Holidays have almost begun! Today is the first day when I don’t have to teach at the university. The university classes restart on 3 Jan. Well, I say ‘almost’ because I am still technically teaching until early next week, but only the few private students that I have and through video conference. Moreover, I still …
I am declaring that the winter is officially here. It started snowing this morning, albeit for only a couple of hours. Through the double-glazed panes of the bedroom window, I could see that the snow was falling rapidly, but it looked more like wet snow which would not accumulate. True enough, most of the snow …
It was half way through autumn and I still had not found a jardinier or a gardener. For the past few months, I had been looking after the garden myself–weeding and pruning—I didn’t mind doing that. In the recent weeks, thanks to the frequent rains, I was actually spending more time uprooting dying plants and …
How naive we were. €500 for the initial overhaul of the garden. That was the initial budget, back in July 2021 when just moved into the house, we allocated to hiring a gardener to remettre ordre dans le jardin or do a bit of tidying in our little garden. Both Silviu and I were newbies (and …
I woke up to a wet, wet autumn Sunday. Through the window of my makeshift study cum bedroom window, I could see that it rained again in the night. Rain water droplets glistening on the leaves of the different types of flora in the garden, dressed in the finest autumn colours of red, orange, yellow, …
Being a city girl most of my life means that I am used to getting food supplies from modern, clean air-conditioned supermarkets. Fresh vegetables and fruits are duly washed with no traces of soil or any signs of defects on the surface. They are aesthetically arranged on the display racks; some supermarkets even spray a …
My first hazelnut season is here! In France, the hazelnut harvest takes place generally between August to November, depending on the varieties and the weather. My hazelnut bush has started to drop hazelnuts since mid-August. Daily Routine: Hazelnut Collection Rounds For the past few weeks, I have been doing my hazelnut collection rounds two to …
It has never crossed my mind that I would pickup gardening at my age, and that I actually like it. I was raised a city girl and spent most of my life living in apartments in various cosmopolitain cities. Back in Singapore, my hometown, I was privileged to live with my parents on the ground …
Never have I thought that I would have a reason to visit a tile specialist store, no, actually two stores, and in just one day. And spent more than two hours to boot in these two stores without being bored. That was what I did on the 3rd day of being a house owner in …
We have gotten the keys! We are now the official owners of a French house in Gometz-le-Chatel, Essonne, a little town of 2,500 inhabitants, about 30km south of Paris. It was on the eve of the French National Day that the house was transferred to our names—four and a half months after the seller (an …