Back to reality

Finally we are getting back to reality at Chateau Larcombe. Although spending most of the week winding down along side a gentle detox, I've been up on the roof, fixing tiles. We're still desperately seeking the correct belt for the lawnmower which broke 2 weeks before the party and next week I will hopefully push on with the new shower room. (subject to the shower tray being sorted) After a week of collecting bottle tops and ciggarette ends from the lawn, there are no tell tale signs of last weekends festivities. I have to question how we can improve things for next year. Mowing the softball diamond would have saved us from losing 6 balls. Ordering sun for the duration of the event may have resulted in some top less bathing, and the installation of a plunge pool or pond for the skinny dipping. Accomodating everyone on site would have seen the wine racks empty and the yard of ale competiton would have got off the ground. Anyhow, no rest for the wicked as works for next year are well under way already. Dates to be announced soon. Please please please upload your photos to snapfish, we already have 160 but would like more.

Photos

After our useless attempt at taking photographs at the weekends festivities we would like all of you budding David Baileys to add to the snapfish account. To upload your photos go to www.snapfish.co.uk You then use janelar@hotmail.co.uk as the email address and France as the password. Then follow the instructions online, easy peasy!!! Can you create a new album and put your name as the title. You may need to upload the software but it does it automatically for you. When all of the photos are there you can choose the ones you like and follow the instructions on snapfish to get them printed and delivered straight to your door!!!! Please make the effort as we will be printing all of them, and creating a fantastic album of a weekend to remember.

What a fabulous weekend ....

It is half past five on Tuesday and I am trying hard not to fall asleep but we both want to thank everyone for making this weekend one of the greatest ever. I wish I could say that I can remember every single second but I am afraid that there are a few minutes that appear to be a tad distorted!!! Andrew and I are lucky to have so many friends and family and we are really impressed that so many made such a huge effort for us. Driving from Denmark must be above and beyond the call of duty!!!! Our new friends that we have made here in France all fitted in well and I think are friends for life, even the Mayor and his wife!!!! Its not what you know ......... !!!!! The preparations as many of you know, lasted all week!! The first visitors arrived on Friday afternoon from Denmark. I am not sure whether the tent was straight when it was put up as the boys consumed the first crate of beer within the hour. The second batch of visitors arrived early evening after a rather fast, make that very fast, trip from Calais. I think the land speed record may have been broken!! A great first evening was spent, with plenty of food, drink and hilarity. The tree in the front garden survived the first ascents, although I fear the t-shirts of two rather nice smelling young men did not!!! Saturday started as it meant to go on, mad!! I fear the valley will never be the same again after a batch of very enthusiastic mad English, and Danish, people attempted to take a Range Rover and trailer down to collect some logs. Three hours later and after a small problem with some mud and lack of traction, oh, did I mention sinking, they arrived back with no logs and big smiles. The motorbikes and quad bike were well utilised by all throughout the weekend, even Uncle Kerry had a quick whizz!! Kirsty holds the record for stopping the fastest and the record for the fastest displacement of people from one area!! For those of you not in the know, she lost control of the quad and used the nearest available Mercedes to stop herself. Thankfully the only side effects seem to have been a nosebleed and some black eyes. I think she may leave the quad bike in the workshop for a while. Andrew also had a near death experience on realising that the quad bike was rather smaller than he thought and a small steep hill and a large person on a childs bike cant do forward rolls!!! The barbecue went very well and the rain that we had did not upset a single moment. Uncle Mark holds the record for drinking on the Saturday, I believe it was something to do with the tasting session that Auntie Alison organised with Sabrina!!!!! The stall holders in Aunay were only a little confused with the mad English woman with her phrase book attempting to buy guinea fowl. Sabrina holds the record for pulling the oldest guest, at 86 years of age I think the kisses and the mere mention of 'menage a trois' were just too much. I think 'Mr Mushroom' holds the record for the reddest cheeks!! The bed and breakfast Larcombes managed to find their way home in the pitch black, travelling down the third different route they had taken to the same place!! I am not sure if Saturday was also the day of the failed suicide jump from twenty feet up in a fir tree!! We have asked the victim but he is finding it hard to remember the event, although he also has some very large lacerations from a misunderstanding with another tree at a similar time! I would love to recount some tales of late night drinking but I dont remember!! There are some vicious rumours being spread that I drunk a bottle of wine and a glass of Calvados within an hour and was then unable to walk!!! Sunday morning started with a pancake fest followed by a mad rush to the supermarket to replenish the somewhat depleted alcohol store!! The food for the afternoons festivities was quickly prepared by the willing volunteers, (remember to invite them again), especially Sian and Chrissy who have decided that the best job is preparing the squid. Unfortunately they will never smell the same again!! Mike, Kaye and Tony smell equally nice, Mike didnt cry after preparing four bags of onions but Kaye did have a problem with the garlic!! Thanks guys, you are great. The weather could not have been better and the guests arrived by the barrel full!!! I believe that eight arrived by barrel on Saturday and nine on Sunday. The mayor and his wife were the most talked about guests and talked to ..... I am not sure how many times I had to ask him how many inhabitants were in the Commune and what the budget was!!! They also feature quite high on the 'alcohol consumption table' and the 'should I have really driven home table'. Our new French friends were great too, our garden is now full of beautiful flowers and a new 'COQ!'.... The pig roast and paella went down very well, I just wish that I had room left for more crackling!! We still cant believe that we managed to get so many of the Larcombes together, a difficult feat in England, let alone in France. The excitement of the afternoon was trying to catch a rather excited pony who thought that playing with the big boys was much more fun than playing with the goats. I think he may have changed his mind after the short excursion. I think Mike S and I hold the speed record for racing though a field of three foot high grass while being watched by a few anxious spectators!! Monday was spent attempting to clear up. Mike and I got rather wet on the first trip to the recycling. Mike nearly got squashed when a rather large clap of thunder threatened to launch me from the driving seat into the passenger side!! I believe that we did about half of the 700 beer bottles, half of the wine, cider ..................... The list is not safe to put on here!!! I feel like an alcoholic just thinking about it. We also had to say goodbye to most of our house guests. Contrary to popular belief I only cried once, it was something to do with the pollen and the garlic I think!!!! A big thank you must go to all of the house guests, (you know who you are), including the ones in the tents, who worked like trojans all weekend. We could not have managed to survive without you all. Today has been the first real relax since about six weeks ago!!!! Tea in bed, brought by the most wonderful house guest at seven, followed by planting, cleaning, recycling, more cleaning, washing up, digging, more cleaning, more sorting .......... And that was just what Kaye and Mike did!!!!! Lunch was the best of the weekend, on the basis that none of us had to do the washing up. The poor waitress in the village restaurant was exhausted when the whole of Danvou descended on her at once, the restaurant was full. The evening is now here and we have said goodbye to all of our guests, it is now time for a glass of wine and early bed ......... I wish we could have tomorrow off, but someone has a birthday ........ Thank you again to everyone, you are all brilliant and the party would not have been the same without you........ More gossip to arrive on a later post, when we remember what happened ......... We will also tell you how to download your photos. xxxxxxxxx

