Rural Life

Day 17 of 30 Days Wild - but fairly brain dead

Which is really my way of saying that apart from going to the market this morning, I've been stuck indoors either stretching my brain with work, or stretching my brain talking to our French financial advisers about investments. 

John has had the same brain strain, between talking to French financial advisers and then working out how to fix a new to us ride on lawnmower blade engagement system that uses a spring.  We had to get a new spring, and it arrived today - a huge, chunky and impressive thing.  I gather working out how to flex it enough to fit it was an amusing puzzle, but the good news is that Mambo (ride on lawnmower number 5) is now back in service and ready to roll.

So once again I will have to delve into the Guadeloupe archives to find things to please your eyes - birds and chocolate!

So, a pelican in flight.

A lorakeet in captivity (not native to Guadeloupe but to Australia, where every time I tried to photograph one, it pooped on me).

And finally, unripe chocolate.

Day 13 of 30 Days Wild - bar society

So after writing yesterday's blog, we packed up and went to the pub - because we can here in France!  I'm still a bit concerned about closed spaces with other people, so we sat out on the terrace although it wasn't as warm as it might be, and it was nice to sit and watch the clouds and the birds and the people (shock horror - two people did the Faire le bise!).  It helps to blow away the cobwebs of the week.

As we left, looking over the valley of the Couasnon, we spotted a strong rainbow with magnificent colours.  There was no rain around us, but clearly a few miles to the south east, someone was getting very wet indeed.

The air was very crisp and clear, so that standing in the Place d'Eglise and looking up at the church, it was possible to see every detail of the stonework and the slates on the twisted spire - at its most beautiful I thought.  The flower displays are not yet fully developed, but by August there will be magnificent flowers along the wall below the church.

Today has been remarkable for short but very intense showers.  I drove through one that was like driving through a waterfall.  The country cats weren't stupid and were hiding when I arrived to feed them and didn't come out from their lairs until the rain had passed.  So while I waited for them, I admired my Guadeloupe avocado tree, now it is outside and enjoying the weather.  The volume of rain should surely be reminding it of its ancestral tree in the Caribean!

 

Day 6 of 30 Days Wild - and a return to civilisation

Once yesterday's blog was filed, we returned to our Friday night routine and went to the pub to see off the working week.  It had been 11 weeks since the last visit we think, and we had moved from late winter/early spring to summer, so we could sit out on the terrace and not freeze (even though there was a bit of a wind).  It was good to be back - carry on the good work, Vinz and Steff at Excalibur!

Of course they are not the only ones opening up and in Baugé today I noticed that one road had been blocked off to allow the restaurant and pizzeria space to have people outside on new terraces too.

On the wild side of things, my review of photos showed that I had managed to capture quite a few butterflies, including a couple on chestnut flowers and even more marbled whites.  So I'll keep my blurb short today and let the butterflies do the talking.

 

Day 21 of Deconfinement Diary - crafty bantam

Another quick one today as not very much has happened, however...

I've mentioned before that we have a freeloader in the garden - Bridie the Bantam.  She is very pretty and very small and we really don't know where she came from, but she has decided to stay, just not in the chicken run.  She idolises Dummer the huge Light Sussex, and runs away from the rest.  She can be very noisy, particularly when she wants food or water.  But she doesn't believe in sharing.

I posted her broody moment when she found a high shelf and spent the best part of 2 weeks trying to hatch infertile eggs - she gave up after she had thrown most of them on the floor when trying to get down to ground level for food or back onto the shelf for brooding on her eggs.

She knows that we know about the shelf so she stopped using it.  She may also have had a little break from laying.  But after a while nature says she would start again, so where are the eggs this time?  Last night as I was putting the big chickens back into their run after their daily vandalism/slug and snail eating foray, I spotted the new stash point - carefully (or not so carefully) hidden in the shade of an artichoke plant.

She may stop using that nest, as this afternoon I nicked the whole stash to make banana bread.  But honestly, we feed her, so she should feed us occasionally!

 

Day 20 of Deconfinement Diary - just Saturday stuff

So as not to worry people if I don't post anything, here is a short update.

The market was heaving this morning and given that at 10:30am it was also already rather hot, I decided not to join the huge queue for the fruit and vegetable stand (we have access to quite a lot of stuff anyway), but did get fresh tuna and half a shoulder of lamb (yum - can't wait).

The afternoon was mostly devoted to mowing and watering - but we did avoid these beauties.  There have not been as many bee orchids this year as last year, but this example was particularly fine.

And now I am off to cook said fresh tuna, so I wish you all a good evening!

 

Day 15 of Deconfinement Diary - garden plenty

It might be a bank holiday in the UK, but it isn't here (Pentecost Monday is actually next week), so my car is in the garage having his brakes fixed.  John is working, however, as it is ideal mowing weather, so I am at home, on my own and reliving lockdown.  While it would be nice to be lounging in the garden, the usual drongos are in the garden next door with a pile of Tramp Strength, so I have done some necessary garden chores but not as much as I would like.  I've even done a bit of desk/computer work.

