The sun came out and chased the winter away so I tried out some winter wild swimming. We’ve had amazing sunrises and frosty mornings with glorious sunshine. We have even been lunching outside and chatting to our lovely neighbours in our very basic French. There is optimism in the air and it’s a great feeling.
Wild Swimming
To celebrate the bursting forward of spring I decided to join a wild swimming group and throw myself in a lake. The temperature was above zero (only just) and the air temperature was 12 degrees with a bit of breeze. Post swim the breeze had my teeth chattering for a good hour! A warm drink and a chocolate biscuit helped. This week’s swim at Lac de Lavaud-Gelade (without the breeze) was fabulous. I needed the exhilaration. This isn’t my first experience of wild swimming but it is my first winter swim. I feel alive, vibrant, and ready to push forward with the long journey of continued renovation.
What have we been up to? This week I’ve been working on a new introduction sequence for our vlog and we’ve bought some new pieces of video kit to help make the films a little more enjoyable for our viewers. It’s a small investment but really worthwhile. We bought a microphone and a wind cover for it. A selfie stick to produce steady images and a tripod with a light so you can see our indoor work a little clearer.
In the slides below you can see my progress on the kitchen fireplace, the pointing of the barn apex adjoining the house, and Simon’s first oak window frame with mortice and tenon joints. The kitchen fireplace is just a feature at the moment. We have no intention of opening up the chimney as we need all the space possible in the kitchen. We also have a rather large fire in the lounge so two fireplaces would be just greedy.
