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FLAMING JULY!

The adverse weather conditions continue though we have enjoyed whole days of sunshine and some really good HOT sunshine. Today was one such day, offering us an opportunity to tidy the garden and dry washing.

I talked of picking raspberries on my last blog. They have ended now, though we did have a superb crop this year. One morning whilst picking I swear I heard my grandfather's voice. In my childhood he managed two allotments next to his house. An ex colliery worker who looked after the lifts taking the miners up and down into the pit - not a well paid job though one with a great deal of responsiblity if you can imagine all the lives which lay in his hands - he was retired. By the time I knew him he had been for several years and was a serious, well respected old man whose ideas and edicts remain with me today.

His voice coming to me as I picked raspberries was as clear in my ears as if he had been standing beside me, something we did together every year. 'Nay, lass, if tha does it like that thal prickle thisen' How do I write the broad Barnsley accent? Of course he then showed me how to move the canes around gently with a stick to avoid the thorns. He 'helped' me with a little flower patch too. I grew French Marigolds which miraculously thrived despite my not watering them from weekend to weekend. Naturally he cared for it as much s he cared for me!  I visited his house where he lived with my two spinster aunts for Sunday dinner every week.  Each time I arrived, with my younger siser, he commented on how much we had grown that week and always insisted on measuring us against his high fireplace mantlepiece. 'When the top of thy head touches that tha'll stop comin here for thy dinner,' he said smiling at us and knowing that day would never arrive.

 Another of his quotes related again to his garden in which he grew wonderful tomatoes. 'Tha muss'nt eat them, lass, their poisonous,' he would tell me in all seriosness - because he really did believe it!  Despite his growing them, and all the family eating them without harm, he never ate one. His herb bed was a joy to see, everything which added flavour to food, or did you good when you were feeling ill, was there. As well as all the usual things he grew camomile - to make a tisane ( though the word did not exist for us in those days) to cure biliousness and something else which I have yet to discover anywhere else - he called it herb-o-grass - a tonic!

 Later on as I grew older, and more sportive he became anxious.  He did not like my playing hockey because of the bruises on my shins. 'Tha'll ave trouble finding a chap that'll want to marry a lass wi dents in her legs. Time to give it up now, lass.'  I never did, and I found a wonderful man who didn't mind my dented legs; I married him, but unfortunately Grandpa had did before that happy day.

• Posted by Mollie Smith on 14/07/2008.
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Am I an April Fool?

I actually forgot that yesterday was, as it is called here in France, le Jour de poisson: April Fool's Day in England.  Here children tack cut out paper fish onto unsuspecting people's backs. The vitims sometimes walk arund for hours before being told they have been tagged.  Imagine the joy of a youngster who manages to tag a teacher!  Hero or heroine for he day to all their classmates.

  My best memory of April Fools Day is one many years ago when I had been invited to Radio Leeds as an "Expert' to discuss Equal Opportunities and to answer questions for people telephoning in with queries about the new legisaltion. Unfortunately somebody earlier in the morning had made a spoof joke on one of the news programmes inviting listeners to telephone in to report sightings. The spoof was that tiles had fallen from a space craft in outer space and were heading directly for Leeds. The tiles were said to be radioactive and anyone spying one was asked to telephone the Radio Leeds switchboard with details.  Sadly for my later programme so many people 'found' tiles that the switchboard became jammed and my questioners could not get through!  I found myself once again acting as a switchboard operator with the other programme presenters and fending off the callers who sometimes refused to accept they had benn 'had'. Mostly they saw the joke and we had a good laugh, but others were very upset at having been caught out.  My programme was rescheduled and went smoothly at a later date.

