We’ve been enjoying unseasonably warm temperatures for the past week. It’s been sunny every day although we have a bit of cloud today. We reached a high of 18C on Fri and Sat and after today, it’s meant to return to those temps with lots more sun. I’ve taken advantage of the weather by doing lots of gardening.
I started in the back and pruned the trees that line the property including removing the large branch that came down in one of the storms. I also collected the dirt from the numerous mole hills and transplanted it around the driveway to level it out. In the front, I trimmed the vines, roses, hydrangeas and weeded the flower beds. Lucien came by yesterday and planted a new banana tree next to the parking area and also pruned the grape vines to his satisfaction. We’ve stared looking for garden furniture and will likely order a table and chairs shortly.
Work has been relatively quiet although we both have a few things on. Will is still waiting for the go ahead from his vineyard people. We both worked on a redesign for an existing client, mainly cleaning up the crappy work done by the original developers. I heard back from the company in Australia and they’d like me to go ahead on that job, although I’m still not exactly sure what it is they want me to do. I’ve got a few other bits of work and am waiting for the go ahead on a few other things, so managing to keep busy.
We had one social event this weekend when we had dinner at Benoit and Virginie’s. We were joined by Jenny and Loic and their sons, Mathias and Mateo, and another couple, Marie and Maxime and their two girls, Hortence and Astrid. Marie and Jenny are friends from grade school, and she and Max own a vineyard in the Bordeaux region, Medoc I believe. They brought along some samples of their recent vintages for B&V to try and select for a family event.
We started with copious nibbles and vodka tonics while the kids had burgers and fries. We then sat down for the main which was an amazing cassoulet that took 18 hours to cook. It was very flavourful and the beans held their consistency nicely despite the extended cooking time. This was served with bread and salad, followed by cheese. Benoit even made tiramisu for dessert, which he doesn’t do very often. We moved back on to the vodka after dinner and then hung out and chatted until 1 or so before coming home and watching a bit of telly.
It was a lazy Sunday without band practice since Christian and Marie are still out of town. We weren’t too hung over thanks to the copious meal. We spent some time outside and then had a quiet night. We’re very much looking forward to welcoming Anne and Andrew who arrive on Wed evening. More on that next week.