front gates, timber floors, back to school

Sorry about the long hiatus!

summer holidays are over and Lola is back at school.She has started her next level at the college level(junior high),which is another step up in workload and homework, which in my opinion they were already overloaded with!

It wasnt exactly super hot this summer but we still had plenty of beach time.We are having an indian summer now with more good weather expected;the waves were typically summer type waves with not much for me to get excited about and although small ,they werent very user friendly for the kids.Lola had quite a few sessions but wasnt super keen this year until her last session(last week)that had some perfect little 2ft waves and she couldnt get enough of it.

The seasons have changed and we are now getting some strong swells from the hurricanes in USA.

Work has been slow so i've been getting lots done here at home installing the front gates, which still need to be painted as they were on special as ex display models and are a bit weathered, but still a bargain at 200euros.With Karls help this week we layed the new floor upstairs and recovered the stairs in solid boards.They came prefinished in a sort of oldish looking limed look.Which we are not completely happy with as its got a little yellowy tinge to it and isnt quite the way it looked in the showroom;Anyway ,thats what we have ,and apart from the colour it has changed the whole look of the stairs and hte floor upstairs now looks even and finished.

We are aitnig for the tiles for downstairs and hope to have them delivered in the next week or two.That will be a big job and i want to get into that while karl is still here coz its too much for me to do alone.

Blackberries/new board/lost board

We went for a ride along the river Ardour yesterday looking for blackberries;What a magnificent place;so green ,so picturesque.We froze the fruit as were going back next week to peddle the other direction and get some more to get enough tomdo a crumble or pie and some jam;

Picked up my new board from Christiaan(Bradley) acouple of weeks ago and let it cure well before I use it or take it anywhere near the bloody tourists! Yesterday i noticed that I'm missing my other summer board, STOLEN!!!! I'm not sure where from as i didnt even notice it was gone.Ithink it must have gone from my car at the beach.I did return to the car a couple of weeks ago and noticed that i had accidently left it unlockedwhile i was surfing in thru the forest.Sometimes i have 2 or 3 boards in the car as i dont know which one i'll use until i actually looka atthe waves,different beach sometimes calls for a different board.Strange that none of the many wetsuits or tools went too.The van when locked is very secure and i have never felt nervous about leaving stuff in it.There are no windows and its totally blocked off from the front. Anyway, i'm going to have to be more cautious!!!!!

Stair Handrail

My latest little project has been the installation of the handrail to the stairs.As you can see in the shots i've put in someforged steel rods as balustrade;the posts and rails are pine and i stained them up with a liquid wax stain that when polished up really brings out the grain.Looks great and excactly the aged look that i was after;Very happy with the result.

Julie and Pauline were here for 3-4 days last week as they passed thru for one of paulines buying trips for work.We spoilt them with plenty of good food and wine.We showed them around a little and went to le pas de Roland,and had a picnic lunch by the beautiful river Nive.

Not many waves for the last couple of weeks but its looking up for the next week;Tourists everywhere .The beaches are packed,Lola and i left the beach last week as ther were so many people swimming between the flags we were bumping into others.Not my idea of a rlaxing swim!

Where has summer gone?

After bragging about the hot weather in the last post, it feels like summer has left us!!! very ordinary weather with strong winds for the last 2weeks.The O'neills were in france for holidays i 4 a couple of weeks.We cuaght up with them a few times .Greatto see them all again.I've been busy at work and busy doing stuff around home.I rendered the last big wall ;leaving only a coupla small bits to finish.Just watched cadel evans win the tour de france.Great stuff!!!
Picked up a new board this week but have to wait to let it cure abit before surfing it.

Summer is here

summer has arrived with a blast; its bben warm and its now hot with 38° and 39° the last 2 vdays. Stinking hot!!!!
Waves have been good tha last couple of days with solid crowds so its now time to venture a liitle further away to avoid the traffic.I looked at la gravierre at 11am today and there was about 30 gpeople out so i went up the road about 5 mins and surfed with 4 others.
the tickets are booked so its now official we are back in Oz for chrissy- 4 weeks- cant wait!!!!
stay tuned!!!!

Watch out OZ here we come!

