It's Been a While

 A Hopefully Happy New Year to you All...

Hmm... Maybe not the greatest year ever? Oh well, there's nothing left to do but leave you with this...

plus a few Christmas memories...

 

 I hope that you have a good one... 

 Phil & Annick.

Noël 2021 Blog de 'pas beaucoup de nouvelles'.

English version here

Oui, nous sommes toujours de ce monde, notre sanité ne tenant qu’à un fil par moments pour ne pas perdre la raison, lol.

Ceci en est le cas pour beaucoup d’entre nous je pense !

Cette année, comme beaucoup l’auront remarqué, a été une année très marquante. 

Il y a certainement eu des moments plus que déroutants ces derniers 12 mois mais il y a tout de même eu de bons moments et même de très bons.

Entre ces deux extrêmes la vie a suivi son cours bien que nous faisant nous sentir plus isolés que par le passé. Certes cela nous permet d’apprécier d’autant plus notre chance de vivre dans ce petit coin de paradis.

Bref, ce blog comporte 4 vidéos; une joyeuse, une magique représentant mes occupations, (ma ‘nouvelle vie’), une originale, et finalement une nostalgique et triste.

La joyeuse comme d’habitude inclus famille et amis tout comme la dernière, celle qui est nostalgique voir très triste.

Alors commençons par la joyeuse, une vidéo de la petite tribu Hyde tous ensemble.

La deuxième partageant avec vous notre petit coin de paradis où je passe la grande majorité de mon temps.

La troisième, petit interlude pour vous donner un zeste de joie car pour la dernière mieux de sortir vos mouchoirs :(

Pour commencer, les bons et supers bons moments :

"Retrouvailles"

 

J’espère que ça vous a donné chaud au cœur tout autant que moi.

Pas le temps de chômer dans la vie ! La marche et le jardinage sont ma meilleure façon de me ressourcer et pour me sentir en paix.

« Emmène moi dans cet endroit fantastique, apaise mes soucis, chagrins »

Le jardin, ma vie ....

"Notre Jardin 2021 - un endroit magique"

Quand je ne suis pas dans le jardin si la météo l’empêche, j’en profite pour passer du temps à ‘Barn station’. Voici une petite vidéo pour vous montrer ses derniers développements :

"Parc à Ferraille":

La dernière vidéo est aussi du jardin. Notre jardin est aussi un jardin du souvenir, souvenirs plus que poignants pour sûr.

Les larmes me montent aux yeux à chaque fois que je la regarde.

"Toujours présents dans nos coeurs - Automne 2021 et avant"

À une nouvelle année....

Phil et Annick

X-mas 2021 Noël Lack-of-News Letter.

Version française ici

Yes, we are still here, lost, but not quite forgotten. Hanging on to our sanity by our fingernails. 

Like everybody else I guess.

This, as you will probably have noticed by now, has been a unique year. At least, it had better be... 

Some real crap has gone down in the last twelve months, but despite all that effluent, there have been some highs, some truly great moments. Between these two extremes, life has gone on, albeit in a notably more isolated way than was previously the norm. Again, we are lucky to live in such a place as this. 

So this newsletter is to consist of just four videos. The good, the bad, the weird, and the new normal.

The happy stuff, as usual, involves family and friends. The devastating stuff; also. So I'll start with a happy video; a video of family together. Then a video of that part of paradise where I spend the majority of my time; the garden. Then, after a short diversion, a final video that you should avoid at all costs...

First, the good times:

 

I hope that warmed your heart as it does mine. 

There is much to do in life. For me, I find walking and working in the garden heals the troubled soul. So here is a video tour of it. I hope it helps heal your soul too.

"Take me to the fantastic place, take the rest of my life away."

This, as they say, is my life...

When I'm not in the garden, when the weather forces me away, then some time can be spent in the 'Barn Station'. Here's a very short video showing the latest bits I've been working on.

The garden is also the basis of the final video. Of the many facets to our garden, memories are becoming more and more important. There are plants and places dedicated to those who have gone before. To absent friends...

I have put more of my heart and soul into this video than any before. Each time I watch it, ocular moistening ensues. Feel free to miss it but don't feel free to mock it. 

And so, onto the next one....

Gnome-Trek, Series 2, Episode 4: First Contact.

The Rutt, the Final Frontier. 

These are the voyages of the Flying-Brick ‘Gnome’. Its five-day mission: to explore our strange old world, to seek out strange old life, and to avoid civilisation at all costs. To boldly rutt where no gnome has rutted before...

Every September/October, for only one month every year, stags get horny. Every year I go looking for them. 

Once more unto the breach...

At this time of year, the pyrenees echoes to the sound of stags moaning. They are gathering their harem and warning other stags to keep their antlers well away from his women. 

The groans are loud, long and mournful. They echo around the valley in the dark of night, sending tingles sparkling up your spine. 

Both frightening and yet magnificent. Seemingly straight out of a horror movie, yet this is their form of romance. 

