French Leave

We are chilling in France in our house at present and it's wonderful. It's also a much needed break as we have all been going flat out since the start of September, Ellie included. She has so many commitments to school clubs and other activities that Sunday is the only day with nothing happening. That has meant the discipline of homework being done dilligently every weekend or else trying to cram it into the week - not pleasant.

What a change here - the half term homework was carried out while walking along the fields and lanes around the village and the data collected was then written up this morning.

Yesterday was beautiful and reminded me yet again as to why this is my favourite time of the year in Burgundy. The colours are stunning at the moment as the leaves turn and in our local town of Clamecy, the autumnal fruits such as squashes and pumpkins have been used in the floral arrangements round the streets. The shop windows are all decorated for Halloween with cobwebs and witches and the supermarkets are full of Halloween sweet displays.

The sun is shining too, making the days warm and mellow although it gets very cold at night when the sun drops in the skies and is frosty when we awake. I do like it like this though and a wander to the recycling area yesterday morning turned into an hours walk as it was basically too good to miss.

Before I knew it I was striding off along the lanes and across the fields. All over the village were apple trees laden with fruit and the ditches too were full of the fruit that had got too heavy for the trees and had dropped to the ground. It was sad to think that all of this was just going to lie there so on my return to the house I headed down to our "wild garden" to pick apples from our own trees. These are now stewing and filling the kitchen with wonderful aromas.

It's colder today as the sun has not shown itself and we are staying in warmed by the blazing logs in the Godin. Some friends are joining us for dinner tonight and tomorrow - who knows? How good not to have to plan.

Have a look at http://www.frenchhideaways.com/ and see where we are.

Intuition

We were given intuition for a reason so pay attention to it. It's that 'inner voice', that 'gut feeling', that churning in your stomach and it's never wrong.

It's there to guide you and how often have you said after something - 'I knew I should have done that'.

Learn to trust it. I am pretty good at relying on my intuition now but today I paid the price for not listening. Something happened in July and I responded offering as much help as I could in the time available. I was able to help but there were other issues and I should have passed on it a few months later but I didn't and since then alarm bells have been ringing. Softly at first and then louder and even then I thought I knew better.

A few days ago, I took that action I should have taken months ago and immediately was at peace.

Listen to your intuition, practice and practice and always go with what it says.

I have learnt a harsh lesson but I know that this is often how I learn best. I won't be doing that again.

Chocolate

Do you like chocolate?

Did you know that it was Chocolate Week? Lasting from 15th - 21st October it is indeed a week of indulgent chocolate celebration throughout the UK. This is being celebrated through talks, tastings and demonstrations so have a look at http://www.chocolate-week.co.uk/ and see if there is anything near you that you can tap into.

I love chocolate but have been weaning myself off the milk chocolate variety as when I have some, I have been known to scoff the entire bar or even box if in the right mood. It's that wonderful sensation when it melts on your tongue and that velvet touch - mmmmm......

I am now into dark chocolate as I can have all the same sensations but I find a couple of squares satisfies my chocolate need. To make the enjoyment process as easy as possible I break up the chocolate bar into 2 square chunks, store it in a container and keep it in the fridge. Then when the nibbles come, I always have some to hand.

What are your chocolate tips? Any you'd like to share?

I love all the different types of dark chocolate you can get now especially Green and Blacks and all the chocolate shops etc that are setting up such as Hotel Chocolate where I spent many happy hours last Easter choosing a wonderful dark chocolate egg for my husband.

Alan manages to keep chocolate for ages so I would tempt him with a really good glass of deep red wine to we could enjoy the mix of it and good dark chocolate - together they are a great romantic treat.

Where have the weeks gone?

Does this happen to you too?

If you remember I'd decided not to beat myself up if I didn't blog every day. Well that was OK but it has now been nearly 2 weeks and every day I think, I've gotta blog today. I'll do it when I get this piece of work done but then that leads to something else and before you know.......

I bet a lot of you out there are agreeing with me.

I know I fill each day too full. Sometimes it all goes to plan and is great, but other days, it goes very astray and I have had a few of those recently. I am learning to ease off on the packing the day but I now have a back log and for my sanity I need to clear it.

So today and tomorrow are office based days and I am lazering through things and feeling better moment by moment. However, How do I ensure that I do not let this happen again. How do you do it? What is the learning here for me?

Will keep you posted but hey, it's good to have got this out on paper.