Rural Life

Autumn Lockdown - Day 3 - yukky Sunday

Nothing like an out of focus vampire cat to wake you up!  Yesterday was Spooky's Day, and he seems to have coped - I didn't see him but there were no obvious broken bodies so I think he tidied up well.

Reading my Spring Lockdown Diary entries last night, I noted a lot of sitting in the sun in the garden, and enjoying the peace and the sun.  In November that is likely to be a rare event, and getting wet, taking exercise between showers and trying to stay sunny mentally is more likely to be the norm.  Armed with my attestation I went out to visit the Boys in the Country, and checked on the rainfall gauge and the remaining vegetables, but it wasn't nice, and I only spent 5 minutes or so outside.

I picked my way down to the inspirational view, but that was misty and the autumn colours are fading, while the stark necessity of doing some hard graft with a hedge trimmer comes to the fore.  And my feet got very wet (note to self - there are wellies at that site, use them!). 

I can hear the sparrows making a racket in Sparrow City from here - the massively overgrown bay tree that needs to be trimmed, but otherwise it is very quiet in the village.  I looked out last night close to midnight and all I could hear was an owl shouting about something.

I hope for a brighter day tomorrow, and the ability to take advantage of my allowed 1 hour exercise out of the house and gardens - it should be dry in the afternoon.  But now I must go and tend to my pot roast and help John bottle the pear and peach eau de vie that is judged to be "ready".

 

Summer Reflections 6 - harvests and sunsets

We are into September, but these last few days, it hasn't felt like it with hot and sticky conditions and often cloudless skies.  Harvesting has been going on apace, and our garage smells magnificent at the moment as there are 150 kilos of ripe quince in there, waiting for a slot at the juicing plant.  Quince juice isn't something you would happily drink on its own, but add sugar and time and the skills of the distillery and it makes a very delicious eau de vie.  I've also set off a large jar with a shredded quince, a bit of sugar and about 50cls of quince eau de vie to make a very special quince liqueur.  Quince is a good remedy against the winter stomach bug that does the rounds (my excuse, I'm sticking to it).  Tomorrow I will start to make quince jelly.

We have two barrels of fizzing and burping fruit at the moment, even before we get the quince one going.  There is a plum one - deep maroon and brooding; and a pear one - the colour doesn't merit description and it is like the surface of an uneasy volcano.  Both smell sweet and interesting though.

The badgers in the wildflower meadow are clearly bringing in stores for the winter - there is a dusty trail through the dead stems and a lot of sand by the set entrance.

Those days where there has been a bit of cloud in the evening, we have seen some dramatic and colourful sunsets.  Well, I have to walk down a path to the boule de fort car park to see them as the Bungalow of No Merit is now in the way.  In previous years, we have admired from the living room and bedroom windows.  Anyway, new local order, but glorious skies to gaze at in wonderment.  My photos don't do them justice, but enjoy anyway!

Summer ends on 22nd September apparently.

 

Summer Reflections 4 - bees and heat

Late spring and early summer seems to be a popular time for bees to swarm, and it can be tricky to track down where they go to.  We helped a chum have a swarm evicted in October last year - they had found a nice sheltered spot between a window and a shutter and set up camp.  It was a very big nest and full of honey (yum).  As the window was slightly broken, they had also made camp in the utility room behind, so the beekeepers who came to deal with it had a tricky time.  It took ages to find the queen.

In May John spotted that they were back in the same place, so earlier this week, I let the beekeepers back into the house to get the bees out again.  As the window had been repaired, there were no bees in the utility room and it was amazing to see the structures they had built for themselves.  It took a couple of hours to sort out again, this time for a different reason - there was no queen!  A worker had started to lay, but was only producing males, and without a queen, it wasn't a viable colony.  It was also difficult to persuade them to go in the mini-hive, as there was no queen to follow.  All very strange.

After a blazing hot May, June was disappointing with rain and much cooler temperatures.  This seems to have fooled some of the self-seeded cyclamen in the lawn that it is nearly autumn and time to flower!

But July is a tricky month, and can be cool and rainy, particularly at the start of the month.  However we are now back to what one expects of July - hot temperatures and cloudless blue skies.  Very hot temperatures in fact - with shutters closed, windows closed, fans whirring in the evening and cats being very good at doing nothing but sleeping!  It is definitely time to make the final piece of the abri roof, so that no sun can disturb the sleep of the Nibbles!

