We are past the vernal equinox: the gazebo roof is dry, down and packed away for next year, when I hope it will be out for longer than two months! As ever it will need some running repairs to see it through the season but I think the Velcro has another year left in it, while the actual fabric is holding up nicely. Ok the "outside" is faded, but we sit under it so still have the glory of its bright colours.
With the cover down, the gazebo just has its strawberry hanging baskets, its weather station and its fairy lights, which I shall leave out a bit longer, as they bring delight when I put the chickens away at night. Soon there won't be enough daylight to charge the battery and then they will come in.
The arrival of autumn proper and the longer evenings means it is time for boules de fort - a traditional local game not played in more than a handful of departments, but Anjou is definitely a key place. Le Vieil Baugé is blessed with four still operating boule pistes - there were 7, but the other three are no longer in use. Every autumn there is the Communal Challenge, where all the clubs and societies, the village municipal workers, and any other identifiable group are invited to submit up to two teams to defend the honour of their group.
The Comité des Fêtes has always tried to come up with two teams, as was the case this year. Normally team membership is decided on having one good team and then a bunch of no-hopers. This year membership was decided on who was available on which evening for the first round. That got me into the "first" team with people who know how to play - a bit of a shock!
Even more of a shock for me was that we got points!
In fact, at the end of a three and a half hour game - I kid you not - we won 10 to 7 against the Society for the Preservation of Vieil Baugé Heritage! That means I am playing again on Thursday this week, but against one of the boule de fort societies, so it is likely to be a pasting.
So back to the world of trail cameras. Spoiler alert - it is a bitter sweet story.
There are a pair of mallards that live in the zone - he is a bit flighty, but she is a gentle soul. Last year I actually saw her with a couple of ducklings in the fish pond, before the coypu had managed to make it a poorly drained swamp. So it was rather nice to see her passing through with a little ball of fluff.
A couple of days later and she passed with two little fluff balls!
Then I saw her with five! O what joy!
Except, two days later, there was just one duckling left.
But three weeks later, that ball of fluff had fledged quite nicely, and did stay with Mum until the end of July, when presumably she went off to find her own pond.
I don't know what happened to the other ducklings - there are many options and it is a hard world out there for small balls of fluff. If they all survived, we would disappear under all the mallards however. One of the culprits could be this chap - yes, pine marten can also be spotted in daylight!
Anyway, next week I turn my video attention to those relatively charmless creatures, coypu. Something to look forward to?
This afternoon is the exhibition of the annual photography competition run by the Society for the Preservation of the Heritage of Vieil Baugé (who got beaten by the Comité des Fêtes at boules de fort - ha!), with the prize giving at 5pm. You submit your photos (maximum of 2) by email, the best 30 get printed and exhibited, and there are winners and prizes. I hope one of my entries got printed, that for me would be the win. You'll find out next week!
Have a good one!
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