While I was in the garden, I was able to admire the rose we received for our Silver Wedding Anniversary five years ago - and it has put on a lovely show this year.  Thank you, Pauline and Dave once again!

I also spent a happy while checking round the hanging baskets and pots for strawberries and in amongst the canes for raspberries and have a nice portion prepared for pudding this evening, complete with a dash of something to draw out the juices and flavour.

Dinner will be a rustic dish of lardons and broad beans, simmered in stock for a while with garlic and thyme - I've not had enough beans to do this with for a few years, so hope I can remember the recipe (it's not one that is written down anywhere).

In a day or two I will cut the last spears of asparagus from our garden for this year, to allow the plants to develop properly and store food and goodness for next year.  We've done quite well this year, not least as John has kept the bed well strimmed and we have, we think, got rid of the feral artichokes that were clogging up the area and stealing nutrients and light.

I'm looking forward to getting my car back - even if I don't use it for a few days, I have the impression that I can go somewhere if I want to.  With lockdown so recent, today has been a bit of a challenge in some ways.

 

Weekend 2 of Deconfinement Diary - well it is a bank holiday weekend!

While the first weekend of fewer restrictions was spent on mundane but useful things like gardening, shopping, feeding ourselves and preparing for the coming week, this weekend we were daring and crossed the regional border into Centre Val de Loire.  Such braveness and intrepidness!!

It was fun to be out and about together - during lockdown having two in a car was a signal to be stopped and checked, so we just didn't do it.  We went over to Restigné, near Bourgueil, first of all.  We took the roads less travelled across country, admiring the woods, fields and villages we hadn't seen since February or so.  It was great to see our friend Laurent the wine maker again, and for the first time this year.  He has not been having a great time of it.  The markets that allow him to sell his wine to the public have not allowed vignerons in until the last week or so, he doesn't sell to the supermarkets as he doesn't have the volume and can't go very low on price (or as low as they want), while the bars and restaurants that he supplies are closed.  Added to that, customers such as ourselves have not been able to get to him and he has been severely hampered in gaining a living.  While he has applied for the government handouts, he has heard nothing back.  He was very pleased to see us.

Normally at this time of year we get the gossip on the spring weather and how it has affected the buds on the vine.  This year, he was more interested in telling us and showing us how much damage one broken bottle can do when in a trailer full of goods for market.  With little margin and few sales, losing a few presentation boxes in such a way is a loss too.  We left his place with 20 litres vrac (i.e. needing to be bottled) of his 2018 corsé red wine and 20 litres of his best dry rosé for us, and a further 10 litres each of dry rosé and the 2019 red for Chinon.

Then on to Chinon!  Coming along the Vienne, it is a dramatic way to enter the town.  First there is the river, which was lower than I have seen it since October last year!

Then as you get closer, the chateau dominates the entrance to the town - it has a long history but is most famous for being the place where Joan of Arc performed her first miracle - spotting the Dauphin disguised among his courtiers.

Then we had a lovely afternoon/early evening catching up with family and their new neighbours, including reciprocal cellar visits, and didn't get home until 8pm.  Today has been more relaxed, and has included feeding the country cats, picking ticks off them, watering seedlings and eating home grown strawberries and raspberries with the chunk of Mum's shortbread that I purloined yesterday.  Not a bad weekend!

Day 5 of deconfinement diary - health and shopping

A couple of weeks into lockdown, we had the annual reminder that someone's jabs were due.  I phoned the vet to see what could be done, and they said it would be alright if lockdown was lifted by mid-May, but jabs were not considered essential cat healthcare, so we would have to wait.  As soon as we knew that May 11 was Deconfinement Day I was back on to the vets, and got an appointment for this morning.  It has to be mornings and just after breakfast, or Nibbles KNOWS and hides.  I've had to phone up and admit to having lost her more than once!

People don't understand that the vetinary surgery is a risky place it appears - I was let in, to wait with Nibbles to be called for her appointment, but lots of people turned up on spec it seemed to me, and couldn't understand why the door was locked and people were only allowed in one at a time!  Anyway, I have to report that the vet pronounced Nibbles very fit for her age (13), with a nice consistent weight over time, and administered the booster with little fuss.  I think she understood the word Nibbles, as she went for her backside rather than the usual neck.  Since we got home, Nibbles has been sulking.

My other outing today was to collect pork and an organic chicken from a local farm, that does direct sales.  It is excellent, as there is a menu of stuff to buy on their website, and every 3 weeks or so I get an e-mail asking if I would like to order.  Their sausages and merguez are brilliant, and the shoulder roast joints very yummy.  They also sell pasta from a local organic beef farm (there is a reason for that) and eggs and chickens from another local producer.  All the products come from within an 8 mile radius of our house, which is great for keeping food miles down.

