Rural Life

Spring proper, or even summer, has arrived!

It was pretty brutal and unsubtle, but at 5:45pm on Thursday afternoon, the fine weather arrived.  It had been announced for that morning, so I had planned to mow on Thursday afternoon, but as the rain didn't stop until perhaps 5am, and there was no wind, there was no way the grass would be dry enough.  Yesterday was therefore mowing day - and annoyingly, although promised that there would be light rain only on the western most tip of Finistere and the top of the Cotentin peninsular, I got remarkably soggy! 

Not much happened during the week - I worked, which is probably a good thing.  I had a tender rejected - not such a good thing, but kind of expected, as I am on an organisation's list for "good for a tender if you need to make up numbers".  I work on the basis that one day they will have to choose me out of sheer embarrassment at having put me through the process so many times!  Not this time it would appear. 

When I went to Aldi yesterday, enough people were generous to their mothers and well prepared (it is mother's day here), so that there were some of their annual batch of cheap small orchids left over.  So I got me one - a different colour to the other two.

As I said, I went mowing yesterday, and the wild irises are out at the lake.  One of ours that hasn't flowered before was out at The Shack, while some that I hadn't noticed before at Chinon were looking nice and blousy, so here are a selection of irises.

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This morning we were working at The Shack in the garden there.  John needed to rotavate a patch that had been covered since last summer before the underlying clay sets hard for the rest of the season, so lifted the weed suppressant mat.  In doing so, he met three of our assistants in keeping slugs and snails under control, although they had to be evicted or they would have become blood and bone fertiliser!!  Meet the slow worm, the adder and Timid Toad!

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It has warmed up enough, and the plants have got so tall, that we could remove the plastic cloches from the tomato plants and tuck them away somewhere away from the sun, so that they are ready to use in the autumn or next spring.  If the peppers and/or chillies are doing well enough, they may need a bit of cover in October to finish ripening fruits, but otherwise it will be next April or so when they come back out.  There is a bit of caterpillar damage on a couple of the cabbages, but they still look good and we are munching our way through the broad beans.  I'd better confess that the sweetcorn has once again been a disappointment with 51 seeds sown and only 7 coming up.  We did a bit of forensic seed seeking and found nothing, absolutely nothing.  Some something has had it away with my seeds, and I need to resow, assuming I can find any more seeds of course!

I also went on a bee orchid hunt, as usual, and while some had disappeared, I found a new patch and got a half way decent photo for once!

All that left me a bit tired, so I had to offer myself a chunk of hammock time to recover - well that's my excuse anyway!  And it is Sunday after all!  Until next week!

 

Waiting for Summer, although Spring might be nice!

No lockdown title at the moment, although we do still have curfew between 9pm and 6am, and aren't really supposed to travel across international borders unless it is really important.  I said I would continue to do the odd blog - I'm going to try for Sunday afternoons, once I've done my afternoon's work.

The big news this week was of course that café, pub and restaurant terraces could open to customers outdoors - our local opened on Thursday (officially he could have opened on Wednesday, but it isn't one of his "days"), but we were tied up with work until 7:30pm, so our first indulgence was on Friday evening.  Normality was restored and beer o'clock (or wine o'clock) was back!

Of course this had to be outdoors, and while there is a high roof over the terrace, that doesn't stop wind, and when it rains and there is wind, it doesn't stop rain much either, so we had to move tables.  The showers currently are very localised, so while it was pelting it down with rain, there was also sunshine and therefore a rainbow, or even two!

This morning we spent at The Shack, hedge trimming, a bit of mowing, a lot of weeding, some potting on and some planting of seedlings, but probably the most important activity was getting the ropes installed for the hammock.  And then we had to try it out - OMG!  Really rather blissful, to lie in the hammock, swinging slightly, listening to the birds and the blasted wind in the leaves, because yes, that wind is still going.  Cats also thought that this was pretty good, as whichever of us was in the hammock was also pretty horizontal and therefore unable to do much about being laid on and licked.

