November 2016

Its the time of year for beautiful fiery skies in the mornings. The Autumn colours are still fantastic, especially in the winter sun. The weather has now become cold and frosty.
We had a lovely day up in Andorra on Dave's birthday. There is not enough snow for skiing just yet, but what snow there was looked lovely and we enjoyed a walk up the Valley d'Incles (above) in the sun

Here are our albums for the month

Lesley's Album

Dave's album

October 2016

We have enjoyed more lovely weather this October in the Ariege. The tomato crop has been at its best  - including this very large and tasty one!! The farmers have been busy harvesting the maize and preparing the fields for the next crop of barley.

We enjoyed a wonderful but very strenuous walk above the Ariege ski resort of Les Monts d'Olmes and have also been out cycling locally which has been fun.
We have also just spent an enjoyable but busy couple of weeks England visiting family and now that we have returned Winter seems to be on the way....which will hopefully mean plenty of snow this year for skiing and snow-shoeing

Here are our albums for October 

Dave's album

Lesley's album

September 2016

Its been a hot September! Daniel was here with us for a couple of weeks before setting off on more travels, so we enjoyed a couple of wonderful mountain walks in the sun with him. We have also got back on our bikes again - and enjoyed having more guests and evenings with friends.
Its also tomato time - the freezer is filling up with sauces and soups.

Here are our albums for the month - quite a few duplicates this time!!

Lesley's album

Dave's album

August 2016

August has been mostly hot and sunny, but with a few welcome cooler days in between. We were busy with guests during the first half of the month, then enjoyed having Lucy and Andy to stay for a week. Daniel is now with us, having a break after spending two month touring Africa with Jess, and before setting off for South America in a couple of weeks time.

Our stable project is now nearly complete and we have enjoyed using it during the warm evenings.

It is very hot at this time of year for hiking, but we did have one walk up on the Prat d'Albis above Foix which was lovely.

Just one joint album for this month - here it is!
Our album

July 2016

July is always a busy month with lots of guests, the village fete, and plenty to do in the garden.

The village fete fell on the same weekend as the Pamiers 'Fiesta'. They had some big names lined up for concerts this year, including 'Johnny Hallyday'....who is getting on a bit (for a singer!) but is still a big name in France and the concert attracted a lot of visitors to the town, including some who stayed with us.

The weather has been mostly hot and sunny, but with a few wet days in between, so it hasn't been easy for the farmers to find suitable days for harvesting the barley. More barley is being grown than anything else this year. The fields look lovely when its all cut and baled up. 

We enjoyed another lovely meal at the Auberge Pierre Bayle in Carla Bayle for our Wedding Anniversary, and also found time for a walk up to a very pretty lake. 

All can be seen in our albums!

Lesley's album

Dave's album

June 2016

We have had another month of mixed weather, but the mix of warm sun and frequent showers means that everything is growing very quickly. The vegetables were a little slow starting because of cooler temperatures at the beginning of the month, but they are now well under way - along with the weeds!!

We have enjoyed having Lucy and Daniel here to stay  - Lucy for a week while Andy was away, and Daniel for 2 weeks before he goes travelling for 9 months with Jess. We enjoyed a couple of lovely walks in 2 of our favourite valleys in the Pyrenees.

Building work has been on hold - but due to start again this week!

Here are our albums for the month
Lesley's album
Dave's album

May 2016

The arrival of Summer is teasing us this year - we have had some wonderfully warm sunny days as well as some cold, wet and windy ones. Its always a busy time of year for the garden and hatching of baby geese. Our geese are good at laying eggs, but not at sitting on them and it doesn't help that the 3 females have decided to share one nest! Dave has managed to hatch 8 babies in the incubator, so they are all at different stages of growth and are gradually being introduced to the outside world and the adult geese, who are not immediately accepting of them!

I have been in England for a while this month, so Dave has been holding the fort here! We have had several guests, some of whom were brave enough to use the pool the other day when it reached 22 deg!  Dave also had his first dip of the year!

We chose a beautiful day for another walk up to the Etang d'Izourt, an artificial lake high in the mountains. There are a couple of memorials by the lake for 31 members of the construction team building the reservoir in 1939, most of them Italian. They were killed by severe weather and an avalanche which swept into the stone huts that they were living in on the site. 

Just this one album from us both this month

April 2016

 

Just our albums to tell the story this month. I am in England and am writing the blog from my iPad. As usual it has a mind of its own......but I think I have uploaded the albums successfully!!

Dave's album

Lesley's album

March 2016

More snowshoe walking this month, plus a couple of trips to England.
We are making some progress on our stable renovation, but re-building takes much longer than demolition!
The geese have started laying again but are showing no signs of wanting to sit on them, so Dave has raided the nests and is nurturing the fertile ones in the incubator. The first ones are due to hatch in about a week. We have eaten a few eggs as well - they are particularly delicious fried and in a prawn frittata.
Here are our albums for this month:

Lesley's album

Dave's album

February 2016

The mild winter continues here in the Ariege!

We have been busy this month starting a major renovation project on the old stables at the back of the house which were in danger of falling down. We are planning to open up the area, put on a new roof and then concrete the floor to create an alternative outdoor sitting and cooking area. This side of the house benefits from the evening sun, so it should be lovely when finished. Photos of progress so far are in our album - just one joint album this month.

Because of the mild weather we haven't been out snow-shoeing very often this winter, but did enjoy one lovely day with friends last week on the ridge above Foix. It might not look it, but it was warm enough for just t-shirts!

Our joint album for this month

I am having a few problems understanding how to use the new 'Google photos'.....so if the link doesn't work on your device, please let me know!

January 2016

Quite a few snowy pictures this month - but in actual fact the white stuff has been rather thin on the ground as it has been generally so mild and dry this winter. We enjoyed a short snow shoe walk a couple of weeks ago soon after a fresh fall of snow, but we had to go quite high to find it!

We have just returned from a great week skiing in Andorra. The slopes there are so well groomed that the ski area was almost fully open, but they are hoping for more snow soon as its getting very hard and a bit thin in places. However, we couldn't complain as we enjoyed 8 days of skiing under blue skies and with a lot of warmth in the sun. It was more like spring than the end of January!!
Here are our albums for January

Lesley's album

Dave's album