Loving this cold weather: log fires, mulled wine, chocolate. Soups, slow cooked lamb shanks, sticky date pudding. Snuggles, cashmere throw rugs, winter scarves, and warm winter duvets.
The home front has been very busy lately especially as I have been rushing around, in and out of the country on business, and then one of my daughters, her husband, and family of three children, have left to spend a year living in a small village in France.
This adventure has been their long-held family dream. No one believed it would ever happen when it was scrawled on their family noticeboard as a goal, four years ago. Slowly, and despite the universe’s attempts to disrupt this plan, it became obvious that things were falling into place, and the dream would become reality. Their house was rented to a lovely couple, accommodation and schools sorted in France, airfares booked, and passports updated. The last three months have been full of the predictable last-minute panics and self-doubts, but then suddenly they were gone, off, vanished, out of the country, and only contactable by Viber or WhatsApp.
For the next six weeks they will travel Europe. The five of them and everything they need for a year away, crammed into a car, moving from camp ground to camp ground, (rather them than me, I think) before finally settling into a little village with a population of only a few hundred.
I did love this message we received on waking this morning:
When the youngest, six going on seven, was asked by his mother to do a few camp-ground chores, he fell seriously out of grace (a consequence I am very accustomed to) when he responded, “We do SO much for you. We came all the way to France just for YOUR dream. We had to go on that plane. And now you want US to do the dishes??!!!”
As I say, “Rather them than me”. I do think that six year old boy will go a long way though, with his capacity to verbalise his thinking, great negotiating skills and the ability to make it the other person’s problem, which seems a more and more required skill in today’s world. Maybe he would have been better saying, “Mais, non! C’est le travail des femmes”, or whatever the correct French is. At least he would have scored some hard-to-get points for trying to use the local language.
I have always been a bit useless at long term plans like this. I tend to keep stuff accumulating in my head for years, then I blurt it out in a way that makes others think I am impulsive, as they do not realise how long it has been in there gathering dust. So I am very impressed by what this family was able to achieve with the simple action of writing their goals on the family noticeboard. Over a long period of time everyone embraced the idea, as they occasionally had family discussions about what life would be like in France, where to best look for a village, whether the area played rugby or even cricket, and opportunities for other travel in the region. Then the fun of learning a new language, as they tried to pick up enough of the basics of French to get them through the first few weeks. I am sure they would not be not be enjoying their new adventure had they not written their goal on the noticeboard four years ago.
So I am thinking that perhaps life would be easier with a kitchen noticeboard full of goals and dreams. Who knows what we might achieve? Why not have one of our consultants call and help you make a long-term plan to transform your home with beautiful drapes, shutters and blinds. Then you can pick it off piece by piece as time and money allow. All our team members are very experienced, knowledgeable and passionate about design and beautiful furnishings. Give us a call to book an appointment to suit and don’t forget to pop in to the showroom and view the wonderful new fabrics by Paige Cartledge. Elles sont magnifiques! Tu dois venir les voir.
Single malt whisky, light down jackets, home knitted beanies. Thick woolly Jumpers, long john undies, crisp clear still mornings, warm heated car seats. Closing the beautiful custom-made drapes to keep the cosy in. What a wonderful time of year!
On a different note, my brother, Michael Sheehy, is again standing for the Devonport Takapuna community board in the upcoming local body elections, with Team George Wood. They have achieved a huge amount this term and have some great ideas for the future. I am sure they would value your support.
