The honeyed smell of the linden trees in full bloom is just heavenly, and as you walk past, you hear the droning noise of all those thousands of bees as if a heavy plane is overhead. I was in the place Colbert in Rochefort earlier this week, and as I walked down the street from the beautiful old post office, past the cheese shop, the ‘charcutier’ and bakery, I searched to see what this amazing smell was. When I got to the corner with the chocolate shop, it became clear. Absolutely heavenly. Here, I walk along the Allee and enjoy the heavenly wafts of perfume. I wish I could share these things, because they are too beautiful to keep to myself.
Yesterday we had to get the hay in, because the forecast is for rain and more rain. but it was such hard work, and the stress of working out what was dry enough, raking and raking what seemed like kilometres of it. The actual hay bale maker was working perfectly, but lifting them all onto the various trailers was hard work ! At 6pm we stopped, partly because it started raining, and went in for a shower. We could hardly walk ! We are doing this on a tiny scale, but farmers with a lot of land must go through so much stress - be kind to farmers ! #haymaking #frenchcountryliving #escapetothechateauDIY
I was walking the dog along the Allee, and honestly, just inside these trees is where this stag was giving his overture. I knew he would be scared off if I ventured inside, so just stood there, wondering if he might come jumping out. He didn’t and so we carried on walking. Living ‘in nature’ is one of the best feelings I can think of. We don’t cut the grass, weeds, brambles or other in the Allee until the Autumn. This way all the insects have their whole life cycles and the birds and whatever feeds on them, has an ample food supply. I head a blackcap just a bit further along. And nightingales have returned to La Salle in numbers. Oroles serenade us all day, along with chaffinches. A pair of grey Herons ‘craaak’ out every now and then. And then you see a pair of Storks gliding right over you most elegantly.
Of course, there are negatives. There are ticks in the long grasses. So I put on a herbal tick repellant if I know if I am going to walk there. And there are ticks elsewhere too, so nothing special there. There are mosquitos, but they do feed the beautiful swallows that swoop over our heads. Anyway there are no more mosquitos here than anywhere else. After the first two weeks every summer, your body stops reacting so much and you just ignore them. Well that and wear loose long sleeves in the evening in the garden.
There is a lot going on at the moment. Lots of flea markets, and nocturnal village walks, with gourmet food stops. There are outdoor yoga sessions, bike festivals and musical garden festivals. I usually get overwhelmed by the number of things on offer, and end up doing just one thing. And the european vote which is coming up next weekend. Thin wooden plaques have come up in all the villages, and slowly the posters are appearing. You think that your vote is not going to be significant, but it is. Every vote is significant, because it shows the trend of what people think and want. Even if your candidate does not win. As we drove by today
To follow my last story, here are the escapee sheep jumping into our field after a long and difficult capture.
Well here it is - the Wallis and Gromit inspired ‘mouton-o-matic’. Jono fixed up this trailer so that we could transport the escapee sheep from the enclosure they have been in, back to us. We asked our neighbours from the moulin to come and help us catch the sheep, so with Said, that made 5 of us. 5 humans for 5 sheep. Very very underpowered. I would have said that 20 humans would be a match for these 5 bionic lunatic sheep. We had the idea to corner them, and then just close in with sheep fencing. Well they just ram straight through the stuff. And then they play tag with you. Tease you, and then play hide and seek. After the first failure, we finally managed to get them to the back of the enclosure, where there was a small recess. We created a sort of panelled tunnel, leading to the trailer. Which was strewn with oats. We then coaxed them forwards, and just at the crucial moment, they made a mad dash for it. I was holding the sheep wire, and saw two of them flying through the air right at me, like sheep missiles. A moment of fear shot through me but I waved my arms and shouted at them to turn back. It sort of worked and then did not. They discovered the weak spot in the wire mesh and just battered it down, to disappear along the back of the enclosure. Luckily, down a sort of tunnel between the outside fence and a giant wall of breezeblocks. So two of us stood at one end, and Jono and Said at the other end. Jono lunged in to grab a mouton. He managed to grapple one, and struggled over to me with it. I was the trailer door manager. We got it in but it very nearly bowled us over with a turn and attempted escape jump. But we were on high alert and pushed it back in. Said had caught another and came puffing over. They are heavy, these beasts. We got that in, although it was a crazy operation of speed with trying not to get their legs caught in the hinges of the back door, whilst stopping the first one re-attempting an escape. And then the other three esca
This is the track between us and the moulin below. We have let it grow to be able to make hay, because there is another path to them moulin anyway. I had to work on the orchard, and the grass was over my head in places. I really struggled to just walk. Let alone see where I wanted to go. Thats what happens in a really rainy year. Two years back it would have been knee height. I think we may be haymaking soon. We take our orders from son in switzerland who is towards the end of his agricultural educative journey. Phone calls come in and we ask questions, and get told what we are to do. Machinery breaks and we call back in panic, and there are constant discussions about parts. Our kitchen is constantly covered in large bolts, bits of rubber, metal plates and mysterious boxes arrive by courier. This is what happens when you use older machinery, but we don’t have to deal with electronics going wrong, and we can fix things ourselves.