Day 25 of 30 Days Wild - what I would like to be doing!

It's not news to say it is hot, stinking hot.  Here in my office it is nearly 30ºC and I will stop work as soon as this is done and find somewhere cooler to be.  Or that would be the ideal - but it will be difficult to find I fear.  There are storms doing the rounds but not near us - to the north east of le Mans took a real hammering earlier.

My evening walk to look at the view is fast becoming a bit futile - it is now up to my shoulders and allowing for the curve of the hill and so forth, you really can't see anything beyond maize!

These long high summer evenings should be the ideal time to watch the evening primroses open.  That sounds weird, but sit with a plant and a glass of something chilled and just watch - they open over about a quarter of an hour, and there is a real ping moment when the sepals curl back and release the flower, and you can almost see the petals moving.  Great fun and very therapeutic!  But they open very late at the moment, so the best I can do is admire them in the morning when the flowers are still open.  By midday they are gone.

Watch out for storms!

 

Day 24 of 30 Days Wild - it's hot

I'm sure there is some fancy name for the plume of hot, humid air that is coming at us from the Iberian peninsular and points south, but when the thermometer gets up to near 35ºC, our main preoccupations are keeping the inside of the house and us cool, and us dehydrated.

My brain has also been turned to mush by the concept of match funding (not funding matches I hasten to add).

So today I leave you with this vaguely scientific thought - 

Ours are all trying the liquid state at the moment in various places.

 

Day 21 of 30 Days Wild - a soggy one

Full marks to those who spotted that the mystery bug yesterday was a leaf katydid - news to me!

The moon changes today and with it should come a change in the weather from the British Depression Nadine to something more akin to summer - apparently by Wednesday, temperatures will be up near 30ºC.  That will be more appealing to this lavender, which today had a few bumblebees and the odd hummingbird hawkmoth on it, but nothing to what we would expect when the sun is out and the fragrance dominates the area.

As there was a gusty wind this morning as well, it was difficult to get a good close up of a bumblebee - I took about 12 but this is the only one that was even vaguely in focus!

The promised hot weather will do wonders to the early season figs which are to be found in abundance at the moment but are distinctly not ripe.  Bizarrely with the late season ones, I find hurling abuse at them (verbal abuse) seems to ensure they start ripening pronto.  I may have to try that this week with some of these!

Other trees are showing promise of future fruitfulness - I've shown chestnut flowers before, but this bunch show the mix of male (long, fluffy and droopy) and female flowers (more upright and not fluffy) which mean that with favourable winds and insects, there will be lots of lovely chestnuts in October.

Even later than the chestnuts are the medlars - a curious fruit that is really only nice to eat raw once it is rotten, although I gather you can make a good jelly with them before they get to that state.  These won't be ready until November, and should be bletted in time for Christmas to go nicely with a bit of Stilton.  They should get a bit bigger as this tree produces a nice size fruit about the size of a walnut.

Yoga tomorrow - really!  The hall has been reopened, so there is no issue of rain stopping yoga (which is why the weather will improve tomorrow), so there will either be a late blog or none at all - you have been warned!

 

Day 16 of 30 Days Wild - the weather takes centre stage

Just as a starter, here is a picture of Zola's shame yesterday, before it flew off down the landing, and then away out of the window when I opened it.  Excuse the dust and cat fur!

The weather has taken centre stage today, with numerous thunder storms - not vast amounts of crash, bang, wallop, although quite enough to be going on with.  We have had so far over 15mm of rain today, with more to come.  About a third of it came in this particular storm this morning.

Just look at the water butt by the hovel next door!  And no, I have no idea why there is an upturned sailboard next door either.  I missed the next two or three storms as I was in Skype meetings with colleagues and clients, but after that was all done, we went to the Shack to clear our heads and feed the boys.  There had been less rain there, but it was all still very soggy underfoot although the courgettes, butternuts and weird pumpkins were loving that aspect.  Weird pumpkins?  John planted a couple of rotten potimarrons that we had in the garage to see what would happen.  We expected the badgers to dig them up and eat them to be honest.  Well, one has done nothing, but the other has so far given birth to four seedlings!

We left when we started to hear rumbles of thunder, but at the end of the lane, we had to stop and take photographs of the amazing clouds and vista - here is just one example.

