Rural Life

Quiet days of August

Last week was the flurry of excitement that is the annual Comice here in Baugé en Anjou, and since then, things have generally been much quieter.  Local people are either on holiday or preparing for the Rentré next week - the start of September that brings a new school year, a new year for the sports and arts clubs, people going back to work and taking things a bit more seriously, being able to get an artisan to answer the phone, the tax assessment results, getting the chimney swept and starting to think about winter heating.  It's a big thing here, probably bigger than New Year, and taken most seriously.

For us, it should mean that the holiday makers disperse, making it easier to park at the local markets, less frantic calls from people who can see weeds in their lawn or furry pears on their trees (actually known as quince, but there we go), and a slightly less fraught diary.  In fact, in previous years, September has been a month where I have had something on every weekend, and sometimes more than one thing too.  This year seems more sane - only a pig roast in a couple of weeks' time and perhaps being able to visit things for European Heritage Weekend.

The gardens are relatively quiet - chillies are ripening, as are the meagre corn cobs, borlotti beans are flowering and setting and the potatoes need to be lifted.  With August, some of the loveliest flowers arrive - cyclamen.  They are mainly pink but some are white, and over the years, the clumps get larger.  The ones in our lawn started as the odd flower here and there and now have spread.  It's the same in the One Acre Wood.  These ones are at The Studio and seemed to come up overnight.

Although the weather remains frustratingly dry, there are more clouds in the evening now, which make for colourful sunsets.  I'm never great at taking photographs of these, but I am getting better, and this one was a pleasing one.

I've not taken many photographs this week, and the trail camera was pointing at an area that looked like it was a badger playground.  Well if it was, they weren't playing last week.  The camera has moved and there are no photos to share from it, so I will have to round off with a photo of young Monsieur Clause, who is looking very sleek and pleased with himself at the moment.  I think he is having a good mousing season.

I'll take more and better photos this week - I promise.

 

It's springing!

This afternoon I heard a cuckoo.  As someone else in the area has also said they have heard a cuckoo too, I'm calling it, it's now officially spring.  With spring comes the first vide grenier (car boot but it lasts all day), which we went along to this morning, saw loads of chums and got a useful implement, commonly known as a "truc", which will make getting ivy off walls a lot easier.  A bargain at only one Euro too.

I moved the trail camera to see what is invading the Garden area before we block off the hole in the fence (sometimes it just isn't worth it after all).  So far I don't have any images of that, which is big enough to make a clear path, but I have been hugely entertained by Woody Woodpecker's Missus, who is enjoying the last traces of walnuts from under the least appetising tree.  Here is her best shot - I will load a video in due course.

Something is setting off the camera at night too, but there seems to have been a mist, so I've not been able to spot what it is.  I'm hoping for something more significant than this fellow, because he doesn't really merit a path!

Soon we need to start clearing beds for serious 2023 crops, so we are working our way through the leeks that I heeled in during the dry season last year, but which have enjoyed the heavy clay soil and a damp December and January.  They are really very good, and the best I have grown here in France, though not necessarily up to my Worcester leek standards.

With spring come flowers, and we have some lovely ones at the moment.  The anemones continue to do well, the plain daffodils are still being a host, while the cowslips and the mutant cowslips (being slutty with polyanthus I think) are pinging up everywhere.  Even the fancy daffs are coming out!

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And it wouldn't be spring in France without a demonstration or two, although this one at la Flèche on Wednesday wasn't making that much of an impression on the guy loading his market goodies into his car.  A long stretch of main road through the town had traffic stopped while the police escorted about 200 union members, their wives, mothers and children up the high street and then back down again, back to the Electricity Company offices they were picketing when not marching.  They were happily singing the French sport theme too - Ultranate's Free from Desire, but didn't know most of the words other than the nanananas.

Next week's edition might be a bit late for a number of possible reasons - apologies in advance.

 

Thinking about spring

Although it's March, it's not quite spring yet, but something is definitely stirring out there.  Of course some say that spring starts at the beginning of March and I can quite see that, but I'm going to wait for the equinox this year before I call it.  It's not that we have had snow this last week - far from it, in fact.  Today we had the hammock out for the first time this year, and pronounced it to be good.  I had a lovely quarter of an hour, relaxing, covered in large cats, and for part of the time at least, watching a magnificent woodpecker in one of the walnut trees.

