A very Happy New Year, and thank you for your visits, we hope you
all had
wonderful holidays.INCLUDES LINKS TO SOME REALLY WATCHABLE YOUTUBE CLIPS
A very Happy New Year, and thank you for your visits, we hope you
all had
wonderful holidays.
In case you were not with us last year, we have made a few changes:
Trichot and Cardou have had their Tennis courts repainted (Cardou) and resurfaced (Trichot). Trichot's had lasted 20 years so it wasn't too surprising that a fairly major renewal was appropriate. Now they are both as good as new and a joy to play on, we think. Also Trichot's has at last got floodlights, which like the others, permit 5-a-side tennis in the dark after dinner. If you haven't tried this patented Stuart-Bruges sport, then you must. With 5 on each side, no-one has to run anywhere, and the game is to just keep the ball in play. After enough bottles of Vin de Tsar or Chateau du Trichot the experience is quite surreal. Minor variations are permissible, eg 6 on either or both sides.
And talking of wine, Trichot's vineyard goes from strength to
strength, under the care of Yannick Montel (son of the Maire of Thezac, proprietor of
Domaine de Lions). We wouldn't like to admit to how much we bring back
with us, to tide us over until the next visit !
Cardou has acquired a deluxe, huge, Wendy House, courtesy of Antoine Conde (Myriam's husband), who insisted that we had to have one for all the children, including our new grandson. It is a stunner, and contains its own mini picnic table. Some discerning smalls have apparently insisted on having all their meals inside it!
4-Posters: hitherto only Trichot had one, in the master bedroom.
Now it sports another, in the previously 3-bedded room. So now that
bedroom has 1 king size 4-Poster plus one single bed. Lamostonie also got a long awaited king-size 4-Poster, in the pink bedroom (with
the tower bathroom). Cardou would have had one too, but the candelabra in
the ceilings would have had to go, so it will have to wait for another year and
some more inspiration. We do realise that 4-posters can engender jealousy
between guests. One French family solved it by taking a team photo of the
dominant male in the bed at Trichot with all 10 female guests at once. (not
sure if it really solved the problem though...)
Trichot's kitchen - now has new twin fridge-freezers, which are always great help with big parties, and catches up with Cardou and Lamostonie, which are each equipped with 2 large fridges. Trichot hosted weddings in 2007 and again in 2009, with the barn cleared out for dancing.
Pianos - 2008 had been a big year for pianos - Trichot's nice upright got moved to Lafage and a beootiful Bechstein B Grand is now in the drawing room. It is a superb example from around 1900, and the stone-vaulted ceiling certainly helps it sing. Lamostonie 'only' had one Bechstein and one Pleyel (both grand pianos), but when the opportunity to acquire another vintage Bechstein B came up, well, the Pleyel was moved from the music room to the drawing room, and another wonderful Bechstein moved in. Professional musicians find they cannot leave it alone, so we think we did the right thing. And the Pleyel, far from sulking, is actually sounding nicer than ever. It must have risen to the challenge, and prefers the acoustic of its new surroundings. Chopin used to prefer a Pleyel, and Cardou's sounds as good as ever, although the extreme heat this summer did give it a few palpitations. Karl Stice, the microlighting and paragliding piano tuner, thinks that the windows and doors must have been open, blowing hot air through it for days on end. We are very fortunate to have Karl in the area - he used to tune for the rich and famous of Los Angeles, then he married a charming French girl, Antoinette, who wisely dragged him back to the Lot-et-Garonne. To see Karl in a TV documentary actually flying in to tune Cardou's piano (which is being played by James S-B), play this clip .......>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzr-fC6YOkI
More - the vaulted dining room at Trichot had defied all thoughts of having curtains over the window-doors - until this year, when a brave attempt was made, using barn door hinges to hang them. It does give a cosier feeling as night draws in.
Trichot's original huge garden bench-table has had new legs and new seats and probably new tops over the ages, but finally it had to go, and a new one has risen out of the ashes. Well not quite the ashes, but a major project to re-roof the giant barn at Cardou has liberated some decent timber, so Cardou got its Wendy House and Trichot got a nice new 10-12 seater barbecue table.
We had some very musical guests in 2009, including the de Miranda family-band, from Holland, who put their spectacular video tribute to Cardou onto YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OUBNHGEh_E
Lamostonie has benefitted from a lot of tree planting, and the removal of some of the foliage near the swimming pool. Visitors from Canada have kindly brought over and planted four Saskatoon seedlings, from which we look forward to future harvests of berries.
Lots of you have written or drawn lovely things in our house books, for which we are very grateful - many thanks. We wish you all the very best for 2010.
Bill and Joanna
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