21/08/2007

(Almost Too) Hot Holiday

No.....I don't mean the weather. It's not much better here than the weather in England, maybe a little warmer and a little less wet but definitely not the Summer weather we're used to.

No....it was the house that very nearly went up in flames last Friday. We'd only been outside for about twenty minutes and we came back in to the house full of smoke and the curtain smouldering red. This actually burst into flames as Michael ripped it down and threw it outside. You know those little plastic "collars" that are fitted on some candle lightbulbs? Well one of these had become slightly mis-shapen over the years, was too close to the light bulb and had started to melt and eventually began to burn the nearby curtain. We had a very lucky escape as another few minutes and the curtain would have set alight and then the whole house would have gone too. A lucky escape but a very unsettling experience.


The sparkly flashings in my eye have got much better and in fact I rarely see them now so that's one worry made less. My blood pressure....well it went down from the real high at the hospital although it's still a lot higher than usual but at least I'm not obsessively checking it every half hour or so; in fact the last two weeks I've had very painful sinusitis so maybe that would cause my bp to be up so I'm not checking it at all until I actually feel completely well.

My French medical vocabularly has increased quite spectacularly this holiday and is still doing so with dentistry terms being added after DH's filling fell out and was ignored until he needed an urgent dental appointment for a nasty abcess....painkillers, antibiotics and mouth wash....

Thanks to Piglottie, Christina, Knitting's Nice, Probably Jane and gilraen for your comments and well wishes. They're much appreciated.

But look - we have been doing some "normal" holiday things as well!!

These are pictures of the nearby little town of Langeais and its chateau.





I shall have some finished items to show you next time but for now here is the start of "Florence" fromRowan Classic Art. When the yarn I'd ordered from Angel Yarns arrived I had to start it straight away.

I's the first "shrug" I've knitted and I'm having trouble believing that my rectangular piece of knitting will look anything like the picture in the book but it will soon be finished and then I'll know!

The colour is "Tang" which is much more limey green than the photo shows.


And let me leave you with this lovely field of wild flowers

Lots of these have appeared this year by the fieldful around us. I can't imagine they are completely wild but they are very pretty and what I'd like is some of the seeds to make my own patch. I've bought wild flower seed packets in the past but with no results like these.

4 comments:

Piglottie said...

Oh my! Sounds a very scary experience indeed, and I'm just glad no serious damage was done (to people or property). I think my blood pressure would be going crazy under such circumstances, but I'm glad you are doing OK. I'm sure trips to such beautiful places like Langeais and its chateau, and look at stunnind wildflowers should help.

Emily said...

Sorry you've had such a hard holiday, Kathryn. And glad things are looking up...

Thanks for the comment on my stole - I love it, and have been wearing it lots!

Hellbelle said...

The fire sounds scary. So pleased to read that there was not much damage to the house.

Hope you are feeling better soon too and enjoy your holiday.

Hx

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry to hear about the health problems that you've been having lately - I wish you all the very, very best and a speedy recovery too!
And my gosh, that shock with the house almost burning down sure didn't make things any better, did it? This has certainly been a close call, and I'm so happy and relieved to hear that nothing worse happened and no one was hurt!
Thank you so much for sharing these beautiful photos - this little town seems so calm and beautiful, I'd love to see it myself one day!