We survived!

That might sound a bit glib, but the recent prolonged and severe heatwave has proved to be fatal to some and it will be a while before the figures for premature, heat related deaths is known.  Already hospitals, morgues and funeral directors are overwhelmed, and the full impact is not yet felt.  But on Friday the heat was less - it is extraordinary that we felt such respite as the temperatures fell from about 43 degrees down to "just" 38 or so.  We even went out on a jaunt to Chinon!

All the cats got through this round of heat, although one is suspected of falling out of a window, as he was sprawled on the window ledge.  He might have jumped deliberately, but that would be even more silly.  The Boys in the Country conned us into grooming them extensively to remove the winter floof that remained, and they couldn't be bothered to rub off in long grass.  This is the aftermath of grooming two barn cats over three days - I could have needle felted a new cat from all of this!

Among the house cats, while Rebus managed to find cool places in the garden (and on window sills), Zola (the fluffiest) suffered, lying dramatically across door entrances to catch a hint of air movement.  Poirot, being old and wise, just spread herself along a cool, hard surface and exposed her belly to whatever fan happened to be nearest.

We let the chickens out each morning and they found deep cover under shrubs and trees and laid smaller eggs than normal, so seem to be OK.

In the kitchen garden, the "soft" herbs have suffered quite badly with the sorrel burnt back, the dill going to seed and the chives fading.

However the Mediterranean style vegetables have quite liked the conditions and are carrying fruit.  The pumpkins have grown hugely but it is too hot for female flowers, and the cucumbers are happy now they have support to climb up their tower, again it is too hot for female flowers at the moment.

The cristophine vine is less convinced, as it is a tropical plant rather than Mediterranean or desert, and growing tips have been fried off.

In the wildflower Meadow, the blue spectrum flowers (mainly marjoram and scabious at the moment) are coming into their own, to the joy of pollinators of all kinds, who happily scoff while I watch, but as soon as the phone camera is out, disappear in their droves!

So how about us?  Our daily rhythm was severely disrupted, getting up about 3 hours before normal, eating a larger meal in the middle of the day and then resting like sticky, beached whales as near to a fan as possible (on Monday we bought the entire remaining stock of fans at Mr Bricolage to replace our broken ones).  We dealt with the Boys in the Country very early, so they could slope off into the undergrowth and find cool patches.  

In search of something useful, but not mentally taxing to do, I did bring in a trail camera that had been in a new position.  i thought the batteries might be used up and I was right as after 4 months, there were some 1,570 files on the SD card, and an initial view says they weren't all us.  To be honest I wasn't sure what we would find, but all the usual suspects are there: boar, deer, foxes, pine martens, pheasants, hares, badgers, lots of badger activity, coypu, squirrels, pigeons, hunters.  What has been rather nice, among the bits that I have looked at, is evidence of successful breeding.  If you look at this reel for example, you will see a youngster getting to grips with the trapeze set up its parents seem to enjoy.

I shared a photo a while ago of the fox cub by the kitchen garden.  Here s/he is with Mum.

The cub is quite well hidden but clearly has found something to nibble on - perhaps a nice, tasty slug?  You can see them better in this one.

Finally, here it is on its own at night, although I'm sure Mum was quite close by as this one actually predates the two daytime videos.

I am only a third of the way through triaging the content of the trail camera and I'm really excited by what I've been seeing, so I hope to have some more snippets for you next week, unless the weather is nice for doing things outdoors and then I may get distracted!

Anyway, here's hoping for a more normal week for all!  Have a good one!

Apologies, but we had our reasons

Sorry not to have posted yesterday or have warned you that this would be a day late.  There are a number of reasons, the primary one being a day out in Chinon meeting up with someone I've not seen since I was at school.  She was staying with the Chinon One, and we went out for a lovely, leisurely Sunday lunch before wandering down to the avenue of trees by the river Vienne.

This wonderful line of trees never fails to delight, particularly when it is sunny, and even when there is bad jazz going down.  We love jazz of many sorts, smooth, nu (yes, it's a thing), trad, but not so much "experimental who needs a tune?" jazz.  Still they had a good audience.

We did distract ourselves for a while, admiring the river, looking for kingfishers and taking a photo of the Eiffel bridge (yes, that Eiffel), but in the end, we couldn't stand it, and went home.

During the week we spotted a new bee orchid, but no more since then.  I think the very dry April really didn't help them this year.

Another thing we were on the lookout for during the week was the latest stash of bantam eggs, as Bridie the Freeloading Bantam went broody again.  They were quite easy to spot in the end, so much so that she has got bored with sitting on them and they are now waiting for us to find a way of getting them out so they don't explode and stink out a few gardens.