Normally we go into a room with a bank of industry grade refrigerators, but current arrangements for social distancing mean a table outdoors, a plexiglass barrier, a box for posting exact money and cheques, an extended opening time and a strict one at a time regime.  It works well, but it is sad not to be able to interact with other clients as before.

Yesterday I got the last of the spuds in - a relief I must say.  There are now 44 potatoes growing away - 20 are actually up and about, the others won't be for a while yet.  I have 4 gaps in the weed suppressant mat that I will be putting some of my butternut squash seedlings in tomorrow, as we are now past the Saintes Glaces.

And another cat photo to finish - Clause decided he would look a bit more sensible than normal for his selfie yesterday.  He is also getting heavier I swear, even though he is shedding fur as quick as he can.

Day 3 of Deconfinement Diary - well that's what my brother said I should call it!

Wednesday is market day in la Flèche in the Sarthe department, just over the border from us and a mere 18 kilometres on the roads (a bit less as the crow flies, but not much).  It is the best market for miles around and I have been using it every week for the last 15 years.  During confinement, that was actually a bit dodgy, and I was probably lucky I wasn't caught by the Evil Gendarme.  The ones that I met, who checked my attestation getting into the market, were always fine and charming.  But a friend knows people who were fined and sent home without getting their goodies, so yes, I reckon I was lucky.

With deconfinement, it wasn't totally clear how the market was going to work, but it was certainly going to happen.  When I got there this morning, the clothes, shoes, kitchen goods and live chicken stands were all set up facing le Loir.  If you wanted the good stuff - food, flowers, plants - you had to join the queue (again), as numbers in the inner square where that bit of the market was, were still tightly controlled.

The big difference going in this week, was that if you didn't have a face mask on or with you, you were given one (and possibly a sharp talking to).  Fortunately I had mine, so once numbers allowed, I was let in to shop until I dropped, or couldn't carry anything else.  I was able to get all that I wanted (or could remember - total fail on bananas) - butter, milk, yoghurts, rice puddings, cakes, cheese, fish, salads, vegetables, black pudding (the real French boudin type - yummy), paté, bacon, and gossip.  What bliss!

Some stall holders weren't finding it as easy as you might expect.  You would think that with an enclosed space and newly found freedom, people would take the time to look at all the stalls.  It appears not!  My friend Brigitte took the following two photos - she sells beautiful cut flowers, and this was her first week back at the market.  She found she was on the side of the square less visited, with few passing by.

As a contrast, she took a photo of the "main drag" through the centre of the square, with rather more people.  It is particularly sad for her as at each end of her row, there were big stands selling plants, but people went round the back of her to get to them.  Both fishmongers were on the main drag, as well as the coffee bean stand.

The bloke that sells yoghurts was on the other side of the main drag, and was also having a slow time of it - again his first day back.  I heard him discussing the challenges of positioning with either a journalist or local councillor, so there may be changes next week.  It is very hard for these small producers as the markets are their main route for selling to the public, and they really do need people to come back to them.  As the Yoghurt Man said, it was like trying to rebuild the business from scratch - the 10 years he had already spent on the markets seemed to be forgotten by many.

 

Day 53 of lockdown - a sad and worrying day

Actually the day started well - John put in a sterling morning's work on the extra space needed for the potato bed, while I mowed the lawn, so we used the fine part of the day well.  I also had a bit of a go through one of the raised beds, removing self-seeded tomato plants - one of the dangers of home made compost, as nothing kills tomato seeds.  Something else that doesn't disappear in the compost bin is the outer layer of teabags - you can see what gets left behind here.  We are not pretentious with using loose leaf tea, we are helping our soil!

This afternoon was less interesting weather-wise, so I decided that the 7½ pounds of (mostly) stoned cherries I had been hoarding for a year or two finally ought to be turned into jam, lots of jam.  Cherry jam is a bit of a pain, and I refuse to pay the extra for jam sugar (inner tight-fisted peasant coming out there), so I add a handful of frozen blackcurrants to the mix to provide pectin.  It is still not the hardest set jam but it is lovely in tarts and on brioche!  Here it is cooking away.

None of that is sad or worrying I hear you say, and you'd be right.  While I was fighting the good fight with the cherry jam, there was a murder in the road outside our house.  Our neighbour's cat, who gave birth a couple of days ago, was outside, as were her owner and another neighbour.  She was sniffing around on the road, when a brown car came round the bend at the bottom of the road on two wheels, drove at speed (despite the 50km speed limit and approaching junction at the road, swerved and deliberately hit and killed the cat before speeding off through a stop junction, presumably to see how many more the b@st@rd could kill as he sped through the centre of the village.  Neither of us saw it, but John got a blow by blow description from our neighbours, who are naturally very upset and shocked.  John ended up cleaning the road.  Our girls are going to get the road safety lecture this evening, although they will likely ignore us.

Sometimes people are awful shits.