at me and said ‘I am glad we did that, I feel so much better.’

This week he has stripped wallpaper, cut logs, started to tackle the ditch outside our house which is still full of trees; and moved the door in our lounge. Just an afternoon taking time out in the sunshine, letting nature invigorate us, was all it took.

Take the time folks, and have a good weekend.

Moisy

When the cold, harsh winter has given its last breath,
When the sky above shows life instead of death,
When the claws reaching to the frozen sky become decorated with leaves,
When the animals -long in hiding- scurry from trees,
We know winter has ended.

Spring by Camille Gotera

Source: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/change-of-seasons-spring

 

 

Keep Going ….

17 Thursday Jan 2019

Posted by in My home, Reflections, Simple things, The continuing adventure

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I have been neglectful of this blog recently because my other blog https;//makingthisbetter.com has taken off again and I am now on target to achieve over twenty thousand views by the end of this week!

In addition the blog has helped me tighten my book and I am editing like a fury into the evening every evening.It will be published this year; even if I self publish.

But both of my blogs are important to me.  I think that the other blog has taken off, and taken over,  because sadly January is a month when most people find that their problems are compounded: perhaps it is because it is the new year and they can see no change in sight; perhaps it is because Christmas,and all the hype that goes with it, often makes people feel as if they should be happy; that they should put their problems to one side for a week or so (delude themselves that everything is happy) but inevitably reality kicks back in to bite them on the arse again in January, or even Christmas evening! Or perhaps it is because people feel that at this time of year they should consider change, should reflect, that they find that they have no option but to do just that; and they are afraid of what they may see. Hence the visits to a blog that may help them.

But this blog too can help them, it is real, it is reflective, and I noticed how some are also finding their way here from makingthisbetter, and I am glad, and they are welcome.

So on to why I thought that I would share with you this rose on this blog, my first blog, the blog that got me to where I am today with regard to my writing: This rose currently sits on my windowsill in my living room, and it overlooks the front of my garden and the wonderful view. I  bought this rose on the second but last weekend in November last year! I kid you not! Seven weeks ago!

We had no money, every penny counts (still does), but as I was leaving the supermarket a lady was there who represented a society for people with arthritis. They were asking for you to either buy a brioche (a form of sweet bread) from them, or a rose bud, and the money would be used to help people with arthritis who could not work and were on a low income. I could not afford it, but something made me buy this rose for two euro. I looked at Rich and said ‘I have arthritis, and I know we have nothing but surely we should all try and help other people.’ (Correction there we do have loads: each other to start, a house over our head, water, hot shower all of our blessings: you may want to read my ten consecutive posts around counting our blessings here is the first one Counting my blessings: Day one ) and I bought the rose.

And here is the rose: still alive, bloomed and still looking out over the view seven weeks after I bought it! I think that it is saying that it just loves it’s life looking out over the French countryside and it will stay as long as it can, it will keep going.

I did not realise the symbolism of a white rose, of which there are many, but two of them are hope, and new beginnings.

Every time I look at this rose I smile, because I know that it is a message being sent to me to tell me not to give up. For me it symbolises a number of things:

Hope – because it is still alive today, and it proves that anything is possible.

To enjoy the moment, enjoy life, whatever it holds; if you look at life there must be something positive in it. Only recently Rich and I have talked about the human brain being pre-disposed to see the negative and how every day when I wake, before I get up I say thank you:For Rich, for Tom, for my family, for my beautiful dogs, my cats, the roof over my head, running water, having a hot shower – back to the counting my blessings posts……!

But more than anything at what is a difficult time (there is always good and bad) this rose tells me to keep going.

And trust me, I will!

There will be more posts this week folks. I promise.

Moisy

Dawn….

11 Friday Jan 2019

Posted by in Reflections, Simple things, The continuing adventure, The seasons

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Sunrise form my garden January 2019

I have recently started to follow a new blog and it inspired me because every year the lady who writes it picks a word to live that year by. I have included a link to her blog below, it is inspiring.

After all of my pictures recently, and things I have learnt over the last year I have decided to pick ‘Dawn’. Because every dawn, every sunrise offers new opportunities, offers you the chance to leave things in the past and move into the new.

And living here every dawn, as I stand with my beloved cup of tea, makes me smile.

What will be your word for the year? And why?

Moisy

 

https://ainsobriety.com

Motivation during the French winter

08 Tuesday Jan 2019

Posted by in My home, Reflections, Simple things, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure, The seasons

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I have written many times about winter in rural France. I have said how people dread it, how it can be very grey (although that is one of my favourite colours!), and how work can be scarce to the point of non existence; add that to what can be one of the most expensive times of the year with fuel to find, and it can be hard.

