Gites South Brittany

Injury: The long-awaited recovery has made sufficient progress for me to be able to return to work – after 4 months of being "on holiday", it will seem strange! I still have a very long way to go to regain all my range of movements and am visiting a different physio (kiné) 3 times a week (on the advice of my doctor, who was not at all happy with the original physio's treatment). I had 2 rounds of cortisone injections (infiltrations) into my shoulder and wrist.

I had developed frozen shoulder (épaule gelée or capsulite retractile) and also "algodystrophie" in my hand (I'm using the French here, as I don't know the English medical term). After the injections I had to rest for a month. However, I regained quite a lot of movement just as a result of the cortisone itself.

House and Home: Another exciting event was the arrival of our shed! Well, OK it doesn't seem that exciting to you, but here you need planning permission. We now also have a sit-and-ride mower, which is making Paul's life much easier. He's like a kid with a new toy and is very happy that we had a wet summer, as this meant the grass continued to grow .....!

Gîtes: We have had a good season with our gîtes and our heads have grown bigger thanks to the wonderful, enthusiastic comments we have received from our customers in our Visitors' Book (Livre D'Or). I have, at last, got around to creating some French pages for our website – if you want to give your French a try, click on the French flag on our Front page on www.gitessouthbrittany.com and enjoy!

For wildlife enthusiasts I have improved our "Local Wildlife" page, in order to make it easier to read. Again we have been very encouraged by the reaction of our visitors, who greatly appreciate our "local knowledge" – helping them to access the wildlife they hope to see more easily.

Sailing: Last weekend we sailed out to sea and visited a small island just off the coast of the Loire Atlantique. This was a big adventure, which necessitated passing through the barrage (a lock). Otherwise, we have used our boat a lot less this year – just a few trips along the river – due to both the weather and my injury.

Dogs: Gracie and Ficelle are amazing us with their ability to learn new tricks. We have begun using the "clicker" method and they can now spin, roll, walk backwards on hind legs (front would be a bit too much to ask!!!), give left or right paw, high 5, bark on command, weave between our legs, circle our legs (forwards for the moment) and sit-up-and-beg. Our aim (notre but) is to put all this together to music! Ficelle has proved herself to be a natural. Gracie still has the upper paw when it comes to Agility though and we now have an "A Frame" and a very smartly painted course.

We also took them along to a Border Collie day near Dinan, where we could test their aptitude for herding. I was extremely proud of Gracie, who, faced with a herd of sheep (brebis) (she was off the lead), showed how well brought-up she is and refused to chase around after them. Unfortunately, the organisers saw things differently and instructed their sheep-dogs to herd the sheep towards us and around us to try and encourage her natural instinct – when she steadfastly continued to walk to heel (like a good dog) they gave up on her, shaking their heads! Ficelle? Well Ficelle is Ficelle – enough said! For those of you who don't know her personally, she is "têtue" – headstrong – and although she, at first, remembered her training, her brain worked out that "All the other dogs are having grrrrrreat fun chasing those sheep and no-one has told them off! Yippeeeeee! Here I go!" This pleased the organisers greatly, even when one of the sheep jumped the fence and ran off towards the car park with Ficelle in hot pursuit! Give her her due, she did stop and lay down when I whistled (organisers most annoyed with me for interfering – sorry, but I didn't want my dog or the sheep out on the road!). Another "helpful" chap then carried on the chase with his dog – result a lost sheep (in adjacent field of sweet corn) for 20 minutes!!! Oh well, they did want her to show her natural instincts and that's what they got!