I really can’t believe that exactly three months ago, I landed in a very cold and frosty France, starting my new life here in the Deux-Sèvres. So much has happened in that short time: no water when I arrived, then a flooded kitchen, a ridiculous waiting time for internet, and a chimney fire! Not all has been bad though. I have Hugo, my dog, rescued from an animal sanctuary after having been abandoned. I have a lovely home, a beautiful garden, I live in a pleasant, friendly village, where people have been more than kind and welcoming. I am truly blessed and happy. I have some sort of routine, but anyone who knows me will realise that I don’t usually make plans, and my life is anything but routine. I like to do things on a whim, not for any special reason, but just because I feel like it or because I can. However, winter hasn’t been the best of seasons to do a great deal of exploring, so I have been content to potter around home, tidy the garden (always things to do there), and to settle into a new pace of life. Of course there are some things which need to happen whatever the mood or the weather and that is “walkies” with Hugo. Our outings usually cover between 5 to 8 kms, so the exercise is doing us both good I hope. It has been an absolute delight to see the changes in the countryside that the past three months has brought. The bare brown soils have been ploughed and sown, the hedgerows have gone from spiky silhouettes to wearing their first hint of a green mantle – always so fresh and verdant, and the promise of renewal and regeneration.

The delicate cowslips seem to have appeared as if by magic, adding a bright splash of yellow to the lanes. Over the centuries, these flowers have been used for medicinal purposes, from cowslip wine, good as a sedative and for settling the nerves, to helping giddiness, muscular rheumatism, palsy and restlessness. Thankfully I sleep well, I’m not prone to giddiness or of a nervous disposition! I will happily leave them for all to enjoy. Who knows, there may well be somone just waiting to get their hands on a bottle of Cowslip Wine!

The beautiful weather over the last few days has seen a sudden appearance of blossom in the trees. Walking under these trees I have been amazed by the very loud humming of the thousands of bees gathering what must be some of the first nectar of the season.

The birds are singing, it’s a lovely day and I have someone waiting for me. It must be time for another walk.

A bientôt!