Summary – January to March 2025

Published on by Mélodie

Last year I started to write these summaries blog posts every three months and I found it to be a nice exercise to realise actually how much things we managed to do every three months. So I have decided to continue writing them. I hope you like this type of post.

L’année dernière j’ai commencé à écrire des articles tous les trois mois qui résument ce que nous avons fait pendant ces mois-là. J’aime beaucoup cet exercise car cela me permet de me réaliser toutes les choses que nous faisons. J’ai donc décidé de continuer à les écrire. J’espère que vous aimez ce genre d’articles.

Read our wishes for 2025 and October to December 2024 summary here.

Ullswater lake, Lake District, Cumbria, England
Ullswater – Lake District March 2025

Personal Life:

Vie Personnelle:

We started the year with a visit from Matt’s parents, which was very nice. As the weather wasn’t so good we mainly stayed local to our house. We stilled managed a day out in Windermere area.

Nous avons commencé l’année avec la visite des parents de Matt, ce qui était très agréable. Mais vu que le temps n’était pas terrible nous avons principalement visité autour de la maison. Nous avons quand même réussi à passer une journée vers Windermere.

Then February and March were filled with several friends and neighbours birthday parties but also we celebrated Skye (4) then Matt (36) and Marcus (2) birthdays.

Puis février et mars ont été rempli d’anniversaires d’amis et voisins mais aussi des anniversaires de Skye (4), puis Matt (36) et Marcus (2).

Additionally, I have continued learning more about indoor plants, which is something I started end of last year. I always had a couple of plants in the house but the past 6 months, I decided to learn more about plants and bought several ones to decorate the house. I am really enjoying learning about the requirements of each plant and seeing them growing. I have around 50 in the house now. I have compiled a list of Youtubers that I watched regularly to learn more about plants, in case you are interested.

De plus, je continue à apprendre davantage sur les plantes d’intérieur, un hobby que j’ai commencé à la fin de l’année dernière. J’ai toujours eu un peu de plantes d’intérieur dans la maison, mais depuis ces derniers six mois j’ai décidé de vraiment m’intéresser aux plantes et j’ai en acheter plusieurs pour décorer la maison. J’aime beaucoup apprendre sur les besoins de chacune et les voir grandir. J’en ai environ 50 maintenant dans la maison. Je vous ai compilé une liste de Youtubers que je regarde souvent pour apprendre plus sur les plantes au cas où cela vous intéresse.

  • Marion Botanical (FR): Youtube channel here
  • Vie De plantes (FR): Youtube channel here
  • Le jardin de Romain (FR): Youtube channel here
  • Sheffield Made Plants (EN): Youtube channel here
  • The Jungle Haven (EN): Youtube channel here
  • The breaded plantaholic (EN): Youtube channel here
My little bar/plants corner in the dining room.

Walking:

Randonnées:

We had a very cold, windy and raining winter but we still managed to do some nice walks in the lake District or out of the national park and also along the beach.

L’hiver a été assez froid, venteux et pluvieux mais nous avons quand même réussi à faire quelques belles randonnées dans le parc national du Lake District, à l’extérieur du parc et le long de la plage.

Tarn Hows, Lake District National Park, Cumbria, England
Tarn Hows, Lake District National Park, Cumbria, England

Travelling:

Voyages:

We haven’t done a lot of travelling the past three months. However, we managed to visit our friends in Manchester during a weekend in February.

Nous n’avons pas beaucoup voyagé ces trois derniers mois. Mais nous avons réussi à aller voir aux amis à Manchester pendant un weekend de Février.

Read about our weekend in Salford Quays, Manchester here.

Salford Quays, Manchester, England
Salford Quays, Manchester, England

Blogging:

Blogging:

I have finally finished updating my blog. All the links have been fixed, all the maps updated, and all the blog posts have now the same two columns layout. I have also added links to download GPX and PDF of each walk present on the blog. The only thing I am still debating is to use either a static front page or a blog posts one (as I currently have). Any thought about this?

J’ai enfin réussi à mettre à jour mon blog. J’ai réparé tous les liens, mis à jour toutes les cartes et les articles qui sont tous maintenant écrit sous forme de deux colonnes. J’ai aussi ajouté les liens pour télécharger les fichiers GPX et PDF sur toutes les randonnées du blog. La seule chose que je suis en train de me demander c’est si je vais pour une page d’accueil fixe ou d’articles de blog (comme j’ai actuellement). Vous en pensez quoi?

I have also managed to write all the blog posts of the things we have done so far, which is quite nice to be up to date. Here the latest blog posts.

J’ai aussi fini d’écrire tous mes articles de blog sur les choses que nous avons fait, et c’est assez agréable d’être à jour. Voici les derniers articles.

Around Brouage village France
Around Brouage village France

Books:

Livres:

I am happy with my reading as I have managed to read a lot (for me) in the past three months. I read my first manga, which I have enjoyed and I have ordered more. I read / listen the following books (in reading order).

Je suis contente de ce début d’année car j’ai réussi à pas mal lire (pour moi) ces trois derniers mois. J’ai lu mon premier manga, qui m’a beaucoup plu et j’en ai d’ailleurs acheter d’autres. J’ai lu/ écouté les livres suivants (dans l’ordre de lecture).

  • Kilomètre zéro by Maud Ankaoua (FR)
  • Le Crime du comte Neville by Amélie Nothomb (FR)*
  • Beauty is a wound by Eka Kurniawan (EN)
  • Intimations by Zadie Smith (EN)
  • Ecole de la chair by Yukio Mishima (FR)
  • Small things like these by Claire Keegan (EN)
  • Magus of the Library Vol.1 by Mitsu Izumi (FR)*
  • Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (EN)*
  • La petite barbare by Astrid Manfredi (FR)

* My top 3 books

*Mon top 3 des livres

St Bees beach, Cumbria, England
St Bees beach

Blog discoveries:

Découverte de blogs:

Finally I am sharing some great blog posts written by fellow bloggers in the past three months.