I did do some spring-like work in the potager, in that I got around to planting the yellow onion sets I bought a few weeks ago.  Someone on one of the forums who is a bit further north than us talked about having their onion sets planted between the autumn sown broad beans, so that when the beans are done in June or so, the onions can let rip and use the nitrogen fixed by the bean roots.  Someone else poo-pooed that, but on the forums you can normally find someone who will swear blind that black is white.  Anyway, why not give it a whirl?  The onions can't really do any worse than they did last year!!

The plants are certainly starting to get into the swing of things.  The daffodils are coming out, although the more fancy narcissi are a long way behind, and the anemones I planted back at the end of 2021 are putting on another good display this year.

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No trail camera images this week I'm afraid, but a distant view of a small flock of cattle egrets along with next door farmer's cattle, doing whatever cattle egrets do.  I first became aware of them six years ago, when we went to Guadeloupe.  There, people park a cow anywhere where there is a bit of grass, and then each cow seems to have up to a dozen attendant egrets.  But now we have huge flocks of them in mainland France, some with more than a hundred birds, like a snow drift across a field.  I gather it is a sign of climate change as they have moved north from Africa.  They are lovely to look at but not right in the scheme of things.

I spotted something else that doesn't seem right yesterday too.  I was looking at the ponds at the bottom of The Orchard - I am now the proud owner of a pond dipping kit and was checking them out, to plan my first play.  I was hoping to spot a bit of spawn perhaps.  I didn't see any spawn, but was pleased that the level of the ponds has risen a bit with the recent rain, although we need so much more as they are a good 6 to 8 inches below where they should be at this time of year.  Then I heard a swish and a plop and looking across, saw the back and dorsal fin and tail of a rather large fish - when I say large, probably about 8 to 10 inches long.  Naturally it took a while for me to remember to get my phone out to take a picture and it was too far away, but I got something anyway, as you can see.  No, really!  My bumper book of Freshwater Fish says it could be Roach or Rudd, but to me the bigger questions are how did it get there, why haven't I seen it before, what does it live on and will it survive?

Today from The Shack we needed to visit another property, to check on something, and the easiest route, or at least the route we took, went through the area devastated by the forest fire last summer.  I got out of the car to take a couple of pictures and also a video.  It was most odd.  It was very quiet - no trees for the wind to rustle through, few birds, certainly many fewer than at The Shack, where they are raucous at the moment, and an overwhelming scent of pine, like someone had been spraying toilet duck around.  I hope that in a few weeks plants will start to reappear, as the black ground is chilling to look at.

So that's it for this week - I'm not sure what will be on the menu next week, but am sure that nature and life will surprise me!

 

 

 

There's something in the air!

And it could very well be pollen!  Actually at the start of the week, when it was still cold and a bit frosty, there was also a certain amount of air pollution around too.  But the skies were bright, and while the air was cold, the blue skies and sunshine brought a certain lightness to the heart.  There was a robin singing his heart out in the top of the fig tree (really must bring that down a few meters before the end of March) and snowdrops glistened at the foot of the quince tree.

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Guess what this is?  No, not a dead hedgehog, nor a damp air filter from a lawnmower, nor an exotic mushroom!  It is the seed head from an artichoke that got frosted.  We've left them thus far as the wildlife people say they are interesting to garden birds.  I'm not convinced - the only garden bird that gets interested is Bridie the Freeloading Bantam, and each time she tries a nibble, she wanders off with a really disgusted look on her beak.

Now the weather has changed - we are still plagued by high pressure keeping any real attempt at rain at bay, but it is warmer and the air at altitude is more humid.  There are hints of interesting sunsets, and the warmth is bringing on the spring flowers, including increasing numbers of orchid rosettes.  Today we spotted our first cowslip flowers, while the row of daffodil style flowers are starting to show promising flower buds which are likely to be open by next weekend.