I think we have had another 10mm rain in the last 12 hours, but we can’t tell because the glass rain guage broke. Rats. I don’t know why it really matters, but its always quite satisfying to have a look and see the level of water.
I have a second broody chicken. She has about 8 eggs but I wonder if after all that trouble, I shouldn’t put a few more under her. I have put two of the olive green eggs, hoping for another variant of colour. Sometimes we have catastrophes, when the hen steps on some of her eggs, or I leave the door open and others come in and start laying on top of her eggs while she is out feeding, and I don’t know which ones are new or old. I mark them but it sometimes rubs out. I have several books on raising chickens, but interestingly enough, all the information that I have learnt, has been by making my own mistakes. There have been many.
#haymaking #frenchcountryside #domainedelasalle
So we had got our sheep. And then we went away for a week… and had not been gone for even two days before we got a call to say they had gone missing. The people looking after the farm said they had gone in the early evening and they were still not there the next morning. Which is why I had that breakfast call. Crap. I messaged every single neighbour in the area and called the Mayor. There was no news until the next day, when I got a call mid morning from our Mayor. They had been spotted and herded into a breakers yard ! Luckily I know the owner of the breakers yard and he told me its no problem at all. There is plenty of grass and when we have reworked our enclosure, they will be back in front of the house. Sheep. What were we thinking ?
So we had a weeks holiday and guess what happened on the second morning of our being away ? I got a call to say that the sheep had escaped and were nowhere to be found, despite all the neighbours searching high and low. I immediately texted all neighbouring properties, asking them to keep a look out, and the mairie too, incase of incoming calls. The next morning, I had a call from the mayor. They had been seen crossing someones garden, and were herded them into a large scrap yard enclosure. With lots of grass. What relief ! Luckily we know the person who owns this tractor breakers yard and he doesn’t mind at all. Won’t bore you with details, but Jono and I went to see them when we got back and we now know its going to be a nightmare catching them. I am trying to train them to associate a green bucket with lovely grains, so that in future they will come to it. In the meantime, we are revising our enclosure completely.
That and the fact that finally, four runner ducklings hatched on the morning we were leaving. I feel that perhaps we should not leave, ever.
We have had the loveliest swiss girl here for a couple of months and this morning I regretfully had to let her go back to Switzerland. The good news is that she wants to come back in summer though. Kiera who was here last summer is coming back too - yipee ! And it looks as if we will have a few other young people too, so should be fun.
Lunch was a salad nicoise with new potatoe , but we don’t have green beans yet, so a glass jar of beans had to do. Not the same by a long shot. I am going to plant some in the two raised beds that we have just finished. . And I just can’t decide what to plant in them. But then Marcel arrived, with a van full of his tomato plantlings. OMG he gave me 80 plantlets. You may laugh but I have to find space to put them…. Poor Said has spent all morning digging up bits of the supposed lawn. I am a great anti-lawn anyway, so no sadness there. He will sleep well tonight b
This frog chorus is what we are falling asleep to every night at the moment. I can’t love it any more than I do. You can hear it even with the blanket over your ears. Sometimes when there is something I really enjoy, I already feel sad that it will be gone, long before it has. Like a good book where you already feel sad for the time you will reach the end. Seems a bit negative, but its the opposite, because its an acute appreciation of your present enjoyment.
