Rural Life

Autumn Lockdown - Day 37 - more like Winter actually

Just over 2 weeks to the shortest day, and it isn't really light here until nearly 9am on a good day.  There was also a bit of a frost here this morning - the weather station in the garden recorded -0.7ºC, but that was at head height.  The pepper and aubergine plants still standing in the garden and the canna lilies at the front of the house are all showing signs of having been well frosted this afternoon, and it is probably time to cut them all down.  Except that it is too cold and yukky to really want to go out side and do that.

Surely not, I hear you mutter?  After all the douceur angevine, and you are in western France and all that, means that it is always warm and glowing?  Not all the time, no.  This morning it was a real labour of love to stand in the queues in the market, although I have to say, they were a lot shorter as a lot of fair weather shoppers couldn't face it.  I did the circuit including the tea lady up Rue Basse in about 45 minutes as opposed to an hour or an hour and a quarter.

There was a ceremony at the War Memorial as I left - poor Anciens Combattants freezing as they saluted the monument and then had to listen to a speech by a Mayor.  There weren't many of them due to Covid.  But then it started to rain too!  Once home, I had the honour of being sat on by Zola to help me warm back up again - even she couldn't be bothered with the outside world today!

After more rain, which fortunately didn't turn lumpy, it brightened up enough this afternoon for me to pop out for a bit of a walk, not much and not far, but something.  Looking to the south east from one of the lanes I went up, there is a nice view across the valley, although the clouds were not at all friendly.  There is more rain on the way, and as it gets dark, I guess it may become solid.  There was snow this morning in Normandy I gather - brrrrrr!

 

Autumn Lockdown - Day 36 - a better day

One of the things that made yesterday so dismal and depressing was the weather - heavy overcast from morning to night and wet and dank and cold.  So it was with huge relief that once the day dawned today, it was with sunshine (and a bit of frost).  That golden luminosity makes even the most challenging day seem better, and while today wasn't hugely challenging, some of yesterday's issues are still lurking.

The morning was devoted to dealing with a backlog of emails and phone calls, after lunch I had to honour my commitment to the Boys in the Country and go and feed them.  They all appeared, were pleased to see me, and most were very hungry too - well cold weather and growing a good layer of thick underfur takes it out of a chap.  Once they had munched their fill, we went and checked the enclosed garden - I had to sit on one of the chairs so they could all have a good love in with me for 10 minutes.  Then washing up cat bowls in cold water, which is always a joy, before I went out to explore the other plots.

I always like to have a look to see what is going on in Badger Mansions, slap in the middle of the wild flower meadow.  The damp soil made it so much easier to see their paw prints, including claw marks.  There seemed to have been a bit of activity since the rain stopped.

I then walked round the edge of the meadow, accompanied by Clause who managed to raise a pheasant, but not catch it.  That was much more interesting than me, so I was able to go the rest of the way without being shouted at in Cat.  When I got to where the old log pile used to be, I found an excellent example of the disgusting Giant Killer Orange Slug that lives around here.  We don't have any in the garden, but we have loads in the One Acre Wood.  This one was about five inches long.

At this point, Clause decided I needed to be defended against the slug, so came back from pheasant bothering and stood around shouting at me.  I felt it was time to leave.

 

Autumn Lockdown - Day 25 - back to normal

Yesterday was one of those days when social media really did come into its own.  Sunday birthdays are always a bit annoying as there is no postie to wait for, and in lockdown, there is no nice restaurant or pub trip.  What I had instead were loads of lovely messages from all over the world, including a few that developed into conversations with people I haven't been properly in touch with for ages.  The weather was also fabulous (but no sunburn in the end), so I was able to take a nice photo of the dusk (the new house blots out the sunset).

In the morning I also took a moment to enjoy the play of sunlight on the walls of the staircase.  The stone walls are unfinished (and have been for over 20 years), and we do plan to get a bit of a skim on them while keeping the stones visible... one day.  The wooden panelling is relatively new (a bit under 3 years) and was part of the staircase renovation project.  We love the contrast and the patterns in the wood.

Back on the 9th November, I put up the first photo in the new orchid watch collection, and here is the second one.  The new stem seems to have gone a bit further and the bud nodules seem to have got bigger, but as it is winter, it's not growing hugely fast, so this could get very frustrating!!

It seemed colder today as it wasn't so sunny - it has taken ages for my office to warm up and now that it is a supportable 21ºC, it is time to close down, turn off the point heater and go and cook supper.  I have spent most of the day wrapped in a serape I bought from a charity shop in Worcester about 17 years ago - so that was £5 well spent!