Talking about fools - earlier in the year we were all fooled into believing Spring had arrived early and we got into the habit of believing the superb warm days would continue right into summer. How wrong we were. I feel now I am on the point of growing webbed feet and I am really getting fed up of Rasti coming home from his walk covered in mud. He seems to enjoy my ministrations with a wet towel, seeing it as his right I think of a beloved pet whose slaves are there merely to^pander to his well being. He really enjoys paddling through the puddles and snuffling in the mud alonside the lanes in the forest. Funny experience for Tom yesterday whilst out in the woods: somebody asked if he could buy the dog for his two children. Weired way of going about getting a pet I would have thought. Here are some new photos of Rasti if you would like to look at them.

• Posted by Mollie Smith on 02/04/2008.
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BEGINNING OF MARCH 2008

Tomorrow is the 9th of March and we are haring towards Spring at  a grand lick - even though it seems like only yesterday we were taking down the Christmas decorations. Indeed as I go up and down the road to Vic-en-Bigorre I see some houses are still adorned with sadly deflated inflatable Santas hanging by their necks to chimney stacks. What is the point of it if they cannot be bothered to take them down and hoist up Spring chickens or something more appropriate.

When we first came to live in France some 16 years ago very little was made of Christmas except on a religious front and children were given Santa's gifts though nothing on the scale that it happens now. Supermarkets start stocking up on toys and chocolates even as early as October and when the festive season finally arrives it is impossible to imagine who can possibly consume all the oysters which are stacked throughout the store in boxes dripping sea water.

But now it is nearly Easter - and shelf upon shelf is weighed down under the kilos of chocolate eggs and luxury chocolates.   At the same time in another part of the store products for slimmers who are sruggling to be svelte for summer are also becoming more plentiful. And added to all that we have Mother's Day to contend with: another boost for retailers profits.

Where will it end?

• Posted by Mollie Smith on 08/03/2008.
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TIME PASSES TOO QUICKLY - WHAT DID I DO WITH IT?

End of September, returned from a good holiday and on top form - but the weather had deteriorated and we were already into Autumn. It seemed all the rain which had been held in the clouds over summer decided it was now time to fall. And I fell ill, nothing new just more of the same thing, and then Tom - my husand - followed suit.  Not exactly what could be called an illness, but  a real problem for us - sciatica, and then shortly aftewards followed by lumbago Perhaps I have never mentioned on this blog that I have an ongoing illness which means I do not have a lot of strength and energy. It started 12 years ago.It is called Takashayu Disease - fairly rare and involves arteries narrowing, not blocking, but kind of the walls closing up on each other. I have had had several operations, taking out the eventually closed bits: on both arms with artifical arteries replacing the ones from my neck to my elbow, and several stents in my heart also. Problems with the arteries in my legs abound - but that is aother story.

I am only telling you all of this to establish how serious it is for me when Tom falls ill.

Anyway - at the moment we are both well as can be expected of ancient people like us. 

 Christmas was enjoyable though quiet as we were alone - our family is spred across the globe. We have only two children, a girl and a boy, almost at retirement age themselves, and with their own families.  Grandchildren are grown, one is 30 and the other 23. Both girls to be proud of. Thank goodness for telephones and E-mails!

 Good newe of something which has revitalised our lives. We now have a third member of our family. This is a Jack Russell Terrier, 2 years old, and I have already fallen in love all over again. After much heart searching and debate we decided we were up for it. Out last dog, Bess, died many years ago and we have put off getting another for all these years. His name is Rasti and he keeps us n out toes as you might guess. A picture of all our pets past and present will be in my pboto file soon.

 I still have managed to keep up with my writing schedule - even though some of it requires more revision than it might have done under normal circumstances.

 Still; Spring is on it's way, the weather is now reasnably warm and we have bulbs sprouting all over the garden and already the winter jasmine is in bloom and the forsythia. Everything is budding - I'm full of hope. More later.

• Posted by Mollie Smith on 20/01/2008.
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END OF AUGUST - I HAVE BEEN VERY BUSY;

This month has been a very productive one for me in more ways than one. Living, as I do, with a man who is a keen gardener means that at this time of the year my larder is always full of vegetable and fruit produce. I do not complain;  all who know me is aware of how much I love cooking. I do not only enjoy cooking - which for me is a means of providing enjoyment for people- I also enjoy the experimentation which I see is a part of it's development. It is rather like chemistry; sometimes when I add a herb or an essence I am not really sure how it will taste at the end of the day. However, I must say that I have sufficient experience by now to know when it might work and when it wouldn't!

