May 2015

The beautiful month of May! The month that starts in Spring with fields of bright yellow rapeseed flowers and ends in Summer with poppies growing on the wild verges, out of stone walls and in fields of red. The countryside has turned into a lush green paradise with the sun shining over the endless hills and dales as far as the eye can see.  Just lovely lovely lovely!
Our Australian visitors have settled into La Belle Vue, and French life. You know, the life where you go shopping everyday in local 'alimentation' and 'boulangerie', find your favourite market, attend the Wild Asparagus Festival and eat rabbit in wild asparagus sauce, and visit lots of castles. Bruniquel , the 2 castles in one, was an eye-opener. A castle, perched on a cliff (aren't they all around here?) divided by centuries of familial feud is always good, but it was the small exhibition of pre-historic wood and bone carvings I found most fascinating. Art really is one of our most early forms of expression and communication. I can get quite emotional about these things. I think the children found the intact 10,000 year old skeleton more interesting though. 
Still, there is more to life then a castle, and a market. There is Rugby of course! Our brave Australian 8 year old joined the local rugby team and we watched him train in his Aussie colours, on the village pitch! No french was necessary. Rugby is an international language! We treated our guests to the real thing and took them to a game in Toulouse. Toulouse beat Bordeaux and everyone was happy, chanting and cheering. In the evening rugby continued on the lawns outside the house. Such fun! 
There have been plenty of boule- games on the new 'terrain de boule' but most exciting of all is of course the pool opening. Temperatures range from 30C to 15C from one day to the next and you never quite know what you are going to get, but one thing is certain, Georgia loves her evening swim after school! 
The biggest news this month is my joining the team at Beaux Villages Immobilier. After a few days training I was ready, apparently, to join the world of estate agency. I don't pretend that I always know what I am doing, but it is a great way to meet some very nice people and see some really gorgeous houses. Lucky me!!