It’s been a week since our last entry so here goes what’s likely to be a short one. I did some work last Thursday and then went to my conversation group for the first time this year. I am resolved to work harder on my French so I plan to do my homework every week. I nearly ran out of time but managed to write a few paragraphs before heading out. I seem to make the same mistakes every time, partly because I never go back and review my old work. Anyway, the group was just Françoise, Barry and me and we caught up with each other since the summer break.
Barry is planning an English night in December for the group (i.e. not open to the public). He will serve pork pies, Cornish pasties and the like, along with English beer, cider and Guinness. He asked if Will and I would mind playing a few songs and we have agreed. Barry sings and plays drums and is a big Beatles fan, so we should have a good time practising and hopefully, playing too. He’s back in England this week so rehearsals should start shortly after his return.
Friday night was quiet and we just watched a few films that we recently acquired. I cashed in some of my Amazon gift vouchers and bought a few films and tv series. We also recently discovered a site where you can download just about anything, so we’re back to enhancing our collection on the cheap. The only films of note were the new Star Trek that was very good and Spaceballs, a Mel Brooks movie that I hadn’t seen since it came out in theatres in ’86.
On Saturday, I went for a swim and then shopped for dinner. We had Bryan and Carol over that night and it had been a while since we had seen each other. They are both in good form, not much change for Bryan but it seems like things are slowly getting better for him. For dinner, we started with curried butternut squash soup and then had pork in fig sauce for the main. If those dishes sound familiar, they should because they’re frequently on the menu this time of year. I made a side dish featuring quinoa that turned out rather well. I cheated and bought ice cream for dessert.
They left us around 11 and then we played cards with Françoise for a few hours. She had called late that afternoon and invited us over for dinner but we had to decline. She said to call her when we were done and although Philippe had gone to bed, she was happy to join us. We played Anna Perna and Shithead and then she showed us a few card tricks. She left around 2:30 and we retired shortly after.
Sunday was a very lazy day and we stayed in and watched films. It was cool and rainy so we didn’t feel guilty about nursing our hangovers. It brightened up on Monday and I took advantage by mowing the lawn. It had been two weeks since the last time and with the rain we’ve had, it was overdue.
Work has slowed down a bit for me which is welcome. I finished up some stuff for Vortex and did a few bits for Media Trust. I heard from my client/friend in London and it sounds like he’ll have some new stuff for me soon. Will has been working on a redesign from a client-from-hell, the kind that wants to change all the interesting parts of the design.
On that note, we heard back from a couple of clients that have been on hold. One, to say that he still wants the site but needs to rethink it and the other from our Kiwi pewter jewellery people. Thankfully, they are back on board so I’ve been working with her again to get things moving. We are quite relieved about that one since we’ve already done a fair bit of work on the site and would like it to go live.
Yesterday, we had Rigit part deux. This time, they brought their son Alex who arrived yesterday. They have been dealing with a hornets nest in their chimney. They managed to evict the hornets using a spray and then took to removing the nest from inside. It turns out that it wasn’t one nest, but a huge number of them that must have been built over the years. Brigit showed us a photo of the number of nests she extracted and it was impressive.
We served another seasonal meal, vegetarian this time around. We started with a fig tart, made with caramelised onions and roquefort. The figs aren’t as sweet and bit watery this year, but it still turned out ok. For the main, we did a butternut squash gratin which is layers of squash, creamed spinach and parmesan, served with bread and salad that contained our last garden veg of the season. I cheated and bought an apricot tart for dessert which despite being store-bought, was pretty good.
Today, we both did a bit of work and I went to conversation group after doing my homework. It’s the first cold night of the season, about 9 now and due to go down to 4. We’ve managed to hold off on lighting the fire so far this year but if I get my way, it’s going on tomorrow. A bientot.