January 17
When we left the UK just over a year and a half ago we literally took with us what we could stuff into the car. All the rest of our possessions were either sold or given away - with the exception of what we thought at the time were treasures we couldn't part with. We left these in a colleague's garage in a small trailer he no longer used. He has just very kindly driven them down and I've been unpacking. So we now have....
Four matching pairs of lovely lined cream curtains which aren't actually long enough for any of the windows we can get to at the moment even though they are "full length" by English standards. They might fit upstairs once we have a floor up there I suppose.
Three boxes of books. Some of them are my old text books but we have cookery books, gardening books and novels too. Fortunately Mack made some lovely bookshelves from some of the old wood we've been given so they have a home straight away.
A bag of clothes which includes suits, frocks and high heeled shoes (what WAS I thinking about?)
Wedding present stuff like matching china and silverware and wine glasses. That will stay right were it is in the boxes as I don't see us doing any entertaining (or certainly not any that needs "posh" stuff) any time soon.
More wedding present bedding, unused duvets and bed linen, plus a table cloth. Not likely to be using that last one I don't suppose but the bedding is welcome!
Some nice brass and copper bits and pieces I had forgotten I had bought just before we left.
A huge box of giant lego which I can't imagine how got in there. I thought we had given it away. The kids have dived on it and have been squabbling over it ever since!
Electrical goodies which are pretty useless here at the moment as we only have an extension lead and double plug courtesy of our neighbours. So I have a kettle, my wonderful coffee-maker, a hairdryer, an iron (haven't missed that in all the time we've been gone!) and a vegetable steamer. None of them will be used in the foreseeable future but it's strange to see them come out of their boxes with their funny English plugs.
My old hand operated sewing machine and big sewing box. I'm going to rescue these for use now. I have a big box of fabric I was given on one of my bartering missions. I'm going to try a few simple pinafores for Pia for the summer - poor child has nothing to fit her this coming year. She prefers wearing absolutely nothing or just her panties but we DO have to go out occasionally!
Photo albums, certificates and other bits of "important" paperwork.
I love having all this stuff back but isn't it strange that you pack things away as "can't live without" treasures and after a year and half you just can't generally remember why you bothered?
Our friend Richard is probably going home tomorrow and he's leaving the trailer with us as he's moving house and has no room for it any longer (hence the visit now to drop off our things). It will be SO useful as we have all the bits on our car to use it. We've plied him with home made wine and rabbit stew and other than he has had to have a sleeping bag in the corner of the living room (which is still Luke and Pia's bedroom too for the moment) he has loved his visit and says he'll be back to help out when we start on the upstairs floors this spring!
Four matching pairs of lovely lined cream curtains which aren't actually long enough for any of the windows we can get to at the moment even though they are "full length" by English standards. They might fit upstairs once we have a floor up there I suppose.
Three boxes of books. Some of them are my old text books but we have cookery books, gardening books and novels too. Fortunately Mack made some lovely bookshelves from some of the old wood we've been given so they have a home straight away.
A bag of clothes which includes suits, frocks and high heeled shoes (what WAS I thinking about?)
Wedding present stuff like matching china and silverware and wine glasses. That will stay right were it is in the boxes as I don't see us doing any entertaining (or certainly not any that needs "posh" stuff) any time soon.
More wedding present bedding, unused duvets and bed linen, plus a table cloth. Not likely to be using that last one I don't suppose but the bedding is welcome!
Some nice brass and copper bits and pieces I had forgotten I had bought just before we left.
A huge box of giant lego which I can't imagine how got in there. I thought we had given it away. The kids have dived on it and have been squabbling over it ever since!
Electrical goodies which are pretty useless here at the moment as we only have an extension lead and double plug courtesy of our neighbours. So I have a kettle, my wonderful coffee-maker, a hairdryer, an iron (haven't missed that in all the time we've been gone!) and a vegetable steamer. None of them will be used in the foreseeable future but it's strange to see them come out of their boxes with their funny English plugs.
My old hand operated sewing machine and big sewing box. I'm going to rescue these for use now. I have a big box of fabric I was given on one of my bartering missions. I'm going to try a few simple pinafores for Pia for the summer - poor child has nothing to fit her this coming year. She prefers wearing absolutely nothing or just her panties but we DO have to go out occasionally!
Photo albums, certificates and other bits of "important" paperwork.
I love having all this stuff back but isn't it strange that you pack things away as "can't live without" treasures and after a year and half you just can't generally remember why you bothered?
Our friend Richard is probably going home tomorrow and he's leaving the trailer with us as he's moving house and has no room for it any longer (hence the visit now to drop off our things). It will be SO useful as we have all the bits on our car to use it. We've plied him with home made wine and rabbit stew and other than he has had to have a sleeping bag in the corner of the living room (which is still Luke and Pia's bedroom too for the moment) he has loved his visit and says he'll be back to help out when we start on the upstairs floors this spring!
January 16
The goat duly arrived, complete with leather collar, a length of chain and a "goat jacket". Apparently she is particularly touchy about bad weather, hence the jacket - which she apparently snacks on when nothing else is available. I haven't studied it too closely but it seems to be two layers of sacking stuffed with straw and all held on with baler twine. The sooner good weather comes the better so that I can get it off her and perhaps, once my sewing machine arrives, I'll make her something better.
We made her a nice warm pen at the back of one of our barns and begged two huge rolls of straw to keep her going in bedding. So far she has eaten a small rosemary bush, a large part of the parsley, a lavender bush and a chunk of bark off the cherry tree. So we've taken a few links out of her chain to restrict her to a grassy area. I think we'll have to make her an enclosure once the weather improves. Nobu (our part time cat) thinks she's lovely and spends most of his nights sitting on the edge of her pen watching her. I think he likes the idea of the straw bed.
We won't be eating her but the milk is great. The kids have named her Rapunzel. No prizes for guessing what they are reading at the moment!
We made her a nice warm pen at the back of one of our barns and begged two huge rolls of straw to keep her going in bedding. So far she has eaten a small rosemary bush, a large part of the parsley, a lavender bush and a chunk of bark off the cherry tree. So we've taken a few links out of her chain to restrict her to a grassy area. I think we'll have to make her an enclosure once the weather improves. Nobu (our part time cat) thinks she's lovely and spends most of his nights sitting on the edge of her pen watching her. I think he likes the idea of the straw bed.
We won't be eating her but the milk is great. The kids have named her Rapunzel. No prizes for guessing what they are reading at the moment!