A new year – a time of reflection

So this year we are approaching winter with a different approach, in fact this year we are approaching a lot of things differently, but more of that to come over the year!

Firstly we have wood, in our garden, our own wood. So we spend at least one afternoon a week chopping the wood (don’t get me started on the log splitter!). I enjoy it, I enjoy working with my husband, with the puppies running around us, and I find it rewarding.

Secondly we have decided to focus on what we can do, instead of what we can’t do. I believe if you keep going what you need will come, so since the new year we have done the following:

We went for our New Year day walk around the medieval city of forgeres

I said we are going to enjoy the winter in my previous posts, and I hope by doing this I will inspire others to just embrace each and every day.

Rich has decided to use his time, and has painted our toilet, and hung the radiator on the wall. We have decided that this is the year that we will take control and this is one way to do it. To decorate the house, with the paint we already have, and to do it well and how we want it. This house will be unrecognisable.

He has also re-arranged our living room, so that we take more advantage of the log burner with a ‘snug area by the tv and fire. I love it, it has gone from this……

To this..(dog leg not included!)

He has opened up the seating area at the other side of the room, and we have decided not to have a table. We never use it! So it’s going up for sale and we now have a huge amount of space. From this….

To this

We have a long list of jobs that we want to achieve this winter, pulling all the logs from the overgrown dead grass around them, decorate the hall, paint our living room and kitchen ceiling white (the leaking roof has been fixed, properly this time without any odious little people in sight!) and decorate both rooms. I am sure in-between all this work will come Rich’s way.

And last, but never least I will continue to cherish the scenes around me, because they keep me here. So here are some winter sunrises and sunsets from 2019.

Sunrise Ambrières-les-Vallées January 2019

Let’s be positive, and honest with ourselves this year.

Moisy

Sunset Ambrières-les-Vallées January 8th 2019

Let’s take time

04 Friday Jan 2019

Posted by in My family and other furry creatures, Reflections, Simple things, The continuing adventure

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My most favourite poems is ‘The Listeners’ by Walter de la Mare. I have loved it since I was very young, one of its themes being opportunity lost.

‘Tell them I came, and no-one answered

That I kept my word, he said…”

How often are we rushing so much that it is only when we lose what we treasure so much, that we realise we had not treasured it at all?

One of the other poems that has always inspired me, that I hear myself quote quite often, is the poem ‘Leisure’ by W H Davies.

‘What is this life, if full of care

We have no time to stand and stare?’

(If you would like to read it then I have added it to the bottom of this post.)

I also read a post today about social media, and how people take it literally, making them feel anxious and inadequate. In it the writer reflected on how years ago people had time for quiet contemplation, time to think without the bombardment of the world attacking them all the time. In fact years ago (many) when I was at school, we had a library session every week to just sit and read in silence. At the time I hated it, now I would embrace it!

All of this got me thinking and I realised that when I started to ‘plan’ in my diary/planner for this year I had not given myself any time to ‘stop and stare’. No time out, to just play with my puppies, even though I cherish every day because I know their lives are too short, and I should treasure every moment.

I also know that when I was ill that was all I was ‘allowed’ to do was stop and relax, because my brain had become totally overloaded, and I had lost the ability to stop thinking!

The wonderful Deepak Chopra tells us to set aside a little time each day to experience silence, and contemplation at the very beginning of ‘The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success’.

So I have crossed out my day chocked full of things to do, and I have written in between my jobs and aspirations, ‘play with dogs’, take dogs for a walk, sit in silence, and I have given myself ‘space’ each day.

Do you?

Moisy

WH Davies – Leisure

WHAT is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare?— No time to stand beneath the boughs, And stare as long as sheep and cows:

No time to see, when woods we pass, Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass: No time to see, in broad daylight, Streams full of stars, like skies at night: No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance: No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

Off By Heart

bbc.co.uk/schools/teachers/offbyheart BBC©2008

Counting My Blessings: Day 10

02 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by in My family and other furry creatures, People, Reflections, Simple things, The continuing adventure

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So here I am on my final post of the ten day series Counting My Blessings and I am going to cheat, I am counting three in this post, and will put it under the heading ‘My Family’.

First let’s talk about my son Tom. I chose this picture carefully because he is on top of a peak in the Lake District in England, with the sun behind him, and for me it symbolises how he can do anything he wants, he is young, and his life is in front of him with every opportunity available should he wish to take it.

