Yes, on Thursday Winter kicks in and there are hints of Christmas in the air too, with decorations going up in the streets. It is really rather bizarre, as the weather is relatively warm still, many trees still have leaves, and not all have turned colour yet either, and I have the most magnificent yukka flowers out too!
In the vegetable garden, the parsnips continue to do what they do, the chard is amazingly lush, there is a magnificent crop of parsley, and the brassicas continue to be munched by caterpillars. At least the red cabbages are hearting up, but it will be a while before the cauliflowers do the same - about three months, I think. The token Brussel sprouts are not really showing any development yet, so John may have to cope with bought ones for Christmas Day! There are also a number of self-seeded curly endive growing around the edge of one of the beds. I marked their position so they wouldn't get mown, but the markers were moved as they were in the way for mowing... Anyway, they have reappeared and now I need to try to keep them faintly weed free.
Last weekend I changed the position of the trail camera, and after a false start, as I got lots of images of horsetail blowing in the wind, there has been some activity. Well, when I say some activity, I think it is fair to say that I have captured activity from three species of bird, and five of mammal! The place I have chosen is clearly popular with many, but now we are into the challenge of cold season images, so that most are at night, and many in fog - some things are really very grainy, but see below for pheasant, pine martin, hare, badger and boar. As far as photos go, I also have deer legs, but there are a couple of videos of them which make me think that the faun that was born there in the summer is still in the vicinity.
It doesn't happen as often as it should, but we went out for dinner during the week, to that fine concept, the "All you can eat Chinese Buffet". Basically, you pay a price, which depends on age and time of day, and then can keep going up for more until you can't eat any more. The caveat is that if you take more than you can eat, you pay a supplement, which seems only fair to me. There is a vast range of starters and mains, plus you can take a plateful of raw ingredients and get them woked to your liking. There is also an ice cream bar, which we didn't spot until we were too full to eat anymore! The visit had been planned and cancelled too many times to be funny since last November, so it was delightful to finally assuage my need for caramel pork and noodles!
There are many of these across France, and they all seem to be cavernously huge, on slightly dingy shopping estates. I will probably survive another couple of years before I need to go back, but it was a lovely change!
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