I have also been productive on the writing front and my book ' Recipes of a World United' is well on it's way to proof reading stage. Other writing has included finalising the short story 'A Bridge to Dreams' which since my first draft has seen extensive changes. Publishing '7 Steps to Improve your Life' on the web has also provided me with some satisfaction.

On the relaxation front this has been a quiet, reflective period. Many of our French friends have been on holiday - some for the whole month - and our English friends resident here have been hosting the usual summer visitors. Sometimes, for me at any rate, it is really nice to have this calm interval because then we can really enjoy our garden merely sitting in the sun, or more often at this time of year, in the shade, watching the birds and butterflies which share it with us. And, when it grows dark, the hedgehogs and bats.

It has been a very weird year weather-wise. Lots more rain than usual, and some very serious storms. Also the temperature has been lower than it generally is at this time of year. And now it feels like autumn. People here tell me this weather is nothing unusual in a year when there are 13 moons. I must check this out to see if thee is any basis for it. In this area people do seem to take a great deal more notice than I have ever known about the stages of the moon. Our neighbour will only have his hair cut when it is on the wane, and planting seeds and moving shrubs is also governed by the moon's phases.

• Posted by Mollie Smith on 02/09/2007.
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NOW IT IS EARLY AUGUST

• Posted by Mollie Smith on 05/08/2007.
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NOW IT IS MID-JULY

And summer is still not really here despite my joy in May. What a year this has turned out to be. Rain, rain and rain - but with a few days linked together of real south of France summer. Today (8 July) it is cold and wet, yesterday was hot sun and  33°C! We are not suffering the disasterous aftermath of the floods around where we used to live in Yorkshire and my heart goes out to those who are. Is this really long-term climate change or is it merely another cycle? At a dinner party last night this topic was discussed at length and there was much disagreement about it. Comments about big freezes in Victorian days, the Thames freezing over in 1947, and long hot summers we enjoyed here and there. My view is that nothing like this year ever happened before, at least in our lifetime.

Added to the weather misery are the terrorist threats - again much of the problem seeming to stem from people living in the north of England. How can anyone who has trained as a doctor and sworn oaths to save life be involved in plots to kill dozens of people? I find it difficult to accept - murder is murder and I am sure no religion allows this for whatever reason.

I HAVE ADDED SHORT STORIES TO MY DOCUMENTS WHICH I HOPE YOU WILL READ AND COMMENT ON FOR ME;

• Posted by Mollie Smith on 08/07/2007.
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NOW IT IS MID-MAY!

Summer is here, hurrah, hurrah. Having said that I did enjoy Spring and do regret that all the early flowers have died down. Still we have some magnificent cannas and the iris are doing especially well. Now is the time for planting out the annuals although most of the hardy plants are coming along and are ready to bloom.

I did finally manage to get all my bonsai trees repotted and pruned though regretfully I lost a couple during the very intense cold during the winter. They were very small and even though I thought I had protected them adequately it proved not to be the case.

Friends have played a big part in our lives this last month: our motto seems to have been eat, drink and be merry. Very enjoyable for me, not only in the eating and drinking, but also in the planning and preparing.

I have a new Internet supplier. It was installed about a week ago and it has taken me a good long time getting used to it. Having said that I believe it is a big improvement and in the longer term will prove less expensive.

Lunch-time now, then I am anticipating an afternoon when I shall be beaten again by Tom at Go. He always wins, but it doesn't really worry me because it is quite intense and really makes me concentrate on something other than fictional characters.

Watch this space for more. I plan to publish some of my stories in the documents section of the site. I hope you enjoy them.