Not long now .....

True to French style when I went to get the new part for the lawn mower yesterday, guess what, they had ordered the wrong one!! I give up. I took the lovely young man, who was doing his best to practice his English, even though I was talking French, to show him exactly where the part went. Oh, he said, I have definitely ordered the wrong one!! No ****!!! He promised to try and order the right one before the end of the week, I made him feel guilty I think. Told him my husband was going to kill me, he wished me luck when I left!!

Meanwhile, the new shower tray has not arrived but Andrew has still managed to do the best job since we moved in. We now have non-orange running hot water in the bathroom when you turn the tap on!!!!! Thank god. Now I do not have to fight with the gas bottle and boiler every time I need to have a bath. I love my husband!!!

The puppies are still growing well and their eyes are all open now. They are starting to explore their new environment and are so loving. We have to steal cuddles when the children are not looking!!

The party is nearly upon us. Our first Royal visitors arrive on Friday evening and we are so excited. I have been shopping for days and still have more to buy. I am sure I will be ready for the weekend and that the French toilet will be ready in time.

Lots of love to all, xxx

Four Sleeps to go ...

It is nearly time for the party weekend to start. Andrew has been working really hard in between disasters to get everything sorted!! The camp site and car park have been completed and the shopping list written. We cant wait!! Hopefully sometime this week we will get the new belt for the ride on lawn mower and we may even get the new showever tray, not that I am holding out much hope on that one. There seems to be one speed in France and that is slow!! Sorry to you French people reading this, I have got far too used to the London way of living, will take me a while to slow down to the pace of life here.

The puppies are all doing great still. They nearly all have their eyes open now and are starting to move around their area. They are still quite wobbly and still roll around but it wont be long before they are terrorising the house now!!

