Month: May 2015

There is actually quite a bit of progress at the house. Sometime I will show you the attic, which is framed and drywalled. The plumber is there until the end of the project. The electricians are rattling around. Rumors abound that taping and sanding of drywall will begin next week. But, well, they have been promising to plant my bare root fruit trees for what, three months now? I’m getting cranky. I need a break.

This year the Chateau de Chantilly hosted a huge flower show. There were no show gardens but plenty of specialist growers appeared and that is what I needed. Rebecca is busy with the real flower show,  the one at Chelsea. She wants to wait until fall to plant. Fine by me. This has all gone on way too long to suit me. I’ll be happy to put all this improving on pause.

Meantime Julien got me to buy him a toy, a tractor mower. I’d love to show you a picture of that, preferably in action,  scything down the grass, which is already waist high, but it doesn’t arrive until tomorrow. It’s okay. Chantilly is prettier anyway.

If only life were really like this, all soft focus and happy puppies in pretty gardens. Well, okay, sometimes it is like this. Then there is all the other stuff.

Robert’s estate settled. The last little bit of having him as even a remotely active presence in my life is now gone. For those of you who are counting, it took over two years to reach this point.

For the past two years, even as I have cherished his memory,  I have changed my life in ways that he would never have approved. Out with the old house, in with the new. I have a residence permit and I file tax returns in France; you guys have no idea how he fought that. Jacques: getting a dog was an absolute no. Now I’m heading to Madrid with a new boyfriend. That would so not have flown.

When I started this blog, the subtitle was just something to say. A blog needs some kind of theme. Now I have to think about what it means. The uprooting is well and truly complete. So, what was I thinking,  really, when I made these decisions that got me here, and how will they play out? Over time, I suppose we shall see. Right now Jacques wants to go for a walk.