• Posted by Mollie Smith on 11/05/2007.
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MARCH UNTIL MID-APRIL

Did you think 'march' was an order to get on with it, in the same way many French folk say 'allez' to themselves when they are ready to get on with doing some urgent, or maybe some not so urgent, task? Not that, in fact, as my reference is to the month of March, and what a month! Rain, rain and more rain here at the foot of the Pyrenees; higher up the mountains of course it fell as snow, all be it some fairly slushy stuff which did not really please the ski lodge keepers nor their clients. It did create some problems with avalanches though and this cause problems for those trying to return to Spain from their holidays in France and visa versa as many roads and the Bielsa tunnel were closed by blockages for several days.

My reference earlier to the French talking to themselves is something of a phenomena because they do it all the time. In the supermarkets, for instance, they ask themselves which of these lettuces should be bought. I learned my lesson early on after I came to live here because I was constantly giving advice which by the response it gained was absolutely unwanted. Now I fear I have caught the virus and I talk to myself in just the same manner all the time. Even my long suffering husband has grown used to it. Another habit the French have, and this time it is a good one, is that they at all times greet people, even those they have never met. In a shop when a new customer enters it's 'Bonjour monsieur, madame' and in the doctor's surgery or the bank even when folk are not feeling quite so cheery. Sometimes in England I used to feel as if I were invisible, and that I had turned into a mute as even when I said 'Good morning' to people I shared a carriage on the train with every day I sometimes received no reply. Now I even say 'Bonjour' to the little lizards that live under the stones in the rockery when they scurry away as I approach,  and 'au revoir' to the Ring Necked Doves who clatter away from the food tray when I draw near.

On the writing front whilst I did at one time during recent weeks seem to get the dreaded writers' block I did finally get through it and managed to finish two short stories: A Bridge to Dreams and Mediterranean Murder, as well as doing a lot of revising of previous work and researching several articles which are now in progress. As you might guess the book has been on hold for a while, though it is moving slowly in the right direction I feel.

We are now well into Spring: this year the garden has been especially beautiful, but alas the blossom on the fruit trees has departed fairly speedily following a huge storm two days ago. Now the sun has returned and we can eat our meals outside and spend time re-envigorating ourselves as we bask in its warmth.

Here is a photo of one of the cherry trees in full bloom. I can scarcely wait until the fruit ripens - it is a late variety, very dark red and very, very sweet.  

• Posted by Mollie Smith on 17/04/2007.
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JANUARY GONE...where ?

Somebody told me the other day, and I have not checked their maths, that if a person lives until he or she is 80 years old - there will be a mere 4160 weeks in their life. Not really a lot and they do pass very quickly.I am one of those people who is always chasing their tail - or to be precise -I always have too many pots boiling at one time and am dashing about life's kitchen like somebody preparing a banquet for a thousand people. So how can I settle down to making little friendly suppers for half a dozen instead? My list of New Year's resolutions has been at a stand still almost and though I have actually achieved quite a lot none of the things on my list seems to actually have been crossed off! 

All this heart seaching because a month has passed, four speedy weeks, and I do not seem to have managed to do a lot of writing. Granted the weather has been unhelpful. For the first time in all the years we have lived in South West France we have had snow which has rested on the ground for more than a few days. And the temperature has been cold, cold, cold. Minus 11°C for a few days and without much daytime sun we have really felt the cold with temperatures rising to about  only 3 or 5 degrees.  Now it is still cold, but we have sun again. What a life giving force that is - my energy seems renewed already after only one day

I am heavily involved at the moment in a crime story, set in the warmth of the Mediterranean sun, in luxurious surroundings: Cannes. My imagination keeps me warm.  When I reach this stage in the writing process I spend a lot of time living in my head, so much so that family and friends around me think I am sickenng for something.It is a time I enjoy hugely, a time when the characters sometimes invade my dreams, and the story seems ot write itself.

There is a photograph of our snow in my gallery - isn't it beautiful?

• Posted by Mollie Smith on 03/02/2007.
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