January 15
After his fall through the rafters and collection of cracked ribs Mack has been dawdling about any plans for the floors above and the attic. I can’t really blame him as he was in quite some pain for a few weeks. But I did point out to him that he can work out his requirements based on the ground floor, the size is the same although we have a few walls down here he needs to measure around. The floor above has walls which match in fact so we need to do the equivalent of the hall before we get to any rooms proper. I can’t believe we will have a bathroom (we do need a few essentials such as a fully working fosse septique, electrics and plumbing before we can use it) but just having a bathroom , albeit a non-functioning one, will be the height of luxury. We’ve been counting up our oak flooring supplies. We originally bought enough for the whole ground floor and immediately had spare as we then tiled the kitchen except for the bit above the cave. We have now calculated we have enough to do the upper hall, main bathroom (over the kitchen) and the large bedroom with shower room over the dining room. The two bedrooms which will be over the living room will have to wait until we have next year’s budget. In fact they will probably wait longer as we have to seriously look into electrics and plumbing soon. I can’t see us getting up to the attic this year so we will have to have a tarpaulin ceiling to our upper rooms next winter. I quite like that though, especially if Mack can manage to stay up there without falling this time. But before any of this he needs to finish his staircase. It looks lovely but he’s left it open at the moment and it needs filling in so that we can have a downstairs cloakroom underneath eventually. Reading back through this it sounds so blasé – showers rooms, bathrooms, cloakrooms... and currently we have no electricity, plumbing OR drainage. Still, we can dream I suppose!
January 13
For some reason our garden seems to attract wandering ducks.
We had two fat white ones move in last autumn and they have never left since, no one seems to own them and they are happy little souls who live perfectly contentedly in an old wooden crate in one of our barns and lay beautiful eggs. They get along with our four hens quite happily too and petrify the dog.
Suddenly we have a new duck in the garden. The other ducks are quite amenable but one of the hens chases her off if she strays out of the barn. She's jet black, quite small with greyish legs and beak. When the light shines on her she is the most beautiful iridescent green. From looking on line she seems to be an East Indian. Ill try to get a picture next time I go out. No eggs yet so I don't know what they might look like.
What amazes me is where they are coming from. She flies well but I've never seen the white ones leave the ground. I have visions of them marching here from some distant farmer!
We had two fat white ones move in last autumn and they have never left since, no one seems to own them and they are happy little souls who live perfectly contentedly in an old wooden crate in one of our barns and lay beautiful eggs. They get along with our four hens quite happily too and petrify the dog.
Suddenly we have a new duck in the garden. The other ducks are quite amenable but one of the hens chases her off if she strays out of the barn. She's jet black, quite small with greyish legs and beak. When the light shines on her she is the most beautiful iridescent green. From looking on line she seems to be an East Indian. Ill try to get a picture next time I go out. No eggs yet so I don't know what they might look like.
What amazes me is where they are coming from. She flies well but I've never seen the white ones leave the ground. I have visions of them marching here from some distant farmer!
January 12
We seem to be about to be coerced into owning a goat.
We receive goat's milk from a neighbour in exchange for various jobs I do for them. Now he has identified one who is perfectly healthy, getting on a bit and not getting on with the rest of his little flock, biting and kicking them and so on. This morning he told me he was thinking of having her put down, said with that certain gleam that meant he knew I wouldn't let him get away with it.
I don't think we would mind owning a goat really, she is used to wearing a collar and being tethered so she would be fine in our orchard. We could make a dry pen without too much problem in one of our barns. The dog isn't worried by goats and usually totally ignores them. She could keep the grass down in the summer and I could use the goat manure on the garden.
We receive goat's milk from a neighbour in exchange for various jobs I do for them. Now he has identified one who is perfectly healthy, getting on a bit and not getting on with the rest of his little flock, biting and kicking them and so on. This morning he told me he was thinking of having her put down, said with that certain gleam that meant he knew I wouldn't let him get away with it.
I don't think we would mind owning a goat really, she is used to wearing a collar and being tethered so she would be fine in our orchard. We could make a dry pen without too much problem in one of our barns. The dog isn't worried by goats and usually totally ignores them. She could keep the grass down in the summer and I could use the goat manure on the garden.
January 10
We’ve just come back from an entertaining evening with our neighbours, Andy and Sally. We had a great dinner and afterwards got to talking about their underfloor electric heating on their ground floor and they were telling me about the lovely warm floor in their en-suite bathroom upstairs. “That must have been quite a feat to lay it onto a wooden floor” says Mack. “Oh no, it’s concrete up there, that’s why we’ve had carpets put down.” says Sally. We all look up at the beamed and planked ceiling. “Bloody hell!” says Andy and scoots upstairs in alarm. Mack went too to see what it was all about. It turns out their upper floor consists of large concrete slabs laid across the original several hundred year old oak beams. And they hadn’t given this a thought...
January 6
This evening Gerard, a strange little old guy who lives in a tiny little house in the village and shows Luke and Pia how the villagers used to make sabots from chestnut wood during the war years came to deliver the little pairs he had finished off for them. Apparently with a pair of thick socks they are warm and comfortable. I had made a roast from one of the pieces of wild boar we have been given so I invited him to eat with us – he lives alone and although I know he cooks I thought he might enjoy someone else preparing something for him. He looked horrified at the vegetables I offered him but was happy to eat with chunks of bread I had made. We gave him a glass of blackberry wine but I could tell he was not impressed so he had some of our home made cider. It is extremely rough and cloudy but he thought it was “parfait!” He worked his way through the remains of the walnuts we had and went away perfectly happily saying his meal had been “bon”. Compliments indeed!
January 2
We will be taking our little Christmas tree back shortly. It looks as fresh as ever so apparently none the worse for its indoor Christmas. It was in the rather chilly hall so I'm hardly surprised. Mom is now packing up to go, it seems crazy to have come all this way for little more than a week. I’ve been to use her washer and dryer, I really can’t resist a chance to get our laundry done with so little stress. She has adored France and all things French, even the weather. I suppose she has a good start as she lives just on the coast south of San Francisco where the weather is normally lovely. So a bit of rain, sleet, hail and thunder is quite a novelty. She loved the gite, the gite owner, the crazy lady across the road who spends her time searching for someone or something lost (we hear her calling for it all the time, wandering the lanes - Mom tried to find out what is missing but they had a total communication blip) and even the mayor. The mulled wine was all down to her, the poor guy was so bemused that he didn't dare refuse.
December 29
Eve has to keep up with her business commitments while she is here and spends her mornings in her gite using the broadband with laptop. Her gite is great, nice satellite TV (some channels in English), free phone calls including to the US - plus broadband. I know it was expensive but that seems pretty luxurious to me. She has dishwasher, washing machine and tumbler and as many electrical sockets as a good American could want so she is happy.
December 28
Mom told me about how much she worries about Ginny, the sister who is slowly trying to work her way through junior college and get away from being a waitress. She’s such a bright kid and it’s such a pity that she is struggling and feeling so bitter about her life. Apparently they haven’t spoken for three years and nothing I could do would persuade Mom to give her a call or email her. My family can be very mule-like! If she is so worried why won’t she pick up the phone? I refuse to be the intermediary so they will have to fix it themselves I suppose...
