Project Gratitude #update 15

Well, winter's definitely here! The last week has been extremely cold and we had some terribly high winds too. The safety of the roof is quite worrying!!! The plastic covering billowed like a hot air balloon, the wood creaked and cracked, the tiles (those remaining on the end bit) shifted, then the rain poured and the barn flooded..not a drop came through the new roof though so that's something! Seems there's a source under the land which is fit to burst because of the sheer quantity of water falling, and while the swales around the house are working well there wasn't enough time or manpower to fix a drain around the barn.

A rare duo-selfie :)

Oh yes...and the wheelbarrow got a puncture! Can you believe they make them with inflatable wheels...most stupid idea ever unless you intend to only roll it across a well manicured lawn! A new, non-inflatable wheel is 35 Euros...it's daylight robbery.

The other day was so cold (-5 degrees) that the washing I put out in the hope of it at least dripping out the excess water so I could bring it in to dry (washing machine broke - lol it's been one of those months!) that when I went to collect it at 4pm my pyjamas could stand up on their own...literally. I laughed so much, waving a t-shirt with the arms standing vertical, it was hilarious, lol.

What everyone in the country is wearing this season, lol...

Yesterday was a lovely sunny, but frosty day and as it was also dry it gave us a chance to trim some trees and chop much needed wood. The log fire is our only source of heat so it's important to keep it going once you start it in the morning...it takes an unexpected amount of effort! I've taken to watching the old Catherine Cookson adaptations to see if I can get some tips on rural life, lol.

Home-made wood cutting stand (reclaimed wood)

My watchman in India taught me well...

The new pup is settling in well and in just a week she's learnt "bed', 'allez' and 'come'...she's bi-lingual now too ;).

So we remain in hope of help and that there are at least a few friends out there who would buy us a coffee...is that you?

Love & light for now and wishing everyone on GoFundMe a great deal of success with their fundraising.


Happy New Year!

Louise (aka Mermie)

PS. Don't forget to share the link after you've deposited your 'coffee money' wink, wink: http://www.gofundme.com/chezgratitude

Happy Holidays!

Bloody freezing here in central France today. The grass was all crispy and the trees were white all the way up to 2pm...brrr.

After 3 tours of the garden (yes 3 times round the mulberry bush, lol) with the new pup Kali, I donned my fleecy onesie, on top of my 2 pairs of trousers, 2 long sleeve tshirts and a jumper and decided to make the most of my new found warmth to wish all my friends in blogdom a very merry christmas.

Actually we don't celebrate the festive season...too commercialised, too expensive, and all the meaning of what it was meant to represent lost (if at all we are to believe that particular version of the story, lol).

We shall, however, have a nice hearty lunch on christmas day, with the poinsetta on the table and the log fire roaring. Cheers!

So bah humbug...with lots of love and light :)
Louise (aka mermie)

Published in 2014...really published!

I got an email the other week from SAMPAD (a South Asian Arts foundation based in Birmingham) asking me to confirm my address so they could send me my copy of the the book...I happily replied, adding at the end of my mail 'What book is it exactly?' I had no idea what it was.

Anyway the reply that came back was a lovely surprise. I'd entered a short story competition at the end of 2013 ( a joint collaboration with SAMPAD and the British Council in India) and my entry was one selected for publication in a special commemorative book! Wow, finally, really published and selected from 480 entries from 32 countries...and supported by the Arts Council England too!

The competition page - November 2013

Very happy!

The call for entries went like this:
Piali Ray, Director of Sampad says
“An encounter with a museum can be a life-changing experience. We hope that this competition will inspire budding writers to reflect on their personal experiences and share them with the world! Sampad continually strives to profile creative people and we’re proud to be working with the British Council again to bring talented writers to public attention, while reinforcing the work we deliver internationally to develop intercultural dialogues across communities.”
Samarjit Guha, Head of Programmes at British Council, East India says
“For the past three years, the British Council has been facilitating audience mapping, educational programming and communication projects in the museums sectors of UK and India. We are delighted to partner with Sampad on this project and hope this competition will help to throw up insightful anecdotes and reflections on museums and their role today. We look forward to participation from across the world.”

Fantastic! And better still, I'm the only selected entry from France so my story's at the beginning of the book as they published in alphabetical order of country...hehehe...well chuffed.

