May Day and an obsession for creating round things

Tomorrow is the 1st of May, and a public holiday here, with all kinds of festivities. I expect I will go to a 'vide greniers', or 'empty lofts', which are a bit like car boot sales, without the cars!

Today saw progress here in the house - finally the electrician has made a start - took him most of the day to work out which wires are supposed to go where, but at last, some of the cables sticking through the floor have gone.

Last week at the tip, someone was throwing away a load of china plates. I've always wanted to do a broken crockery mosaic, so I rescued them before they got thrown in. I spent an couple of hours in the sunshine, cutting plates up, and then I experimented on a window sill. The neighbours like the end result. The birthday cake I made a couple of weeks ago was pretty good too!

The days are long, and it's warmer at last - work is starting to move forwards.......

Secret doorway..

Stripping wallpaper is a boring job by anybody's measure, but over the last couple of weeks, I've uncovered some of the history of the house - old paper from an unspecified era, turquoise with little red flowers, carpenter's calculations, more woodworm holes, and today, my best find - a hidden doorway......! I always guessed there was one lurking in the alcove, so when the paper came off to show boards, I set to and ripped them down and found a big space where the door to the next house had been put in, in the days when my house was a café/bar, connected to the épicerie/hotel next door through that doorway.....don't know exactly when it was walled up again, but it's not getting boarded over again!

Deserved a long evening walk after all that! Heard and saw a woodpecker hunting for beetles and grubs - wonder if he'd like a job.....?

progress at last!

Yesterday my Livebox was delivered and by late evening I had it connected to my computer and internet phone. This house has been dragged into the world of technology - fast-boil, eco-kettle, computer and all those peripherals, cooker hood, microwave, bread machine, answer machine, electric toothbrush, halogen lights......strange really, as there are very few sockets in this house, so until next month when the electrician comes (yes, really!) I am constantly unplugging and swapping gadgets, according to need - all that whilst shuffling around in the semi-dark, due to the fact that there are no overhead lights downstairs, and only the street lights to brighten the bathroom (these are turned off at 11.20, so if I stay up late, it's a bit murky in there).

I think the house is enjoying it's rejuvenation. As for me, my hands are looking rough as more nasty wallpaper hits the black plastic sacks, and the old plastered or wooden walls reappear after decades - wallpaper on wood panelling?!

beetles in the woodpile...

I haven't heard anymore from the headbanging beetles (that's really how they communicate!) I'm hoping they were random ones in my woodpile, who have now been cremated....
Easter weather that puts you in mind of the frozen wastes of Scandinavia, but of course, now the holiday is over, the sun is shining again......

...they WERE talking to me!!!!!

Deathwatch Beetles
Wood-boring beetles in the family Anobiidae are known as deathwatch beetles. Deathwatch beetles are closely related to the drugstore and cigarette beetles, which are stored-product pests. Adults communicate with each other and probably locate mates by tapping their heads against wood, usually at night. (Deathwatch beetles supposedly acquired their name during medieval European times from people who heard the tapping while sitting up with a sick or dying person during the night.) Adults are reddish to dark brown and lay eggs in crevices or small openings or pores in unfinished wood. Two years may be required to complete each generation.

Springtime in Brittany

Gremlins in the walls........

Strange vibrating noises, a little bit like tiny woodpeckers, coming from indetermiate places in the wall......when I imitated the sound, they replied, or at least that's how it seemed! Imagine the sight – me making strange clicking noises into the wall. My neighbour thinks I am crazy, as he couldn’t hear a thing!! I was convinced they were in the box my speakers were still packed in, so he unpacked them for me. Of course there were no beasties in there, and he left me, probably wondering if I had lost the plot. Well, my theory is that it is some woodboring beetles are active – I know there are still places which haven't been treated yet. Anyway it is bad news – 1) I am crazy or my hearing is playing tricks, or 2) I need to get spraying the nasty insecticide, or 3) the house is possessed by aliens. Oh the joys of old houses full of untreated wood! However, as the hour hand moves towards twelve, they have gone quiet – probably got to get home before they turn into something nasty come midnight……….
Well, that was last night – today it has been confirmed that the beetles have woken from their winter hibernation – time for me to get stuck into the chemicals............

out of touch...

Today my computer arrived from England, thanks to friends in many and varied places!! Next week my Livebox should be here, and I will finally have access to the Internet from home. A couple of hours a week in the Mairie is not enough for fun things, when there are practical things to sort out, and I can't upload my photos here either.
The Breton pace of life can be very irritating when you're trying to get electricians to rewire your house! Even getting one round for a look is pretty tough...oh well, there are many other delights to make up for this shortcoming - long walks along deserted lanes being just one of them!