December 26
Christmas Day was hilarious! Eve cooked lunch and brought it round in the back of her hire car along with presents. Thanksgiving is really the "turkey" dinner in the US so we really had a Thanksgiving dinner, turkey with cranberry jelly (thanks Mom!), roast potatoes, veggies, etc. Then cinnamon apple pie and custard. The only thing I prepared was a first course of homemade tomato soup – thank heavens for all that tomato puree I bottled earlier! I did warm the pie and make the custard, but all ingredients came round in the car with her. We just piled the food into the woodburning stove while we had our soup and it was perfect. Mom even produced her famous “green stuff” and jelly salad (she can be so American!), much to the kids’ bemusement. I think my Mom is quite getting into the lifestyle as long as she is able to retire to her electrical gadgets and TV in her comfortable little gite each night! Pia likes to spend the night with her but Luke is a bit more reticent, she makes him have a shower every night which he thinks is excessive!
She arrived with an enormous set of aromatherapy oils for me, something new for me to learn soon. Apparently it cost her a fortune in excess baggage! There are 20 one fluid oz bottles of oils plus larger ones of lavender ad geranium, carrier oils, base cremes, empty jars and pots and a basic book. Mack had lots of lovely expensive lotions and aftershaves. He loves them but I can’t see them getting any outings here. He also has a great book he has wanted for ages. The kids are beside themselves, they have books, chocolates, puzzles and the usual stuff plus a set of little Sylvanian bits for Pia and a sort of Meccano type set for Luke. She ceranly got that lot right!
As our Xmas gifts were all hand made or home grown, I asked our friends to either give us something similar or, if they weren't into making stuff then to "donate" anything they no longer needed and thought we might like. So we have ended up with the following from our various lovely neighbours
Pate and a leg of pork (our nearest French neighbours)
A bottle of Brandy (more French neighbours
A big box of board games
A caramel coloured woolly rug (lovely in front of the fire on our new floor)
and a lovely sofa, given away because the colours weren't quite right! I actually love the sofa ( a sort of russett brown weave) but then as our previous seating was the kids' camp beds I suppose I'm not likely to complain really. Thank you Andy and Sally. They are so kind to us!
A box of chocolates from one neighbour who couldn't bring herself to give us anything other than something new and frivolous.
New jackets all round (courtesy of my Mom)
As our Xmas gifts were all hand made or home grown, I asked our friends to either give us something similar or, if they weren't into making stuff then to "donate" anything they no longer needed and thought we might like. So we have ended up with the following from our various lovely neighbours
Pate and a leg of pork (our nearest French neighbours)
A bottle of Brandy (more French neighbours
A big box of board games
A caramel coloured woolly rug (lovely in front of the fire on our new floor)
and a lovely sofa, given away because the colours weren't quite right! I actually love the sofa ( a sort of russett brown weave) but then as our previous seating was the kids' camp beds I suppose I'm not likely to complain really. Thank you Andy and Sally. They are so kind to us!
A box of chocolates from one neighbour who couldn't bring herself to give us anything other than something new and frivolous.
New jackets all round (courtesy of my Mom)
December 24
Her soiree was in fact good fun. She found jars of mincemeat in the “brit bit” of Intermarche so we had mince pies and a lovely punch. I think the neighbours were impressed, especially the ones who didn’t know we actually have a proper living room floor these days. M Bertrand (the major) arrived at about six with a lovely bottle of crispy looking white wine and a tray of oysters. He hadn’t been invited to the soiree (he actually lives in the next village) so it was a coincidental visit but Eve dragged him in and gave him a mince pie and a big glass of punch. His face was a picture, he somehow reminded me of Manual in Fawlty Towers, a bit like an embarrassed sheep. The poor main is terrified of me anyway – after the wheelbarrow incident he’s convinced I’m totally barking, to use one of Mack’s phrases.
Her soiree was in fact good fun. She found jars of mincemeat in the “brit bit” of Intermarche so we had mince pies and a lovely punch. I think the neighbours were impressed, especially the ones who didn’t know we actually have a proper living room floor these days. M Bertrand (the major) arrived at about six with a lovely bottle of crispy looking white wine and a tray of oysters. He hadn’t been invited to the soiree (he actually lives in the next village) so it was a coincidental visit but Eve dragged him in and gave him a mince pie and a big glass of punch. His face was a picture, he somehow reminded me of Manual in Fawlty Towers, a bit like an embarrassed sheep. The poor main is terrified of me anyway – after the wheelbarrow incident he’s convinced I’m totally barking, to use one of Mack’s phrases.
December 22
We decided to put up our Christmas decorations today. The children have made dozens of paper chains with glue and a roll of lining paper (€2) which they coloured themselves. We found a perfect little tree out in the woods last week which we’ve now dug up and put in a box of its own soil in the hallway. We made stars and so on with sweet papers the kids had begged from various places, garlands of popcorn, little woollen dolls and, now Eve has arrived, fresh cranberries strings and peppermint candies.
Eve appears to have met everyone in the village (Luke and Pia took her on a tour) and seems to have extracted all sorts of information considering her only foreign language is Spanish – not much use in south western France normally. Her every conversation seems to start “Did you know...” Scary stuff. I didn’t – and don’t really want to! We are apparently having a “soiree” on Christmas Eve, she’s making the punch but I get the job of making mince pies. I have to tell her I have no mince meat and no means of buying any either before she invites the whole village.
December 21
The”visitation” has begun! Eve arrived in the biggest automatic hire car she could find (lovely but a bit of a liability up these small lanes), a flurry of fur coats and boxes. Apparently she had to pay several hundred dollars in excess luggage to cover all our Christmas gifts. She is verging on incorrigible – I told her not to bring us things. I swear she has transformed into ZsaZsa Gabor, everything is “darling”, waving hands and trailing scarves – she must be a nightmare to live with! She flew into Paris so had quite a long drive but seems to have coped admirably. She seems to come from the “shriek louder and they will understand” school of foreign visitors but seems to have managed to pay toll fees and top up with fuel (and find Barbezieux) with little trouble. We arranged to meet her at 2pm and she was waiting for us as we arrived. I suppose a night in Parisian hotel improved her health and temper no end. The kids are amazed, appalled, smitten and terrified in about equal measures. What is this amazing creature? She loves her gite, has practically bought up our local Intermarche already (€327? Who spends that on one trip to a supermarket for just one person?), cooked up her famous Beef Wellington for us all in her kitchen (who but a crazy American will pay €34 for a piece of fillet beef) and is now happily watching Disney DVDs with the kids who are apparently going to spend the night with her. Is this my mother who never had time for her own five kids? Strange what becoming a grandma will do to you apparently!
December 1
The living room has a new floor at last! Mack worked so hard at it and it look gorgeous. The planks are so thick and heavy. He has actually been working at this in the room itself, sawing and sanding as he went. The sheer joy of seeing that last plank nailed into place is almost indescribable! The whole ground floor is now properly covered. Things are looking up from June 2008 when we arrived to dirt floors, draughty and broken windows and a leaking roof. We are still a bit short on facilities but we are warm and cosy and managing really well.