Last night we went to a really interesting and enjoyable concert in the ‘Abbaye des Dames’ in Saintes. The conductor( Leo Warynski ) spoke a little before starting. They were about to play a prelude to the requiem, ( ‘Mnemosyne’) which has been especially commissioned by the Abbaye des Dames. The composer Philippe Hersant, who is 87 , came up to speak a little about his inspiration for it. The conductor got the orchestra and choir to perform just one or two tiny bits of it, to show particular nuances. I felt really special to be part of this. Then he spoke about Mozarts requiem, and how it had never been properly finished, and that there have been so many final versions where different composers over the years have ‘finished’ it off. He then got them to play just tiny snatches of significance. And then they played the whole requiem which is I think, my favourite piece of classical music. I really really enjoyed it, and thats saying something because I have a problem of not being able to sit still in concerts. Marie and I had hatched a plan for me, where I was going to sneak in a little sudoku, to keep me focused. I had forgotten, but on going in, I was giving in our two A4 sheets with the ticket and barcode on the top, I realized that the sudoku of this weekend that I have already been working on, was on the back of one of them. I explained that I had already done half of it and couldn’t loose that work, and could I tear that bit off. They laughed.
Anyway now you know my shameful secret.
The Chatelaillon festival de cerfs volants ( kites ), was a little more exciting than we anticipated. We arrived in a bit of a wind storm, and the official lady coming up from the beach warned us that we should reconsider walking along the beach. I did explain to her that we were not intent on entering the wild waters anyway and she eyed us warily as we went on down. Its a level 3 she exclaimed ! With the wind coming in from the sea, the only danger could possible be a tsunami, and as there was the Ile d’Aix in the way, we thought to chance it.
As we got to the kite display, the tannoy said that this was the last display as they could see some heavy weather approaching on their radar. What a shame for them all, but the one display we saw was fantastic - here is a short clip of it. Well worth going. The skill of not entangling ones kites together, and all being so well synchronized amazed me. And afterwards, as the dark purple clouds rolled in to squash us, we found a little beach cafe with a flimsy roof and clear glass protection all around, and enjoyed a hot tea whilst the heavens opened. Hail, rain and a tear in the roof all proved exciting.
We got home and there was finally a break in the rain, so I decided to walk our resident dog before it rained again. So we set off, and I was going at a fair pace, feeling healthy and energetic. I got to the end of the walnut trees and looked around to see him, and he was not there. What ? This is a dog that will not leave your side and behaves like a shadow. Good grief, I have just walked myself. On getting back to La Salle, he bounced up from the little alley going down to Francois and Marie’s house. Cheeky boy had decided to go and bark at their door to see if there was any treat available, and failing that, had decided to rummage in their compost. And he was so pleased with himself too ! And then the heavens opened, and we made it inside just in time. Well thats your walk for the day, boyo.
This morning we
Frogs trying to outdo the birds trying to outdo the frogs. Two sunny days in a row - who would have thought it after the winter we have just had. The bumble bees are out, some so big that they don’t seem able to fly. Every part of my body is sore, from weeding out bind grass and other delights. The joy of being able to be outside, ‘doing things’.
I was thinking again about my to do list yesterday. I always think of winter as a time to be able to sit inside and do things like photo albums, writing, artwork etc. Well I managed one photo album this winter and thats it. I have large boxes of photos pre digital times, just sitting there making me feel guilty. One day, I will be ruthless and throw most of them out.
On our wedding day in 1995, we put those disposable cameras on the tables and I have so many photos of people half in the frame or blurry. I want to keep them to remember the people, but they are not really worth it. The photos I mean, not the people. I think I will bin them all ! And just how many pictures of us on our wedding day do we need ? It does feel wierd throwing them away though.
What amuses me is all those photos of trips that I can hardly remember, and people in them whom I have no recollection of. Bin.
I better go. The third lot of builders is here and I must make a little coffee. In the uk, its tea. Here its coffee.
The noise you can hear is a pair of swans flying across the water. They are always together and I think, nesting somewhere. I wonder if they know that this is just flooded land, and in summer it will just disappear down to a shallow canal and stream ? Its amazing the amount of birdlife there is here at the moment. Not to mention a gazillion seagulls that seem to come and go. Today they have gone again. Maybe because the sun is out and its calm. I wonder what they eat when they are here for almost a week ?
I have been lucky enough to have my niece staying with us this week, and we have done all the things we love to do. Walks in the forest, gardening, baking, sewing, going to the markets and all that. And rescuing bumble bees. We found this one on the track leading in to La Salle, and it wasn’t moving. She put it on her sleeve and we walked back. We gave it a teaspoon of the La Salle honey ( not heat treated or smoked or anything, so a hundred percent natural ) and it absolutely loved it. After that, it wandered around and then took off. Its the second bumble bee we have seen restored with some honey this week.
