The Cold Wind doth blow....

There is a distinct nip in the air today after a week of  wild wind and rain. The car locks were stuck tight , the ponds were frozen and the boys hitched a lift to college with a kind neighbour as my car wasn't going anywhere  in that weather, temperamental machine that it is.

As December  progresses minus temperatures are becoming the norm the dogs are quitting their kennels for long days by the fire, creating their own fur rugs on the carpet with the hair from their winter coats and the cats are reluctant to go out.We are all cocooning, as the French say, for the dark winter months ahead.

The season has its benefits though, a drop in temperature  brings with it   clear night skies and a myriad of stars to admire.

Confined to the sofa with my hand out of action I am snuggling down indulging myself watching travel and cookery programmes on television and looking forward to the school holidays and Christmas with all that both bring.

Blowing away with the cobwebs

Sometime in the night the wind has picked up and ushered all the last hangers on of the listless summer off centre stage and into the wings, like some over bearing stage manager, so that Autumn can make full use of the clever lighting effects of the season to show off her glorious red, yellow, copper and brass costume. The wind has pushed before it the heavy rain,washing away the mud on the road until it glistens like a black river in the moonlight on my drive home. All is clean and bare, ready for the approach of winter and eventually  Christmas.

The fires are lit, the curtains drawn and we are cocooning, as the french say, for the dark months of winter ahead and for the promise of snow.
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Well here I am then..

Well who would have thought it ? 

Here I am , and I find myself a 54 year old , woman  living in  France, a single mother with 3 children and a veritable farmyard of poultry and other animals. 

It may not be what I planned for my life or what I dreamt of but I am enjoying it. I pot, I potter, I work with clay , cook, clean house ( barely) run teenage and pre-teen sons about the place ( often) , I teach English to  french students, and although  I spent most of my married life scared of being alone and frightened that my ( as it turned out) not so better half would  abandon me for another woman now it has happened  I find I am far far happier than I was before and no one is more suprised than I am. 

For the first time for many years I fell free and alive. I wake up each morning without the feeling of heaviness and dread which comes with living in a marriage full of lies. I no longer have  to tune my radar to signs of domestic disquiet , I do not have to be on duty at lunchtime to make sure the table is laid , lunch is ready and the house is in order. The purse may be emptier than before , household standards may have slipped but my heart is soaring so let the dust bunnies frolic all they will, let the spiders gain dominion high above in the ancient beams  and who cares if I haven't washed up the breakfast things yet.I am alive and enjoying every moment of it.


I am learning to let go of things that in the past would have consumed me with fear and worry. to be more tolerant and forgiving.  I am learning most of all to recognize my own happiness and to share that happiness with others. They say that one should treat today as if it were the last day of ones life but I cannot wait to see what happens tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.

So in the words below ......

Life is for living enjoy it What are you waiting for?