November 13
We had a very strange visit today. Apparently there are now new French laws about the standards for sanitation. This is a little disconcerting as, as far as we can see, our sanitation system involves a “hole in the ground” loo and a marshy bit of land at the bottom of the garden. We know we will probably have to have a proper system installed at some point and that it will be expensive – we will have to have a fosse septique as there is no mains drainage for miles. We also know that an inspector has been checking out local properties but had for some reason managed not to find us. All we were expecting was a report telling us what we will need to install.
A disconcertingly young lady arrived with clip board. She headed off across the garden with a map of some sort and started poking around an area which has been covered in brambles up until now. Her conclusion? We have a “modern” fosse which is an adequate size and has never been used. It isn’t “plumbed” to the house yet though. We can hardly believe this! Apparently we will now receive the requisite certificate and need only join the house to the fosse and add in a venting stack. Amazing!
November 7
Sally and Andrew arrived back today after their mopping up operations in the UK. Apparently it has been dire but once they got in touch with the insurance company things started to happen quickly. Everything which was totally ruined has been replaced, sodden rugs and carpets have been lifted, cleaned and replaced, dehumidifiers have dried out all the rooms, most of the house has been redecorated and everything has been repaired. They are so thankful they took out “proper” insurance which covered them even when they are not in the UK. Their house here has been fine, their strange cat was very pleased to see them and stalked out without a backward glance to follow them through the hedge and they have invited us all to dinner tomorrow night as a “thank you”. I feel it should be me doing the thanking as I seem to have come off far the better for this arrangement but Sally really is the Pimms and canapés type so would probably find our meals a bit “rustic” for her tastes!
November 2
Anyway we had a huge storm in the night which blew away every remaining leaf from our trees and knocked out the supply to our electricity cable (I had to go over to the neighbour's house, find and reset the supply).
But it's still hot...
But it's still hot...
November 1
It started to get really chilly here so in preparation for winter we have -
Made sure we have a good supply of wood within easy reach of the kitchen door and covered it with a watertight cover which is nonetheless easy to get under. (Actually it's the frame from the tent we had in the living room last year with a tarpaulin over it but it works perfectly). We also lit the living room fire and stoked it to stay burning throughout the day and night, same with the kitchen range.
Changed all the duvets to winter weight ones and packed all the summer weight ones under our mattress or under the sheets on the kids' camp beds.
Put the heat retaining tarpaulin over the ground floor to keep the heat down out of the upper floors and found our thick winter curtains to hang. Tacked one across the big hole in the kitchen door. Mack is making another door but wants to duplicate the original oak one (minus hole) and it's taking him a long time.
Sorted out all our winter clothes and put away the summer ones. Our clothes are either hanging on the few hooks and rails we have or put away in suitcases which balance on a big sheet of hardboard up on the ceiling beams (those ones Mack fell from last week) so it's not as if they are just pushed to the back of a wardrobe.
Drained our outdoor shower (basically a huge clear plastic tank on the barn roof with a shower head and shower tray and a drainage pipe off to another tank so I can use the water for watering. Hauled in the tin bath for our winter baths.
Spent a chunk of our budget on winter shoes for the kids.
So what happens? The sun comes out. Day after day. Yesterday it hit 29 degrees c, today feels even hotter. It was so hot in the kitchen last night we had to have the doors and windows open. No one could sleep because they were too hot. And today there's me running around in jeans and a sweater. The kids are moaning because their sandals, shorts and teeshirts are up the "loft" and I feel the same because mine are up their too. Mack is still refusing to go back up there because his ribs are still sore from his fall (we think he probably cracked a couple of them after a long distance consultation with my doctor brother). And I'm not brave enough to balance on the beams 12 feet up to get things out again.
I suppose I shouldn't complain but talk about best laid plans...
Actually it's now started raining. But HOT rain. I suppose it might turn into a thundertorm and cool off a bit but it doesn't look that way. The thermometer outside the back door still shows 26 degrees so it looks as if we have our own microclimate in this village. But I've now found enough teeshirts in our ragbag for all of us so everyone is now happy!
Actually the kids are running around the garden (plus Morris Lurcher) playing their version of one on run plus dog rugby (he changes sides depending upon who has the ball). They will definitely be stripped off before they are allowed in as they are so muddy I can't tell one from the other. Were it not that I am supposed to be doing battle with a dead rabbit I think I would be out there with them!
Made sure we have a good supply of wood within easy reach of the kitchen door and covered it with a watertight cover which is nonetheless easy to get under. (Actually it's the frame from the tent we had in the living room last year with a tarpaulin over it but it works perfectly). We also lit the living room fire and stoked it to stay burning throughout the day and night, same with the kitchen range.
Changed all the duvets to winter weight ones and packed all the summer weight ones under our mattress or under the sheets on the kids' camp beds.
Put the heat retaining tarpaulin over the ground floor to keep the heat down out of the upper floors and found our thick winter curtains to hang. Tacked one across the big hole in the kitchen door. Mack is making another door but wants to duplicate the original oak one (minus hole) and it's taking him a long time.
Sorted out all our winter clothes and put away the summer ones. Our clothes are either hanging on the few hooks and rails we have or put away in suitcases which balance on a big sheet of hardboard up on the ceiling beams (those ones Mack fell from last week) so it's not as if they are just pushed to the back of a wardrobe.
Drained our outdoor shower (basically a huge clear plastic tank on the barn roof with a shower head and shower tray and a drainage pipe off to another tank so I can use the water for watering. Hauled in the tin bath for our winter baths.
Spent a chunk of our budget on winter shoes for the kids.
So what happens? The sun comes out. Day after day. Yesterday it hit 29 degrees c, today feels even hotter. It was so hot in the kitchen last night we had to have the doors and windows open. No one could sleep because they were too hot. And today there's me running around in jeans and a sweater. The kids are moaning because their sandals, shorts and teeshirts are up the "loft" and I feel the same because mine are up their too. Mack is still refusing to go back up there because his ribs are still sore from his fall (we think he probably cracked a couple of them after a long distance consultation with my doctor brother). And I'm not brave enough to balance on the beams 12 feet up to get things out again.
I suppose I shouldn't complain but talk about best laid plans...
Actually it's now started raining. But HOT rain. I suppose it might turn into a thundertorm and cool off a bit but it doesn't look that way. The thermometer outside the back door still shows 26 degrees so it looks as if we have our own microclimate in this village. But I've now found enough teeshirts in our ragbag for all of us so everyone is now happy!
Actually the kids are running around the garden (plus Morris Lurcher) playing their version of one on run plus dog rugby (he changes sides depending upon who has the ball). They will definitely be stripped off before they are allowed in as they are so muddy I can't tell one from the other. Were it not that I am supposed to be doing battle with a dead rabbit I think I would be out there with them!
26 October
I understand there is a mini heatwave in the UK at the moment. We are also having something similar, our outdoor thermometer is showing 28° at the moment. All this makes the problems we had last night sound a little pointless but it really does get chilly here in the evenings!