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Apart from broad beans, I know from bitter experience not to get the seed packets out yet awhile, but my mate Loïc at the market at la Flèche sells really good planting shallots, and I can never resist.  So today we pulled up the Brussel sprout plants - John will be munching his way through the few that we grew, while the chickens will get the rest - and I hoed and turned the soil lightly so that it was no longer solid clay.  I also picked out loads of bits of old masonry, which will do as crocks at the bottom of a toilet cistern I plan to sow carrots in next month.  I then carefully planted as many as I could in the space freed up - 14!  The other 10 will need to find a home elsewhere.  The trouble is I was greedy and picked out the biggest, fattest bulbs I could find, and when planting them, they told me they needed lots of space.  The rest of the bed will have red and yellow onions in, which take up less space, and won't be planted for a good month yet.

The broad beans are coming on nicely, while the cauliflowers are being munched by caterpillars.  The leeks will be eaten in the coming weeks and there is a bit of turning to do after which I may well replant the pea towers.

No images from the trail camera this week.  I will be moving it during the week, as today I got some fine footage of marauding hunters, so a lot of things will be hiding or will have moved on.  I am ambivalent about the hunters, as boar are far too numerous, but the way the hunters waltz through our land with dogs off the leash, when we have three resident cats, hacks me off too.  Next week, I hope to have as yet unseen photos and footage for you - but given there are 1,400 unreviewed files on the SD card, it could take a while and be a bit time consuming, and there are other priorities at the moment in our lives.

 

Proper winter weather

It's January in the Northern Hemisphere, and despite 2022 being the warmest year on record, we are currently enjoying proper winter weather.  Okay so we don't have snow, but actually I don't mind missing out on the white stuff as I have twice weekly physiotherapy sessions at the moment and getting to those would be so much more complicated if there was white stuff on the ground.  But proper frosty weather and for quite a few days - it's good for the soil, the trees, makes parsnips sweeter and (I gather) Brussel sprouts more flavoursome - well, it has to be good.  The downside is that low winter sun on a frosty day makes for too much contrast on photos to be really good - for example:

On the other hand, honing in on fine detail can be a bit easier, with all that contrast:

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That is very nice carved detail over those windows!

The gardens can't really be worked at the moment, although when there is a bit of thaw, it's quite good for getting persistent weeds out.  It is traditional to slaver over seed catalogues at this time of year, but I have a big box with loads of free seed packets, so no need to buy new, just try to work out somewhere with enough warmth and light to get the seeds growing once March is here - anything sown direct is too vulnerable to chickens, cat bottoms, slugs, snails, being trodden on, being bullied by weeds, birds, drought, frost, flood, and heavy clay soil.  Weeds do remarkably well.  We had 5 seeds of giant parsnip we were given before Brexit made such things impossible.  We sowed them late (they don't like being stored) so were lucky two germinated and grew, and benefitted from the water the chickens didn't want in the drought conditions.  Finally this morning, John dug one up for our dinner - yummy!

The biggest we have grown in France (our biggest in the UK weighed over 2 pounds, and was 18 inches long of usable parsnip, but that really was a mutant!).

Last weekend I moved the trail camera as while all I had captured was a hunter's bottom, there was clear evidence that around the ponds, something was lurking!

In addition, the badger trail (which is visible on Google Earth surprisingly), is looking even more obvious than usual.

But at this time of year, the larger animals head for wooded areas, although the deer will likely be back in March or so I think.  While there is a lot of bird activity, unless we have the camera trained on a food station, it is very haphazard and difficult to catch, and frankly I have more than enough video footage of blackbirds and thrushes turning over leaves.  So it is the smaller, shyer, and less flashy animals I am looking for - foxes, badgers, ducks, the pine martin, mice, rats, perhaps even a coypu (although I really hope not).  Well, it paid off this week after the move - a badger bottom and a fox face!  Hopefully they will get a bit more used to the camera and I'll get more.

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I also need to get going on my campaign of attracting tits, particularly blue and great tits, as they are very good at eating pine processionary caterpillars and the pine trees have a few too many nests in for my liking.  The needles shed by the caterpillars are extremely irritating, and the rashes and swelling they cause last a good couple of weeks with no real remedy other than wrapping the affected part in wet towels so you can't scratch.  They can be deadly to animals, and have until recently no natural predators as they are a non-native invasive species.  But the birds are doing their thing, so feeders and nest boxes need to be set up in the next few weeks.  The feeders were very successful last year.

So, another frosty week in prospect for us, stay warm!

 

New year, new promise?

