The weather remains the number one topic in our household as British visitors start to drift over for the summer and expect their gardens to look lovely, while the incessant rain makes that pretty near impossible. There was a brief window of dry weather on Thursday when we could get out to deal with the two most urgent cases, but even so the ground is now soggy, and in places it isn't nice to drive a ride on lawnmower. To add insult to injury, in the short period where you can use motorised garden tools yesterday (Sunday) morning, it rained and then rained most of the afternoon too, so that we got soaked again doing a necessary harvest, plus some emergency weeding and sowing!
The crop that had to be harvested yesterday, when I should have been writing this blog, was the garlic. The stems were dying down and the wet soil would not help the ability to store the bulbs, so we got them in and put them to dry in the wood store. In about a week I should be able to pick over them and pack them better for storage. We also lifted another of the conical Hispi cabbages that we have been growing. We picked the first one on Tuesday and had it steamed with butter - o my word how yummy was that! There are also occasional surprising flowers, like this magnificent orange day lily.
As more people get vaccinated (I had my second jab today), and we get used to seeing places open, life is getting a little more social. Monday morning was nice (the afternoon was truly vile), and it was pleasant to sit out in the place near the Mairie in Chinon and watch café society. Saturday was a day for partying, and so as well as going to a micro-brewery for an excellent beer tasting (as designated driver, I got a tiny sip of each), we actually went out for a meal for the first time in many, many months. I don't think I've eaten out since October last year in fact, so it was lovely to sit under the plane trees in Chinon and have a meal cooked by a professional. Finally, there is a significant birthday (well not in number terms, but in the person whose birthday it is) in the village this week, and the pub laid on a little do for her and her chums (including us) yesterday morning on their covered terrace. A good thing the terrace is covered, as it p***d down with rain all through. It was so nice to see people other than the family circle!
And then there are animals. Don't ever think that chickens are cute and cuddly, they are closely related to dinosaurs (remember the velociraptors of Jurassic Park), omnivores who will eat anything. Mac or Jak found a baby bird, and spent a happy hour running around trying to eat it and keep it all for herself too. As hens don't have teeth, and don't know how to keep things quiet, this took a long time, and was disgusting.
There is a small, spring-fed pool at one of the houses where we do lawns. We have seen newts in it in the past, but this week it was all waterboatmen and frogs. When the photo was taken, there were 8 sitting out on leaves and making a racket, and I suspect if I had stood still for a bit longer, there would have been more. Either a frog orgy or a tenement!
Apologies for being a day late - I'll try to do better next week.