It was a really short story and it was a true inspiration...so here it is 'Inspired by my Museum: An Awakening - The Museum of Antiquities, Cairo, Egypt'

"This way. This way", shouted Ali the guide, cutting through the swarms of tired yet wide eyed and excited tourists. There was hardly time to glance at the ancient relics. He waved his flag aloft, a tatty yellow scrap clinging to a worn, smooth bamboo stick. The humid air was intoxicatedly intertwined with the scent of sweat and 'old' - musty, dusty and yet very much alive.

Senses on overload, I craned to keep track of Ali, frantically waving his yellow standard to keep his charges in tow. I flicked a glance left then right trying to absorb each glass encased element. Occasionally I checked ahead for a flash of familiarity, markers from the group who alighted the bus what seemed like only moments ago - yet an hour had already passed.

Skimming the artifacts of an age gone by, carriages, golden thrones, worn carved sphinx, we finally came upon the the key which unlocked my box. My body buzzed from head to toe, my solar plexus tight and tingling, my breath high in my chest. Another age, a sense of 'knowing', invisible hands reached out to a kindred spirit on another plane. Standing almost silently, both in awe and with a strangely familiar sense of respect, around the glass tomb of a well preserved mummy I suddenly disappeared into that world - the shouts of men in harsh yet melodic Arabic; the dense smokey hue of burning wood and incense. Heavy plinths being laboriously hand-raised using thick rope, primitive hammers tapping away feverishly; the grimey sweat smeared bodies of dark and dusky men shining orange in the flickering light of the burning torches in this dark stone cave...or was it? My inner eye followed the symmetrical lines, row upon row of large grey-black blocks, steadily up towards the heavens and I understood. A brief glint of sparkling stars peeped through the uppermost unfinished soon-to-be point of this great pyramid.

"Hey you!" A frantic tug on my shirt sleeve brought me rushing back into my body, landing with an unceremonious thud. "Come, come, we go now," hastened Ali "Quick, quick madam." He rushed away like the pied piper followed by a trail of bouncing heads, still spinning from side to side trying to fit in a last memory. For me, another small piece of the eternal puzzle fell into place as I took an unexpected step closer to my soul.

The 'Book' :)

A most fitting close to a fantastic year...I feel extremely blessed!

love & light

Louise (aka Mermie)

Project Gratitude #update 14

Wow, we recorded an all time low temperature this week...11.9 degrees...INSIDE!

Thanks to the donated funds I managed to get some curtains on special offer and with a bit of imagination JC mounted them using 1 Euro wooden broomsticks as poles (wood stained) mounted to the beams above the windows using pieces of thick chain. Because the walls are insulated with the polystyrene and plaster boards it's not possible to fix the curtain poles to the walls. Anyway it looks warmer, feels warmer and by jove I believe it is warmer...14 last night :)

A couple of transformation pics for you from the barn. There's now a huge straw bale in there which I'm using to cover the raised beds and places where I want to plant in spring. Just need to collect some cardboard this week for the sheet mulching.

Almost ready to tumble...

Everything except the ladder & steps is reclaimed materials, either from the land (stones were under the weeds) or from other sources (local DIY depot waste...I mean pallets, come on...waste? No way)

It's back to just the two of us now as Denis has gone home for xmas...and I think he's secretly glad to go somewhere a bit warmer, lol, it's apparently about 27 degrees in his folks house. He called to say that the first thing he did when he arrived was to cut the wifi!! Yeah! The next step is to change the dect phone for a corded landline.

If you're wondering why change the home phone... Well for one, the emissions from a dect are incredibly high, the same, if not worse than a mobile phone antenna (right in your home). They emit a signal every few seconds regardless of whether you're using them or not and they cause me more distress than the wifi.  And two, his sister has recently developed breathing and eye problems and his dad is recovering from cancer and EMF has been scientifically proven to cause or exacerbate these things.

Unfortunately our neighbours have them so I don't visit them often unless they're in the garden, and the post office has one immediately under the counter...I came out of there the other day cross eyed and with a throbbing head. It takes hours to recover...not fun!

We're very much on a drive to save up funds ready for spring when we hope to be able to get the woods changed on the roof...the first major step to getting it repaired now and joined to the new wall. It's a shame we can't do it now because the bathroom is like an ice chamber as it's immediately below the 'gap'. I'm so longing for a soak in a hot bath...but will have to settle for feet in the bowel and a vivid imagination for now, lol.

A bit of work came this week and I've been creating new VO demo's and up-to-date profile so I can get pitching in earnest now I've got a reasonable working space set-up, though a bit cold still. My Auntie has kindly offered to send us onesies for xmas...can't wait :)

Don't forget us and spread our story.

http://www.gofundme.com/chezgratitude

Love & light
Louise (aka Mermie)