Settling in to Cambourg and the web

I have been in my tiny flat in the château for five months now and it feels as if I have always been here. It suits me very well because I have very little furniture and my prized beautiful things are all quite small.

It's getting cold now and I wear very thick clothes all the time but I don't mind that and once in a while I light a huge log fire.

My friends the Corre-Duparcs came for a week last month and stayed in the village (they are both rather large and it would have been very crowded if they had stayed with me). Dear Annette helped me with my computer and showed me how to put pretty things in my journal: it does look nice now, doesn't it?

By the way, the picture at the top of the left-hand column, The Mother of God of Tolga, is a realistically painted icon encased in a silver-gilt riza with cloisonné enamel halo, and champleve enamel title plaque. The riza is richly decorated with glass beads and simulated rubies and diamonds. It was made in Moscow around 1895.

It's only 27 x 22 centimetres so would fit very nicely in one of my tiny rooms, but needless to say I don't own such a precious thing!