I actually wrote this post some time ago, intending to publish at the end of June. However, I do have a valid excuse, as the dreaded Covid finally caught up with me on our return to the UK. I didn’t have the energy to read other blogs, comment on them or even write my own but I’m feeling much better now.

We were still in France, in June, and as usual we had at least one project that we wanted to complete whilst we were there. This time it was upcycling a pair of traditional iron gates that we had been given. The original wooden gates had been damaged, mainly by storms, during the years we were unable to visit and could no longer be repaired. The iron gates just needed a clean, some rust treatment and then a repaint. I’m delighted with them although I should have moved the bin before I took the photo below!

There are so many attractive and characterful villages, to visit, in the area. One is Montolieu, sometimes known as the ‘Village of Books’. We had been here before when we were getting to know the area but, on this occasion, we were meeting friends for lunch. There must be at least fifteen bookshops, as well as a museum dedicated to printing and books.

Image by hjrivas from Pixabay

It is a very attractive village and there are plenty of photo opportunities – if you remember to take them! I think I was too focussed on my forthcoming lunch to take lots of photos but here’s one of the many water fountains to be found in Montolieu.

We also enjoyed several walks to our favourite lock for an evening aperitif. I was quite pleased with the photo I took below.

Zeph has two new friends that live at the lock. They are both rescues and very cute!

My reading choices have been quite varied this month. I’m enjoying Anita Rani’s memoir ‘The Right Sort of Girl’. She writes with passion and humour and shares the lessons she wishes she could have known when she was younger. She writes as a second generation British Indian woman trying to navigate her life. As she says: ‘I’m a girl and northern and brown, didn’t you know? A triple threat!’ 

In France we watch very little television but there was one Netflix series that I loved so much that I watched it twice! I’m talking about ‘Heartstopper‘. It’s charming, heart-warming and to quote a TV critic, ‘like a hug in TV form’.

I am definitely not part of the target audience; it is a teenage romance after all but that didn’t stop me (and I’m not alone!) from loving the show. The focus is on Charlie and Nick and their developing relationship.

Possibly, I enjoyed this because it is in such sharp contrast to all the gloom and doom that surrounds us? Anyway, here’s the official trailer:

Zeph is always happy wherever we are – mostly! Here he is with two of his Border Collie friends enjoying a cool down!

Apologies again for lack of blog action and I’m now looking forward to catching up with all those blogs that I haven’t read!