It's been quite a year.
We have made new friends, worked hard at turning an old house into our new home, and welcomed our first visitors from Canada.
Nancy has made remarkable progress in French, while I've done my best to hang on to my English.
We have enjoyed watching the progress of the seasons and getting to know the sights and sounds of our neighbourhood (the Sunday morning cavalcade of hunters, birds singing from the chimney top, the rooster's crowing from a farm nearby).
The photo above was taken minutes ago. We are sitting on a bench that we rebuilt from an old park bench cast iron frame that Nancy found in a "brocante" (local antique sale) and repurposed old oak planks that were in the house when we took possession. It is one of many examples of how we have collaborated over the past year...Nancy digging up old stuff, and me fixing it up or creating something new. We have both learned new skills and put them to use, including milling walnut straight from the sawmill (my job) to make a countertop with a beautiful wax finish (N.'s job) for the "housekeeper's room"; painting inside and out; building cabinets to our specifications for every room in the house; and converting the property from a wasteland of construction debris to a beautiful outdoor space, lovely to look at and enjoyable to sit in or walk through.
The photo below is what we see from our bench.
It may not be obvious on the picture, but all doors and windows have now been painted, the final brush strokes happening minutes before today's photo session. There's still lots to do, but we do like to have a project!
We look forward to the second year in our new home, continuing our adventure and perhaps venturing further afield. After all, the whole of Europe is at our doorstep.
À votre santé!
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