Finalement je partage avec vous des articles de blogs que d’autres bloggers ont écrit ces trois derniers mois.

I am now looking forward to the spring months and to read all our adventures.

J’attends maintenant avec impatience le printemps et de lire toutes vos aventures.

Did you enjoy your winter months? Any books you recommend? Any new hobby you started recently?

Avez vous profité de votre hiver? Avez vous des livres à recommander? Avez vous commencé un nouveau hobby récemment?

Fort Boyard, France
Fort Boyard, France

Find all our adventures in UK here.

31 thoughts on “Summary – January to March 2025”

  1. Many thanks for the link, Melodie. I like to change my Header to match the post but I don’t always do it. Depends how you like the page to look. Sounds like a good year so far. You’ll be back in France in the summer? xx

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    1. You’re welcome Jo. We are not sure yet what we are going to do. We are still planning holiday 😁. Too many places I would like to visit so I don’t know what to pick.

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  3. I love your recap idea and I always love reading them too and finding new blog recommendations. I’m currently deciding what to do with my blog as I reach the image limits. If I pay, it gives me a chance to play with some different themes. I think for me, being primarily a blog, a blog page would workout better. I’d be worried if I had a static page people would be bored and click back to where they’d come from 😅 before even investigating further.

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    1. Thank you for your feedback, I agree it is nice to have a first page which changes regularly.
      Regarding your photos you might want to resize them so they are less heavy that will save you a lot of space and might mean you don’t need to pay for more website space.

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  6. C’est une belle idée d’article pour faire le point sur les mois qui viennent de s’écouler. Merci pour le lien 🙂Et je vais aller regarder de plus près les vidéos car j’aimerais avoir une ou deux plantes d’intérieur. Mais il faut que je trouve celles que mon chat ne va pas détruire car il n’aime pas ça. Je garde espoir d’en trouver au moins une qui ne l’intéresse pas 🙂Bonne semaine !

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  7. “…debating is to use either a static front page or a blog posts one…” We’ve tried both (and each has its pluses and minuses) and settled on the blog posts (versus the static) because we think that’s what people are most interested in seeing first. But a static page with some interesting stuff on it might be equally attractive.

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    1. Thank you for your feedback, this is my problem if I go with a static page I am not sure what to highlight on it that will attract people so I might stay with a blog page for now.

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  8. I love your little bar/plant corner in your dining room as it looks so cute and cosy. I don’t really have green fingers and most of the plants that come into my possession sooner or later die. Maybe I need to learn more about how to care for them as it could make a big difference. Also – thanks so much for mentioning my little travel blog in your post, it is very much appreciated. I have to check out the rest of your suggestions because there’s nothing better than finding new and inspiring blogs to follow. Thanks for sharing, and have a good day 🙂 Aiva xx

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  9. I always enjoy reading these sorts of posts. I used to write them too, and found they were a nice way of realising just how much I had done in a short space of time. I don’t make as much time for blogging now, but I started a ‘One Line a Day’ journal last summer and it is definitely helping me feel more positive about the little things in life. I love your plant corner. I need to look into plants that don’t mind shadier spots, as I find all of mine need to be in the front room in full sun to thrive! Thank you for the link to my blog. Glad you have enjoyed discovering Madeira through it 🙂

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    1. Thank you Rosie and I hope you will find more time to blog as you always have plenty of great adventures to share. Your idea of the journal is great, I have heard about it before, maybe I should try. You can find some plants that like shade.

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  11. That’s an impressive amount of house plants! Sounds like you had a lot to celebrate these past few months. I’m looking forward to the spring and warmer weather as well. Also – thanks for the shout out. Diving in Curacao seems so long ago now!

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  12. Je suis contente que l’hiver soit fini, je n’ai pas fait grand chose avec l’aménagement de la maison et le temps pas terrible. Mes envies de balade reviennent à grand pas et j’ai plein de plans pour le reste de l’année 😀

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    1. L’aménagement d’une maison prend du temps. Cela fait 4 ans que nous sommes dans la notre et j’ai encore des luminaires a acheter et autres petits trucs. Mettre des photos aussi et un peu de décoration.
      J’espère qu’avec le printemps tu iras profiter de la nature 😊

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  13. You’ve been busy! I’ve read Lessons in Chemistry too, but not the others. Lately, I’ve been trying to read a lot of Canadian Indigenous literature, I really enjoyed the Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters and Five Little Indians by Michelle Good.I’ve been following your blog for a while now, always reading the English side, but I think I should start challenging myself to read the French column first! My French is très mal, but I’d really like to get better!Would also love to see some of your plants if you ever want to share 🙂 I also have a small but growing collection (~30 or so).

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    1. Thank you very much for your comment. Canadian Indigenous literature sounds interesting, I should check the books you recommended.
      It is hard to learn/practice another language so I understand you. I am trying to practice my Spanish and always find something else to do 😊.
      I will put more photos of my plants in the next summary post then. I have ~30 as well, trying to learn about each of them before buying some more 🤣🤣. I am also testing the inorganic substrate instead of soil and self watering pot to see if that give enough humidity to my tropical plants such as my calatheas.

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      2. I have a calathea eternal flame that I bought with 4 flowers. Since I have it the flowers died and it did three new ones. So I am happy with that one. I also have a calathea orbifolia that is growing nicely. It regularly has new leaves coming out. So far so good with my calatheas. The one that was causing me so worry was my philodendron pink princess it wasn’t looking great when I got it last autumn but now it is starting to grow well and look very healthy so I am happy with it ☺️

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