And on that happy note, it is late and I'm going downstairs for TV, key lime pie and tea.

 

Day 14 of 30 Days Wild - rainbows and butterflies

We seem to be getting a lot of rainbows this year.  Yesterday I showed the one that was looking south east from the pub on Friday night when we left.  Today I share with you the double rainbow that could be seen from our back door yesterday evening, this time looking north east.

A few days ago I was worrying that history would be covered up in terms of the stonework on a house in the village.  I'm actually pretty hopeful that they are going to leave the stonework visible though, as there is a fine repointing of joints, but the scaffolding is coming down, and there is no covering render.  Fingers crossed guys, because I find this quality of stonework beautiful and fascinating.

John had his work cut out cat minding today.  This made it easier for me to tend to the needs of the tomatoes and check up on the haricots and tie in more bean poles for the borlotti beans.  It didn't make it any easier for him when it came to mowing around the plots though.

In places the buddleia is out and providing lots of lovely nectar for the butterflies.  I spent a happy (and Wild) 10 minutes chasing around the bushes, trying to photograph butterflies and got some reasonable pictures this time I think.  This is the one I like the best - it's a peacock butterfly by the way.

Tomorrow it is back to work and also back to the uncertainty over outdoor yoga or not - don't be surprised if there is no blog, as I could be stuck with my foot round the back of my head (boasting), or be spending the evening rubbing horse liniment into my aching joints.

 

Day 3 of 30 Days Wild - but I'm not wild, I'm livid!

Two weeks ago I had 24 nice little chilli plants growing away nicely.  I felt good.  Tonight I have three slightly raddled chilli plants and 6 with no leaves and that is it.  OK I gave 3 away, but the 10 that I planted out have been eaten and then used as part of a dust bath by Bridie the Bantam, Delenn, exile of the Grey Council and Muck and Brass - aka the Garden Vandal Gang.  It's not as though they weren't protected by a barricade of sticks, flower pots and plastic netting.  Little b@st@rds!  And Bridie doesn't even share her eggs.

So to soothe my anger, I walked up to the vantage point where I can look south across the valley of the Couasnon and west towards the big city and north to the bad lands of the Sarthe.  I used to be able to look at our house too, but a nasty little bungalow is being built in front of us, so the view that way is now sadly lacking.  The swifts know that there is a storm around as the insects are flying lower, so they are flying lower too.  There must have been 30 or so swooping across the village between us and the church - magnificent to watch.  The swallows and martins were tucked away though, in case.

The clouds towards the east and Noyant were not looking friendly and there was a pretty constant low rubble of thunder in the air.

My favourite website, real time lightning, shows what it was like over that way.

Day 1 of (limited) freedom - not that I've noticed any real difference

Freedom!  Well sort of, anyway.

The weather to greet our new found freedoms was vile this morning - rain, blustery easterly winds and cold.  So while our boulangerie was open again on Mondays (they had been closed during lockdown on Mondays), it wasn't an unconfined joy walking up there, even if I didn't have an attestation.  But actually I did notice some differences - slightly more cars out and about and the barber at the top of the road was open and cutting hair.  But my plans to be out and about planting spuds and going for a walk in the One Acre Wood were confounded by 25mm of rain in 18 hours and a nasty wind that makes going into woodland a tad foolish.  However as the screen grab below shows, from here on in, it is due to get better.

The main excitement of the day was provided by Zola, when she brought in a sparrow.  We thought she had a lizard, so didn't bother chasing her.  It was only when I went upstairs to carry on working and saw her staring at the curtains, that I realised something more was afoot.  Our bedroom windows are large and it is a long way down.  The sparrow was unharmed, so it was a matter of getting the timing absolutely right to let the bird out, and close the window before Zola launched herself out of the window in pursuit.  Fortunately I succeeded.  

Otherwise, the news is full of how people are coping with going back to work and concerns about public transport.  Small pockets of infection are cropping up which should serve to keep people focussed on the key messages of social distancing, hand washing and keeping safe.  We are still waiting for our free face masks, but the 7th May copy of Private Eye finally turned up, saving us from an old but previously unread copy from February 2016.  There was a spoof in there of Johnson working out which way to jump over Brexit and which would give him the better chance of becoming PM.  Some things shouldn't be joked about.

With better weather, I should have more interesting things to report tomorrow, when I go out and about to see what freedom tastes like!