I am proud of him: how he has coped with mum and dad moving to France, has pursued his dream of working in the gaming industry and has never given that up. I don’t think he realises just how much strength you need to pursue your dream, and exactly how much strength he actually has.

He is full of fun, empathetic and learnt his lesson to walk in others shoes and is loved by so many people. I am proud of him.

Now my second blessing, my sister. She will kill me for putting this photo on, but she has to be in this, not least for the support she has given Tom over the past four years. The second photo is of Tom and I, with Tom getting ready to walk her down the aisle.

We have had our ups and downs, as sisters do! She thinks she’s always right ( and annoyingly more often than not she is!) But she is always there, she cares, and Tom would not have his dream job without her tenacity and love.

Now last but never least:

My husband Richard.

If any of you have read my serialisation of my soon to be published book (it will happen this year whatever) https://makingthisbetter.com you will know how Rich I and sailed The Ocean of Despair for a long time, to get to where we are today.

This man fought tooth and nail to keep me; he evolved because he wanted to, not because I asked him to; because I never did! After what happened he had to keep up with me, I wasn’t going to wait for him!

And every minute of every hour of every day he did.

I once had someone say to me that they ‘had never had a man look at them in the way Rich looks at me’ and that was true, I know I am truly blessed to have that in my life.

He is a kind and gentle giant, who enabled me to trust him enough to come on this adventure. He makes me laugh every day, literally every day, with his dry sense of humour, and silliness.

Everyone he meets loves him, because he just sees the funny side of life. Look at him in this picture, he is so naughty he has led them all astray.

I am blessed to have this man in my life, he is sensitive and loving; strong when I need him. I could not be on this adventure without him. We are blessed to be as strong as we are now, and we both count that blessing every day, and NEVER take it for granted.

I know he will cry when he reads this; and that just makes me love him even more.

So my final blessing, my family, but more than that: the pride I have for my son, the hope I have for him too.

The understanding I have of my sister, and the respect too. My book wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for her!

The respect I have for my husband, the love I have for them all. I am truly blessed.

I hope you have enjoyed this series; And I hope it has made people think about the small things, because, trust me, they are the things that keep you going in life. So in this New Year, please take time to stop, and see the small stuff.

Moisy

Counting My Blessings: Day 7

30 Sunday Dec 2018

Posted by in My family and other furry creatures, My home, Reflections, Simple things, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure

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This is Wiglet, my curly blessing; and I count her as a blessing for many reasons:

Wiglet came into our life three years ago, when she was two years old. She had been bought to show and breed; and she came from high ranking French hunting stock. But the problem was her tail would not behave; it was just too curly, like a piglet’s tail.

Due to this she would not win shows; so in the first year of her life she was operated on twice to straighten her tail! As you can see Wiglet is just a curl, from the top of her head to the tip of her tail, and that wilful little tail would not be straightened!

Wiglet didn’t help herself when she then killed one of her owners chickens, and she was kept in a pound with other bigger dogs who then attacked her (she has issues now around food, so it was at feeding time we believe). In the end she was attacked so badly that she had to have a new home and was shipped off to a chateau just outside Paris, with another male Welshie.

But the aristocratic who had Wiglet did not like her. We believe he wanted to hunt with her and she is afraid of gunshots; add to that the fact that she was now a vulnerable little Welsh Terrier who needed love and she ran away, in the middle of Paris!

So Wiglet was sent back to her previous owner, back to the other dogs who attacked her, and she had to be shut away from the dogs in a small room. This was now home number four for her, because she had been with so many people.

But serendipity stepped in, as she always does, and a friend of ours (the lady who bred Harley) suggested us to her owner, we knew Welshies, and we knew their naughty and extremely loving ways; poor Rich, when I heard of her plight I just called the owner and didn’t even ask him. ‘We can’t afford another dog!’ He said. Wiglet came to live with us two days later.

Do you think she is a daddy’s girl?

She is our blessing because she is so grateful to live with us. She loves her adopted brother Harley, and she is grateful for the love we give her, with her sweet vulnerable little face looking up at us each day.

She gives us so much love, and when she smiles her wonky little smile it makes my heart break for the suffering she had. When I bought her a new bed, her own bed that no other dog had had before her, she got in it and that was that, it was her place; and she lays beside me every night in that bed, snoring.

Every morning she wakes me with a tap of her paw and a smile, waiting for a head rub.

She was sent to us, as much as we were sent to her, and she is a blessing.

