Life and failure 

There can never be enough cat content 🙂

Weeds like that can be eradicated by spraying them with dishwashing soap, vinegar and water. They'll turn brown in a day or two and blow away with the wind or you can use a blower to blow into a pile.

I very much appreciate the beautiful, calm, cat content. I have always found those who dislike cats have never had a cat. A loss for them. Such sweeping countryside views-wow! Your kitchen is eye-candy!

Few people have the courage to do what you and Olaf have done.. may you always find the inspiration to inspire others .. thanks for sharing your journey.. more cats please 🐈 😊

I love how you use the words "keeper of this property". I consider myself a steward of my 100 year old home and property.

nice videography, perfect Sunday morning video

Thank you so much for posting this beautiful and healing video! Your sentiments are right on, and oh Calico is so beautiful and full of personality!

Loved this video. Taking in what each day has to offer is so very often overlooked. I give you so much credit for doing what you do. Not being afraid to take the journey- it pays off with so many rewards.

Love your cat! 😻

Beautifully said. Know that you have created your own reality, and that is certainly a definition of success. Whether you prefer dogs or cats, how can anyone not smile at this beautiful animal being utterly content with the simplest of things....sleeping on a table by her human, rolling in the gravel, lying in the sun. We as humans could learn a LOT from animals about slowing down and savoring life's little moments and pleasures.

Pour hot water on those weeds, it will kill them I also use cardboard under my gravel to block the weeds. The cardboard does disintegrate but it keeps them in check. If people don't like cats then they have never owned one as they are such great gifts and great for the soul.

Thank you for spending time with your cat...it brought back wonderful memories of my cat Leo the Lion! I once heard that the Hopi Indians have a saying, "If you're in a hurry, slow down." It's the art of Being. Your cat is a beautiful example of this! I'm so happy you and your family are embracing this lifestyle. It is very rewarding. ❤

The little stripes under her chin are sooo cute

I am a psychotherapist in Texas. I so appreciate the “realness” that you are willing to share with the world. I think it’s validating for people to hear, both about wonderful things, and about not-so-easy things. It normalizes life helps us all recognize where we make ourselves crazy in trying to be so perfect all the time. Just being honest with what’s here,… that’s really healing on it’s own. I know you’ve answered this question million times, but could you please tell me the brand of your oven? Love, Paige

Thank YOU for the time you put into making such sweet videos. The laundry on the line, the flowers, the clouds are so peaceful and calming. It is understandable why you enjoy this life and I love spending time with you. And your sweet cat.

I adore cats ! Your girl is beautiful and so loving and follows you about almost like a dog.

How true your words of encouragement. Life is for living and we can all count our blessings. We moved to France six years ago and have found such peace and enjoyment in our every day life. Thank you for your inspiration.

Filming was beautiful. Enjoying each day and the quiet moments. 🙏

Lovely terrace! Weeds are a lot of work no matter where you live. Love the kitties ❤️❤️❤️

Beautiful video thankyou

Thank you for such a beautiful video, for taking the time to make it, and for having the courage to share your life, wisdom and home with us. That is one lucky cat for sure! I’m not sure what you didn’t like about the gnocchi - it looked really delicious!

There are ups and downs...but what you created with olaf is extraordinary and inspiring! Nice and slow week Marloes !

Love yr cat. Hear her purr. Luv all of yr videos. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

What a precious, timely little video! I am going to have my daughter watch this with me. It speaks to much of what she is going through and your words I know will comfort and inspire her. Thank you for being so transparent and real!

You always bring peace with you when you make a video. It is worth watching just for the beautiful scenery and calming music. Thanks for sharing your daily life and thoughts.

