Happy New Year good health and great happiness to everyone.
We are enjoying some very mild weather here at the moment, a bit damp but nowhere near the torrents and wind you are suffering in the UK at the moment - long may it last, although I know that the local vignerons would like a good, sustained cold spell to send the vines to sleep.
Since the last update we have had a few days out and a trip to England to visit family before Christmas.
Back at the end of October we visited the town of Pujols, about an hour's drive from here. It was a beautiful day, and warm enough to eat outside.
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| Street scene, Pujols |
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| Restaurant 'Villa Smerelda' |
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| A long and leisurely lunch |
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| I think we've been here before! |
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| Church, Pujols |
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| Window and wall painting in the Church of Sainte Foy, Pujols |
On November 1st, Toussaint (All Saints Day) there is an enormous fair in La Reole
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| La Reole, away from the fair |
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| Fantastic moustache! |
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| A specialist vehicle for hunting, I don't know if the gun is provided with it! |
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| The pompiers driving through the market to make a point?! |
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| Eating again! At restaurant 'Aux Fontaines' La Reole |
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| Just to make Hugh feel better about our shutters! |
A visit to a wet and windy Bordeaux. A little Christmas shopping at the Quai des Marques
Then to an exhibition at Cap Sciences about the brain
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| Building a virtual bridge |
Then eating - again!
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| Pizza Pino, Place Gambetta, Bordeaux |
Followed by 'Irish Celtic' at the Patinoire, Bordeaux - Riverdance it wasn't!
The following day, the weather was beautiful for the St Martin's day fair in Duras. November 11th is a Jour de Fete in France. Duras has a huge antiques/flea market, and because it fell on a Monday this year it included our usual weekly market.
The beginning of December is one of the last decent Vide Grenier's of the year, at Monsegur
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| Bargains in hand! |
Hugh spotted the Google car driving past the house earlier in the year and in December we finally made it onto streetview!
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| Vue de Duras on Google maps streetview. We should be even easier to find now. |
Then our favourite trip of the year to England.
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| My first cuddle with Lucas. |
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| Susie and Orla |
A day out at Hobbledown Farm
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| Watching the meerkats being fed |
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| Hiding from Grandad! |
and a walk in Bushy Park
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| Lucas |
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| "Push me higher" or "Stop!"? |
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| Susie, Orla and Nana Fifi |
Followed by a trip the the Christmas market in Manchester with Alex, (Sorry Rob, Tom, Ellen and Matt, Dave, Nicole and Adam, and Sarah - why have we no photos of you all?!)
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| Think of your own caption for this one! |
Thank you to everyone else we stayed with, ate with and visited while we were in England, especially Ellen and Matt for putting us up just a couple of days after moving into their lovely new home.
We arrived back in France in time to do a wine tasting at the Maison des Vins
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| Sweet white wines from all over France |
While I'm not promising to update the blog more often, we have made a resolution to walk more. This restored windmill is at Villeneuve de Duras, on our first walk of the new year...
...and these donkeys we saw on a walk around Duras.
Because I don't have any wildlife photos this time, a photo of a 'Blonde d'Aquitaine cow who lives on the farm below Vue de Duras!
Happy New Year!
from Vue de Duras
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