I also beat the bounds and found more bee orchids coming into flower - I'm quite pleased with this photo.

Finally, a serious bit.  The past 18 months with Covid have been hard in many ways for many people.  I guess John and I have got away with it pretty well, as we are fairly antisocial, and with our outdoor lifestyle and the gardens, have been able to be out and about without too many constraints.  But we have been pretty limited in how far we can go and who we can see, and this was brought home rather brutally, with news that an old friend died during the week.  I'd seen him in September 2019, and had planned to see him again in April or May 2020, when over for work, but of course that didn't happen, and in any case I wouldn't have been welcome because of the virus.  But I have good memories of September 2019.  Worse is that he was one of a pretty tight knit bunch of us that worked closely together in the early 90s, and at this time in normal circumstances, we would be able to get together, share stories, memories and a glass or three, and that most basic of human comforts, a hug or four.  This blasted disease has deprived us of that comfort, and that is the same for so many families and groups of friends across Europe over the past months.

But looking forward, have a good week all!

 

Lockdown III is now pretty well over!

Yes, great excitement here in the Hexagone as you can sit outside bars and restaurants, buy silly things like crochet hooks and summer shoes and stay out of your house until 9pm!  It's like turning 14 when I was a child!  Well, not quite, but you know what I mean.  No one has actually told the weather gods about this, so there is still a cold, gusty wind, frequent heavy and sometimes thundery showers and no incentive to actually wear sandals, shorts or remove one's sweatshirt.  From the Meteo France website, that change comes next Wednesday - I'm sure there is a good moon related reason for that.

Anyway, as proof of the release from dour confinement, here are photos of fripperies for sale at la Flèche market, and I have to say it was heaving this morning.  While I was lucky to find a parking space close by (necessary as I was buying a lot of geraniums for the window boxes), I think that was only because the weather was so pants.  That is also why I didn't bother with a coffee on a terrace either.

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So while that is the end of my daily blogging activity until the next time, I did manage to get a nice photo of the black iris in the neighbour's garden yesterday evening at chicken confinement time.  The buds and the lower petals really are a lovely velvety black, the upper parts are "just" a magnificent dark purple.

So now I will try to provide a weekly blog, monitoring how things change that I have written about during Lockdown III, and also reporting on the insanity that is the Attestation d'Acceuil for if you want to come and visit and stay with friends and family in France, but don't have an EU passport (and by that I mean a real EU passport, and not an old style UK one).

Thanks for reading!

 

Lockdown III, marginal release - the day after

Well, I am pretty sure the vaccination yesterday is doing something as when I woke up this morning, all my joints ached and were only soothed by a hot shower and an ibuprofen.  In addition I felt tired and woolly.  None of this was worrying or unexpected really, in fact, like I say, I am sure it is doing something, so actually a bit reassuring.  (And clearly I am still a bit woolly.)

Yesterday evening I spotted a few interesting things in the garden after I had locked the chickens away for the day.  In no particular order - chive flowers, poppies that could be a bit dodgy, set raspberries and strawberries and the display from the red hot pokers getting going.

Stuff at home

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Then after lunch today, I went to The Shack to feed the boys and see what was going on there.  The vegetables are coming on OK although a bit more heat might be good for them, not least for helping the sweetcorn to germinate (now there are 4).  I did meet some butterflies trying very hard to make new butterflies, which isn't easy when you are also flying (which they did, but had stopped that for the photo).

Walking round to the wildflower meadow, I noticed a lesser spotted woodpecker in the sycamore tree, so flushed with the success of the butterfly photo, I tried to capture that too.  It is honestly in there somewhere, but I need a posh camera with a telephoto lens for that sort of thing!

Anyway, the wild flower meadow was looking fabulous as the clover and the oxeye daisies and the linseed are all going great guns, plus I did spot and photograph badly the first of the bee orchids.  Soon there should be lots more with the sun and the rain that we have at the moment.