HELLO FROM MEXICO, MERCI BEAUCOUP

Cats are wonderful and so is your channel 🥰

For the weeds at the terrace, just use 75% concentrated vinegar spray on the area and give it a couple days to die

Beautiful and so authentic 🥰🥰

Your cat is a true beauty☀️

To begin with, I retired from teaching secondary school English in Canada 10 years ago. Since then, I have learned the absolute luxury of the lack of stressful due dates to get marking done and marks submitted several times a year. It is bliss. Secondarily, I am the proud mum of two wonderful male felines who allow me to live in their house in which they have several beds which they rotate on a constant basis and where they demonstrate sleeping as an art form. Soooo relaxing. I have only recently discovered your channel and I must say I love the relaxed pace that you use when cooking or gardening or doing whatever strikes your fancy. No frenetic “We need to get this done … NOW!” Sort of thing. Gentle pace. Gentle music. Lovely. To address your weeds. This works for me for between flagstones in my garden. Easy and environmentally friendly. 4 litres of vinegar 1 1/4 -11/2 cups Epsom salts 1/4 cup dish detergent Mix. I buy the big containers of vinegar, empty out some in a bowl, add the salts and detergent. Mix like crazy and put some into a spray bottle. Once there is a bit more room in the large container, I replace the bowled vinegar. Then spritz away at the weeds. Within a day you will see the ensuing death of the weeds. It works every time! Again, thanks so much for the calming element of your vlogs.

Through my eyes.. you have a beautiful successful life. One to be envied. Beautiful video and your cat purring was everything!

It takes guts to follow your dreams. But first you must have dreams.🙏🏽❤️

Beautiful video. Thank you

Your cat is so lovely!

It is so very weird but everyone I follow on RU-vid has cats like I do. Love your channel.

Kitty's gorgeous. I hope you're feeling better today, you're amazing and so talented, keep it up, thankyou xx

Perfectly stated Marloes! It is a lifestyle, life long lifestyle. Thank you for the mention, fros bisous! Do you recall what ours looked like after a month away? 😮You'll have to get deep in there and dig up the weed root. It helps a lot. It's amazing how well your hydrangeas held up! Enjoy the transitions of the cycles of life through fall!

I love watching your content. So very relaxing. When I close my eyes and imagine my perfect life, it very much resembles yours.

I love your cat it reminds me of growing up we always had a cat

So peaceful, so beautiful, so wise. Merci Bien 🌷✨🙏

Another wonderful video. Thank you so much for your honesty and your perspective on life. I'm very grateful for your videos and I'm so glad, I've found your channel.

I love your video's. It's Sunday evening where I am, what a perfect way to end my weekend! Thank you for all if the beautiful images.

A peaceful, simple life, so rewarding. Thank you for sharing.

beautiful video :) the first minutes really reached my soul :)

I enjoyed your reflections Marloes......and your beautiful garden and countryside. I am always satisfied after dealing with the weeds. A bit like doing the vacuuming after a week of putting it off. Thank you.

Lovely. Nature shows us that there are seasons to our life. She is quiet simply so wise. Wonderful vlog.🌹

Thank you

Love your cat!

This was a beautiful video with so much wisdom.

What a beautiful soothing video. I love the way your kitchen turned out! So beautiful. For the weeds, pour hot boiling water on them and it will kill them. Your whole property is beautiful ❤️ Failure is only failure if you don't learn from your mistakes. You either go through trials or you grow from trials. You are living my dream life, but I would add horses, chickens, sheep and goats. Thank you for sharing your beautiful tranquil life. Bendiciones

Merci beaucoup, que Dieu vous benise❣️🥰💕🙏🏻💕

I like your creative expression of calmness in your garden and sky shots accompanied with gentle music, and, at the same time, acknowledging the work necessary to keep your property up. I also have a large property which comes with weed management. Olaf’s raking of the patio weeds is similar to the way I weed my gardens with a three pronged cultivating tool and is effective in easily exposing the tiny white roots of the weed to the wilting sun. But … my most effective way to remove weeds from my gravel driveway is with road salt. If you intend the area to always be gravel, the application of salt once a year sours the soil and discourages the weeds. Sprinkle the road salt after the weeds have significantly shown themselves. I leave it for the rain to dissolve. It’s a winning treatment.

I use a sprayer full of vinegar to kill weeds among the rocks in my yard. It’s bio friendly, except for the weeds, of course.

