Winter

We returned from our holiday in the Var to a few days of lovely, warm weather which enabled us to chainsaw to length and stack two more stères of wood ready for the cold spell that was forecast. It also enabled me to dig over a patch of the potager in anticipation of some frosty mornings which I hoped would help to break up the heavy soil a bit. I have now got my sowing/planting plan sorted and am impatient to get started on the production of this years veggies!

The snow arrived as forecast on Sunday and, for the first time, it actually settled here at our level. Our little hamlet looked very pretty in its snowy setting

 We had a couple of lovely pretty snowy walks

which the pooch enjoyed

Then my thoughts turned to skiing. It is three years since I last skied. Looking back at my blog posts, for some reason I just lost all of my confidence and, instead of enjoying time on the slopes, I ended up stressed and tense and having a thoroughly miserable time. Not fun. But with the arrival of fresh powder, the anticipation of a blue sky day and some amazing ski resorts in this area, I was keen to see whether my feelings had changed or whether I should seriously consider selling the skis. So, with Suzanne and Steve and a couple more of their friends, we headed across the border into Spain and the resort of Baqueira. I have to admit to being pretty apprehensive and nervous but thanks to the conditions those feelings were soon put to bed. The snow was stunning and the skiing an absolute delight. The resort has a massive choice of wide, sweeping blue and red runs which enabled me to find my ski legs, to relax and actually enjoy the experience. Baqueira Beret is also a spectacularly beautiful resort which probably helped!

Fiona and I were of the same mindset and were quite happy just cruising down the easier runs, whilst the others went off to explore some of the harder stuff. But despite spending the day there, we only just touched the surface of what Baqueira has to offer. I am keen to go back before Winter ends and explore some more. I think I'll hold off selling the skis for the moment ;-)

On the house front, we have now decamped from our bedroom into the gorgeous guest room in anticipation of starting work on the former. It will be lovely to have both rooms done and it's nice not to have any time pressures to get it done.