We are now the very proud parents of three (we think) little swallows!!

So there is a lot of activity with three adults flying in and out all the time bringing the little ones food.

But we do feel quite priviledged, even though we have to have newspaper on the floor underneath all the time!!

It was a pretty exhausting day moving all those joists, so I thought I would enjoy a little sit down and time to read my book - but in no time at all I was fast asleep and then was spied on by a man with a camera!!

But, as usual, such steps forward require a big surge of time and effort!! We then had to spend the rest of the day lifting each joist (they are three inches by nine inches and vary between four and five and half metres long - pretty heavy!!) from the pile outside, up about a metre and onto the walls that Gavin has been building. The view from on top of the joists is quite different from down on the floor of the barn!! And this is where the ground floor will be.

Great excitement on Friday - sixty eight floor joists were delivered and some floor boarding. These will make the whole of the ground floor.

For those of you who have been following the story of our resident swallows, here is a picture of the nest they have built on one of the beams in our living room.

We really do feel quite priviledged to have them with us.

AND NOW we think we have three little ones!! We have evidence on the floor of three eggs shells. But as yet little ones would be very very tiny and we would not even be able to hear them cheep. But we will, of course, keep you up to date with news of our little family.

Some of the order in which things have happened have got in a bit of a muddle, but I am quite sure that this makes absolutely no difference!!

Anyway, last week, just before the Fetes des Voisines we had two very good friends come to visit for a couple of days. Alan is a fellow Scot and he and Gavin worked together in Japan for a number of years and his lovely fiancee, Yuri who was so helpful and welcoming when Gavin took me to Japan for a holiday last summer. It was lovely to be able to return a little of their hospitality.

Despite the fact that the weather was very hot we all had a great time with Christopher, Kathryn, Declan and Cameron here. Hopefully just a taste of all the lovely holidays the family will be able to enjoy.

I have tried to make a couple of coulourful little corners in what will be our garden in due course, just so that we have somewhere nice to sit when Gavin's can be persuaded to take a short tea or coffee break.

So perhaps you can now see that Gavin is actually backing himself into a corner with all these foundations!! In fact backing himself right out of the building!! Suffice to say that the bit with the cement mixer is the very last small wall and then we are ready to instal the wooden joists for the ground floor - walking about on top of that will give us a much more realistic view of what it will be like as the barn becomes more of a house.

Remember when you look at these pictures that the ground floor will be about a metre above the current ground level (with steps down from the front door to the ground). So all this building is for the foundaions underneath the ground floor and the little open spaces are in case someone needs to crawl through for maintainence access.

Then the following day, 14th July, was the biggest French Public Holiday - Bastille Day.

The Mairie in the Village holds an annual reception at lunch time on that day. This includes everyone who has come to live in the village permanently since this time last year and the children (with their parents) who are leaving the village primary school and going to the senior school in the nearby town in September.

There was a small presentation for each child and each new resident had to introduce themselves and their family when their name was read out - more use of my limited french. Perhaps just as well that I re-start my lessons this afternoon after a gap of three or four weeks!!

There were several fairground rides in the village all afternoon - flags everywhere - folk music and dancing during the evening and all rounded off with a marvellous fireworks display once it was properly dark.

Altogether another most enjoyable day - but after all this french wine and getting to know people we returned home and collapsed into a heap - hence the need to have somewhat of a day off from building works yesterday!!

Last Sunday we had a Fetes des Voisines - a party for neighbours.

Like a street party - between sixty and seventy people attended from about noon until after four in the afternoon - french lunches can be long!! Everyone took something - my jam filled sponge cake became known as a Gateaux Anglaise (very grand!). So now we have met many more of our neighbours. I used my little french, we heard a little english and came away feeling that we had had a great time and been made to feel really welcome - marvellous.

But first - the reasons for the length of time since my last 'post' -

1. During the first part of June we had a good number of the most amazing storms with masses of powerful thunder and huge flashes of lightening. One of these must have been rather too close to us and the modem box for our internet and telephone connections was 'zapped' and it took us two or three weeks, with the help of friends and neighbours, Orange and France Telecom (and not helped by our lack of detailed knowledge of the french language) to get the matter sorted out.

2. Just a few days after Simon and Christopher returned to the UK Kathryn and her two wee boys (Declan and Cameron) and Christopher were here for their first holiday (more of that later).

3. Then I have been in England for a couple of weeks visiting my mother, who now lives in Manton Hall, where she is well looked after by all the staff there.

4. And then just a few days after my return a Scottish friend of Gavin's from his working time in Japan came to visit with his lovely fiancee, Yuri.

5. And finally this past busy weekend.

Now we are just taking stock and getting used to the very hot weather (in the upper thirty degrees centigrade every day for some time now) and ordering in supplies for the next stage of our programme.

Have just had a look and realise that the last time I put something on this Blog was 8th June!!

A month and a half ago!!

Anyway, before I post more pictures of building works and get you caught up with what we have been doing in the barn, will just give you a quick run down on this past weekend!!

So much activity, we had to give ourselves a virtual day off yesterday!!

A day off from building works, at least!!