This and that

These past few weeks have just been absolutely glorious.  Hardly any rain (even though it is the season for it) but beautiful sunshine and glorious autumn colours.  Every time I drive past the village sign I think "now I must stop someday and get a picture of that" - you know, the mountains with all the leaves changing, and before I realize it I have driven out the other side of the village.  Oh well, I will get around to it someday, I guess.

This weekend was lovely.  I am a rugby fan so got to watch a great game on Saturday (New Zealand/South Africa) and then again on Sunday (Australia/Argentina), and while I didn't have a preference for who won, both times the game could have been won in the last minutes by the "underdog" - in this case South Africa and Argentina.  That makes for a really thrilling match, I can tell you.

On Sunday I went with a friend to an exhibition of "hand-made creations" and even though I say it every time, I really am stunned at just how much talent there is out there. Of course there is all the usual beautiful jewelry, leather work, art work, needlework and so on, but one young man really impressed me with his wonderful woodwork.  And when I say "young" I mean maybe early 20s. Such talent.  What really caught my eye was a beautiful coffee table that he had made principally out of old skis!!!  Very unusual indeed. Of course, given the amount of work and skill involved it was also pretty expensive.  Naturally I don't begrudge this at all because I cannot even begin to imagine how much time, skill and effort went into it - but a bit outside my price range all the same. But take a look at a lovely rocking chair and set of stools he had made.

It's the kind of stuff that really does look good here in the mountains in a lovely wooden chalet (complete with log fire?).  If you are interested, he has a web site too.

http://yohannchenelat.com/

After that we headed out to a place called Sallanches where they were having their traditional foire froide (that is incredibly difficult for us anglo-saxons to say!) - or "cold fair".  They had the usual vide-greniers (car boots), craft stalls, local food market, plus cattle fair and small fun fair.  Lovely! I bought three different local cheeses, some Lebanese spices that are often difficult to get hold of here, and a lovely warm jacket.  I already have a very heavy jacket for the winter, but frankly unless I am going to be climbing Annapurna anytime soon (which I highly doubt) I find it too heavy as I prefer to wear less clothing underneath and have a warmer outer jacket.  I'm very pleased with that I can tell you.

So what else is there?  Oh yes, this last Friday I made my first "extra" payment on my mortgage. Yipee.  Well "yippee" - that was a helluva lot of money to be going out of my bank account in one go, but I'm sure you know what I mean.  Under the terms of my mortgage the minimum additional payment I can make is 10% of the total initial amount of the mortgage.  As you can imagine, that takes some saving up for, but it was so nice to see my outstanding mortgage go down by the corresponding amount.  Now I just have to keep plodding away at it for a while longer, I suppose. Depending on how it works out, I'm pretty sure I can have it paid off in four years, which will mean paying off a 17-year mortgage in just seven, so I am well pleased with that I can tell you, and that's a great thought after going through a divorce at a later age.

Other than that, the kids get the key to their apartment on Monday (2nd November) so I imagine we will be spending the next few week-ends moving them in to their own little "nest" - and very pleased I am for them too.  So I really will be a (very happy) empty nester.  Lovely.

OH spent a few days working in China, arriving back on Saturday night, so hopefully I will get to see him this week too.  Absence really does make the heart grow fonder!  And I am off to my patchwork club tonight - only the second time I have been to this club - and a really nice, friendly bunch they are too.  We get just as much chin-wagging done as patchworking, so you can see I am a happy bunny at the moment.  So on that note,  will love you and leave you and wish you all a "bonne semaine".  Cheers.