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My favourite irises are coming out even more, and looking rather fabulous.  The irises I covet are starting to come out too, in a neighbour's garden - jet black!  I might get a photo of those tomorrow, but for today I bask in my purple and white ones!

 

Lockdown III, marginal release - vaccination day!

Another mixed day here in rural France weather-wise.  There have been some blustery and heavy showers, including an absolute corker when I wanted to leave the vaccination centre, and in between, the sunshine has been helping the grass to grow.  I've got my work cut out with that soon!

Anyway, this afternoon, it was my turn to be vaccinated.  The Centre in Baugé used to be a fortified jail, so that prisoners were held securely, were taken next door for trial and sentencing and then could serve their sentence just a few yards away.  About 10 years ago, the somewhat run down building was fully refurbished into a cultural centre, with a 500 seat main theatre, which is also a big hall (the seating can be pushed back into a stack, and a number of smaller conference rooms that can be used by clubs or the music school.  Currently the whole thing is taken over by the vaccination centre, apart from when there is a council meeting.

Anyway, apart from a dull ache on my arm, it all went well, and the relevant information is stored on my TousAntiCovid app on my phone.  It is a pretty slick process.

The roses outside our house are slowly putting forth buds and flowers - nothing like the show at Chinon yet, but then they are more exposed.  The rambler rose should have been pruned over the winter, but somehow that just didn't happen.  The blossoms are very fragrant when you can get near one.

The red rose has been here longer than us and survived having scaffolding set up around it, the old mortar, concrete and other rubbish picked off the wall and new lime mortar added.  It is less fragrant, but the flowers are a lovely colour, and if I keep on top of the dead heading, will keep flowering until November in a good year.

One more day and then we have a significant release - the joy of a coffee on a café terrace awaits on Wednesday, assuming I can find a seat!

 

Lockdown III, marginal release - plotting progress

It's another distinctly March or October day here today, with sharp showers  or prolonged rain (stuck in the chicken run this morning for 10 minutes, building myself up to getting very wet) and nasty, blustery winds.  In a reasonable gap of two hours this morning we went to The Shack to do our Sunday morning work session and feed the cats.  They didn't seem that interested in food, more in cuddles or in being in baskets and watching what the silly humans were up to.

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I managed to get the other 6 tomato plants in, and covered with paraffin canister cloches.  I also planted the four pepper plants and 4/5 aubergine plants I bought on Wednesday.  I tried to split the aubergine that was two plants, but they were too closely intertwined around their roots, and given that the soil isn't the best, I decided not to force the point.  We'll see how they do.  This year's main plot is now looking even more purposeful than previously - see the comparison over three photos!

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We are really quite excited as two of the 51 sweetcorn seeds we sowed a couple of weeks ago have come up!  You can surely see the difference on these photos!

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Anyway, a new week is upon us.  Tomorrow I will be getting my first jab - Pfizer, in case you were wondering - at the vaccination centre in Baugé.  It is a fine place to sit and wait for 15 minutes in case you have a violent reaction, as they are using the Community and Arts Centre, which was a prison until fairly recently.  I'll try for a photo or two of it all.

 

Lockdown III, marginal release - jaunting!

Because I can't work Fridays, as they are devoted to the needs of the Azay One, Saturdays are the new Sundays, and I toil in the vegetable patches on a Sunday morning and in front of a computer on a Sunday afternoon - it sort of makes sense.  Anyway, with the patchy weather we have at the moment, plus we used up the last bottle of tender winning celebration fizz, we decided it was time to go south of the river (la Loire) and stock up again.  We haven't been down there since before Christmas 2019!.  I put the laundry out, just to draw in clouds and rain (it worked - 2.5mm while we were out), and then we jaunted down to Ackermans at St Hilaire-St Florent, just by Saumur.  The buildings are rather magnificent and they are the front for miles of tunnels into the rock where millions of bottles of rather good fizz are stashed.

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We invested in 6 bottles each of Cuvée Privé Blanc and Rosé - hopefully they will last the year, but hopefully not all of them assuming we have things to celebrate!  We also got a worryingly cheap 10 litre wine box of red.  We may survive.

