So a Happy New Year to you, full of good health, love and happiness
Since all the excitement of the last post… (way back then in November!?!!) with my bro asking ‘what’s with the Aboriginal flag?’ and a mate describing Benjamin as looking like Braveheart, a few km’s have been covered. I haven’t been blogging, but I’ve been busy snapping and am now itching to finally share the last month and a bit. Wanna guess my whereabouts?!?
It all started out like this…
my first ever sighting of this beautiful monument from the sky... the Eiffel Towerthese guys look like they're heading for homeblues skies, looks like we're getting there
Now for some real clues.
streets in the suburbsthe fruits in seasona backyard 'hills hoist'could that be King Gee's and Blundstones?
You must have it by now.
If not, take a look in the backyard…
out the backgood coffee, good bubbles (what WAS I thinking having a Frenchie bottle up here! - thanks Kate and Hamish for a bloody good one), good breakfast, good beer, good Asian (thanks Kate R) and good gelati!
Yep, I’m HOME and so happy to be here!
I thought I should add that Davo is a big give-away… (how many years has Dad insisted on keeping his little mate in the yard?)
Happy 1st January and may 2012 be a great big good year.
I’m Australian, Benjamin is French and we live in a remote, rural area in the south of France. He is the vigneron, I am his wife and he makes wine that I love to drink.
Our daughter attends school in the local village (we call her the ‘Aussie frog’) and it almost feels like Little House on the Prairie except she wears jeans!
We’ve been living here for the most part since 1998, making and working in wine. It is wine that led us here and wine that keeps us here. Our life is inextricably linked to it and why I’ll probably be talking a lot about it here! …And I guess living where we are, food may get a mention too!!
To outsiders it’s a quiet and very isolated life, if you compare it to the razzle dazzle of a city but delve deeper and, like anywhere, you’ll find a lovely hum of people busy in all sorts of interesting actvities. People from all walks of life – the locals born and bred here, French people from other parts seeking change and a growing community of ‘etrangers’ are all enjoying the wonderful landscape and quality of life that this region offers.
Influences and arguments fly in all directions. In this mix, food and wine are two major elements of the day and what connects us. There is an almost ritual-like approach to making or serving food and wine that I hadn’t encountered before living with a Frenchie in this area. I can’t think of a better way of getting to know all these people either! A few good wines and good food always seems to help my fledgling French.
I may not be sharing any images of the Eiffel tower, baguettes in hand, candlelight dinners overlooking the Seine – or frilly French knickers for that matter (who said all Frenchman were romantics?)… but a no-frills account of what we get up to here in this part of France. I’m not going to spend 365 days eating only foie gras and camembert either, but I will make a good go of drinking Benjamin’s wine – and a lot of others, cooking and sampling foods and sharing these experiences with you.
The jolie things I see around here…
Welcome to our home, warts and all, happy that you might visit!
Kat
p.s. I know I promised no snowdome scenes of idyllic life, but there are some beautiful sights around here that I’d love to share that are unmistakably ‘French’. Sometimes you do actually get those ‘ooh la la ‘ moments that take your breath away . This occurs almost daily for me here and it helps keep the homesickness at bay!
The Vigneron's Wife 