Let’s share this series, lets get people counting their small blessings, they help to put things in perspective you know!

Moisy

Counting my blessings: Day 5

28 Friday Dec 2018

Posted by in My family and other furry creatures, My home, Reflections, Simple things, The continuing adventure

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This is Molly, my beautiful girl. Nineteen years ago, just after Rich and I got married I found a little ginger female kitten behind our shed; even to this day Rich does not believe me, and thinks I actually went and collected her from somewhere! Sadly Pussy Willow, as she became known, died when she was just two years old, but not before she had kittens, who were born in our cupboard; and we kept two of them. One, Milly Kitten, was a reclusive cat, who liked to be outside most of her life. She died at the ripe age of thirteen, after spending a year sleeping indoors every night. We loved her dearly, and Molly missed her

Molly was a different story, she loves the sunshine, but hates the cold, rain or snow. She is now very old, eighteen and a half years, but all the time she eats, and sleeps (pretty much all the time now) we know she is okay. She has had her moments over the past year but she still loves life and she is a blessing that we count every day.

She was the cat who lay beside me, with Snowy our Westie when war had devastated our lives (see my other blog http://makingthisbetter.com) they literally made a sandwich either side with me as the filling and she loves me still.

Molly kitten is my blessing.

Over the years other kittens have been brought into the house starting with this pretty little thing: Diddyman dod. She is part of our story because we gave her a home a year after ‘The War’; she was our band aid baby and only Five weeks old when we got her. Molly adopted her and taught her all she knows; we can’t believe she is ten years old, time has just flown.

Then we got Daisy, we brought her home with the shopping, as you do! Tom had gone to university and she was our ’empty nest’ baby. She is a huge, but incredibly gentle cat, just happy with life, and a bowl of milk and cream.

Sadly our last baby: Tinky Tiny Tilly, or Tillybet, was a naughty one, who gave Daisy so much confidence, they were the Black Hand Gang. But Tilly went out one day in March this year and never came home, and my eyes still fill with tears for my baby. You can read all about her in my post Tinky Tiny Tilly.

All of these cats, including sofa loaf, (A story of hardship, serendipity, and love -Sophie The Sofa Loaf) are our blessings, they make us laugh, and I know they will make us cry, just as Tilly has; and Molly will. But if you don’t open your heart to love, even knowing it will cause you pain; then you have not lived. It is all a blessing.

More and more are starting to share their blessings, spread the word let’s take people into the new year on a positive. Please share.

If you want to visit my other blog you can find it here https://makingthisbetter.com

Moisy

Counting my blessings: Day 6

28 Friday Dec 2018

Posted by in My home, Reflections, Simple things, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure

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The blessing that I am counting today is the simple gift of running water. To appreciate water was a lesson that I was taught from this adventure, because when Rich and I moved here we only had access to well water. We had an antiquated old piston pump in our cellar that used to bang away like a demented miner every time we turned the tap on. As most of you know we live hand to mouth (and no I am not ashamed to say that!) so we were dependent on that well. But in a hot spell in the summer of 2017 the well ran dry! You can read all about it in my post…..Une leçon de vie atout votre eau

From that incident I learnt just how precious running water is, especially hot running water. In the post you will read how we managed to shower, but it was not being able to turn on my tap to wash my hands in hot water that got to me the most, especially when I was cooking chicken!

It is something simple, that most of us just take for granted; it is always there when you turn on the tap, and then suddenly it isn’t!

I became aware of how much water we use, and waste; and ever since then I think about my water consumption; not because of the cost, but because I realise what a precious commodity it is – when you don’t have it you would understand that you would choose it over diamonds and gold any day of the week!

We now finally have mains water connected to our home, it was only connected in September of this year; and it was only due to the kindness of our wonderful neighbour and commune leader that we have had water for the last eighteen months (apart for the four days in the winter when the ‘Beast From The East’ came and froze the pipe!)

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So today, when I get in my hot shower, and wash my hair, I will count my blessing that I am able to have a hot shower, and I will think of all the people who cannot have that simple pleasure, including those in the Western world where water is readily available but they have no access to that simple dignity of being able to wash. At times it makes me feel ashamed.

So enjoy your hot running water today; if you are able help others to access the same then please do; and count your blessings in that shower, don’t rush it because you have something else to do, or somewhere else to go; just stop for a moment and enjoy that simple pleasure.

More and more people are joining in now, please share this series, let’s get everyone thinking about the blessings that they have, and perhaps the blessings they can give to others.

Moisy