Jono came in earlier today and said he had jumped up onto the tractor seat to find something hard under his posterieur. He turned around to see that he had sat on an egg. One of the hens keeps laying in the open tractor cabin but this was a bit naughty ! It did not break…
The art room has been rebuilt and I can now clean it out and start painting. I was going to take a photo, but the boys have put the ugly black water storage buts right at the bottom so I didn’t. A huge job finally done. The insurance company however is really being incompetent and I fear it will be a while before we see any money, having forked out ourselves. C’est la vie.
And in ten minutes, we will have tea with Marie, on the terrace. I have baked a cake of chestnut and souchot flour, with an orange blossom icing. I will make jasmine tea. And pull out an embroidered table cloth. It is what you make it. #bumblebee #domainedelasalle #lasalle #livinginthecountryside #teatimeatthechateau
We are having really misty mornings, and some foggy nights. I drove up to La Rochelle on Tuesday, and had afternoon tea in the cafe Molière. Sometimes you need to get out of your rut, and see life moving around you. And of course I had to visit the sweetest ‘mercerie’ where I bought some wool to knit a pair of socks. My friend bought some gorgeous buttons. They have little kits that are good fun to make when you want to meditate but they are getting harder to come by. The shop owner explained to me that they are designed and put together by a french girl who lives in the UK. But they are so gorgeous that they are being bought back to France. We lingered over the block print cottons that were new in. @Mercerie L’Aiguillee. In the Rue de Bonnes femmes if you are ever there. It was a welcome little escape from La Salle which this week has seen so much building activity that I was going mad. I am constantly making little coffees for everyone, and having to decide immediately what hinges, what colour, what shape and size something is going to be.
I have spent the week slowly putting up Christmas decorations. This year they are rather discreet and remind me of my childhood christmas decorations. Straw stars, gingerbread hearts, a couple of frosted glass baubles. And something called ‘Lametta’. You can’t get the real stuff in the shops any more. Its all rather gaudy with fat wide stripes and too shiny. I had a tip that you can still order it on the internet as ‘DDR Lametta’. Ie from what was East Germany. So I did. Its beautiful and fine but… it breaks so easily. Here is a photo of a Christmas branch in the entrance hall. As we had so many branches fall down in the storm, I thought I might as well use some of them. A Christmas tree will come later.
Getting back in after checking to see if there is any storm damage……
Quite concerned about the enormous persimmon tree in view of the high winds we are predicted tonight. It still has its leaves and is laden with fruit so the branches will be heavy. Fingers crossed…..
Its going to blow a houlie again tonight. Its almost 4pm, and its already starting. ( just took this video ) We still have all the shutters bolted shut from the last one a couple of days ago, and not much to prepare anymore. Last night it rained 26 mm. And not all of that outside. I woke up at 5am to large drips coming into our bedroom. I switched on the bedside light and got out to find a spot in the ceiling where fat drops were squeezing through. Thats not the best thing when you know you have another floor above you ! So Jono and I spent the early hours hunting for the source but weren’t successful. It must be a tile that has come loose by the edge of the wall to the second storey. No way we can call out the roofer in this weather, so the bucket will have to do. Not really too worried .
I went to the market this morning. The saturday morning market in Rochefort is amazing in its size and variety. I felt sorry for all those vendors out in all these weathers, and rejected the cosier option of the supermarket. When I got there, I found about a tenth of the stands. Not surprising. The vegetable grower lady I spoke to said she was dreading the winds tonight. Her greenhouses and fruit trees would be in danger again. I felt bad and wanted to help by making a purchase but all I could take away from her stand was a giant savoy cabbage for 3 euros. Guess we will be eating cabbage.
I am going to spend the afternoon sanding down the heads of the porcelain dolls that Francois our sculptor neighbour has made for me. With a cup of tea, and if Jono feels adventurous, some buns from our local bakery. By the fireplace. With my cat. The one that bit me so badly that I am on antibiotics. We have made up though and I have promised not to get in the way when he and Bagheera want to have a fight. He hasn’t promised anything, and still expects to sit on my lap in the evenings.
It was funny to have left in the rain, and have returned in the rain. All through the rally, we had really hot weather. Who would have expected days of 30 to 36 degrees from the french to spanish pyrenees. And not a single thunderstorm. We have returned rather tanned to everyones surprise. The strangest thing I always think, when you have gone away and had a proper change of scene, is the return to ones life and it all seeming very strange. It feels to me as if it is someone elses life. But within an hour, I have found the kettle and tea bags, and realized that I forgot to take the rubbish out before we left.
