Lunch at the Grand Balcon
Sunday we went to lunch at the Grand Balcon. It’s been open for over 100 years. The back of the wine list is an amusing page of little notes and signatures left by people who have eaten there. From Picasso to Fernandel to General de Gaulle. It was packed. They put us on the top floor by a window.
We ordered much too much food. The appetizer platter was enough for three people. No one told us we shouldn’t order two.
As we ate Mike asked me if there was anything I missed from Spain. I had to think a bit. I miss (and at the same time don’t miss) the attitude of Andalusian living. Slow, haphazard. Great fun at a summer party; not so nice if you have to call 10 times during a power cut for them to actually send someone to fix the problem. Everything here is very organized and strict, and done punctually.
In regards to the house, I miss my terrace corner. It was beyond special. Sun, rain, cold, day or night, it was always a wonderful place to sit. Glorious views of the garden.
One felt completely separate (and protected) from the outside world. Now we’re in a house in town, which is a very different experience. There’s a buzz, we see other homes, cars go by. I suppose one can’t have both things at the same time. Sometimes I think we should get a little cottage in the middle of a forest, maybe by a lake, to spend the occasional weekend- but I know Mike would have a heart attack if I even suggested it. I know he’s right in that we’ve got enough to do without having to worry about the upkeep of yet another house and garden.
I need to somehow create a corner that’s just as nice here. I think I’ll set that task aside for next March.
My Mazamet 
” . . . we’ve got enough to do without having to worry about the upkeep of yet another house and garden.” – Oh, you poor things, having such a demanding existence inflicted upon you. 😉
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😛 You try keeping windows this size clean and collecting dog doo-doo x 3 from the lawn every day 😛
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Mike may kill you if you suggest starting with another house. Maybe wait until you finish renovating the apartments to suggest it, he can only take so much at a time (I think). Of course by March, you may find yourself a “perfect corner” in the house, even though it’s in town.
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I’m sure I’ll find a way to make do here 🙂
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You’ll manage
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I know exactly what you mean: I once had a ‘corner’ of my own in a home nestled about 200 meters from the nearest road where I could sit and read or commune with nature comfortably in any weather at any time of the day or night throughout the year. I miss the sound of wind through the tops of the pines, the hooting of owls, and yammering of jays squabbling over the offerings from dozens of drooping hazlenut trees, the settling smell of damp loam carpeted in pine needles with a tinge of wood smoke hanging in the misty air, the light making textured shadows from a clear and clean deep blue sky.
It was a place I could center myself and think clearly yet see nature ongoing all around me. Oh, and it was beside and beneath an ancient yet robust Camillia ‘bush’ that was over 10 meters tall. When in bloom, a site to arrest the senses.
I miss my corner but have gained much by giving it up!
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That’s certainly the right way to look at it. I think I never really grew out of that 2 year old stage where one wants everything, and it must be now 🙂
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I don’t do windows but poop-patrol is exclusively mine – oh, what joy! And we have three dogs as well.
Quiet corner? Get a Wendy House with a small pond and surround it with a screen of Jasmine and honeysuckle.
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I do both, but Mike’ll change a roof tile or climb the big-big ladder which I won’t.
Wendy house sounds interesting. I think I might actually be able to convert a section of the old chicken coop into something like that 🙂
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My sister owns a beautiful cottage on a lovely, quiet lake. Unfortunately for me she lives 500km from me. It is much better to find someone else with a cottage than to worry about the cost and upkeep yourself. 🙂
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But then isn’t it a hassle to kill them and hide their body? 😀
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Pinky? Am I having a senior’s moment or was there one photo of the house showing a large glasshouse? If I’m not dreaming, I wonder if you could convert that into an indoor pool coz the /water/ is what’s missing from the new house. I didn’t realise it until I saw those pics of your ‘nook’. You need water…somewhere, somehow.
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There’s the glass greenhouse, but I’m using it for plants. But I think you’re right about the water. The blue-green colour of the pool was what filled the eye in that corner.
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Oh thank the gods, I really did wonder if I was going nuts. Anyway, perhaps you could put in a lake instead? With lots of water lillies. Frogs at night. Oh and some fish to eat the mosquito larvae…
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That would be wonderful… but we don’t have nearly enough land for that. The house is on just half an acre.
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You’ll find a way. If I’ve learned anything about you Pinky it’s that a) you’re determined and b) you think outside the box.
Have a wonderful New Year’s Eve when your turn comes! -hugs-
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Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I wondered why when you made your landscaping plan there was no pool. I just assumed you had enough pool at your previous home.
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We did!!! A pool is too much work, for what in our case is too little use. But I do like the idea of water somewhere. Just for the colour and the sound (in the case of a fountain)
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