20th December

Frosty Morning
When I got up this morning, it was cold, but there was no frost in the garden. However, when I drove into town and went down into the valley, I found that everywhere was white - although the sun was melting it pretty quickly. For the time of year it is not bad, although 6 days in centrally-heated places has made me soft, I think!















On the other side of the road I got a lovely picture of me and the car in shadow play!

Bags & Stuff
This morning I went into Le Dorat, to La Petite Fontaine, for a coffee and a chat. Lyn had sold some of my things, so I got 27 euros, plus orders for 10 lavender sachets, some catnip mice and 8 Christmas tree bags! Fortunately the people are happy to wait till after Christmas, as I'm picking up Jason and Alain and going down to Montauban tomorrow evening - returning on Christmas Day. While I was in Le Dorat I popped into Poisson D'Avril - an English bookshop. It's closing down because the owner has a new job and can no longer cope with the shop too. Consequently they had a sale on and I bought several books and three lovely lampshades made of thick, handmade paper for only 2 euros each!. I've put one up in the kitchen, as I was so fed up with seeing that unlovely energy-saving bulb!


French Lesson
Today's French lesson was good - I felt I was really making headway. We chatted (mostly in French) about grammar and pronunciation difficulties such as the vowel sound in 'ship' or 'sheep'
- I really felt it was a good conversation, not too stilted.

Chopping Wood
Must be more careful - today I was trying to chop a log for kindling and the first move I made sent a huge chunk straight into my left eye! It is OK now, after lots of TLC and some drops that my French teacher keeps for her children when they get something in their eyes. I have 2 pairs of safety goggles, so I'll be wearing those from now on. Bizarrely enough something similar happened to Victoria when I was in England just a cople of days ago - Molly, who is 7 months old, stuck her finger right in Tor's eye, and she had a bloodspot and a bit of bruising. Seems I was a bit more lucky!