The pumpkins we planted out a while back are now getting serious about life, and we finally put out the two cucumbers I managed to set off a couple of months ago.  The frame John has set up for them is a bit Heath Robinson, but using stuff that was lying around.

The overwhelming preoccupation of the week has been the health of our little black cat, Spooky, who lives at The Shack.  He really didn't enjoy the hot spell, and that seemed to exacerbate an issue with his throat, which became very inflamed.  He had injections, then he was taken into intensive care at the vet for IV medication, hydration and oxygen.

Unfortunately, even with all that support, he wasn't making any progress, so this morning we did the right thing, leaving a big panther-sized hole in our hearts.  Here is Spooky when he was on form and looking magnificent.

So that's my lot for today, let's see what else this week brings!

Have a good week!

All change!

Last Sunday, having spent a few very damp and rather cool hours manning a bar for the village trout fishing day, I complained about the wet.  Today, I am tucked away in my office area, wearing shorts, t-shirt and no socks, trying to keep cool as outside temperatures rise to something like 33 degrees.  It is sunny, hot and dry and worthy of a summer's day in July and yet it is only May.  Climate change is a thing, people!

This morning we were early at the Shack, so that I could do some strimming and John a bit of mowing - there are summer crops to get into the ground, but you've got to be able to get near the beds and ground, and the rampant weeds made that impossible.  John made a nice path around the Meadow so that we can walk around in shorts and not worry too much about ticks, although they will always be an issue thanks to the deer we share the area with.

The wildflower Meadow is looking magnificent at the moment, with pink clover, knapweed, ox eye daisies and other plants vying for the attention of pollinating insects.  The area hums with buzzing and crickets and grasshoppers and there are butterflies around too.  Today I saw meadow browns, a red admiral or two, a peacock and a swallowtail.  Along the side of the path I spotted my first bee orchid of the season, but couldn't find it again when I went to photograph it.  I did spot a very fine lizard orchid though.

It's only in the last couple of years that we have also had pyramid orchids in the Orchard, and once John had done a path through there I spotted these two beauties.

So I have confirmed sightings of three different species of wild orchid chez nous - good, but not as good as a garden we keep an eye on, where I found four species of orchid in bloom.  The same three as us (pyramid, lizard and bee) as well as the rather more rare fly orchid - or at least that is what we call it!

Very similar in concept to the bee orchid, the "body" of the flower resembles a fly rather than a bee, and so is rather less pretty.

My evening watering and walking activity is now blessed with strong perfumes from the honeysuckle hedge of a neighbour and another neighbour's magnificent fragrant mock orange bush, which is nearing its peak at the moment.  In addition the swallows, swifts and black redstarts make a racket as I go around the pots and planters.  It's a hard job, but someone has to do it!!

Well, with the computer producing heat, my office is becoming less appealing as a retreat from the blazing sun, so I will leave you with a photo of a small but very fragrant rose I bought from Aldi (other discount stores are available) a few years ago.  It only flowers once each year, so I have to ensure I enjoy it while in bloom.

Have a good week!

Easter treats

The blossom this year is magnificent, if a little early.  The plum is long gone, as is the peach, but the pear is out, the cherry is still going strong, and some early apple blossom is starting to show. My favourite of all is quince blossom and this should be about the last to show, but this year it is in advance I think, although totally gorgeous.

The honesty is also going from strength to strength and is a lovely foil to white and pink blossom.

Even the plant with the nicotine problem is doing nicely and flowering - when I recuperated it from a pile of stuff waiting to be burnt, it was pot-bound, tucked in with four other things, and had been used as an ashtray for at least 2 years.  I cleaned off all the old soil, split it into four, potted each up and treated some as house plants and others as outdoor plants - round here they self-identify as preferring to be house plants.  Anyway two survived and the bigger one is flowering again.

To make life easier on the kitchen garden, I have decided to ditch one of the plots and use part of it for raised beds, some of which will contain more perennial planting.  So yesterday I spent time lifting the old weed suppressant matting and found a few baby slowworms.

Today I finally unpacked one of the raised bed packs and set it out to see how it worked, how tall it would be and how easily it fitted together.  I was impressed that the pack included a weed suppressant mat, and won't be using the things that divide the square into 9, because I may not want it divided into 9.  They will have the protection of my metal cages, which by some miracle seem to fit.

As we are now into April, I have taken down the bird feeder with camera included.  It will go back out again in late September.  Over the past two and a bit months, it has gathered in excess of 20,000 photo files (but only used a quarter of the SD card capacity), which I will spend the next while going through.  I fully expect to delete something like 19,500 of the files as rubbish - out of focus, misted up, partial bits of bird, nothing of interest etc.  A cursory glance at the contact sheet view of files hinted at something different to robins, great tits and blue tits, so I had a bit of a browse.

