Geese are ...

...little gits and could well be for the pot!

I had planted some peas in the veg plot a couple of weeks ago. It was an old packet and I wasn't expecting much. However during the last few days they had all sprouted and grown a centimetre or so.

The geese noticed as well, and this afternoon they stuck their beaks through the wire fence around the veg plot, rooted around in the soil and dug up and ate all my pea shoots!!! They all looked very pleased with themselves and all had little pile of earth on top of their beaks. Gits!

Ok, so where did March and April go?!

How does time go so quickly? I can't believe that it has been so long since I last posted.

Not that I have been doing anything wildly exciting or anything that would stop me writing, I just don't seem to have done anything to write about.

At last though the weather has really picked up and I have been able to get to work in the garden. The temperatures have been in the high 20's for a couple of weeks now, frosts are a distant memory and the evenings are getting longer and longer.

My magnolia tree bloomed its heart out a month or so ago and looked and smelt wonderful.

This is a lovely picture of Gertie Goose strolling by the aforesaid magnolia.

I have bought some new plants for the flower beds - a Pieris 'Flaming Silver' with lovely white tipped foliage, and a couple of Phygelius, which will grow nice and tall with pinky/red flowers.

I have some pale blue irises in the flower bed under the living room window. They are beautifully scented, almost citrussy smelling. They are in full bloom at the moment and I must make a note to move some of them elsewhere in the garden.

The newest addition to the garden is this wonderful, old Cuisiniere. It was given to us by Penny, who had it in her shop in Le Dorat. It is a real work of art. It is an old cooker/heater/boiler. It is made from iron with enamelled front and sides. On the top there are two rings for putting your pots and pans on, on the front are two large oven doors. The tap on the right of the ovens supplies boiling water from a small boiler inside the appliance and the two doors on the left are for putting wood in (top door) and removing ash (bottom door.

When this was made it would have been state of the art and top of the range in kitchen appliances. Ian and I were talking about it earlier and about 100 years ago someone would have been cooking on this thinking she was the bee's knees to have such a wonderful piece of equipment. I am over the moon to have it now, and had I lived in those older times I would have been truly ecstatic to have this. Thank you Penny, we are thrilled to have it, and we would love to try lighting it in the summer, fancy coming round for a ceremonial 'lighting up' evening?

I have been busy working in the vegetable garden, or Potager as the French call it. I planted borad beans in February and they are about to flower any day now. I planted 100 leeks seedlings last weekend, some cherry toms, peppers, plum toms and a variety of round toms called 'Moneymaker' given to us by Juley and Paul. I have sown carrots seeds in between leek rows, and planted basil and parsley between the tomatoes. I must get out there and get my peas planted.

All the cats and geese are doing well. Sadly we lost one of our chooks this week. Her name was Blondie and she had a problem with her foot called Bumblefoot. It caused a nasty infection that caused her to go lame in one leg so she could only hop around the garden. The geese attacked her as did a couple of the chickens. She was barely eating and sadly died a couple of evenings ago. It was heartbreaking to lose her, she had such a lovely personality, but we console ourselves by saying that she had a wonderful life before she got ill, she was completely free in the garden and had a lovely warm house at night.

Silly Goose

You know, sometimes I wonder why I bother. We built the geese a lovely house, filled it with clean, warm straw and dopey Pippin has decided that she would rather squeeze her ample frame under a wooden gate, trample over emerging flowers and make a nest on a small hydrangea bush, (which she had already chewed the ends off to make softer) and lay an egg in it.

To be honest, she looked really cute, picking up bits of bark and straw and tucking them in around herself, and she did a good job of burying the egg in the straw afterwards.

All the new chickens are laying eggs now, so we get between 5 and 6 a day. The geese are all laying as well, we get at least one goose egg per day, and the most we have had is 4 eggs from three geese in a day!! They taste divine with bright orange yolks.

The weather here has been wonderful lately, lots of bright, sunny days. I planted my broad beans last Saturday having been told that if you plant them early it helps stop blackfly later. I am making plans as to what to plant this year. My veg plot is smaller this year. We had to fence off an area of garden to stop the geese trampling it. I am not going to bother with potatoes this year, we get alot of Colorado Beetle in the this area, and it is a real pain going round the area 4 or 5 times a day looking for beetles on leaves. I plan to plant lots of beans, tomatoes, parsnips for Ian (yuk) and some squashes. I would also like to get lots more fruit bushes and a plum tree.

Busy, busy, busy

What a week it's been. I haven't stopped, mind you neither has OH. The week before last I was helping some friends make a lawn. OH had rotovated the whole area for us on the Saturday, then myself and the owners raked all the weeds out of it, raked it level, sowed grass seed and raked it again! It was really hard work over such a huge area. I was raking in my sleep! My back and neck were killing me, but it was worth it in the end. The friends I was helping are great fun and we had a good laugh doing it.

On the Sunday (20th) we went to the plant fair at Mortemart. It was a beautiful setting, all around the chateau, but it was pouring with rain. I treated myself to a Spirea and a Salix. They look lovely planted by the decking. There were lots of nice crafts there, but the prices were really steep.

Last week was spent hairdressing and helping OH finish his tiling job south of Limoges. He has done a fantastic job, but it was really hard going. The owner is thrilled with it all, which is the main thing.

Well, we went to this 'do' with friends. It was as boring as we though it would be. At least it wasn't a sit down meal. There was a buffet and at least there were some other people we knew. The hosts virtually ignored us all evening and stayed with their 'new' friends (maybe they are as fed up with us as we are with them!). We made our excuses at about 11pm and escaped!

