Birthday

I have one today. I felt distinctly melancholic for about two hours - various aches and wrinkles which seemed to have joined up enthusiastically to promote the fact I am no longer forty, or fifty, or . . .

Anyway, lovely presents, messages, and counting of blessings saw off the small (pale, it must be said) grey cloud. Stepping out into the garden, I was greeted by an absurdly beautiful, and hot, early autumn day - rather hot for the beginning of October . . .

The day was quiet, even the annoying dogs next door were silent! Lunch outside was perfect; we planted the trees Mark had bought - an apple and a mandarin, had a snooze then did a quick trip to Saumur to visit favourite recycling (and much mentioned on this blog) shop - 5 DVD, jeans, a jumper, two bowls and a book all for 5 euros - gotta love Emmaüs!

Before leaving for home, we did a quick NOZ dash. (See explanation of NOZ a few posts back...) and found this unbelievably labelled wine - something seriously wrong in the marketing department.... 

I am told we will be going out for the evening and that clothing other than gardening stuff will be required . . . a challenge!

beautiful bag made for me by Ezra

oops...

Birthday blog for the lad

Wow, twenty-four years ago he was a silent little bundle brought back from the maternity ward to our freezing house in Birmingham. Wonderful and utterly terrifying . . . where was the manual? what did this mean, or that mean. Should I feed on demand? Should he sleep in our bed? etc, etc...

A few months on and it was all normal - ish. Black and white leopard car seat in the old Saab, little pots of whizzed up food portions everywhere, visits from family and friends,  walks around the reservoir; even a trip to our favourite Tandoori house where Ezra experienced his first 'Bombay duck'.

All these years on and we are lucky that he is living with us for this year. We do click, no arguments really, shared sense of humour, love of walks, music, art and road trips! These have been a little curtailed due to Covid and work on the house but for his birthday I booked a B and B on the Vendee coast. Cheap and cheerful, and although the outside looked like a condo from a forgotten Russian town, the view was something you could just gawp at for hours. Used to the Mediterranean coast as we are the Atlantic is a  powerful sea full of constant movement, the ubiquitous wave noise something lulling and just a tiny bit eerie in January.

We were budget-sensible, only ate out once on a sunny terrace in Les Sables d'Olonne, and the rest of the time ate picnics and made food in the flat. I slept in a bunk bed and Ezra (longer than me) had the raisable bed. Great sleeps brought on by long, long walks and the wave's nighttime shushing. Wonderful memories and the perfect slightly in advance present. He's visiting art school friends in Bordeaux today after a dog walk and presents this morning. Happy Birthday our creative lad.

 

Past and present

Some folk don't like to look back at the past - done, onward, next thing, but there must be a reason for us to have this incredible ability to store images, thoughts; replay whole tracts of time in slightly 50s Technicolour.
I feel we should consider the past fascinating - good and bad. You learn from things you have done, improve (hopefully) and mature as a person; replay the exhilarating, sometimes difficult, exciting, and just heart-warming times - meeting the significant other, birthdays, pregnancy and birth, Christmases, your child's first bike ride, the success of a project, particular concerts, moving into a new house, observing a garden take shape, and a million other things.
On the subject of new houses and gardens. This is a before and after of the terrace of our new (1975 villa) house back in 2011 - and now on the day I write this post - 15th June, 2019.
What a difference some plants make, as Dinah Washington sang . . .
The first thing we did after roughly moving belongings into place was to find a metal-working person, put up a structure and plant vines. It's all a bit out of control now being somewhat live and let live gardeners but it is a wonderful sight when the roses are out, and the terrace becomes our dining and sitting room during the spring and summer.
Maybe when we have moved to something a little smaller, wherever that will be, I will recall those hot days under the vine leaves; days of salad, chat, accordion, fan whirring and dogs stretched out on the warm concrete.

                     

                                 2011

                 

                         2019