More Spooky Stuff in Brittany... This time my Mother in Law finally made it out there!

So here's a mystical blog/post from Micki...

My mum never came out to our beautiful farmhouse in Brittany. She always used to say " I’ve been to France” (with the implication that she never wanted to again!)…and would sometimes follow it up with "Anyway...I don't like the French!" at which Chris would often say... "That's great - because neither do the Bretons!" And, to be honest, Brittany is not at all like the rest of France and I think she realised by denying herself trips with us that she had missed out on many things that we are certain she would have loved. We used to regale her with stories of what we were doing, places we had visited and how lovely the lakes, the seaside and all the forests are. 

When I was a child we used to live in a wonderful Queen Anne cottage in West Chiltington, in Sussex, with a beautiful garden & paddock and - our house in Brittany has a similar charm, feel and character and a wonderful feeling of peacefulness…. where summers are about hollyhocks, wisteria, where suppers are enjoyed in the garden, barbecues and evening drinks enjoyed in the open air and autumns and winters mean Chestnuts roasting in a pan on the wood-burner and at Christmas time its log fires are pretty perfect... especially when there is snow on the ground outside.

We've always known that Le Ros is blessed with spirits of those passed and the presence of what our Breton neighbour, Jean Noel, calls "Le Fantome!"... so, for it to be a comfortable environment for our own family members - those who have passed over, should be no surprise...

Mum died in April 2015 and not long afterwards we went to Brittany for our usual 2 week stint of renovation, gardening and maintenance - mixed with the attendant relaxation and exploration of general enjoyable stuff. On one day I was totally absorbed in what I was doing.. and felt very relaxed. I went from the lounge through to the dining room/kitchen and suddenly felt very warm - like walking through a greenhouse in the sunlight... whereas Le Ros, inside the house, is hardly ever like that… so warm that I felt my arm and thought that it was odd… turned round and went back and my other arm felt warm… Wondering what was going on, I realised that I was passing mum’s lovely old carriage lamp. The lamp was cool but I was convinced that she was sending me a message.

A few months later (again in Brittany) we had friends round for supper and, after the meal, we all sat in front of the roaring log burner, nicely relaxed and having a glass of wine, music playing quietly in the background - and a easy banter about this and that... when, out of nowhere, something flew across the room and landed at our feet. Sounds quite implausible already, I know. But Chris bent down and retrieved whatever it was that had stopped the conversation so abruptly. It was an open packet of Setlers (antacid tablets).  This might not sound remarkable in itself if you thought that they may have rolled off the table or the mantlepiece for example.... but we don’t use Setlers and did not have any at the house as far as we knew - but, what was remarkable was that before mum died and most often when we used to visit her in the nursing home - on what was to become a virtually daily basis…whenever we asked her what she needed - what she might want the next time we visited... she would only ever say one or other of just a very few things... a lipstick say, or a sausage roll. But almost always she would ask for a packet of Setlers - principally because she didn't enjoy the food in there and knew she would need something to settle her stomach after meals. We did not talk about this phenomenon any more than in passing that evening because our friends were there and probably would not have understood what on earth we were on about or our reaction to it. But, after they left we talked about it at length and became convinced that it was mum’s way of letting us know she was there after all and that she was OK! She was quite mischievous and would have delighted in causing a stir and knowing that we knew she was there too....
Micki Slade

During this year (2018, the year I started painting) I have done a portrait of Micki's mum... It's good to have her around! - Again!!). See also: http://chrisslade.blogspot.com/2018/08/ive-started-painting-but-is-it-me.html