Merry Christmas 2020

 Friday 25/12/2020

Merry Christmas all, we hope you all have a joyous and peaceful time wherever you are in these uncertain times.

We woke up to an almost White Christmas this morning as we had a light covering of frost after a cold night.  The weather is a repeat of last year, a brief gap between storms to give us a bright, crisp, sunny Christmas day.

We'll be having a quiet day today having packed most of our belongings in Bokkie yesterday.  B&T return home on Sunday and we are due to leave for the UK on New Year's day.  

As we are in France we decided not to do a whole turkey but two 'poulets' instead - 500g each!

We did have some excitement this morning when a wild boar ran across the field in front of the house.  Unfortunately by the time I got a camera ready it was some distance away.  It was absolutely massive, probably flushed out by hunters as they are not usually seen in the open like that.

Disappointing photo of an exciting sighting of a boar.

Cold days and icy nights in Brittany

 Wednesday 09/12/20

As winter draws in we can't really complain about the weather, it has been much less stormy and rainy than last year.  Because we knew what to expect from the garden this year our work has seemed much smoother, although we can definitely see massive seasonal differences with last year.  

Along with the much lower crop of fruit came a tiny acorn crop - heaven sent when you need to clear them from the garden. Still a similiar amount of oak leaves though, so we definitely exercised our raking muscles!

The sunrises and sunsets have kept us rushing for the camera almost daily - we love watching the sky change in the evening as we're getting a cosy fire ready, and the morning sunrises are just as spectacular - with the addition of birdsong to add some joy to the mornings.

We had the first heavy frost last night, so will have to go and check the last of the crops; the leeks and beet should be ok but the spinach is probably drawing to the end now.  We have certainly feasted on the vegetables from the garden this season!

The weather has even had butterflies coming out to enjoy the last of the sun

We decided to move our tunnel crossing forward by a few days because we realised we need a bit more time in the UK to complete our quarantine and have some time to do some essentials, including getting our Covid-19 PCR tests before flying to South Africa.  We're really hoping it all goes to plan as we're desperate to see family again and hopefully enjoy some winter sun in the Southern hemisphere.

Do you ever get the feeling cats think we are here purely for their amusement?