Correze – Page 15 – Myfrenchkitchen

I love Montlouis and our house here by the Loire. I love the beautiful town of Tours, a mini Paris with its incredible architecture. I love the Loire with its wild unpredictability.

…la loire et ses oiseaux…

But my love lies even deeper at Coin Perdu, where the sunsets and clear stars keep me outdoors early until late… Where I love the roaming cattle with their undisturbed manner, the bells clinging even somewhere at night. Where I love the buses roaming the skies, where I love listening to the the complaints of the owls in the dark of night, crying their dissatisfaction with us taking their barn…I’ve said all these things before. I will say it many more times. They are important things in my life; the simplicity and honesty of the country side, where life isn’t always easy, but where the comfort lies in knowing and acknowledging it. There aren’t short cuts in honesty, no shifting of boundaries. There is no playing around with honesty. Taking on a day can’t be played around with…animals can’t wait for their food, hay will be wet tomorrow if not cut today, the birth of a new calf cares not for convenience, rain boots wait by the door for a good reason…nature dictates and man dances. It gives life its equilibrium. Keeps man humble, with his ear to the ground, his instinct awake. It keeps him alive. It gives him life.

…coin perdu…

I am looking forward to when we can get started on our restoration again and return to our life in the barn which is temporary home until the house is finished. Read and see more on Coin Perdu, a mountain home, about our country life in Correze.

So, while I am waiting for March and spring to break through so we can pack and take off to Coin Perdu for the spring and summer months to resume working and restoring our mountain home, I have last year’s photos and many memories to keep me going these next two months.

But still, I can’t wait to…

…start working…

…enjoying evening barbeques…

…enjoying breath taking sunsets…

…delighting in simple, delicious food…

…go for long walks…

…revel in rediscovering nature and animal life…

…paint, paint and paint…

…visiting with angelina et agnes…et billy-jean…

…fiddle in our barn kitchen…

After almost five months here in the still undiscovered, secret countryside of Corréze, we are heading back home to Montlouis sur Loire. I will be exchanging my Corréze kitchen for my Montlouis kitchen!

…a barn kitchen in Puy d’Arnac…

…Montlouis kitchen…

We’re locking up Coin Perdu for the winter:

Setting aside the wheelbarrows and cement mixers. Emptying the pantry in the Corréze kitchen corner. Stripping the beds of linen. Storing books and magazines away from humidity. Packing my art stuff. Taking my art stuff off the walls. A last sweep.

A last grand créme at the brasserie Les voyageurs at Beaulie where the charming Cecile always brightens my day with a smile.

A last stroll to our little bench to throw a last glance across the valley.

One more photo. Packing Tokala and Aiyani in our peugeot bleu.

Shutting la porte de la grange.

Au revoir notre petit Coin Perdu!

…our corner in Corréze…

…lovely Cecile at Les voyageurs…

brasserie Les voyageurs

May the owls be kept warm once again in the barn for this winter, may les vaches roam content on our hils, may les buses continue circuling the skies, may les chevreuils graze undisturbed down by the poplars and may the wild flowers welcome us bright and jovial on our return in the spring.

…working or fiddling…

…birthdays…

We enjoyed two birthdays, many sunsets and starry skies. We had good friends visiting us, staying with us in the barn. We had a surprise visit from good friends in South Africa. We got to know our neighbors, Jean Pierre and Michéle and Yvonne, 86 years old and along with her chickens, as fit as a fiddle! We became regulars at the bar in Beaulieu, enjoyed icy cold péche melba on hot afternoons, sipped aperitif at 17:00 along with all the other regulars.

We did lots of hard work: Turned the barn into a living home. Turned the old homestead into a construction site with ladders and cement and beams and trucks. There were tears and frustration. Arguments. Difference of opinions. Anger, irritation, misunderstandings. We had blisters and bruises and still have. We rushed off to emergency with a slashed open head, got stitched up and continued working. But we also went for long strolls in the forest, nibbled on peaches and oranges.

…Liandri & Marinell…dreaming?…

We became part of the heart beat of Corréze and we are going home, replenished and with vivid memories, patiently awaiting spring to restart it all over again. Of course! Can’t wait!

…a last glance…