FRANCE - April 2008
This visit saw the first cut on the grass and a general tidy up in the garden. Many trees and shrubs were barely green, since it has been a cold start to the year. Even so, the lizards were out and about in the sun on the south facing walls.
The new Fish and Chips venue at The Red Lion, Desertines, was investigated. Other socialising with neighbours, Sara and Tony, and a meal at Loré with Heather and Kris, to view progress on their extension kitchen and rear garden area, all provided a welcome, gentle pace to my visit.
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On arrival the
weather was a little cold but mainly dry, although there
was a snow shower on the first Sunday afternoon. Other
showers produced strange effects later in the evening. Temperatures soon improved - but nothing like previous years. The late blooming of the flowers evidenced this, primroses were still flowering. |
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Carys sang in a local concert at Le Pas, and Sara played in a Candlelight Concert at the Eglise St. Martin in Mayenne, with L'orchestre Symphonique de la Haute Mayenne. |
Later on during my stay, Bethany and Tony were at Ambrières, in a Batucada band concert - Sara recorded the concert.
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The third week it
became quite warm, with few occasional showers. The
greenery started showing on the trees, the cherry blossom
was a picture and lilac, broom and bluebells were also
starting to open. The pizza oven at La Petite Reigniere came into service and the swimming pool started to heat up ... eventually reaching 20 degrees ... swimming temperature. |
The Saturday market in Ambrières still does good business.
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So..... not much new to show at my place: mainly minor jobs. The main work involved removing some existing work in the stair/kitchen area to feed electric through to power, and switch, an extractor fan. This also involved a hole through the back wall and a start on making up a trunking to take the extractor discharge ... to be finished next trip. Apart from this, wood trim was fixed permanently around doors etc. upstairs, and the floor covering extended and repaired near the stairs. The last job was to reposition and fix the stair curtain.
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In and around Ambrières .....................
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........The Mairie from the River Bridge ...................... and from one of my windows
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One of the many interesting buildings in Ambrières |