Back to Oz for a big xmas dinner!!!
We cant wait! Lola is bouncing off the walls she is so excited;We havent booked the flights but we are looking at arriving around 15 dec and leaving around 12 Jan.
First things first--DOES ANYONE HAVE A SPARE CAR FOR US TO USE?
We can sort beds , but the transport thing will be a little more of a problem.We can rent a car of course but for a month the bill starts to get a little hefty on top of the airfares and spending money!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We are all lookinf forward to seeing family and friends and enjoyng missing out on 1/3 of our winter .
Things to do- Eat lots of asian food,eat some good steak!!!!!!!!!!!, enjoy some coopers sparkling and pale ale,have a new years eve in summertime,dim sims, pepper steak pies,crappy coffee,FISH AND CHIPS,fried whiting and chips,chilli prawns,chicken parma counter meal,surf at gunnamatta,bacon and eggs, eat as many mangoes as possible,watch some bad tv in english,listen to 3RRR and PBS, whinge about eddie maguire and all the other idiots on tv that i dont miss,tim tams,twisties,promite,decent peanut butter,real milk etc....................

Here are some shots of corinne and lola at moniques place today.Mum wanted to see some shots of moniques magnificent hydrangeas

more PARIS

Check out the shot of the front of the apartment that Corinne lived in in Montemarte 15 years ago; it now is derelict after being burnt out! shame as its in a really beautiful part of paris but by the photo you would never think so!!!!!!

PARIS

We caught the TGV to paris and stayed with Kaye for 4 days. We stayed in the apartment that she has rented for her stay there;A beautiful apartment in a very nice part of paris,decorated with some magnificent antiques.We had loads of fun and were lucky enough to have our own private tour guide in Corinne;She lived in Paris for 10 years so she knows it very well.We did a lot and saw a few things that werent the usual tourist things.Lola had a blast and was on fire as ur ongoing entertainment.what an amazing city with so much history and something different to see around every corner.

Kaye 2011 trip to France

Kaye is visiting us again this year.After having a funfilled trip to france in 2010 she has returned to enjoy more of the french culture, 1 year later.She has been luckier with the weather with

nice weather every day.Weve shown her a little more of this region and been to markets and a few out of the way places of interest.last saturday we went to the pyrenees into spain for lunch at a mbeautiful village with magnificent scenery and great food and wine.She leaves us tomorrow to go to paris where we will join her in a couple of weeks for a weekend

Bedroom 3

just finished converting the old garage into our 3rd bedroom.i still have to finish off the outside around the windows but the inside is completely finished.We only need to find some bedside tables.After i get the outside done i may finsh the rendering( the last wall) and install the handrail to the stairs.Thats if jez stops keeping me busy in the workshop;I dont have much time here as he is keeping me very busy.

I've just had a week out of the water with windy conditions after one of the best months in recent history.I surfed about 20-22 days in april with a few days sneaking in two sessions.I needed a rest this week as my body was exhausted as all surfers here at the moment have had their fill and more!I feel super fit but i need to get back in the water this week to maintain it.Tpmorrow morning is looking good.

Groundhog day!

Its like groundhog day here with the beautiful weather and the awesome waves continuing.School holidays continue and there are very few tourists here, with vitually no surfers!i dont know where they are but i am still surfing every morning before i go to work with world class waves nearly every session.My shoulders are burning from so much paddling;I was talking to some locals yesterday and they cant remember a period like this before with such consistant surf. I need a break!

What a week!

Magnificent weather in the south west of france this week with 30° every day.Perfect weather and perfect waves to go with it;Quite possibly the week of the year for surfers.4-6- ft and offshore all week.I surfed every morning before heading off to work and then again of an evening a few times too.I'm glad the weather has changed with an onshore wind so i can have a rest.My shoulders are sore and tired.Weve been busy at work too, we're making some fancy displays for Nixon (watches) that are destined for Selfridges in London.They are looking pretty good and its great to be making something to send to a special store like that.Lola has started her easter holidays and weve had Corinnes birthday and my Mums birthday too.we are looking forward to seeing Kaye and Barry soon nad I've nearly finished the bedroom for them.We may even make a trip to paris to spend a weekend with them in May

