08/02/2021 11 years ago today I started my very first blog....

My first blog was My Life in the Charente which after a number of years got so slow to work with that I started  My Life in the Charente 2.  Because this was supposed to be mainly about the Charente, the last year has seen very few entries, as thanks to COVID we have just not been anywhere! I mustn't forget of course my third blog My Life Before the Charente, which includes our overland trip from the UK to what was then Rhodesia, in 1953! 

While these 3 were ongoing, I started up Photodiarydps which originally had daily entries, but this got a bit too much and I never had enough time!  More recently, I was only managing a couple of entries a week and since COVID the updates have been even less than that, but it is still alive!   

Then just a few years back, I decided to take the bird photos from the photodiary and start a blog that was just birds.  Again I have been struggling to keep it up to date weekly, but most of the time I have managed, with help from Christelle who has sent me photos of birds from South Africa. Sadly we do not visit there often enough, and COVID has certainly prevented visits/holidays anywhere.

I also joined Blipfoto  on which I enter one photo every single day. It is very seldom I miss just this one daily entry under the name of "Charente"  Quite often they are EMs (emergency photos) from my backup but generally, they look better than I was expecting!  It is a great community and I now have so many Blip friends from around the world!

Here are just a few photos over the past years that I have enjoyed.

Looking at our French home before we bought it in 2005.

The very first picture on my first blog.

April 2007 What the garden looked like then!!

Holiday 2008 - Notre Dame de Paris, (before the fire!)  also known as Notre Dame Cathedral. Construction began in 1163 though it was not completed until around the mid-1240s.

Wednesday, 7 July 2010 Reims Cathedral, travelling with friends.

2013 - Snow on the Pyrenees - a rare sight in May, we are told when we were there!

May 2013 - Myself and Nigel dressed up and ready for our second night on the ship, a very special dinner at the Captain's table! With thanks to our friend Gunter who arranged the amazing cruise for us on the Royal Caribbean liner, Liberty of the Seas.

October 2014 - Numbers 11 and 13 Rue Francois Miron, two of the last 14th century houses seen on another visit to Paris.

10 February 2015 House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) versus Greenfinch (Chloris chloris) in the garden.

Tuesday, 10 May 2016 - On holiday in Aveyron - the brilliant metal sculptures of André Debru.

30 March 2017 Resistance Memorial at Chasseneuil-sur-Bonnieure.

06 July 2017 - White Admiral (Limenitis camilla).

February 2018 - Great tit (Parus major) yes we had snow!

22 May 2018 Dramatic skies and rainfall.

January 2020 Bluetits (Cyanistes caeruleus) on the window sill.

10 June 2020 Little Owl (Athene noctua) in residence locally.

08 July 2020 - Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides podalirius) in the garden.

15 September 2020 - Sunset at home in France, almost as good as a South African sunset😊.

2021 - The house as it is today after lots and lots of work.

The garden now in summer.....

and in winter.

Take care everyone and stay safe.

Copies of this blog are on each of my blogs, normal service will resume as on as possible!!