Birds Flying North…

Our French friend Didier has seen flights of birds flying north, a good sign that the deep freeze of winter may be through. I’m all for it, having had enough of frigid weather and finally shaking the last of the cold that laid me low for ten days or so.

Yesterday Francesco and I enjoyed a sunny Saturday, warm enough to be out of doors without jackets, and today promises more of the same. In tidying the yard we found that some bulbs have sprouted, pushing tender green tips above the soil, and a few yellow crocuses and white snowdrops are blooming here and there.

Work progresses slowly on the gite. Monsieur Capelou, our carpenter, returned on Friday and began constructing a butler’s pantry at one end of the kitchen. We are shortening the room by about one meter to create a closet under the stairs and to make a small passageway between the kitchen and the salon. The former room is long and narrow – now three by seven meters, or 10 by 22 feet – and even with the shortened length will still accommodate the handsome oak parson’s table we bought before Christmas that is three meters long.

Our joint project is painting the new studio room on the garden side of the house. We’ve divided the task, with me painting the big surfaces and Francesco the woodwork, baseboards, and exposed beams. At this point our color scheme for the entire house is monochromatic: pale butter cream for woodwork, ceilings, and walls; light French gray for beams.

We believe this initial coat will provide a good base for whatever stencil designs and décor motifs we may adopt later – but now we just wish to get the surfaces covered with a sound base, pleasing to the eye, to clean up what has been an unsightly mismatch of old peeling colors.