Sunday 7 September 2014

Time out

Sometimes even we have to have time out even though it has been lovely weather, the fields are green and sprinkled with the prettiest of white flowers, the animals are plump and happy, and our petite ferme looks everyone's dream of what a smallholding should like, this having been said several times by people who have visited us lately. It does not always look so lovely, not when winter and the flood arrive. Not to worry, even then prettiness can be found somewhere if we try hard enough to look. Or I can look back at the blogs and be reminded that it is worthwhile to keep persevering at learning to be a smallholder's wife, reading about how far we have come, what I have learnt, what I need to do better with, etc........ And then I can go visit my fellow blogging friends, and read about what they are up to, how they are managing their farms / smallholdings / homesteads, and then I feel that I am not my own, and that there are other people out there doing similar to us. But we still need to have time out sometimes.......

And so we organised a trip out with friends. A concert at Aire sur l'Adour is where we went. Listening to a band playing Irish music is what we did. The French playing Irish music is not the same as our DIY band playing Irish music which is nothing at all like a proper Irish band playing Irish music. Nevertheless it was a grand evening. Listening to other people playing similar music, well you can two things. You can either be highly critical of their playing. Or you can listen attentively and absorb what they are doing, how they are doing it, and what you can do to improve your own playing, which is what I did. 


Where we were....



Aire sur l'Adour


La Chapelle de Ursulines

Who we were going to listen to....


Two bands, Etceltera and Salicorne,

Inside the chapel where the concert was being held....


And the good friends we went with......

Mike, Valerie, Lester (Hubby) and Ann

It was treasure of an evening, 
and today we are going to take time out from farm and renovation work to sort out new music for our little band. 
But first I need to make bread, gather some more fennel seeds, ask the pears in the fridge waiting to be put into canning jars if they can wait another day before being processed, explain to the broom that there is no need to sweep today because moi is busy elsewhere, tell my head that it is better to stay awake and do things because napping stops me from having a good night's sleep, tell the lawnmower to stop moaning about not being used and that perhaps tomorrow it can go for a run over the grass, convince my sewing machine that I do love it and not to worry about my lack of effort in switching it on, tell Labartere (our farm) that I do love her but that sometimes, just sometimes, trying to do the best for her can make Lester and me feel that we are pedalling a bike which is going nowhere, but this is only when we are tired and need a change of scenery, just for a while, not for ever, because we could not think of living anywhere else at all.
So with batteries recharged I go off into my day, 

Hope you have a lovely Sunday,
and hope your batteries are getting recharged as well,
Vx


8 comments:

northsider said...

Hi Vera. Smallholding life can be very isolated at times. I miss public transport and rock and folk music concerts. At least we can read other blogs on the Internet.

Vera said...

N Dave, we don't mind living in the countyside, but we do feel starved of the company of other like minded people. Thank goodness for fellow bloggers! As for music concerts, there are plenty around here, with small bands playing a diverse range of music. All we have to do is get ourselves organised to get out and see them!

Mizumatte said...

yes you just need sometimes to get out and enjoy what ever it is, not thinking all the time, not thinking this and that on the to do list. After that you can pick up thing to do again. enjoy every day Jaana

Mizumatte said...

yes you just need sometimes to get out and enjoy what ever it is, not thinking all the time, not thinking this and that on the to do list. After that you can pick up thing to do again. enjoy every day Jaana

Rosaria Williams said...

Oh Vera, I so admire what you're doing!

Vagabonde said...

I read your post with interest. I enjoy Celtic music and have a large collection of CDs – musicians from Ireland, Scotland but also France and Spain. In France Celtic music has been played in Brittany for centuries – it does not sound like Irish music, but it is close. Did the band your hear say they were playing de la musique irlandaise ou de la musique celte? Car cela est different and this would be why you said it did not sound like Irish music, because it is not. If you read French, you can read on Celtique musique in Brittany on the web – they have a huge festival of this music in Lorient in August.

Vera said...

Vagabonde, hi, and thanks for stopping by. The band was celtic and led by an Irish singer, although everyone else was French, which diluted the 'proper' sound of Irish music, but it was a nice sound although lacked the raw edge of Irish music played by the Irish themselves. Thanks for the info, and much appreciate your response. Vx

Vera said...

Jaana, thanks for your kind words.

Rosaria, bless you, and thanks.