As our living room is open right up to the roof tiles (probably about 50 feet at the highest) we put a large old tarpaulin over the first floor beams last winter. It kept the living area snug and was actually large enough (it's one of those heavy duty truck sheets) to cover the dining room (our bedroom at present) plus most of the kitchen and hallway. Putting it up involves Mack sitting on the beams, folding the cover out and holding it down in various places with some bricks.
So up he went last night, spread it all out beautifully and secured it, then got as far the uprights he has installed for the top of the new staircase which is going up from the hallway. He promptly forgot they were there, backed into them, lost his balance and fell out of the roof! Fortunately he managed to grab a pair of cross beams as he went and when I came in from the kitchen to investigate the shouting and swearing I found him dangling six feet from the floor like some sort of maniacal gymnast. I had visions of broken bones and took a few seconds to work out how on earth we could get him down. I wanted to dash out to the barn for the stepladder but he had the only torch up there with him and it's pitch black in the barn so decided against that on the basis I would probably have ended up with a broken neck to go with his broken legs. I eventually grabbed the kids' camp bed mattresses to put down so he had a soft landing and he dropped onto them. He seems more or less none the worse for wear, thank goodness.
I suppose the funniest thing was that he had to go back up there to rescue his torch. I DID offer but he knows I'm pretty clumsy and with the tarpaulin down there is no way of really seeing where the cross beams are to walk on because the material is too thick. I must say he was a lot less blasé this time!
So if it's really cold tonight and we have another log fire the heat will stay in the room, Mack will stay on the ground floor, the kids will stop thinking their Dad does these strange things just for their entertainment and I will stay calm and collected for once...
As our living room is open right up to the roof tiles (probably about 50 feet at the highest) we put a large old tarpaulin over the first floor beams last winter. It kept the living area snug and was actually large enough (it's one of those heavy duty truck sheets) to cover the dining room (our bedroom at present) plus most of the kitchen and hallway. Putting it up involves Mack sitting on the beams, folding the cover out and holding it down in various places with some bricks.
So up he went last night, spread it all out beautifully and secured it, then got as far the uprights he has installed for the top of the new staircase which is going up from the hallway. He promptly forgot they were there, backed into them, lost his balance and fell out of the roof! Fortunately he managed to grab a pair of cross beams as he went and when I came in from the kitchen to investigate the shouting and swearing I found him dangling six feet from the floor like some sort of maniacal gymnast. I had visions of broken bones and took a few seconds to work out how on earth we could get him down. I wanted to dash out to the barn for the stepladder but he had the only torch up there with him and it's pitch black in the barn so decided against that on the basis I would probably have ended up with a broken neck to go with his broken legs. I eventually grabbed the kids' camp bed mattresses to put down so he had a soft landing and he dropped onto them. He seems more or less none the worse for wear, thank goodness.
I suppose the funniest thing was that he had to go back up there to rescue his torch. I DID offer but he knows I'm pretty clumsy and with the tarpaulin down there is no way of really seeing where the cross beams are to walk on because the material is too thick. I must say he was a lot less blasé this time!
So if it's really cold tonight and we have another log fire the heat will stay in the room, Mack will stay on the ground floor, the kids will stop thinking their Dad does these strange things just for their entertainment and I will stay calm and collected for once...
October 25
Our next door neighbours, who allow us to use their wifi internet connection in their barn, an electrical socket in the barn for charging our laptop and also an old chest freezer in the same barn all in exchange for me mowing their lawn with their own sit-upon mower arrived unexpectedly yesterday evening, he pulling onto our drive in their car and she arrived via the gap in the hedge. I thought this was odd, if they both nip through the hedge it's no more than 30 yards from their property to our kitchen door, why the car too?
It turns out they had had news that they have damaged pipes in their UK home and water has been leaking from their loft into the various rooms for nearly a week, causing huge damage. They are dashing back this morning (they have in fact already left) to try to sort it out - but in the meantime they have -
Brought us (the reason for the car, it all becomes clear...)
Their cat in a cat carrier (it's some type of exotic cat but amiable enough). Apparently getting it all organised to take back would have involved them waiting until Tuesday for various paperwork.
A mountain of cat food and money for any extras (they are only planning on being away for two weeks max so what on earth they think these extras might be is worrisome...
The spare keys to their house and the strict instructions that we "deal with" the contents of their refrigerator (always welcome!)
A long cable winder roll, attached at the other end to the power socket in their barn. I have now have real electricity in our kitchen at last! It's only one socket and a double adaptor but it's like heaven! No need to go over to recharge batteries, we can plug in the CD player.... I'm just SO excited about it!
Another cable roll but this time with ADSL cable. My laptop is now online in our own kitchen!
With those luxuries I could hardly refuse to look after the cat for a couple of weeks, could I? He hates Morris (lurcher) and the feeling is mutual but he knows his way around so he'll be content.
It turns out they had had news that they have damaged pipes in their UK home and water has been leaking from their loft into the various rooms for nearly a week, causing huge damage. They are dashing back this morning (they have in fact already left) to try to sort it out - but in the meantime they have -
Brought us (the reason for the car, it all becomes clear...)
Their cat in a cat carrier (it's some type of exotic cat but amiable enough). Apparently getting it all organised to take back would have involved them waiting until Tuesday for various paperwork.
A mountain of cat food and money for any extras (they are only planning on being away for two weeks max so what on earth they think these extras might be is worrisome...
The spare keys to their house and the strict instructions that we "deal with" the contents of their refrigerator (always welcome!)
A long cable winder roll, attached at the other end to the power socket in their barn. I have now have real electricity in our kitchen at last! It's only one socket and a double adaptor but it's like heaven! No need to go over to recharge batteries, we can plug in the CD player.... I'm just SO excited about it!
Another cable roll but this time with ADSL cable. My laptop is now online in our own kitchen!
With those luxuries I could hardly refuse to look after the cat for a couple of weeks, could I? He hates Morris (lurcher) and the feeling is mutual but he knows his way around so he'll be content.
So I'm sitting at the kitchen table using my computer at 9pm. Totally unheard of! It's such a pleasure for us and I'm really grateful to them.
Apparently they had arranged the cables last week with the intention of surprising us as the winter arrived so it was just a matter of bringing things forward. And, as they said, now I have the laptop permanantly online and charging they can use Skype to stay in touch to make sure things are OK with their house here.
But this is sheer luxury for us. Even Magda the cat seems happy enough, she actually came in of her own accord at 6pm for her food and is now asleep in front of the fire. Morris is still keeping his eye on her from under one of the kid's camp beds but he'll come round eventually I hope.
And their fridge was crammed with food. I think they had just gone shopping for the week coming when they got the news of their flood. So we are, at the moment, one very happy little bunch.
Apparently they had arranged the cables last week with the intention of surprising us as the winter arrived so it was just a matter of bringing things forward. And, as they said, now I have the laptop permanantly online and charging they can use Skype to stay in touch to make sure things are OK with their house here.
