Christmas festivities at Evering Road

Loving brothers!

Fairy light Hallway

Adam and Alastair and tomato ketchup (why?)

Chef Alan get ready to tackle 3-bird roast stuffed with Haggis!

Christmas Eve table for nine

Debs and Roshi

JW, Archie, Penny, Kina, Ally, Lindsay, Eric

Lucky Dip at Alastair's Mayan Party

Ally's mates enjoying themselves

Lucy Ayrton and her mate

Not posed!

So, New Year's Eve tomorrow and it's been a busy time in the Binnie-Lubbock household. First, Alan and I did some scrummy food for Alastair's Mayan Awakening Party (luckily, the world didn't end!) Then we had our neighbour Bob, Ally and his Russian friend Alex, Archie and his friend Fraser for dinner on XMas Day, plus Debs and little Roshi. Unfortunately, Roo was sick, but we enjoyed the home-made ice cream and three-bird roast that Alan had prepared.
On 27th, we had a big family party with Eric, Lindsay, Kina, Lyulph, John William, Penny and the boys for lunch, followed by 'Secret Santa'. Lots of food and games and fun.
Maria had put together an elaborate Treasure Hunt and we succeeded in de-coding the clues and getting the treasure - a huge amount of board games and extensions. I won at Settlers of Catan (Seafarer version) plus I also managed by luck to win at the original Carcasonne.
Alan very nearly poisoned Fraser with one of his sister's truffles which happened to contain nuts, but he was thankfully ok.
Ally has now flown off to join Maria in Colombia and tomorrow, we're off to Bob & Cathy's for New Year's Eve dinner.
Adam is back in residence and the house is gradually returning to normal!

Ville Cario and Loire Valley visit with Dad

Click on my  PhotoBox album to see some photos of our mini-family gathering in August and early September in Brittany.

A lovely couple of weeks plus, with a visit to Fontevraud Abbey in Anjou, where Dad's great grandmother x 21 (I think) is buried, alongside her second husband, Henry 11 of England.

Eleanor of Aquitaine, or in French, Aliénor d’Aquitaine; Éléonore de Guyenne (1122 or 1124 – 1 April 1204) was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe. 

Lyulph sourced and collected additional family tree info. Alan took 'Claud' out for a ride and we visited a 'Cave' and sampled the sparkly.

Back at Ville Cario, we kept snug with roaring fires, collected fallen fir cones from Cap Frehel and generally indulged ourselves in some of the finest and freshest local produce on offer!

Of course, the usual mini-golf and vide grenier expeditions, but also some snooker, backgammon and foraging. 

Piano progress

First, an old favourite - "Can't help loving that man of mine" (Jerome Kern) 

Thanks to my lovely and talented young Russian piano tutor, alex nikiporenko, I am again seeking to improve and consolidate my piano playing expertise (or lack of it!) I am working on two pieces by Erik Satie - wow, what a composer! They look and sound simple, but are really quite complex and require quite a bit of effort on my part.

Aside from learning the piano, the technology to get these pieces recorded and uploaded is also proving challenging and I definitely need to work on updating my tech skills!

La Belle France (or, to be precise, Brittany)

Arrived here 4th January and have very much enjoyed visits from Peter O'Shea and Sue Sharpe, Laz and Rod (Alan's golfing companions and my 'foodie friends'), then Kina and a lovely quiet time with little vists to harbour cafes, markets and Cap Frehel. Now Alan is working with Pascal on 'Le Atelier" which will be a grand project and one which Alan is very much enjoying the manual labouring on. I remain 'Textile Manager' and interpreter plus sometime hostess and Madame des Chambres d'hotes. Fine cuisine and plenty of time for reflection, piano, gardening planning and relaxing in front of the most beautiful log fires topped up by for cones and 'shed kindling'. Ahh, the Good Life!