What's Happening at Le Brin ?

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last post but there are no apologies. I’ve been enjoying the solitude and peace whilst my family has been in Kenya doing all sorts of things to help the less fortunate.

Of course, the trip to Kenya was the first visit for Guy and Kitty and whilst Guy appears to have embraced it despite the lack of technology but reveling in his technical ability to ‘fix things’, it also appears that Kitty had a more difficult time adjusting to life without her make-up, her boyfriend, her en-suite bathroom and her four poster bed! Still, she managed to shoot many wonderful photos which will do her well in her quest to get into the local Lycée which specializes in the Arts.

J did send one post to me during her visit apart from those pleading with me to send more money (try ‘Kenyan Kids’ on Facebook) which said she’d been ‘introduced’ to an abandoned baby in a Kenyan maternity hospital and felt that she needed to bring her home but I pointed out that as she visits twice a year and as she seems to find one of these ‘deserving causes’ on each trip, after a few years we’d be inundated with kids! So we’re sponsoring her life in Kenya – a good compromise methinks. Named initially after J, it’s now been decided to call her Lily. Let’s wish Lily a good life.    

So whilst my family have been several thousand miles away I’ve been transitioning the house from winter/spring into summer and ready for the (vast) stream of visitors we have arriving this year.

What does that involve? Cleaning the house terraces and fixing the BBQ (again). Starting the automatic pool cleaning process after its winter shutdown, mowing the (grass) terraces for the first time this year and getting rid of all the gunge which falls from the trees during the spring winds.

Apart from that we’ve been congratulating Shadow on his 13^th birthday (91 or 85 in human years depending on how you calculate it), finding the remains of mice and rats which the cats have dragged in alive and then let go to rot in corners of the house (only discovered when the smell became unbearable!) and generally trying to keep the multitude of vehicles (4 cars and 4 scooters – long story) arranged in such a way that people don’t think we’re rich.

85 or 91 years old ?

The stream of visitors has already started and we’re almost fully booked now until the end of July. During this period, J and the kids will be off to Cyprus for a couple of weeks and despite the fact that I was desperate to accompany them (for J’s sister’s 70^th birthday), J has insisted I stay at home and clean the house ready for the next set of visitors.

That’s about it – apart from me working my socks off, there’s not a lot happening although tonight I did come across what looked like a mountain rescue team just down the road where a German couple have been building a house for the last six years. Maybe she chose an inappropriately expensive kitchen and he's buried his wife in the hills.

Being German, he will of course probably not know that Billy Connolly suggests that if you’re going to do away with the missus, you should bury her with her bottom just sticking out of it so you can use it for something practical.

See his little story here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Slw08b3bHFE