It's a bit in your face I know!  I wasn't at all sure what it was, but I think this photo gives a good hint although misses some of the drama of the first photo.

I'd be interested to hear thoughts!

Anyway, it's not been the most exciting week as I have spent a lot of time being sat on by a recovering cat.  At her first post-op appointment last week, the vet said she was doing very well, so clearly my role as cat mattress is working, and we all hope that she will soon be able to ditch the sunflower collar as the stitches dissolve.

Tonight there is reggae at the local pub, which continues the tradition of live music on Easter Sunday, so we shall need to be there, and not be square!

Have a good week and Happy Easter!

Sunshine and Success!

After a truly frustrating and damp period, things started to work and the sun came out.  I had scoffed about a wine order from down near Nimes arriving chez nous without any issues, but they said they would deliver on Monday in the morning, and at 10:30 while I read the local paper, the daylight was blotted out by a lorry parking up outside, with our (modest) wine order inside.  How could I doubt them?  Also on Monday, there was a flurry of messages from the passport office as my photo was accepted by the bots sometime on Sunday evening, and by Monday morning the document was printed, packed and on it's way to France.  Again, it arrived when expected on Thursday morning, after it had been on a trip to Germany on its way to France.  I can travel again!

I'm not sharing a photo of the passport, but I will share a photo of the daffodils that came out on Tuesday to celebrate sunshine and good will to all men.

The big news of the week locally is that with a scant 5mm of rain during the whole week, rivers have mostly returned to their beds, although still flowing full and fast, and people can get down to clearing up and waiting for things to dry out.  We dug up the remaining potatoes during the week - a heavy, depressing venture, as the fork became as one with the heavy clay soil, while the potatoes were generally rather small and nibbled by slugs.  The bottom allotment plot is really rather unpleasant, although good for brassicas.  Otherwise the ground is too wet to do anything yet, although I did resort to sowing some seeds in modules just to cheer myself up.

The enduring damp, combined with nice weather, did mean that yesterday we finally had to make a start on making safe the dead walnut tree near the ponds, as we had no more excuses.  While good for insects and birds, the tree is highly dangerous, with "widow maker" branches all over the place and low branches that threaten to block access to the ponds.

Using a generator, an electric pole saw and a lot of elbow grease, we got down the most dangerous bits, and created access for getting at the bits that are blocking the hidden path between the Orchard and the Meadow.  The wood is quite light, but even so, there is a bit of firewood there for us in due course.  The area is now rather lighter which might encourage the brambles a bit too much, so as well as carrying on with the tree, we need to get in there with brush cutters of different sizes and power to push those back too.

Looking at one of the large, dead and partly broken branches, we did spot an amazing large fungus.  Not edible and not conducive to plant function or keeping qualities of wood, it is an impressive size.

Our fun was cut short yesterday by an unnecessary shower of rain, very localised but very wet.  It did create a rather nice rainbow though, which is just about visible on this photo.

As getting to the ponds is now rather easier and safer, with the walnut a bit curtailed, I was able to get to the ponds and decided to check on the trail camera based down there.  The camera is fine, although I think I need to bring it in soon, if only to watch the boar doing their best to dig a new channel between the second pond and the larger area of bog and pond to the east.  What a mess!

Spring is clearly on its' way now - if there were no other clues, the bird song has a distinctive character to it, and the mix of birds is slowly changing.  The Cetti's Warblers are strident, and the chiffchaffs are back.  I think there must be food sources appearing too, as the various tits are spending less time on the fat balls and bird feeder.  With grey skies and rain, I haven't paid attention to the wild plum growing by the chicken run, but this morning I could not miss the blossom!

The forecast is set fair for the week, and there is so much to do outside, I feel I must get going now and do something useful.  I hope the weather is kind to you too!  Have a good week!

January stuff

January is such a long month!  While it only has 31 days, they seem to last longer than any other days in the year, but as we drift towards the end of the month, there is a hint of  improvement as slightly longer afternoons become evident if the day isn't totally cloudy.  The harbingers of spring are putting their heads above ground too, as bulbs start to do their thing, and our small clump of snowdrops in the garden put on their annual show.

Over in the country, the first signs of the narcissus fest are also starting to show in the Meadow, with leaves for the less showy daffodils coming up around the edges.

Other plants too are obvious at this time, including the lichen that cover any surface they can get a toe-hold on it seems - trees, plastic seats, gates, fence posts - all seem to be suitable hosts for this rather mysterious plant.

