And, Just Like THAT, We’re in Lockdown Again

Here we go again. We had planned to depart for the house in Spain next weekend, after taking care of a lot of fall chores around the house, a few medical appointments, and some social engagements. We were planning to stay there until the end of April.

Then earlier this week, certain autonomous communities in Spain (that we usually drive through en route) started closing their borders. That’s okay, we’ll just take a different route. Then talk of France making an announcement to reinstate the lockdown moved fast and here we are, instantly in our first full day of quarantine.

With the Covid numbers from last weekend, I had a feeling this was going to happen and mentally started preparing myself that the Spain trip was going to have to wait. And I’m fine with that. Given the choice of whether to be in lockdown in Spain or in France, I choose France. Our French house is fully equipped and I have lots of work to keep me busy in the garden, I can keep the Etsy shop open, and I have all my art supplies, sewing machine, and potting shed crap to keep me busy (not to even MENTION getting back to my French lessons!!!)

And the house in Spain, well, it still needs finishing touches and ‘infrastructure.’ And being in lockdown does not facilitate either of those tasks. So rather than sit there with the sunshine and the beautiful view of the Med, and twiddle my thumbs, I will gladly stay in France for a while.

Both Theo and I celebrated birthdays in October, mine was my sixtieth (somehow when I spell it out, it doesn’t seem so big!) We had some super gatherings with friends including too much food, lots of good wine, and some belly-splitting laughter. Life is good.

It’s been a year since we lost our little Alfie man. And I must admit, that although we agree that we want to travel and have some freedom, with the continuing lockdown situation, it drives us both to want to move ahead and add some new furr life again to the Loevenich household. On that note, I have a little story…

I found something so cute when we did some repairs for a ‘little’ house catastrophe. But first, the story of the project. When we renovated the house five years ago, in the master bedroom wing, I put down beautiful thick solid oak hardwood floors in the dressing room, the hallway, and the bedroom. Over time, the middle of the floor in the dressing room (which is a large room about 10 x 21 feet) started to bow. Was it damp underneath? Did they lay it without any room to expand and contract? What the heck? Well, after talking with several different contractors, a good friend finally worked out that there was a problem in the way the shower drain in the adjoining master bath had been installed. Once all that gorgeous solid wood flooring came up, there was a clear path where there had been a slow leak all these years.

Since we were putting down new flooring during the renovation anyway, channels were cut into the foundation to run all the new plumbing (I relocated the washer and dryer into this room). Eventually the cutouts were filled with concrete. Looking closely, I saw little paw prints in the concrete and knew instantly that they were Alfie’s. And I could just picture his little doggie brain at work…thinking “Mom told me not to step on that wet concrete, but if I run REALLY fast, it won’t count, right???” It brought both tears to my eyes and a smile to my face. It’s so cute to know that his little print will forever be part of this house. Hidden, but part of this house.

And I’ll leave you with this photo of me, which was inspiration for my 60th birthday party invitations. This was my mom’s all-time favourite photo of me. I was 2 years 4 months old. The dress was a midnight blue cut-velvet fabric with petticoat of eyelet made by my mom. I’m sure I was telling her some crazy story when she took the photo. Gotta love those chunky little legs and dirty sadlle shoes!