28 April 2015 - Aussie friends arrive!!

Sunshine at last!  What a superb day to welcome Garry and Alex, our friends from church at home who are having a European holiday!  Yeah! for adventurers and kindred spirits.  Tim and I walked down our road and lanes to the lake - splendid in the early morning.

Our lake

....and the signs for our lake

Peeking through the old barn

School for the morning, trying to keep ahead of the program so we can afford some time off from time to time.  Having said that, we think Luke is probably best doing a little bit of  writing every day so he can gain confidence and lose anxiety about doing so.  We noticed that if we give him days off, it is so hard to get him started again.

Annika playing with the kids!

He was very eager to get outside and play and I was eager to finish school quickly as we were gong to pick up Garry and Alex at midday.  School finished on time although I wouldn't say it was an exceptional day of learning.  I can say that Luke is an original thinker though.  He has to grow a bean for school and predict what will happen.  Instead of what I expected he'd write about it growing, he wrote the he didn't think it would grow as the conditions weren't right! 

Cute little building at Chabanais

Chabanais Station - not exactly a busy place, especially at lunch time!

 Karl and I tootled off to Chabanais Station to pick up our visitors.  They arrived on schedule on one of those one carriage trains.  So good to see them!  Although a few clouds were gathering, the day was fine and the French countryside was verdant and pretty.  Our little house here, with its lilacs and wisteria looked so welcoming.

Garry and Alex arrive on their one carriage train!

Annika had made a delicious chunky potato and leek soup which we ate along with baguettes, cheeses and salad outside on our table.  So very lovely.  Luke and his friends had asked for a picnic, so the two households combined their snack foods and the younger kids sat somewhere in the rambling garden to have their picnic!  Talk about idyllic.

Lunch in our garden1

We thought an afternoon walk to our lake would be a nice leg stretch and a good spot for afternoon tea.  While the adults wanted to walk slowly and explore, the fact that I had some pain au chocolat with me for our afternoon snack made the kids want to get there in record time so they could get their reward!  We did stop at Videix's old church en route.

Remnants of ancient painting in our local church - mildew and mold have spoiled most of the walls

These little faces are over 800 years old!

Little boy, little door!

It was rather cool as we walked back and Tim lit our fire to warm the house.  It is an efficient little heater and very cosy inside.  The kids played until late.  Sunset is very late here, after 9PM so trying to convince kids it is bedtime is tricky!

Fun with Tim!