THE START OF THE SKIING SEASON II

Oh! Yes it is!

CHRISTMAS BLOG 2012

 

We started the year in Tarragona (Spain) where it was warm and sunny. In March Jasmine and Thomas came over for a week’s skiing and I went back with them to the UK to make some arrangements for my Aunt Gwen who is getting on a bit and is now living in an old people’s home in Chard. I stayed with Amethyst in Frome and had a good time with my family. The sunny weather (yes, there was some) helped. Simultaneously Ruth was in Zambia attending the funeral of her ex-husband with 3 of her children, the Vice-President and 500 mourners. Ruth’s son Ben has amicably ended his relationship with Amora, and Ruth's daughters Tanvi and Rachma are living close together, Tanvi doing a PhD at Bath Spa and Rachma is a vicar at Radstock. We were in Spain again in the summer when we went to Bilbao for a couple of days to see the David Hockney exhibition and the Beaux Arts museum. In October we were there again, this time at Estartit, where I had 4 days’ scuba diving among the offshore islands. This time we were joined by Ben.

 

At the end of October, to mark Ruth’s birthday, we got the train to Paris and saw Stravinsky’s opera, The Rake’s Progress, at the Palais Garnier. We had some decent meals, too. The day after we got back Ruth started work on her novel on which she worked throughout November. 50 000 words in 29 days! She must be up to 60 000 by now. It’s an absorbing read and she hopes to have it published in 2013. Also on the agenda is our getting PACSed. The PACS is the French Civil Partnership and should be quite a simple process, but with us being foreigners and our documents being in English, it seems to be unnecessarily complicated.

 

The house has shown some improvements this year. I finished our bedroom and, finally, the upstairs bathroom. Between these two I have made a study for myself which has my computer in it, the hi-fi and a rocking chair. When all the other work is finished, I look forward to spending many idle productive hours in this room. I have recently finished building a larder off the kitchen and am now engaged upon making a workshop for myself in the chai, where Ruth’s paintings are stored. This will probably take me through the spring. We also re-equipped our heating system and now have four large (and expensive) air-to-air heatpump heaters providing our primary heating. I also replaced our older electric radiators with up-to-date models.

 

Our singing activities continue. This time of year is particularly busy as I am in 4 choirs and in December I have six concerts with three of them. In July there was a charity concert in our village church featuring the Maubourguet church choir, The English Choir – where, paradoxically, I sang a French solo – and the village choir which I conducted.

 

I’m still skiing although I don’t think I am getting any better. I went for the first time this season last Thursday and am going again tomorrow. I didn’t do any sailing this year. The winter and spring were dry so there was insufficient water in the lake. No marathon runs either but next year, to celebrate my 70^th. birthday I shall be running in the Barcelona Marathon. My kids, grandson and some friends are coming so there could be quite a good party afterwards. Absolutely my last marathon!

 

A Merry Everything to Everyone!

MRS. MARGARET BEAUMONT'S GARDEN

Today is 30th. November. In the past month Ruth has written 50 000+ words of her novel, with the working title as above. It's (inter alia) the story of 3 women of different generations living (and dying) among the politics and war of southern Africa over a 30-year period.

The book is a wilful teenager at the moment. When it grows to adulthood it will be an enthralling read.

What a woman Ruth is!

THE START OF THE SKIING SEASON

 Oh, no, it isn't!

REHEARSAL

Here are some shots taken of the Krama Singers' last rehearsal before our performance on the 6th. July in Labatut church. Who would then have foreseen our triumph on the night?

 

 

Actually Ruth took some photos and a video of our performance but I somehow seem to have deleted them. Shame!

 

CLEANING THE MOUNTAIN II

When I published "Cleaning the Mountain" some months ago I said that I wished I had had a camera with me. Well, a short time later I and Ruth went for a walk in the Pyrenees on part of the route at Luz Ardiden that I had helped to clean and we took a camera with us. These are the result. We particularly liked the sheep hiding under the digger out of the sun's heat. And on the way back, we did see some marmottes.

 

Oh! This season's ski discount card was actually paid for as a reward for cleaning the mountain. (See Part I)

 

HAPPY DAYS



A few shots of a some months ago to remind us what summer was like. (Not that it's that different now!)