Love to all and see some of you very soon. xx

Its Nearly Party Time

The weekend of the 24/25 May is drawing ever nearer and with every day the excitement grows, as does the panic!!! I am sure we will be ready. The grass is mown for the car park and the football pitch/camping zone. However, I am having a slight nervous breakdown at the fact that we do not know when the new shower base is arriving and without it we cannot finish the upstairs ensuite!!! Typical. At least the plumber finally agreed with what we had told him in the morning, the base and the rails were the wrong ones!! We are not totally thick after all.

The puppies are slowly opening their eyes this week. It is amazing to see them open a little bit more every day. Josh is getting very attached and spends every spare moment cuddling them. He has decided that he wants a puppy for his birthday. At least I dont have to go and find one of them in France!!!!! I may even be able to sort a birthday card if I look hard enough!!! The puppies have also continued to put on weight. They are all going to be fully grown in a few weeks at this rate!! They have also had to have a new box for when we are weighing and identifying them, the wooden one is too small now.

The only other excitement of yesterday was finding the snake in the garden while digging out a tree stump. I overheard Josh and Andrew working out what it may be last night, I am sure they decided it was pregnant. Great, more snakes!!

Anyway, must go, have a party to organise!!

xxx

Roll out the barrel ......

Well, life is never dull in the Larcombe house. We spent the day trying to get things fixed. We paid 61 euros this afternoon for a man to come and tell us that the fridge was broken and if we had said that the display on the front said zero he could have ordered the part last week!!! Aaaaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!!! He now has to try and get the part direct from Germany as the fridge was bought in England and he does not have the parts in France!!! What is the difference between a French AEG fridge and an English one I wonder. Oh well, we have to wait and see. Anyway, he may get the part by next week and might come and fix it next Friday!!

We spent the morning at Bricomarche, (B&Q to you English folk), trying to explain to the man on the shower section that the doors would not work with the fittings supplied and that the base of the shower was the wrong shape. He was convinced we were just being daft, as was his colleague, tried to give us some different fittings, which we knew were not right and then told us that he was a plumber and he would come and sort it after work!!!! It is twenty past seven now and not a sign of him!!! Typical!!

However, the good news for those of you coming to the housewarming, is that the pig is ordered and we have brought in the barrel!!!! Unfortunately, the barrel arrived empty!!!!

Take care guys and talk soon. xx

They are growing fast!!!

We have now finished our tour of duty with the donkeys and Nipper. They have been great and Papyrus, the biggest donkey, appears to be finally over his fear of strangers. We did not even bother with the headcollar after the first two days. I did however have my hands turn purple with the purple spray that we needed to put on Spook!!

Peter is absolutely loving his new haircut for those of you worried about him. He has been much cooler and keeps asking for another haircut. We told him that it was best to wait until his hair had grown again!! He was not impressed!!

The puppies are doing really well. They have just about doubled their birth weights now. The largest two are about a kilo each. It is getting easier to identify them, the nail varnish theory is now working, you just have to repaint their toenails every other day!!

Andrew came up with a very interesting question for Kirsty this morning. He wanted to know whether if we put the chicks and some peas in a pot would it make chickpea soup??? Answers on a postcard please?

We had surprise visits on Monday as it was a bank holiday here. Mme Crozats grandson (the lady who owned the house before us) came to say hello again. He told us about the pigs that his grandfather used to keep in the field, the bread oven that his grandfather built as well. He also told us that there had been a german soldier buried under the large tree in the front garden, but he was not there now!!!! He will be at the housewarming so I am sure we will have plenty more questions for him.

M Armand also came to visit. He invited me to join the local club that happens every fifteen days in the local hall. They play cards and dominos from what I can tell and do not have many young members. I thought it was a very kind thought but explained that it would be a very fun time with Peter. Maybe next year when he is at school. We will see what happens.

We are still preparing hard for the housewarming weekend. I have emptied at least a dozen more boxes and we may have enough rooms and beds by then too!!! Andrew is working really hard despite several setbacks including the fact that the shower does not go together. Another trip to Bricomarche is looming!!!!