I am off to the UK on the 10th May for 4 days. I have mixed feelings about going, I want to see family and friends, but hate the thought of being in the mad hussle and bustle of the UK. I am staying with OH parents who live in the same village that we used to live in. I will catch up with my Dad while I am there, I realised recently that I hadn't seen him for 3 years - where does time go. He won't come over here, in fact since mum died he hasn't gone anywhere. I will also go and see my Auntie who came over here a couple of times last year. It's funny how dofferent people can be. She lost her husband 7 years ago and has thrown herself into everything. She is chairman of her local British Legion, plays bowls and goes for day trips. Her and my dad couldn't be more different.

We have had 3 days of 25.5 degrees bright sunshine, I have burnt my shoulders gardening, given myself a bad back from mowing other peoples grass (ok they were clients and I got paid for it, but my back still hurts!) and planted lots of seeds. Now we are back to rain and grey sky. Is spring ever going to arrive?

On a happy note, we are off to Les Herolles market tomorrow to get some more chickens!!!!! I am so excited. One of my hair clients goes there and she has got some gorgeous birds. We need pretty ones who are good layers, which is exactly what a friend of ours says he looks for in a woman!

Getting to the root of it all, and digging for victory

For the last couple of days I feel like my shovel has been permanently welded to my hands!

The last week has seen the most glorious weather. Although the mornings have been cold and frosty, as soon as the sun is up the temperature soars. The sky is bluest blue without a cloud to be seen. OH and I have been working outside in t-shirts and it feels so much like summer that we have to keep reminding ourselves it is February. We are still lighting the fires in the evening as the temperature drops when the sun goes down.

OH has been painting the outside of the house. Our house is made of stone, but the front wall is covered in grey crepi which looks really dreary. We are painting it a colour called Ton Pierre, which is a lovely cream colour. I started it last year and got to a level above the front door right across the front of the house. OH is doing the higher stuff as he is much better with heights than me.

I have taken advantage of the good weather to sort out the flower beds. When we first moved here I planted some flowers that look like really tall rudbeckias. Like orange petalled daisies with brown centres and 5 feet tall. They are perennials and flower for ages. Little did I realise how far they would spread! The roots have spread over a metre from where I planted them! I am having to dig up all the platns around them and remove the roots that have infested them.
While they are nice flowers, I put them in the wrong place, and they flop over you when you walk down the garden path. They would great in the back of a border as the flowers are only on the very top and there is nothing bar a few leaves for the remaining 4 foot! So, they have got to go. I am sure that I can use some of them elsewhere in the garden, but as I have so far removed 3 wheelbarrow loads of roots from the top flower bed and have the same size area again to clear, I am sure I will be donating some to my neighbours!

Some new friends that we met on New Years Eve called round the other day and said that they had a load of horse manure ready if I wanted some. I jumped at the offer. They said that they would bring some round at the weekend, but he turned up yesterday with a trailer load! I actually think that this trailer is a TARDIS as no matter how many barrow loads I shovel out, it doesn't seem to be getting any emptier. I just keep telling myself that the garden is really going to appreciate it! Misty is loving the trailer, she is climbing over it and under it, flicking lits bits of horse poo out of it! She is such a joy and races me up and down the garden when I barrow the next load down. She normally loves to ride in the barrow when it is full of logs, she's not too keen on riding on the poo though!

Spring has sprung

The weather is absolutely glorious at the moment. Daytime temperatures of between 20-23 degrees C. My crocuses are all in flower around the garden, with daffodils ready to flower any day. I have a big Magnolia tree covered in buds, which is going to look spectacular.

When we first moved here, we pruned loads of wild looking trees, thinking that they were all fruit trees (it was December and there were no leaves to say otherwise). I had left one smallish budding branch on this particular tree to see what it was when it flowered - it was a magnolia! My French friend Odette later said that she had been horrified to see that it had been pruned, and we are so relieved that it has all grown back with a vengeance!

My poor friend Odette has just lost her husband this week. He has been battling cancer for a while, and it all got too much for him. She came round to tell me today, and we were all in tears. She has been married for 50 years and we are heartbroken to see her so devasted.

On a lighter note, I had my first proper French hairdressing client this week, (I have been doing my French friend Linda's hair for a while now), but this wa a proper paying client! I was so thrilled to get her call. Neither her or her husband speak any English, and it just showed how good my French is getting, as I was able to take directions to her house and discuss how he wanted his hair and have a normal conversation with them. It was a real confidence boost. We came to France only knowing a bit of French, and now 3 years later I can see how different our language skills are. There were times in the past 3 years when I wondered if I would ever understand different verb tenses, was I always destined to speak in the present tense?! Would I ever get the hang of the different order of pronouns and adjectives? And the answer is YES!!! I have got the hang of it all, I can speak in the past, present, future and conditionnel tenses, I can put a sentence together using pronouns and adjectives and all in the right order! I just need to learn more 'normal' words to go in the sentences, you know nouns.

As I go to clients house I have been amazed at the amount of English people who have no intention of learning French, but actually expect their neighbours to learn English!!! They go into shops and doctors surgeries and just push a bit of paper towards the receptionist, or just speak in English and hope that they can be understood. I appreciate that not everyone has an aptitude for languages, and that most of my clients are older than me, and age does play a part in assimilating new skills, but some don't even try. Infuriating!