Noël at Coin Perdu.

This December was busy. It was filled with sadness of saying goodbye to loved ones. But happiness made its appearance too, as life always tosses a coin with two sides.

As always, I love Christmas. This was out first year alone without the children, but it was just as much fun. I love Christmas and this year was no different, in spite of us being without out children. We prepared as if we were about to receive the whole world at out house. Of course our door stayed open to whomever wanted to enter.We made it warm and welcoming with our yearly Christmas tree, many candles to light for those we love and those we  share the world with. And we gave special attention to our Christmas meals, preparing what we love and sat at our candle lit tables with so much gratitude in our hearts for all we receive in such abundance, especially the love.

33 years-002

We drove around to all the marchés de Noël and the fêtes de chataigne, the apple festival, the  brocantes de Noël. We had coffee and croissants at our special places, we had a fantastic meal for our 33rd anniversary. We went for an apéro on horseback and stayed so late that we rode back in the dark, trusting the horses to find the road. We started a new tradition: handing a little cadeau de noël to our neighbours down the road. We cried crocodile tears listening to sad music while we remember, just because that’s what we do on Noël…in short, we had so much fun and laughter..I felt like a  teenage girl with jumping emotions! Life was good to us this December.

Noël at coin Perdu

Noel 2015

December 2015

Christmas eve in white.

Diner de Noel 2015-002

Scallops with parsnips and parsley sauce.

Diner de Noel 2015-003

Lobster with beurre blanc and black truffle risotto.

Diner de Noel 2015-004

Pavlova with mint cream and caramelized clementines.

Diner de Noel 2015-005

Christmas evening was our winter forest.

Diner de Noel 2015-006

My faves at the borcante de Noël.

Gramat et brocante (1)Gramat et brocante (2)

GramatChristmas lights in the alleys of Gramat.

Gramat et brocante (3)

Marché de Noël at Meyssac

Marche noel meyssac 152

Leftover dessert is always a good thing.

pavlova aux clementines-003

Enjoy the arrival of 2016.

à bientôt

Ronell

coq.NEF

June/July at Coin Perdu.

June and July went by so quickly, I am still wondering where I was..I fell and broke my leg 2 weeks ago, so my moving about is somewhat restricted, especially here in the barn and on the rugged terrain of Coin Perdu. The crutches drive me nuts, but they are my best friends at the moment. At least my biceps are now something to look at. I’m not doing a lot of cooking, if any and it is only the most easiest of cooking – a handful of tomatoes from the potager on the plate with the salt and pepper pots beside it. A bowl of peaches. Half a chicken done by mon chéri on the barbecue. A tub of ice cream. A slab of Lindt fleur de sel chocolate.Lots of water to prevent the leg from swelling. More chocolate and ice cream. Macarons. Don’t you think I am a good girl for eating so healthy?

broken leg

WARNING: This is a fairly long post! I am also adding my Facebook page if you would like to follow and my instagram account as well as Lindiwe, our german shepherddog’s account.

In the meantime, the garden is running out from under my hands. Our summer has been very hot up to now and very dry and the garden is showing signs of fatigue without water and my loving care. It is big holiday time and France has come to its summer standstill. No one is available for helping in the garden. But it was nonetheless so beautiful before the drought took over and I thought I’d share it with you, since I can’t really show you my plate of tomatoes with salt and pepper or half a chicken on my plate…even though it was as goo..ood!

June/July 2015 it started off lush and green in May, everything was flowering beautifully, newly planted lavenders santolinas…

Garden in May-001

..even when the pool was being built, it looked…OK

building pool

summer 2015 new pool

iceberg roses, feverfew,, salvia nemerosas to name but a few

Garden JUNE 2015-003 Iceberg roses lavandes grosso rosier suneva Salvia nemorosa

On the terrace with Partia, purple oxalys, herbs..

Pratia angulata(blue star creeper) purple oxalis sage

..My beloved olde world flower, the hollyhocks, a lost sunflower that sprouted from the birds’ winterseeds and even dried roses..

hollyhocks

dried white rose one sunflower

 

..new additions to the family are the two babygees, who mon chéri calls Hansie & Grietjie, some cute chicks and Lindiwe, our german sheperd dog, who has her own instagram account, should you be interested in following!

hansie & grietjie

Lindiwe-020

Lindiwe in pool

And of course hours spent around the table..our favorite pastime, you could say.

summer 2015-003 summer 2015-004 summer 2015-006 Summer July weekend Summer July weekend-001 Summer July weekend-002 Summer July weekend-008 summer lunch

à bientôt

Ronelle