I am not sure if they sell these in France, but in America, we have little garden blowtorches. You simply hold over the weed and it scorches and dies off. Very easy. We got one because I want to put down pea gravel as a patio, but am so afraid of the army of weeds. However, if this is not an option, I agree with those who have mentioned coarse salt and vinegar! That should help a lot! I think many people can relate to what you have said. Life is definitely a journey, and try as we might, we usually won’t get everything done in the day that we need to. We must simply do what we can each day, and if we do everything for the of love of God, it will be pleasing.

I keep the weeds reduced on my gravel by spraying it with vinegar.

It’s a lovely life style

lové

you popped in unexpectedly after a day of many failures, the biggest being letting my body set the limits of living with myasthenia gravis.6 yrs in and I still believe I should be able to clean, fix and unfixable faucet, go to the store and actually think purchases through... I have to go back. 8 mi of driving was absolutely too much this afternoon. Seems impossible to restore this 120 yo house but like you I can't think of anywhere I would rather be(in the US) can think of many places in the world but the mere idea of travel throws me into bed. So I will go now and let the 3 cats snuggle me to sleep while dog guards the door

Dank je Marloes voor deze video. Het kwam.precies op het goede moment. Onze manier van leven is een keuze. Doe wat je kunt en dat ia genoeg. Iedere vakantie in Frankrijk kijken we in de etalage naar huizen. En ieder jaar besluiten we : nog niet. Ondertussen proberen we langzamer te leven in Nederland. We verbouwen onze boerderij naar twee huizen. We wonen heerlijk, hebben geen haast. Het komt goed. Maar met die prachtige beelden van jou... toch wat heimwee naar Frankrijk.

I ended up in wheelchair after a serious illness. It's also finding a different way to get up, not physically but mentally.

Your words have inspired me today. Now, the weeds: Do you have a black fabric weed barrier underneath? It's non-toxic and works pretty well. Also, I have seen people use a certain implement that is like a hoe with targeted burning at the end of it to zap the weeds -- this too is a completely natural process.

What a lovely inspiring video. Your life looks wonderful. Second the more cat content ;-)

What a beautiful home and life you have created. I would trade places with you in a minute.

Use salt and vinegar on your weeds 😊

So lovely. Can you tell me what type of stone is covering your terrace?

Use this on your weeds- it works but it must be on a sunny day: How to make homemade weed killer. To make homemade weed killer, stir together 1 gallon of vinegar, 1 cup of salt, and 1 tablespoon of dish soap. Pour it into a spray bottle and thoroughly spray the weeds. This solution is most effective when it's applied while weeds are actively growing

Concerning the weed in the gravel, did you put geotextile underneath? If so, a minimum 5 cm (2") layer of gravel will avoid the roots to find enough soil to grow and 'the Olav method' will do the job if you do it on a weekly basis. It's called 'griesselen' in Brabant, one of the Dutch departments, and typically you do it every Saturday 😉

I was very inspired by this video and quite surprised that you have physical challenges. You get so much done and seem to have so much energy! Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you solved your window privacy issue. While living in France myself I developed a solution to attain privacy but at the same time maintain the visual space that I would lose needing privacy but at the same time not wanting to lose the 15 or so inches that the thickness of the stone wall measured. I reproduced the same thing here in California,. Is there a way I could send a cell phone text with photos? It would be easier to explain?

Thank you for sharing this video and the realness of it. I was very keen on having a summer house in France but was put off by the amount of taxes involved. Would you be able to share your experience of owning a property in France maybe 😁?

Hello there from NZ love your life in France. Have you thought of mixing up organic weed spray for weeds in your court yard.

We use boiling water to kill weeds between paving stones ….probably work in your gravel as well just a couple of bits a day goes a long way………

Course salt is a great natural weed killer. Especially in places where you don't plan to grow anything. 🙂 Boiling water too, but I'm always afraid I'll hurt some poor little unsuspecting insect.

🥰🇨🇦

Marloes, please spirncle salt water on the weeds on the gravel

Have your thought of writing a cookbook with illustrations? I think it would do very well.

Hello. I've just found your interesting blog. What is it you do? You said you have your own business. By the way, your home is lovely.

I heard that by spraying weeds with white vinegar they died.

What is not fast and efficient in France ?

Why do you say your life now is less efficient?

Thank you