With all these impressive reverberations constantly surrounding us, you would think that finding one of these beasts should present us with little problem. 

The hunt was on. I, for one, was looking forward to some good old-fashioned rutting. Annick, on the other other hand, wore a slightly suspicious look. As did our dog...

The weather was looking significantly better than our previous attempts at rambling around the mountains this year. 

The normal thick layers of cloud had faded away leaving ripples on the skyscape.

The first day was spent finishing the barrier around the terrace.

 Once done, we left in the Gnome for higher places, in search of the source of these mating calls.

As they seemed to emanate from on high, we thought that we would head for the highest peak. 

The Pic du Midi.

Before attempting our assault of the peak, we stopped overnight on the col du Toumarel.

The clouds started to tumble in as the evening progressed...

...leaving us enshrouded by the next morning

After the clouds lifted, we set off for the dizzying heights.

We cheated.

Stunning views...

...soon became enshrouded in cloud. 

so we retired to the restaurant instead. 

No stags here.

Giving up on our hunt, we settled down for the night, high in the rarefied air of these mountains.

We woke the next morning without the sounds of rutting (within or without), but to find ourselves once more enclosed in cloud.

As this shroud retired to its normal elevation, we set off to walk the mountains in search of our prey.

Instead, we found these horned beasts.

However, horns do not an antler make.

Good try, but no cigar.

We gave up and headed back to the Hydeaway, where the echoing sounds of rutting were even stronger. but the stags remained hidden in the surrounding forest.

The next day was spent varnishing. before setting off on our return journey home, disappointed, yet again, to have missed seeing stags.

But then...

As we reached the bottom of the valley, just about to leave the pyrenees behind us, a deer was spotted.

part of a harem belonging to this proud beast!

Finally, success! 

Another one off the bucket list.

Pandemic Pandemonium.

Finally.

At last.

After nearly twelve long months, the channel has been traversed and my UK family arrived to wreak havoc upon our hibernating home. 

It was a fantastic week.

And here's the proof...

Gnome Trek: Of Bikes & Clouds...

L’Ariège, le Final Frontier. 

These are the voyages of the Flying-Brick ‘Gnome’. Its continuing mission: to explore our world, to seek out new life and to avoid all those bloody bikes. To boldly go where no pushbike has gone before...

It’s been a long, long, time (cue the Elgins) since we’ve had the opportunity to go beyond our realm into the unknown. Aka the Pyrénées. But finally we have arrived, and it’s pissing down. 

The Gnome in the Pyrenees, taken between showers.

We were lucky to arrive intact. The serpentine mountain roads had filled not just with rain, but also with pedal-powered machines, many more than normal. And normal usually involves constant avoiding tactics and general swearing. This was worse. The entire road infrastructure had been locked-down to allow a pushbike race, something that many find strangely fascinating. 

Hmmm, let’s find out why... 

We found a particularly impressive vantage point, tracked down by spotting a house draped in British flags; always a slightly dubious decor. Despite our fears, we were warmly accepted and the ‘B’ words used were only bbq and booze. We settled down to watch the much-hyped proceedings.

Ok. It’s a bike Jim, but not as we know it. This three-wheeled wonder was just a taster. Soon arrived other strange and wonderous creatures. 

I am aware that the Tour de France is renowned for its liberal attitude to drugs, but this is surely just taking the piss…

Ah. Now ‘things’ were starting to happen. Local trees had noticed objects flying in an unidentifiable way.

Then, incredibly, there arrived two of out bestest friends, Gill & Paul, clearly in the lead…

Other, more outlandish characters, suddenly appeared trying to chase our friends down. No bloody way mate!

And then even more! So many it took almost an entire thirty seconds to pass us by.

I was then informed that the leader may not actually be winning. Go figure.

Apparently, to win, you had to wear a yellow shirt. To me this seemed a little easier than actually riding fast, but very few of these idiots seemed to have caught onto it. 

Finally, we saw him!

I remain unconvinced. I thought it more likey that this guy, who has obviously found a shortcut, would be the clear winner…

After all that excitement, we headed off into remote parts of the Ariège. Arriving at Guzet (in other seasons a ski station) we found that we had far from succeeded in escaping the clouds. Indeed, for the following entire day we lived within one of them, leaving little to see except spooky trees…

After a day of damp white fluffy stuff, there were finally signs of daylight. Oops! Too late!

The next dawn was bright, flooding us with hopes of above zero temperatures.

Not all were impressed as some attempted to move house.

The change of climat (bloody climate change) freed us from the confines of the Gnome, allowing us to wander the local forest tracks, where, strangely, we saw some trees…

Sky was underwhelmed…

As usual, Sky was wrong, she being more interested in haut cuisine than haut views.

And the views were spectacular.

We finally limped to the top…

To watch the accumulating clouds.

Moving on deeper into the Ariege.

The Three Gnomes

Where three pleasant days were spent relaxing in the wilderness.

Until the lights finally went out on another Gnome Trek adventure.