But this is sheer luxury for us. Even Magda the cat seems happy enough, she actually came in of her own accord at 6pm for her food and is now asleep in front of the fire. Morris is still keeping his eye on her from under one of the kid's camp beds but he'll come round eventually I hope.
And their fridge was crammed with food. I think they had just gone shopping for the week coming when they got the news of their flood. So we are, at the moment, one very happy little bunch.
October 21
As I mentioned before, we are living in a very dilapidated house and have only just managed to repair the roof and windows, now have a lovely tiled floor in the kitchen and a new oak floor in the dining room and hall but still have bare earth in the living room, no upstairs floors, no running water so no inside loo, no electricity, no kitchen to speak of and so on.
However I got up early today, it was dark, pouring with rain and pretty cold. But the house is warm inside (although I imagine most of the heat is hovering somewhere just below the roof tiles) no leaks, we have several lovely oil lamps, the oak floor is warm to the feet, the woodburning range is throwing out piles of heat, I probably have jars and pots and packages of food we have grown and preserved to last until spring, we have great neighbours and no need to step out into the rat race unless we want to - and I realised how blessed we are.
I suppose the down sides are that I'm going to have to pick up a bucket of water from the well on the way back to make some coffee, it takes an hour to heat up enough water to give the kids a bath (we are still managing with the outdoor shower but I can't see that lasting much longer, the water will be pretty cold today after all this rain), I have to be constantly on the alert that the kids or dog don't dash in from outside and into the living room and turning the earth floor into a quagmire (hard as all the doors are off at the moment) and I now have to juggle the budget to buy them some winter shoes, their current options being wellington boots or sandals.
But all in all I think we might be getting somewhere with this crazy project!
However I got up early today, it was dark, pouring with rain and pretty cold. But the house is warm inside (although I imagine most of the heat is hovering somewhere just below the roof tiles) no leaks, we have several lovely oil lamps, the oak floor is warm to the feet, the woodburning range is throwing out piles of heat, I probably have jars and pots and packages of food we have grown and preserved to last until spring, we have great neighbours and no need to step out into the rat race unless we want to - and I realised how blessed we are.
I suppose the down sides are that I'm going to have to pick up a bucket of water from the well on the way back to make some coffee, it takes an hour to heat up enough water to give the kids a bath (we are still managing with the outdoor shower but I can't see that lasting much longer, the water will be pretty cold today after all this rain), I have to be constantly on the alert that the kids or dog don't dash in from outside and into the living room and turning the earth floor into a quagmire (hard as all the doors are off at the moment) and I now have to juggle the budget to buy them some winter shoes, their current options being wellington boots or sandals.
But all in all I think we might be getting somewhere with this crazy project!
October 17
I have just come to pick up my laptop after it has been charging all morning in the neighbours barn. This usually involves nipping though a hedge but as I was taking the wheelbarrow today I walked the long way round, about 50 yards along a tiny lane where three cars a day passing through is a major traffic event. During this detour into the real world I managed to bump into our mayor walking his dog. He looked at me very strangely, raised his hat (really!) muttered "Bonjour Madame..." and scuttled off. I've just realised why!
I took the wheelbarrow because I wanted to take a large pot of green tomatoes with me and use the neighbours' power point to use my "whizzer" and chop them up. Lazy I know but I DO miss using my electric gadgets. So, I had a wheelbarrow, a large cast iron pot, an electric whisker, two dead rabbits (a present from a neighbour which I found on the doorstep this morning and which were on their way to the freezer) a small child sitting in the barrow with her face painted like a cat who was miaowing and shaking a big jar of milk (butter making). I was wearing pyjamas and Mack's jacket (it's cold!), wellington boots (wet grass) had my hair in braids with a cardboard head dress complete with chicken feathers (Pia thought I should be a Native American today) and Japanese geisha face paint (this went on before she decided I should be a Native American and while we were doing the cat face - face-painting is her latest obsession).
Poor man now thinks he has a family of lunatics on his hands!
I took the wheelbarrow because I wanted to take a large pot of green tomatoes with me and use the neighbours' power point to use my "whizzer" and chop them up. Lazy I know but I DO miss using my electric gadgets. So, I had a wheelbarrow, a large cast iron pot, an electric whisker, two dead rabbits (a present from a neighbour which I found on the doorstep this morning and which were on their way to the freezer) a small child sitting in the barrow with her face painted like a cat who was miaowing and shaking a big jar of milk (butter making). I was wearing pyjamas and Mack's jacket (it's cold!), wellington boots (wet grass) had my hair in braids with a cardboard head dress complete with chicken feathers (Pia thought I should be a Native American today) and Japanese geisha face paint (this went on before she decided I should be a Native American and while we were doing the cat face - face-painting is her latest obsession).
Poor man now thinks he has a family of lunatics on his hands!
We got one - stray cat that is.
I knew I wasn't going to be able to contribute financially so I actually caught the little b****r. However it turns out the village has a spare fund amongst the ex-pats and a couple of locals here who organised a plant swap last Spring. Swapping plants wasn't high on our agenda at that point (still isn't!) but apparently they had people turning up to buy as well as swap and they have several hundred euros put aside to "do something" for the village. So this is it!
So, I caught him (a sort of gloved and overalled flying tackle - I knew I should have tried out for the 49ers) when I found him in next door's barn on Sunday evening, another neighbour shoved him in a cage, they took him off to the vets in the morning and he returned later yesterday, was given a tuna supper and set free. It's a small start but we are reasonable content with our project at the moment and still have enough money for another five, although I imagine the word is out to keep out of that particular barn. AND the vet allowed a discount when he realised what this is all about and also wormed and de-fleaed him for free. The worming and defleaing was just an added extra from the vet. We will have to give each one a name for the vets' records.
I knew I wasn't going to be able to contribute financially so I actually caught the little b****r. However it turns out the village has a spare fund amongst the ex-pats and a couple of locals here who organised a plant swap last Spring. Swapping plants wasn't high on our agenda at that point (still isn't!) but apparently they had people turning up to buy as well as swap and they have several hundred euros put aside to "do something" for the village. So this is it!
So, I caught him (a sort of gloved and overalled flying tackle - I knew I should have tried out for the 49ers) when I found him in next door's barn on Sunday evening, another neighbour shoved him in a cage, they took him off to the vets in the morning and he returned later yesterday, was given a tuna supper and set free. It's a small start but we are reasonable content with our project at the moment and still have enough money for another five, although I imagine the word is out to keep out of that particular barn. AND the vet allowed a discount when he realised what this is all about and also wormed and de-fleaed him for free. The worming and defleaing was just an added extra from the vet. We will have to give each one a name for the vets' records.
Nobu went to the vet first thing in the morning and was not released until about 7pm. He was not a happy bunny and ready to go. He did hang around long enough to demolish a dish of tinned tuna first, although if the waving tail and general hissing was anything to go by we were wise to keep out of his way. He seems more amiable now, he spent a large part of last night sitting on the forecourt outside our kitchen.