Love to all and see most of you very soon. xxx

My puppies are growing and my baby has been scalped

We have had another day of glorious sunshine here in Normandy. We have spent the day working hard again, well Andrew has anyway. The children and I have played with the puppies, pottered in the garden, looked after the donkeys and Nipper for a friend and generally had a good day. We have also had super dooper haircuts!!! xxxx

Bank Holidays Galore

I do not know why the French complain about working, they have hundreds of bank holidays. We have only just had two weeks with the kids and now we have had a bank holiday yesterday and another one on Monday!!! The party date is coming closer now and we cant wait. We have confirmed the pig roast for the Sunday night and we are definitely doing a paella as well. The Saturday night will be barbecue night, with the Saturday morning spent shopping with some of my favourite people!!!

It is a Scorcher!!

It is another extremely hot day today. Andrew is getting on with the new bedroom and bathroom facilities and the children and I have cleaned out the boudoir for the ponies and the goats. What a stink that was!! The puppies are still growing well and Sasha has settled in well to being a mum.

Tuesday and all is well

We took the puppies and Sasha for the first trip to the vet yesterday. They slept all of the way!! The vet gave them all a thorough examination and was happy with all of them. Sasha was very well behaved and although she was a bit wary she made no attempt to eat the vet!!!

All of the puppies are now starting to get the tan colour coming through on their paws. One has Sashas black spot on his face too!!! I am sure they are all identical though. If it was not for the nail varnish to identify them I think I would be completely lost. Having said that, I appear to have more nail varnish over my clothes and hands than the puppies do!!

They are all gaining weight nicely anyway. The vet has warned though to keep an eye on them and if they are not gaining weight still in about two weeks time we may have to bottle feed!!!! Great, more sleepless nights. I am going to keep Sasha well fed and watered in the hope that she will keep feeding for as long as possible.

We now have five chicks, they are growing fast too. Peter is very impressed. Josh also likes the name for the black one, Brutus. He is so called as whenever he is left with the others he is a big bully and tries to pull their feathers out. He has been sent to Coventry!!!

Take care all and more news soon.

Meanwhile .....

We have of course got lots of projects still going on, apart from the excitement of the puppies. Andrew and Josh found time today to have a good look down our well and make a lovely garden feature of the pump, refurbished of course by Andrew!!!! The new swing, with a seat of solid oak (!!!) is also being well utilised!!

Sasha is a Mummy

We are proud to announce the arrival of seven puppies, born today between 3.50 pm and 7.38 pm. There are four girls and three boys. The smallest weighs 450g and the largest 510g. Mother and babies are doing well. Will post more tomorrow. Love to all and god bless. xxx

Make that eight puppies and she is panting again!!! And it was a monster boy of 540g!! xxxx

Now, you all know the phrase, don't count your chickens until they are hatched. Well, the same applies to dogs, we have TEN!!!!!! All doing well so far!! xxxx

May Holidays

The French appear to have a lot more holidays in May than we do in the UK. The children have only just gone back to school and have had a day off yesterday, for the 1 May, and have four more days off next week too!! Great!! We are now only 3 weeks away from party weekend/housewarming. Hopefully those of you thinking of coming have now booked your ferries and accommodation. If you haven't you need to let us know as soon as possible whether you are requiring tent space, floor space or for us to look for another bed and breakfast. We are getting really excited and are trying to plan the weekends events and food supplies. So far, we have a barbecue planned for the Saturday evening and a paella for the Sunday. If we are lucky we will be able to book a pig roast for the Sunday as well. The locals are already invited to the Sundays events, so make sure your French language skills are brushed up for the event!! Dictionaries and translators may be applied for on the day!!

We are also well under way with the new bedroom and bathroom. (Well, Andrew is anyway). There may even be an outside toilet available as well very soon!!

In case we have forgotten anyone Peter also says thank you very much for all of his cards and presents for his birthday. He had a lovely day. He is growing fast still and talking more every day. He is also getting into more mischief!!

Josh and Kirsty are still very settled at school. They now stay for school lunches and so far have managed not to starve, and enjoy most of the food, apart from the spicy carrots that Josh had!! Josh also goes to swimming lessons once a week from school, he loves it. Kirsty has stopped her riding lessons now, as since falling off in class a few weeks ago, she is a bit nervous. Josh however, is still going, and enjoying it most of the time!! It is Joshs birthday at the end of May as well so he is deciding what he would like!! He has murmured about saving for a Nintendo Wii, watch this space. By next week I am sure he will have changed his mind and decided that he wants another animal instead.

Sasha is still doing well. She is very heavily pregnant now, we should have some good news by the end of next week. She has got very slow and is eating more. According to Andrew her nipples are looking well and she is lactating!!!!!!!

Take care all and speak soon.