Last blog was all about looking back, today is more about looking forward as the days start to lengthen and we stop thinking about how to celebrate midwinter and concentrate more on what the new year has to offer.

On the last day of the old year, it was unseasonably warm.  Now it is always hard for a gardener to hold back on sowing things and planting things, because that is what it is all about, making things grow.  That challenge is even harder when it is mild and you see buds developing and catkins shedding pollen everywhere (and so the start of the new season allergies).  However I felt justified in doing a bit of sowing, as I hadn't got around to the second patch of broad beans, and I like to do autumn sowing to avoid the worst ravages of blackfly.  So I uncovered a nicely clean bed, raked it over to remove any foolhardy weeds and a bit more of the underlying builders' rubble, made about 88 dents and sowed broad bean Aquadulce Claudia.  I then raked soil back over and added a nice long piece of netting to avoid the worst ravages of cat bottom.  I guess it will be another 3 weeks or so before the shoots show.

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Another major winter occupation is firewood - now is a good time to fell as the trees are quiet, not too much sap around or leaves to encumber the fall, we aren't worried about missing mushrooms and we aren't being attacked by mosquitos.  We've brought down two trees so far this winter and want to bring down another couple to ensure continuity.  We had clearly grown soft this summer as moving the dead/dry pieces up to the top of the One Acre Wood is proving harder work than in previous years and neither of us have really felt that our elbows are in a suitable condition for doing a lot of splitting with an axe, however satisfying it can be.  We borrowed a log splitter which made short work of the existing stash of big logs, which are now ready for use.

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We are still eating the fruits of last year's gardening, and the Brussel Sprouts seem to be nearly ready for John to crunch his way through.  I won't touch them.  Next weekend we will have our first red cabbage, but I fear that the cauliflower plants, that grew so large and lush, won't have the reserves to make good curds in February/March.  I mentioned that it was unseasonably warm?  Today I found them covered once again by caterpillars!

It is good at this time of year to look around and appreciate what we take for granted.  Two examples of this.  Firstly I was in a neighbouring village for a work appointment, and rather than park at the client's house, I parked by the church.  Once the work was done, as I put my stuff back in the car, and changed sweatshirt to one that the cats could and would dribble on, I took a moment to marvel at the magnificent St Médard church in Cheviré le Rouge.  It's not the largest village by any means, but perhaps 800 or 900 years ago it was way more important, and deserved this large and impressive church.

Looking down, once at the Orchard and having a bit of a walk, I marvelled at the intricate patterns of cyclamen leaves and was perhaps a bit concerned at the number and size of orchid rosettes under the big walnut tree.  The cyclamen flowers in the autumn were magnificent.  The orchids are most likely to be lizard orchids - impressive, particularly when there are a lot of them, but not pretty.

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I'm travelling next week, so there may be photos from other places next Sunday!

 

A time of decadence

The past week has been one of gluttony, sloth and the odd bit of exercise to try to make that seem less decadent, but really that is what this season is all about - recovery, putting on a bit of winter fat, reflecting on the past and looking forward to the new year.  The cold broke but it is taking a while for the warmth to build up again in the old stones of our house.  Actually it is rather nice to be curled up on a sofa in the Snug (used to be called the seating area, but now it is seriously snug), with the woodburner going, covered in fleece rugs and with a cat to provide a bit of extra snuggle - it's what winter is about!

There was also the issue of serious puddings - a fantasy of chocolate, praline, salted caramel and biscuit on the Friday before Christmas, and The Pudding on Boxing Day over in Chinon.  Between them, I think these are good for about 4 pounds on the hips!

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Looking around when walking, either to get to the supermarket, or just for the joy of walking, there are still natural sights to delight in.  This leaf with a corolla of damp around it was rather striking at Aldi.  The old tree in an abandoned area of scrub was about 50/50 tree and mistletoe, and for those who say the quality of French mistletoe is rubbish with no berries, I beg to differ.  This is loaded!  The birds are in for a treat.

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There is hope in the vegetable plots.  The broad beans sown in late November are now starting to show, seemingly unaffected by the serious frosts.  Looked at from a distance, it is also clear where I sowed the wheat in a vain attempt to cut down on next year's chicken feed bills.