Nobu now looks looks fine, I saw him on the way over here this morning (where it's pouring with rain!)
If we manage to catch any of the females (they are even more shy) we will keep them in our chicken pen (the chickens and ducks have decided the hay stall rails in a secure part of the barn are much more to their liking) for a few days. It's made from rigid mesh and very strong so probably a good place. They are far too uncivilized to have in a house for long. I understand the vets in France do a far less invasive form of female spaying too, something on the lines of tube tying rather than a hysterectomy, and do it from a very short cut up the centre of the stomach rather than in the side?
If we manage to catch any of the females (they are even more shy) we will keep them in our chicken pen (the chickens and ducks have decided the hay stall rails in a secure part of the barn are much more to their liking) for a few days. It's made from rigid mesh and very strong so probably a good place. They are far too uncivilized to have in a house for long. I understand the vets in France do a far less invasive form of female spaying too, something on the lines of tube tying rather than a hysterectomy, and do it from a very short cut up the centre of the stomach rather than in the side?
October 15
I don't get much time for socialising with the neighbours but this morning a small bunch of us "collided" at the bottle bank and ended up sitting over a coffee in our kitchen. It was a cross section of the village - French, Brits and Dutch (I put myself in the Brit category by association).
The discussion meandered around to the local stray cat population. I think there are about two stray cats for every person in the village. However as there are only about 20 people it isn't quite as bad as it might sound. We don't feed any of them because we don't generally have meat scraps, cat food doesn't star too highly on our budget, Morris (our lurcher) doesn't like them much and to be honest neither do I. But then we discovered which of us DO feed them on daily...
It turns out that there is a hard core of five or six cats who are eating on a regular basis at the FOUR different households represented at our impromptu coffee morning. No wonder they look so sleek and well-fed. They could well be eating elsewhere too, although it was noted that they are particularly wary of the houses of the older "country folk" in the village who are known to chase them off and dispose of any stray kittens they find.
None of these cats are actually "owned" so we are thinking of starting a programme of catching them and having them neutered. An interesting project!
The discussion meandered around to the local stray cat population. I think there are about two stray cats for every person in the village. However as there are only about 20 people it isn't quite as bad as it might sound. We don't feed any of them because we don't generally have meat scraps, cat food doesn't star too highly on our budget, Morris (our lurcher) doesn't like them much and to be honest neither do I. But then we discovered which of us DO feed them on daily...
It turns out that there is a hard core of five or six cats who are eating on a regular basis at the FOUR different households represented at our impromptu coffee morning. No wonder they look so sleek and well-fed. They could well be eating elsewhere too, although it was noted that they are particularly wary of the houses of the older "country folk" in the village who are known to chase them off and dispose of any stray kittens they find.
None of these cats are actually "owned" so we are thinking of starting a programme of catching them and having them neutered. An interesting project!
The local hunters aren't averse to taking potshots at them on a Sunday afternoon, one of the old locals puts out snares for rabbits and we know he's done away with domestic cats he's found in his snares so almost certainly manages to catch some of these too, some of them look pretty pitiful and need some sort of veterinary attention and there are just too many kittens in the Spring
October 13
We’ve had old neighbours staying for a few nights – they are on their way to Portugal for a few months.
They have four children, ranging in age from two up to ten. They are educating the oldest three themselves and no doubt the youngest one will follow. They are bright kids with enquiring minds, precocious and eloquent. But I did notice they were not very good at socialising with our two and had no knowledge of certain things I would have thought were important to little ones. Being able to tie bows, read or write fluently, do jigsaws or tell the time from a standard clock were four of these. I’m sure they are very well taught in areas their parents think are important and are off on an adventure to Portugal which would be impossible for kids in formal schooling. But are they really getting a “rounded” education? I don’t think so!
On their last evening, over a bottle of our home-made apple wine (very nice it is too!) we got into discussion about this – they obviously thought we would be doing the same. As a product of “home education” I said we would almost certainly not, especially as we are living in a foreign country where I want them to integrate. I and my four siblings were brought up in “freedom” with no formal guidelines and no formal teaching. As a result, at age eighteen I had to work my butt off to get a High School diploma to get to University and even now feel less than adequate in certain areas. I know a lot about things my parents thought were important but very little about, for instance history. They didn’t think it was important. Sometimes Mack talks about things he learned at primary school in the backwoods of Waterford and I’ve never heard of them. Things like how to tell the difference between a spider and other insect type things. I suppose I could wax lyrical on the teachings of Allan Ginsberg but it isn’t really useful is it?
This couple have no intentions of preparing any of their kids for formal exams. I wonder if they are not depriving them of the means to get on in life or make a decent living in the future. I’m pretty sure not everyone will agree with me on this one but I was just wondering what sort of guidelines home educators follow to ensure their kids receive a well-balanced education and will be able to enter formal education later if they so wish?
I also do wonder if it isn’t just a bit misguided and presumptuous if the home educators don’t have a decent standard of education themselves. This couple were our neighbours in the UK and I really have no definite idea what their business is, computer based I believe. I also really don’t know what sort of qualifications they have other than the ability to run their business (successfully I assume as they have a big newish camper van and live in a nice home). However I suspect they might be graduates and their children will not be. I don’t see anything wrong with that unless, like me, it is something they later want and have to work extra hard to achieve. Because of my parents’ “alternative” views this is exactly the dilemma I faced.
They have four children, ranging in age from two up to ten. They are educating the oldest three themselves and no doubt the youngest one will follow. They are bright kids with enquiring minds, precocious and eloquent. But I did notice they were not very good at socialising with our two and had no knowledge of certain things I would have thought were important to little ones. Being able to tie bows, read or write fluently, do jigsaws or tell the time from a standard clock were four of these. I’m sure they are very well taught in areas their parents think are important and are off on an adventure to Portugal which would be impossible for kids in formal schooling. But are they really getting a “rounded” education? I don’t think so!
On their last evening, over a bottle of our home-made apple wine (very nice it is too!) we got into discussion about this – they obviously thought we would be doing the same. As a product of “home education” I said we would almost certainly not, especially as we are living in a foreign country where I want them to integrate. I and my four siblings were brought up in “freedom” with no formal guidelines and no formal teaching. As a result, at age eighteen I had to work my butt off to get a High School diploma to get to University and even now feel less than adequate in certain areas. I know a lot about things my parents thought were important but very little about, for instance history. They didn’t think it was important. Sometimes Mack talks about things he learned at primary school in the backwoods of Waterford and I’ve never heard of them. Things like how to tell the difference between a spider and other insect type things. I suppose I could wax lyrical on the teachings of Allan Ginsberg but it isn’t really useful is it?
This couple have no intentions of preparing any of their kids for formal exams. I wonder if they are not depriving them of the means to get on in life or make a decent living in the future. I’m pretty sure not everyone will agree with me on this one but I was just wondering what sort of guidelines home educators follow to ensure their kids receive a well-balanced education and will be able to enter formal education later if they so wish?
