family time and france

balloons above the roofline

its been so special to be able to share some much needed family time with those we love here in England, as we've previously posted some of our nearest and dearest are going through some tough times at the moment. Maz' mum has successfully completed a course of chemotherapy and undergone a major operation to over come some cancer cells, my (Tim's) mum has endured the invasive surgery to remove her right hip and replace with a brand new titanium model and Maz' dad is going into hospital at the end of this week to find out whats causing him so much discomfort as well.

eli looking for the balloons!

that said we have had chance to spend time with two of our sons and their wives or girlfriends as well as our three wonderful grandchildren. this time started with a trip down to Bristol to visit Chris and Claire who were house sitting for some friends who were away on holiday and what a house it was too. we enjoyed

noni and claire filling up the pool

playing football in the large garden, fully equipped with 'real goals' which was a hit for me and Alfie (our eldest grandson) who is completely crazy about football, the weather was warm enough to fill up the paddling pools (for the children of course) and we even had a braai on a throw away BBQ which was a feat in itself.

and it's all over!

on our journey down we listened transfixed to test match special where we heard the clatter of Australian wickets on the first morning of the fourth test. incredibly it was all over in 18.3 overs with the tourists making a paltry 60 all out which led to an england win by an innings and 78 runs.

more balloons

what with all the fun time the best part of the weekend must have been the fact that we timed the visit perfectly with the Bristol international balloon fiesta which was held in the grounds the Ashton Court estate just down the road. each morning Maz made sure that we were all up early (like 6.45am which is early for us these days!) to see the multitudes of hot air balloons literally sail (do balloons sail?) over the rooftop of the house. the mornings were all still and clear and it was a sight to behold as balloons of various shapes, sizes and colours made their regal way over our heads. the boys found the minion (was it called Stuart or Brian i can't remember) shaped balloon their favourite, mine was the more traditional ones flown by the french in the 1800's.

BBQ at cosh's

after leaving Bristol we wound our merry way up the M4 motorway towards the notorious M25 (the 117 mile ring road that circumnavigates London) where we sat with hundreds of other holiday makers on a sunny Sunday afternoon as we made our way to meet josh (our middle son) and his girlfriend who we were going on holiday with to her family home in south west France.

haddy and josh in france

our flight from Gatwick to Toulouse was uneventful however as we landed we were greeted by some hot sunny weather, something that we haven't experienced on many occasions during our English summer (although my sister seems to think that it's been the most barmy summer ever but since she's too young to remember the fantastic English summer of 1976 I'll have to forgive her).

Josh's girlfriend, Haddy, has a beautiful home set in rural France which her family has owned for around 20 years, most of the property is thirteenth century (and yes for all our friends from the USA, South Africa and Australia there are buildings and history in the thirteenth century) and built from local stone, some walls are over 1000mm thick and it's been restored to it's former glory by Haddy's mum who certainly has an eye for detail.

haddy's home!

we'd never visited south west France before but we were overwhelmed by the beauty of the area, sunflowers and maize filled the fields, unfortunately their heads bowed after a full summer of sunshine, the tiny roads linked small villages which invited one in to explore their medieval streets lined with family owned shops selling their wares to the locals who make their visit to the butchers or bakers each and everyday.

fresh fish at the market

the feel of the place is something that we seem to have lost in England, our high streets are littered with chain stores with bland or even boarded up shopfronts with superstores enticing people to part with their hard earned cash in their out of town warehouses packed with every item required by the modern English family. in France we enjoyed walking round the local market with our senses overwhelmed by the plethora of brightly coloured and locally produced fruits and the smells of fresh meats and fish all displayed on unstable rickety tables.

we enjoyed a couple of meals out, sharing fantastic french cuisine in town squares and tiny restaurants perched on hill top towns, but we mostly cooked at home, enjoying a BBQ with some family friends sitting under shooting star filled skies and supping locally produced wine.

local produce for lunch

in fact i celebrated my 48th birthday on the Thursday and since France has been producing wine since the sixth century we were eager to visit a couple of local boutique vineyards who were offering wine tasting. the Cahors appellation is famous for the use of the Malbec grape (which is one of the six grapes used in the Bordeaux blends) and is my favourite grape varietal, recently it has become a grape synonymous with Argentina due to it's love of hot sunshine but any red wine produced in the Cahors appellation has to have a minimum of 70% Malbec and is often blended with Merlot which suits my pallet beautifully.

wine tasting on tim's birthday

it was great to chat to the winemaker, hear about their methods and talk about the recent vintages and the best ones to look out for, it certainly was an eye opener and has led us to discuss planting some vines on haddy's land!

after an incredible thunderstorm Dan (Trefor and Mandy's son) and his girlfriend Lucy joined us on Friday and on the Sunday morning we woke early to venture further afield to enjoy an afternoon kayaking down the river L'aveyron, the 12km trip took us around 4 hours to complete, setting off from St-Antonin-Noble-Val we meandered between high cliffs gently down the river, over man made weirs and natural rapids which kept us alert.

beautiful france

as always time flies too fast and unfortunately our week long holiday was over too quickly but as josh dropped us at the airport for our return flight to England we were already planning our next visit to this wonderful part of the world.

