I'm back from my visit to the States to see Cécile, Aziz and the children. I had a good trip, and warm weather for the first week. Then it went rainy and colder. I liked their new house, which reminds me of illustrations one sees in children's story books of the "Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe" 's house, that is, quirky, slightly crooked and up a lot of stairs. It's an old house, especially for the States, and there's a lot to do, but it has character and history.
Leif had his first birthday while I was there, and Marius prepared for halloween, choosing which costume he was going to dress up in. And I had the dubious pleasure of keeping them for a day and a half while their parents took a breather in New York.
I had an American lady housesitting while I was away, everything went well, the dog loved her and got walked about three times as much as with me. Here is a picture in front of a crab dinner and margaritas...
Now everything is back to normal, no more travelling for this year (or next, probably, with the state of my finances), but Nicholas' visit at Christmas to look forward to. I must get on with painting the sitting room and finishing the upstairs bathroom.
I finished a pottery doorstop in the shape of a spineless hedgehog before leaving. Here is a picture of it, I'm really pleased with the result, and it's nice and heavy and holds the door more than adequately. I shall be picking up my finished artichoke sculpture tomorrow, after innumerable coats of enamel trying to get the right colours. If it's not right this time, I'll give up. I'll show you a picture next post.
I went last night to a feng shui workshop the other side of Quimper. Last minute decision, I only actually found out about it a couple of hours before it took place. I really enjoyed it, and think I shall attend future workshops (about one a month). I've been interested in feng shui and geobiology for ages, but it's really complicated to learn out of books. The lady holding the workshop was very nice, and explained things slowly and very understandably. It'll get more complicated of course, but I'm quite hopeful that I shall get a better idea of it this way. And I'll meet a few more people!