I also do wonder if it isn’t just a bit misguided and presumptuous if the home educators don’t have a decent standard of education themselves. This couple were our neighbours in the UK and I really have no definite idea what their business is, computer based I believe. I also really don’t know what sort of qualifications they have other than the ability to run their business (successfully I assume as they have a big newish camper van and live in a nice home). However I suspect they might be graduates and their children will not be. I don’t see anything wrong with that unless, like me, it is something they later want and have to work extra hard to achieve. Because of my parents’ “alternative” views this is exactly the dilemma I faced.
I like to think about other peoples’ opinions and weigh them up with mine. Heaven forbid I would automatically assume that I am right or rubbish their opinions because they don’t agree with mine. However, as I was the “subject” of home education in the past I feel reasonably well qualified to throw in my opinion. I was somewhat bemused about these visitors' automatic assumption that, because we seem to lead a rather alternative lifestyle we would automatically follow the home educator path.
I absolutely agree with home education where the child is seriously disadvantaged at school, whether that is because they have special needs, they are bullied or the schooling is otherwise inadequate. As you say, exams are not the be all and end all of getting a job. But I’ve found they very often are the opening to gain the experience you need to move forward in a career. They are a measure potential employers use. My education until age 18 was totally informal. From that point I had to get myself a High School diploma (try getting anywhere without one in the US) talk my way into University (not the one I really wanted as I had not been able to pull up my grade averages up high enough with just one year to cram everything in) get a degree then talk my way into ANOTHER university (I was a bit more pushy by then and got into the one I wanted) to study dentistry. What I am saying is that, given the direction I wanted to go in I personally was hindered by my parents’ home education programme rather than helped by it.
And no, I would not say this to their faces even now. They did what they thought was best. I still a bit let down that I had no “best friends” as a child as we were always wandering about and I had no chance to form attachments. I don’t think it is the same to meet other kids once a week at some sort of organised event - childhood friendships are formed in a day in day out environment. I’m particularly close to all my siblings for this reason. Two of these siblings followed more or less the same route as me and earned MAs. The other two did nothing to formalise their education. One is now a carpenter (and perfectly happy) and the other is currently a waitress. Ginny hates her life and is only now looking at getting her diploma and trying to do something with herself. She is 28 years old and reads and writes like a 10 year old despite having a high IQ. Three of us were self motivated, one wasn’t but is happy nonetheless, the other blames our parents for what she sees as their “trendiness”. They haven’t spoken in years and it has taken her a long time to feel good enough about herself to set herself some goals and try to pursue them. I might add that our mother is a graduate of Berkeley in California and our father was a highly qualified surgeon in later life. He took his Medical degree as a mature student (with our mother supporting him) but had been out and out hippy in his teens and twenties, dropping out of University to live in San Francisco and watch the flowers grow. He happened to be lucky enough to have someone to bear the responsibilites of five kids whilst he fulfilled his dream.
Our two are alternatively little monsters or little angels but mainly somewhere in the middle. They are sociable and chat happily with anyone of any age, their current favourite being the elderly man who lives along the lane by our house who lets them help him pick his apples. The children who have just visited were shy and monosyllabic with ours although they were happy to chat with adults. I will make sure I teach ours everything I can before they start school but I still fully intend for them to attend mainstream schooling throughout unless there is a very good reason for them not to.
I absolutely agree with home education where the child is seriously disadvantaged at school, whether that is because they have special needs, they are bullied or the schooling is otherwise inadequate. As you say, exams are not the be all and end all of getting a job. But I’ve found they very often are the opening to gain the experience you need to move forward in a career. They are a measure potential employers use. My education until age 18 was totally informal. From that point I had to get myself a High School diploma (try getting anywhere without one in the US) talk my way into University (not the one I really wanted as I had not been able to pull up my grade averages up high enough with just one year to cram everything in) get a degree then talk my way into ANOTHER university (I was a bit more pushy by then and got into the one I wanted) to study dentistry. What I am saying is that, given the direction I wanted to go in I personally was hindered by my parents’ home education programme rather than helped by it.
And no, I would not say this to their faces even now. They did what they thought was best. I still a bit let down that I had no “best friends” as a child as we were always wandering about and I had no chance to form attachments. I don’t think it is the same to meet other kids once a week at some sort of organised event - childhood friendships are formed in a day in day out environment. I’m particularly close to all my siblings for this reason. Two of these siblings followed more or less the same route as me and earned MAs. The other two did nothing to formalise their education. One is now a carpenter (and perfectly happy) and the other is currently a waitress. Ginny hates her life and is only now looking at getting her diploma and trying to do something with herself. She is 28 years old and reads and writes like a 10 year old despite having a high IQ. Three of us were self motivated, one wasn’t but is happy nonetheless, the other blames our parents for what she sees as their “trendiness”. They haven’t spoken in years and it has taken her a long time to feel good enough about herself to set herself some goals and try to pursue them. I might add that our mother is a graduate of Berkeley in California and our father was a highly qualified surgeon in later life. He took his Medical degree as a mature student (with our mother supporting him) but had been out and out hippy in his teens and twenties, dropping out of University to live in San Francisco and watch the flowers grow. He happened to be lucky enough to have someone to bear the responsibilites of five kids whilst he fulfilled his dream.
Our two are alternatively little monsters or little angels but mainly somewhere in the middle. They are sociable and chat happily with anyone of any age, their current favourite being the elderly man who lives along the lane by our house who lets them help him pick his apples. The children who have just visited were shy and monosyllabic with ours although they were happy to chat with adults. I will make sure I teach ours everything I can before they start school but I still fully intend for them to attend mainstream schooling throughout unless there is a very good reason for them not to.
No, it didn't work for me. But then I don't doubt it WILL work for others. I never did get to learn anything in High School other than the basics to get me to diploma level and I wish I had had chance to explore other areas. My parents did what they thought was right but they were very influenced by what happened to be the "in" thing in their circles at the time. They are two highly intelligent people but they had zero abilities as teachers, not a lot of patience and not a lot of time. I think they actually sacrificed very little to do what they did. In fact it meant that we were easily portable and they were not obliged to stay in one place to allow us to settle into schools and communities. I learned how to do some stange things during my childhood. I can light a fire with sticks, I can tie-dye material and I can roll a joint. But basic little things I know I missed out on. In fact I'm only grateful that none of us ended up with overly hippy names like some of the kids we encountered on our travels. True, Aurora and Falcon spring to mind...
I shall see what Mom has to say on the subject when she arrives for her Christmas break with us. In the meantime I'm off to practise one of the talents I DID manage to learn in our wanderings. The kids want me to make them a rainstick. Now that I CAN do!
I shall see what Mom has to say on the subject when she arrives for her Christmas break with us. In the meantime I'm off to practise one of the talents I DID manage to learn in our wanderings. The kids want me to make them a rainstick. Now that I CAN do!