(we've updated our reading list on the right hand side of the 'home page' and would inform you of the current Podcasts that we are listening to.

Rob Bells - Robcast
Richard Rohrs - Homilies 
Dr Gary Stevens - History in the Bible
and Pete Holmes - You made it weird)

home is where the heart is.....

stunning sunset setting

it's really hard to know how to start this latest blog post as much of what we are going to be updating is basically normal life that we knew prior to us moving out to South Africa in 2008 and although we have been blessed with annual trips home it has to be said life in England has moved on and feels different to that which we left in 2008.

since arriving back from the Caribbean last Friday we have had the opportunity to catch up with some friends and family and so we hope that this post will give you a flavour of the times we have enjoyed back in our homeland.

maz and mandy enjoying some tidy up time

our base for this part of our journey has been with our good friends Trefor and Mandy who, with their family, have made it very easy for us to settle back in, their laid back approach to life certainly helps to give us the space we need to get our heads around some of the bigger questions that our filling our thoughts and they continue to be the blessing to us as we take this time of reflection and planning. it has also been great just to muck in with some daily tasks, such as a bit of gardening, but with the freedom to come and go as we please and we are truly thankful for their ongoing support.

marianne pampering maz!

There have been many highlights during the last week, from the opportunity to meet up with some old friends who we shared life with via our home groups that we led prior to us taking up God’s call for us to set up and run the Village of Hope to us having chance to enjoy one of the traditional English staple foods which we so miss when we are away….what food we hear you ask? The Great British Indian takeaway of course!

man on a mission

We enjoyed a quick trip up to London for a meeting and had the chance to wander down to Marble Arch and the West End of Oxford Street and Maz was also able to get her haircut, the first since we left South Africa in February, hasn’t she done well.

It was a blessing to visit our friend Marianne who pampered us for the morning at her beauty salon and even a visit to Milton Keynes shopping centre was not as bad as we had both feared.

perfectly braiied ribbetje

On Thursday evening I (Tim) was able to share my braai (think BBQ but over a full evening not a flash on a gas grill and run into the house to escape the cold and wet English weather which so many English people think is a braai) skills which were honed in Grabouw. Dave and Suzanne had visited us with their family a couple of years ago and were keen to bring back some good memories of just chilling, maybe even ‘Liming’ (see previous posts here!), around a fire, cooking food (including some lamb ribbetje, inspired by Jannie Wiegman Easter Braai a couple of years ago )and enjoying each others company. We were blessed with some unusually warm weather and a long twilight which eventually turned to darkness about 10pm.

liming at the braai....

alternative route for walkers

Whilst Maz enjoyed being pampered at the hairdressers I had the chance to take a longish walk in the beautiful countryside which surrounds our home town, the Chiltern Hills are such a haven of peace and it was great to spend some time with my Dad just walking some of the old paths that we’d enjoyed in my youth. In fact we walked part of the ancient path called the Ridgeway which is claimed to be Britain's oldest road.

We had to laugh at a signpost which announced that it was an ‘alternative footpath for Walkers only’, that certainly speaks into our lives at the moment!

emma's home!

The week ended with a visit to see Emma Podmore at her stately home (she is currently enjoying a much needed break with friends at Stowe School which shares the same design as Buckingham Palace), Emma, like us, gave up her secure job in England to follow God’s call to come serve with us at the Thembalitsha Foundation, Emma is such a blessing and we enjoyed spending the afternoon with her walking around the stunning gardens and having a bite to eat at the National Trust restaurant.

huffing and puffing

Over the weekend we were able to celebrate Maz’ Dad’s birthday a couple of weeks early as we will be away on the day and then spend the evening watching one of the most traditional English events, yup 'The Eurovision Song Contest', this surreal musical event brings back so many memories of our childhoods that we couldn't resist the chance to really immerse ourselves into the 'Euro culture' we have missed during our time in Africa. well done to Sweden who won for the sixth time, with a catchy song however we don't feel that this act will go on to replicate their 1974 winners success, ABBA, remember them? at least the entry from Great Britian got a few votes and beat those from France and Germany, but finished behind the Austrialian entry (we thought this was supposed to be an all European event!)

On Sunday afternoon we were joined by our middle son Josh and his girlfriend Haddy, amongst others, for a wonderful meal which was cooked by Trefor and Mandy 

selfie with josh and haddy

Finally at the end of that long list we must say that our week has been a total blessing with little to get up for and the opportunity to relax together, this was highlighted one afternoon as we got onto the trampoline (which sits in the garden) and took time to be still and stare into the sky, which at the time seemed so still and empty, however the longer we looked up the more activity we noticed, the sky was simply full of things buzzing around, huge aeroplanes either starting or ending their flights into the International airports of Heathrow or Luton, smaller planes and helicopters travelling more locally, Swifts and Swallows gliding and screeching above the stable yard, Red Kites and Kestrels hovering and then diving over the hills, tiny bees busying themselves with their pollen collection, and the sky filled with majestic clouds of all shapes and sizes. We have entitled this post ‘home is where the heart is’ and it must be said that England is a hard place to beat……

…..’to be in England in the summertime with my love’.