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While there has been no major activity on the trail camera other than foraging blackbirds - in the main due to a fogged up lens - I did spot a minor catastrophe at Badger Towers.  Whether a boar had been jumping up and down in that area too much, or whether the layer of soil became too thin, or whether frost and rain did their thing, a foot long piece of set entrance fell in during the weekend.  It was tidied up fairly quickly and doesn't seem to have had any lasting impact, but it certainly looked different - and Clause agreed with me.

So the final image of the year is of the best view in France, in my opinion anyway.  Whatever the weather, it makes my heart leap with undefined joy.  What a pity the camera on a smart phone can't really capture the true joy of it!

Enjoy however you spend the New Year cross over, and next time I will review the wildlife year  of 2022, before getting on with the excitements of 2023.

Frosty weather

Last week I welcomed winter and talked of purple risotto and the need for slow cooked and warming food.  The week continued cold, but no frosts until Thursday night, when it was a bit closer to zero, while Saturday morning was a nastily brisk -5.7ºC at 8am - currently the coldest time of the day.  With that harsh frost does come the recompense of sunshine, but also the inconvenience of at least two pairs of socks, wearing gloves when going shopping, not being able to sit for too long without getting cold feet and the chickens' water fountain freezing solid.

Good frost also brings beautiful ice crystals and an edging of white, and is finally knocking out those plants that really shouldn't be growing on still, such as chillies, cannas and rhubarb.  Here is a montage of frosted foliage.

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As predicted, the visit from the hunting dogs last week means I've not spotted boar on the trail camera over the past week, and there isn't much new damage either, so they may have moved on through.  There wasn't really enough for them to eat here anyway, as a marauding extended family group of 15 pigs can eat an awful lot, so it was probably time they moved on elsewhere.  I have seen deer and a hare and a badger on the camera though, so it isn't the totally clean sweep we had earlier this year.

As I said, the advantage of this type of weather are lovely views.  The frost also meant that a number of trees that had been hanging on to their leaves with a steely determination, finally dropped them, very quickly too, on Saturday.  I watched the apples and the quince basically ditch everything in a quarter of an hour - it was strange to watch and made for an eerie sound.  But what is lovely at this time of year, is to see a new view or vista, a new building (actually more like a very old building, but new to us), or an old familiar but in a new way or after a few years.  Our favourite view from the Garden is over to the Chapel at Montplacé, which has been hidden by leaves for many months, but has now been revealed again.

I'm keeping this short this week - I've not had the heater on in my office since Thursday evening, and with it going solidly since this morning, the temperature has crawled up to 16ºC, which is not totally comfortable for sitting in, certainly not around the feet!  Keep warm and keep safe if you have snow!

 

The tail end of autumn

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.

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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!

 

Work and Mushrooms

Last week I waxed lyrical about the wonders of the cèpe mushroom, and we have been lucky to find a few over the last 10 days so that I have been able to dry a load in the desiccator for use over the coming months, as well as being able to eat rather a lot fresh.  They make a lovely omelette and work well with garlic, and with garlic and herb butter - such a pity that most of the chickens are currently on strike (nothing to do with bird 'flu, more to do with shorter days, getting older and moulting).  This panful was particularly tasty.

The challenge with collecting mushrooms from the wild, once you have correctly identified what is edible of course, is that humans are not the only beings to enjoy a good mushroom.  There is a small insect, which I think of as the "expensive mushroom fly" which can get there first, and there is nothing you can do about it.  Some people will eat fly damaged mushrooms, but I don't.  I will share with a slug, although not at the same time, but i draw the line at flies.  I found this fabulous cèpe yesterday afternoon, and from the condition of the underside of the cap, it was a very new growth one.  I was so proud of it!  Sadly, when I cut it open to prepare it, as you can see, it was riddled with the beastly fly.  I have buried it in leaf litter in the hope that it will spread mycelium and start a new colony, but I'm not telling anyone where! 

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I have a nasty suspicion that this means the end of the mushroom season for this year.