The week started with the annual ceremony of good wishes from the local mayors.  As there will be local elections in March, they can only look backwards at the achievements of the year and of the mandate, as anything that happens later in 2026 could be someone else's project.  For us, it was a slightly sad event, as our village mayor (as opposed to the mayor of Bauge en Anjou) is standing down at the elections.  She has been a good mayor, very understanding and supportive, and not afraid to get her hands dirty on the food line with the Comité des Fetes.  However the work of a mayor in France is varied and challenging and I can understand the desire for a quiet life after (I think) 14 years in the role.

We have spent the week with two recurrent themes.  It has been Truffle Week for us, as 100g of the black gold arrived last Saturday.  Some has been steeped in sunflower oil for a week to provide home made truffle oil, some has been inserted into a mild cheese to create our own truffled cheese, and much of it has been eaten in the usual scrambled eggs, cream sauces and risottos.  We have one day left and then we wait another 12 months.  The photo is leek and mushroom risotto with monkfish and truffle - very tasty.

We have also enjoyed watching as our neighbours had their roof replaced, or at any rate the side of the roof that looks towards our house.  There was much jollity at the Ceremony of Voeux last week as all slates had been removed and all that protected them was a tarpaulin, but from Monday, the roofers were on the job, putting up new timbers to support rather heavier slates than those that were taken off.

Then the insulating membranes were fixed in place with battens.

Before a happy day of putting on the new slates - this is half finished at lunchtime, as when it was all done, apart from being shinier and blacker than before, you wouldn't know the difference from the outside.

From Monday, the roofers will do the other side of the house, which we won't get to see.  The neighbours are very happy with the work.

Friday night was the Comité des Fetes AGM, with the volunteers' dinner afterwards - another of those lovely village events that leave you somewhat fuzzy the day after.  This week will be quieter - perhaps I can get some tidying up done, and find the material for the "new" living room curtains.  I know I saw it when we moved in over 20 years ago...

Have a good week!

Getting busy!

While we are aiming for a very quiet Christmas, the run up is anything but, with friends over from the UK, a group Christmas lunch, a Children in Need raffle and wine and cheese party, and other less festive events too.  Yesterday we were in Chinon for a bit of DIY and beer purchasing, but in order to get to the brewery, we had to go via the centre of town, which was in full Christmas Market mode.  There were all the usual suspects - food stalls, crafts, smelly things, Santa, too many people - but there was also a novelty, an Arctic Queen and her retinue of arctic foxes!

 

These amazing puppets and their attendant dancers came from Paris and spread a bit of enchantment through the town.  After dark, they were part of the main parade and the foxes were lit up within so they glowed, but we didn't stay to see that.  It was a lovely interlude.

After my chuntering last weekend, on Monday we had a lovely, sunny morning, so the golden leaves on the apple tree looked a lot more appealing.

Tuesday afternoon was dedicated to dealing with firewood, including bringing back from the One Acre Wood the stashes of logs and branches we had left standing around to dry.  The cyclamen flowers are now all over, but the next joy is looking to see where there are cyclamen corms developing, particularly new ones self-seeded from the existing plants.  Sometimes it is hard to distinguish the young leaves from ivy leaves, but this new plant is very clear.

Thursday afternoon was spent waiting for and then observing the work of a water company employee at the house of a friend in Fougere.  I'll not bore you with the works, but while that was going on, I went for a bit of a walk and found the village lavoir or wash house.  Most villages around here still have these, fed by a local stream or spring, and while not used for their original purpose, they are a carefully preserved bit of village heritage.  The doorway and cross beams were too low for me to stand comfortably, a clear sign that I am taller than the average peasant lady of 100 years ago.  I should add that I can remember seeing people using a lavoir not so far away when I was a child aged 6 or 7.

With the year coming to an end, it was only right that we stripped the village float of its disguise for the 2025 Comice, ready to design and build its new get up for 2026.  It was a happy band of 7 of us that attacked the task with gusto on Friday - another lovely day - and were able to clear it of everything apart from the wooden structure of the fireplace.  We'll leave that for the new year.

Friday was indeed another lovely day, and we were able to work in the hangar with no heating and little padding.  It is way too warm at the moment, after a few days of frost at the end of November.  As evidence, there were flowers on the Fergus memorial rose!

Next week is another packed week, ending with the Bauge en Anjou Christmas Fair.  Sadly I don't think we will have giant fox puppets dancing around the town, but there are sure to be lights, hot drinks, stalls full of crafts and tat and things that are far too sweet for me nowadays.  I will finish with a final fox picture, and wish you a good week ahead.