On the way home, we stopped in on the cats at The Shack and fed them and admired the growth on the potatoes above ground.

In the garden at home, we have the next colour irises coming out - a nice pale lilac colour.  We don't have many and they get frightfully abused, but they are pretty.

And a final note of "isn't nature wonderful?" if you like that sort of thing.  I was wandering back down the garden last night having locked up the chickens, and spotted the unmistakable yellow blob that is a spider nest erupting with lots of little spiders.  By this morning they were gone, dispersed naturally or eaten by the wildlife that lives in the garden.  For the squeamish, the photo is deliberately out of focus!! 

 

Lockdown III, marginal release - roses

I'm tired today after a trip to Chinon and Azay, but at Chinon the roses were looking wonderful so I'll just share a couple of photos.

And this lot have gone nuts - the fragrance is amazing!

 

Lockdown III, marginal release - flowers!

Outside of work, I managed a quick trip to The Shack to feed 3 ravenous boys and check up on the planting - so good to get a breath of fresh air and see how things are coming on, even if we also got well and truly rained on!  First stop was my gladioli experiment which is coming on nicely.  You should be able to see the progression.

Developing gladioli

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We checked over the vegetable plots - 38 out 48 seed potatoes are now up, broad beans are filling out nicely, the cabbages are getting fatter, and John's experimental seeds are coming up - lots of carrots and beetroot.  We took the weed suppressant mat off the sweetcorn bed as the shoots should appear soon and I don't want them held back by matting.  It is wet enough for the bed to not be appealing to cats either (famous last words!?).

Checking round the Orchard, the false acacia is coming into flower - about the only time that there is any real value to these trees as they grow like weeds and sucker off and away and have nasty thorns.  However the flowers are pretty and provide the wherewithal for good honey.

This time last year I bored for France with slightly out of focus pictures of bee orchids, but for the moment they are still hidden.  This spring has been vile, and they are delayed, but I did find one starting to think about flowering.  Clearly it won't be doing so for a week or so yet!

If the bee orchids are being shy, then while late, my favourite irises are starting to come good.  Given the appalling conditions, I hadn't expected to see them quite yet, but here they are!

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And on that happy note, I think it is time to close down the computer for the day and find a drink and dinner!

 

Lockdown III, marginal release - all about plants

With Lockdown III coming to a more purposeful conclusion next Wednesday (pub and restaurant terraces and non-essential shops re-open - woohoo), today was the last market at la Flèche under the no fripperies rule.  If I wanted to avoid lugging any plants a quarter of a mile to where I had left my car, I needed to buy today!  Actually it is quite a good time for buying the tender vegetable plants too, as today or tomorrow (tomorrow I think) is the last of the Saintes Glaces or Ice Saints.  From tomorrow, around here at least, you are unlikely to be hit by frost.

As I went round filling my basket with delicious foodstuffs, I also had a good look at the plants on offer, and ended up at the stall I started at, as they had the best looking plants and a queueing area that was covered (it was raining this morning to add to the joy).  I got 5 more tomato plants - this time ones with larger fruits suitable for cooking, Pierre and another that I may remember the name of!  I also got 4 pepper plants - I was a bit flummoxed by the question of what colour I wanted, but apparently while all would produce green peppers, it was down to the colour after that, so red, black, orange or yellow.  I kept it simple and went for red.  Finally I asked for 4 aubergine plants - I'm not that keen on shop bought aubergines, but fresh from the garden they are rather yummy.

Now while I have four pots with aubergine plants in, it looks to me as though I actually have 5 aubergine plants - rather pleased with that!

We've got lots of strawberry plants this year as someone decided he needed to do something useful with his collection of used yoghurt pots (don't ask).  Most are in a couple of giant tubs, but we still have a few in hanging baskets, as this for me is the ideal way to grow them.

And in other plant news, the tantalising bathroom orchid has successfully opened its third flower - I don't think there will be any more now but it looks rather magnificent.