Work,Weather,Waves,4 YEARS

Great weather continues.We had a little hiccup with a little bad weather a couple of weeks ago and it rained yesterday.Spring is here with the birds chirping and are happy about it just like us.Plenty happening on the work front with the renovation of the garage keeping me very busy,and also plenty on offer in the workshop with Jez too.I took last week off to get a full weeks work done here and was really productive until i discovered the woodborers in the roof of the garage-bummer!-so i pulled down the entire ceiling that i had installed a couple of weeks ago so i could treat the little buggers!luckily they were only in a couple of rafters and had gone too far in the main beams.They are a huge problem in this part of the world, but also they have some good products to deal with them too- and lucky they werent termites,coz they are an even bigger problem.In between working my bum off , i have been also surfing and getting some excellent quailty waves.There were no waves for 3 weeks , but when it came on again , we have scored more amazing waves.It continually amazes me how good the waves are here and this winter has been -for someone who can sneak away midweek when the bulk of the surfing population are at work- great with more hours in the water than any other in the last 4 years since we arrived.YES --4 years already(nearly)Corinne is working part time which is good for her mental and physical state but not for our cashflow.Lola continues to rack up the excellent marks at school and is looking forward to seeing her aunty Kaye( and hopefully Barry too) in May and is devouring books(in french and in english) at a great rate.Thanks to the internet its easy to get english text books these days, and its very important, that without a good level of english lessons available at school , its something that we have to make a little more effort with buying lots of books.Even though we speak english at home she does need the extra input.One thing she hasnt lost is her typical aussie accent!

Back to winter

Back to reality with 48 hours of rain nd yesterday had plenty of wind with it.Not ridiculously cold but very wet!

winter??????????????? LIFE IS GOOD!

More sensational weather with the last 3 days of 21- 22° and the rest of the week looking good too! I feel surfed out after more good waves this morning and late yesterday back at the same spot as the photo's that i took last week.Amazing conditions yesrerday just likelast week but with a light offshore breeze that had it groomed perfectly.As good as you could find anywhere in the world.My shoulders ache and i need a few days out of the water.Its so hard to stay away from the beach when the conditions are so good.I've got to get as many waves as i can while i can!Feeling surfed out in winter is surely a good thing.Life is good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Waves

Check out these waves today-EPIC-Absolutely cracking!!!!.Its too big everywhere else and it is supposed to be too big here but its a very nice 5ft and could be good tomorrow with another foot on it !!!!!!

Winter update

Its been a great winter for surfers this year with pumping waves virtually the whole winter with just a few slack weeks.Cold,yes,but thats winter herein Europe, with the coldest session last week early one morning at a nippy -7°.It was ok in the water at 13°,but brrrrrrrrr, the change out of the wetsuit in the cold wind wasnt much fun,especially as i couldnt find my gloves!Luckily i have 3wetsuits sso i always have a dry one to climb into- very important.Yesterday i ran along the beach a coupla hundred metres to a pumping solid righthander with Carwyn and we scored some bombs,with just the 2 of us out we could take the pick of them and was fun untili copped a coupla beatings by 2 rogue sets and got washed in-feeling tired and too old for the winter beatings like that!Its going to be too big for the next week,at least so i will try to get as much work done here as possible.I've been working in the garage,converting it into a bedroom.
I've had more allergy problems and the Allergologue(allergy specialiste) cant work out what the problem is and is sending me to someone else-its too hard for her!
Corinne is now working part-time so cash is a bit shorter but she's under less pressure at work so she's much happier about that.
The weather still hasnt been too bad with virtually no rain and light winds.It has been cold but if its clear its kinda easier to deal with winter
I cooked up the mandatory meat pie for Australia day and popped a nice bottle of penfolds-very nice indeed!

Winter weather

3 weeks of mid to high teen temperatures!!!!!!
Awesome , we feel like weve been on holiday and had a really good break frfom the winter weather.However, the holiday is over with a range of 1°-5° expected tomorrow!Oh well, it was good while it lasted

Smashing the French in rugby

its a little late to be still crowing about smashing the french in rugby here in december, but i forgot to mention it before.59-16.I took great delite in putting up the newspaper headlines for the family to see xmas day.The french press really got into them.So much fun!

Happy New Year and whacky weather

2011 Happy New Year.Well the new year kicked off well here with more cracking waves and the continuation of our good weather.We have just had 2 weeks of sensational weather with numerous days of high teen temperatures.We had a couple of mornings at 17°- unheard of in the middle of winter here.We feel like weve had a holiday to break up our season this year.No waves for the last week with the warm south wind