While Jacky was working on the driveway, his partner, Marthe, and Anne (of Anne and Philippe – les Belges) called by for a coffee. Both painters, with their works already displayed in my sitting room and in Jude and Ed’s house, they came bearing gifts. Each had, independently, thought of giving me a painting. I was very touched, but don’t know why I deserved them. They are good friends and really nice women.
Anne, who is in her fifties, has taken early retirement so that she and Philippe can spend most of the year at their house here rather than in Brussels. Their daughter, Charlotte, who lives in the village of Arphy, is expecting her first child in May. Anne is looking forward to being a hands-on granny. Philippe, who is still the artistic director of his circus feria musica , the Belgian equivalent of Cirque du Soleil, plans to retire very soon.