 

Autumn Lockdown - Day 14 - lovely November weather

The end of the second week of lockdown - there are big announcements tonight from the Prime Minister, so things may change a bit.  I've got an appointment shortly, so today's blog is short, sweet and early.

What a beautiful morning!  The church looked particularly fine from the garden. 

The lane looked enticing and there was a brilliant X in con trails to be seen from where the Boys in the Country hang out. 

I also spotted a few orchid rosettes, preparing for next spring.

However for some reason, at present I can't load any of the photos to show this.  Perhaps later on, if I can be bothered when I get home, or more likely tomorrow.

But I am thinking of my public, honest, it's just that technology is letting me down!

Update - the photos are now there - a new day and it all works!

 

 

 

Autumn Lockdown - Day 8 - looking up

Well for the first thought of the day anyway.  It was another beautiful morning and not so cold as the last two, when I went up the garden to feed the chickens, so I took my time.  There were a few clouds in the sky - classic harbingers of a change in the weather, wispy cirrus that I was told were called horse tails when I was at school.  Goodness knows what they call them now, but I'm sure cirrus still stands.  There is a front on its way, although it may avoid doing much to us, other than raising the temperatures - they forecast 18°C for us tomorrow!

The chickens were being rather good this morning.  Normally Delenn (the grey one) gets bullied away from the place where I drop the treats, I do that so that I have a clear run at the grain hopper, but today they all played nicely.  Either they have finally established a pecking order that all agree with, or they are plotting something.  The two brown ones are Muck and Brass, couldn't tell you which is which, but where there's Muck, there's Brass, so who cares?  When we are down to only one brown one, it will be an issue, at which point I will have to be more decisive.

We are in an at risk zone for avian 'flu, and the next commune over is on high alert.  If we go on to high alert, we will need to cover the whole chicken run with fine mesh to keep the sparrows and other wild birds out of the run.  There is a colony of about 30 sparrows living in our bay tree, so it is a real issue and risk.  The only other solution would be to cull the chickens but we obviously don't want to do that.  That's fine for the normal hens, but Bridie the Bantam is another issue altogether.

Bridie arrived in our garden late last year, worked out we were a soft touch, fell in awe of Dummer the Big White Chicken (now deceased) and stayed.  She roosts in the shed mainly, has a feed station outside the main chicken run and spends her day (when they are confined) watching the big chickens and paying homage to whoever she thinks is Chief Chicken (now Delenn it would appear).  When they are out and about trashing the garden, she follows them around, never too close, and avoiding Poirot the Cat.  We can't really get near her, so I am not at all sure what happens if we move to High Alert.  Something to worry about, if it happens, I guess.

 

Autumn Lockdown - Day 5 - a change in the weather

What a difference a day makes!  The hot but wet front has gone through, and today has been noticeably colder, but o so much brighter.  The cooler weather meant I slept better (or relatively healthy eating) and the fear of missing an important phone call ensured I was up promptly.  Not everyone thought that cooler was better, and despite the sunshine, or perhaps because of it, Zola decided it was a donut day.  It must be so nice to have such a snug fitting and cosy bed!

Today was a day to feed the Boys in the Country - what a difference to Sunday!  I stood at the view point, and this was so much better and more uplifting to look at!  I also clearly had the right mindset, as I didn't fret that the hill in the distance is unattainable.

We are forecast frosts over the next few days, possibly quite sharp ones out in the rural areas, so it was time to check over the tender crops and see what needed to be gathered in before being damaged.  I cut the final 3 butternut squashes, and got 6 courgettes ranging in size from pretentious restaurant to what you might find on a market stall.  We've not been inundated with courgettes this year - just the right amount really - and I've been impressed that they have kept going so late into the season.  In the garden at home I found 1 aubergine hiding away, a load of green peppers and a small number of chillies on the only plant to escape the chickens.  The top pepper in the bowl came from a self-seeded plant, not sure what it self-seeded from though!  Anyway, that's why it is a different shape to the others.

I pulled up the chilli plant and it is now hanging by the bananas in the faint hope that the fruit will turn red - you can eat them green but visually I prefer red.

Tomorrow is market day at la Flèche - I'm not sure if I dare attempt the trip or not.  One the one hand I need raw butter, croissants, decent cheese, bacon, fish.  On the other hand, I don't want a 135€ fine if some jobsworth decides I'm not allowed to go there.  Decisions, decisions.....

 

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!