There are other critters out and about that I wouldn't expect at this time of year - caterpillars!  And not just any, but the dreaded scions of the Cabbage White Butterfly.  I have spent hours with the Cats in the Country explaining the difference between a cabbage white and all other butterflies (cabbage whites are good cat food, all others are banned), but they just don't seem to listen and don't spend enough time on brassica patrol.  I don't think this will utterly defeat my attempts at cauliflowers, but it won't do them any good either.  I picked loads off by hand (and got very green fingers as a result) and threw them away to where I hoped they would attract robins and other birds but kept finding more!  Ugh.

It has been unnaturally warm this weekend - even for northwest France, 18ºC is not normal for the middle of November - so I was finally spurred into digging up the last 9 potatoes.  It didn't help that a lot were sprouting again, and I needed to get shot of all the foliage.  It hasn't really been cold enough for storing potatoes out of the ground easily, but at the same time, frost isn't good either.  They were nice and plump, and I knocked off a load of shoots, so hopefully they will be OK.  They are now in a drying rack in a barn, hardening off, and letting the soil dry off them too.  I guess that was another 15 kilos of spuds for the winter.  I also made my first sowing of broad beans - 66 to be precise - in a bed beside leeks and cauliflowers - fingers crossed they all germinate.  I am eyeing up another bed for a further double row as it was a good-sized packet of seed.

There has been no action on the trail camera this week, so it has come home for recharging of batteries and clearing the SD card.  Next week there should be some video clips, when I have had a chance to look at what is there.

So rather than talk pigs and badgers, I will mention the one and only thing we miss from our old life in the UK - cricket.  We left in early 2005, just as free to air cricket coverage was coming to an end.  It did make the move that bit easier, as previous summers would be spent re-caning chair seats in front of the Test Matches, and occasional visits to local venues for Sunday League limited overs matches.  It was a passion, sometimes an obsession even, but selling out to Sky broke my heart and my habit.  There is a spot in the garden where I can pick up Radio 4 LW, and we still have a couple of radios that can pick that up, but any other form of radio gets nasty noises and licence restriction warnings.  So it was a real pleasure to hear that Channel 4 were showing the final of the Twenty20 World Cup free to air this morning, and a nifty app gives us 1 hour of UK TV per day.  Breakfast was taken watching a fine England bowling performance, and I gather they won in the end.  While pyjama cricket isn't my favourite form of the game, it was still a real treat to watch!

Have a good week!

 

Never enough time!

It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks, with getting the draft report done for clients and then this week a presentation that could have gone a lot better, if IT had been on my side.  Then there was the house sale we were helping with, so last weekend was a flurry of moving "stuff", and in particular sofas, and the angst of returning the hire van full of diesel when the local petrol stations were empty!  The actual sale went swimmingly well in the end, so that was a relatively easy Monday - well until yoga, when the joints in my legs and feet really didn't want to play ball with various positions! 

Tuesday was taking a cat to her first vet visit in 10 years to be chipped and passported and vaccinated so she can go travelling.  I had had more nightmares about that than sofa moving or interpreting, and it turns out my subconscious was right, as she was a bit of a problem (other more pungent phrases are available).  In the end, we had to leave her with the vet to be sedated for the three required injections, and there is a prescription for tranquilizers for the return visit for the booster jab in a month's time.

Tomorrow, I head to the UK for over a week to do some evaluation work and see family and friends.  It should be fun, but I've still got loads of sorting, printing, ironing and packing to do before I am anywhere near ready to head off.  This is a long-winded excuse for not battling with YouTube to load the latest dollop of cute wild boar videos, but there are some photos!  If you are looking at this on a computer (and possibly a tablet), click on the photos to get the full joy and the right number of boar - the first one actually has 10 in it!

In In

In other news, we did get to the One Acre Wood over the weekend to see if there were any nice edible mushrooms, as this is supposed to be great weather for them.  Hmmm.  Well, I spotted the three below, but they were not numerous, not particularly edible, and not particularly inspiring either.  Perhaps it is just our bit of woodland, and we need to look about 300 kilometres further south?

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Some things are working as you would expect at this time of year - the badgers are doing some vital work on the summer love nest prior to moving back up to the main badger village a couple of fields away for winter.  All we see of their activity are the piles of bright soil added to the spoil heap around the entrance.  Other things are not as would be expected - the yukkas flower in April and May, not the second half of October!!

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So, a short missive this week and I won't be writing again until 1st November, but I hope to share with you some lovely photos from the Broads and Essex when I do write.