The French celebrations once again warrant our support, and this time we have volunteered Ken’s services as well.

Once again our local community are celebrating the day with a lunch at the Auberge in Salau and Renee & Anouk have asked us to help serve. After a fantastic fruit breakfast we took the van down the track for 10am. Shifting furniture about, laying tables and general preparations before a coffee on the terrace then I was into the kitchen helping Renee and Ken and Breezy were helping Anouk with the front of house stuff.

Melon and Parma ham to start; rabbit, red cabbage and pollenta followed by cheese from the local farm pannacotta.

Pictures here on the the Auberge facebook page

Got away by 3pm and headed up to Cirque D’Anglade for a short walk.

The thunder started rattling round the mountains and the heavens opened on the way back down the hill. Quick showers and leftover food for supper upstairs in the barn.

An early start this morning to get off to Carcassonne to collect Ken from the airport. Not as early as Ken had to get up to get the flight out here from the UK though.

Fairly uneventful drive over to find ken sat on his rucksack on the pavement. Stopped in Fanjeaux on the way back for a coffee. Managed to get back to St Girons in time for a quick sprint around the market and then Carrefour for the weekly food shop.

Got back to the barn in the sunshine before the evening storm built up which meant that I ended up cooking paella indoors again.

Another glorious sunny morning. This time it was my turn to pick up the strimmer.

We did our internet stint and had breakfast before I swapped the strimmer head for a brushcutter and set off to tackle the bracken. We have an annual bracken beating competition as part of trying to preserve the meadow land. This year we have left it a bit late and hence the brushcutter. Hopefully if we beat it enough it will die back and the grass will take back its hold. There is already so much more grass than bracken which hopefully means that we are winning.

In the meantime Breezy has started a bit of a clear up, sweep out and scrub down before Ken gets here tomorrow. A few chores were still left for me when I had finished bracken bashing then we started hanging bedroom doors. Both done before lunch of a salad with everything in that was left in the fridge which was taken on the terrace in the sun.

An afternoon of pottering on with little jobs and a bit more sorting out. The thunder has started so a quick shower and a shave with droplets of water falling out of the sky.

Dinner tonight is the left over chicken from last night, taken with, you guessed it, another salad. We did find some fresh pasta in the fridge with a use by date of the 3rd July. If it is still OK then that will go in the salad too.

If there are no more posts you will know why.

Tomorrow, up early to pick up Ken from Caracassonne. Maybe back to St Girons in time to catch the end of the market???

Breezy started off by grabbing the strimmer before breakfast and heading out into the field while I made a coffee and switched on the internet to catch up on some work.

After the usual fruit breakfast we set about the front wall of the first bedroom. After lots of measuring, marking, sawing and screwing we had the semblance of a frame ready to offer up. We had just got it vaguely into place when there was a knock at the door. I can’t say that we have ever heard a knock at the door before. Usually it is wide open (if we are at home) but at the moment we are keeping it shut in an effort to keep the fly population on the outside of the building. So before if the door has been shut, we were probably not there and thus would not have heard the knock.

This time it was Anouk who had been walking “Dim” (Adam’s dog) and called by for a cuppa tea. Having been overcast most of the morning it was warm enough to sit on the terrace and chat.

With the bit between our teeth; after leek & chickpea soup for lunch, we nailed, screwed and glued as many offcuts of wood and plasterboard to the new frame as possible to fill the gaps. By the end of the day it almost looks complete (from one side only) except the doors, which is over 50% of the surface area.

Plan was to BBQ some chicken but the clouds had come down by the evening and the midges were horrendous so the oven was a more comfortable option. Chicken thighs marinated in fresh oregano, garlic and lime with salad stuff from the garden and a yoghurt (sheeps) based dressing.

Relaxed infront of an episode of Silent Witness before going to bed to the sounds of rushing stream water and a fly desperately trying to escape the adhesive qualities of fly paper.

An early start to get Iain a packed lunch and on the bus in St. Girons for 0820. We took the trailer down with us to St Girons where we had a coffee and croissant before putting Iain on the bus. He has a train from Toulouse up to La Rochelle where he has a few days with friends before heading home to Yorkshire.

It has been great having Iain here for a couple of days and I think that he has enjoyed the new level of comfort we have available. The weather has certainly been kinder than the last visit.

While in town we got the washing done; picked up another load of cement, a cucumber and some fizzy water before heading back up the valley.

Odd jobs in the afternoon before finishing early and relaxing with books on the sofa. Snack supper and watched “The Artist” on a computer before an early night.

Wall to wall sunshine again. Last night however was a different story. During the evening the clouds built up and thunder and lightning started. And although it did not actually rain with us at the barn; the river suddenly went brown and swelled to such an extent that I have never seen before. The waterfall opposite was still the normal clear colour and normal dimensions but the falls just up from us were thundering and the colour of mud. Quite impressive.

Today Iain has decided to take Breezy and I out to lunch as a thank you. We have selected the Haut Salat in Seix. Everyone we know who has been there has raved about it both in terms of quality and economy. We were not disappointed.

Beautiful food and some nice wines. Thank you Iain!

Back at the barn we had a sedentary afternoon which included a siesta.

The thunder and lightning started again in the evening but this time it poured. Putting about 900 litres into the rainwater capture. A light supper of pate and cheese and some cards.

Breezy got out the door early with the strimmer before I had finished working on the website for the chalet in Chamonix. Breezy’s Father arrives tomorrow so we have a list of  “must dos” for the day and a list of “nice tos”. The must dos are mainly cleaning but first we should take the opportunity to make some more mess.

I got on with sanding plasterboard while Breezy sorted out a bed for Ian. We have a couple of single mattresses which zip together but unfortunately all the beds are different heights. An early job was to cut down the legs of one of the beds to create a level frame as a double bed. That sorted and bedding on we had a general sort out and tidy up. Tools away, rugs down, sweep up downstairs and sort out the wood.

In the afternoon we were chopping wood outside when Peter came to visit with Daisy the dog. We stopped for a drink and a chat before stocking up the log box for the main barn. Breezy was eager to get some paint on the walls even though some of the panels still had some wet filler. It is now red; not a bright red but a warm earthy red. It is amazing what a lick of paint can do to brighten up a place.

The cloud has come down again though I don’t think it will rain. Shower under the tree courtesy of the sun; omelette and salad upstairs in the main barn.

Over the past few days Breezy has been taking handfuls of stuff out of the outhouse where we still sleep and moving the kitchen up to the big barn. On one hand it is a shame to see the shelves of the small outhouse that has been home for so long slowly depleted. On the other hand it is great to have such a beautiful space to cook and live in upstairs in the barn.

We woke up early in the tent as the sun hit us. All the crew and performers were still asleep in their vans when we left the site at 8am to head back to the barn. Managed to get to St Girons before noon to pick up some water containers and get the washing into the laundrette. Food shop for the week and continue on up the valley to Salau. Filled up with drinking water from the source in the village and back to the barn about 2pm for a late lunch of prawns and aioli.

I sanded down the plasterboard and refilled where necessary while Breezy did a big clean of the upstairs area of the barn. Slowly we are getting rid of the dust that goes with a building site. Each time we mop a bucket of water goes further before becoming black and being refreshed.

Bedroom taking shape

Finished off watering the garden before chicken on the BBQ and dinner on the terrace.