January came and went

January went by fairly quietly. On New Year's Day we had a nice lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, La Moulin de la Tardoire.  This restaurant has just been awarded a Michelin BIB, an recognition of good value for money. (The everyday price is much less than this special menu.)

A week later, Kaye spent a day helping to sort donations for a container going to refugees in Syria. What wasn't appropriate will go to a jumble sale later in the year. There are a lot of people here trying to help the refugees, both in Syria (and elsewhere) and in the camps around Dunkirk.

Later in the month we went to a piano recital in Limoges that was given in a lecture hall at the medical school. Yes, a bit of a strange venue. We were seated  at desks in an auditorium seating several hundred students, with screens on either side about one third and two thirds of the way back showing the artist on stage. The sound wasn't as bad as we expected and the concert was worth the effort of getting there.

Ed's been working on installing the tiles in the kitchen walls. The most complicated bit involves the window well. Progress is being made.

Here's Ed watching a movie. Oscar's moved off his perch at the end of the sofa to snuggle with Ed, even though Pogo is close-by. Oscar is still a bit nervous about Pogo, although better than when he first arrived. Pogo thinks everyone is his friend and often wants to greet Oscar doggie-style by sniffing noses, which Oscar really doesn't like. Any time Oscar runs, Pogo will give him a chase, but if he says put, there's no problem. It took Oscar a more than a year to catch on that, and things are a lot calmer now.

We had a spell with frosty nights, but mostly the weather has been warmish and drippy. Spring plants are continuing to come out early. Primroses and violets are blooming in the yard. Narcissus are about ready to bloom. Our quinces are blooming earlier and better than ever before. Maybe they are happy that the willow is no longer there. (We seem to have forgotten to mention that in July we finally had the willow, which had been ailing for a couple of years, taken out. It's missed, but the yard is sunnier and more open feeling now.)