Highs and lows and lows and highs all at once.
The wind has taken all our cherries. Well… almost. The magpies enjoyed them before we could even taste them. And then we discovered that the crows love our almonds too.
Yves next door was complaining about their voracious appetite for his fruits but we never so far had any serious visits from these guys until now. Planting more fruit trees than we need was finally a good idea so that we can share, as long as they don’t invite all their mates to the feast from now on!
There are foxes around your place Michel said when we met him at the Vaylats car boot sale. We know I said, they took our three cockers, one at a time and once a week. Good shopping for them it was.
And just like after Solo left, the place is so quiet now. The cockers were so entertaining and for ever talking to each other or to us.
We also have a badger wandering about as we have found some interesting droppings and after photographing them and showing them around, Michel confirmed, It’s a badger. So now I know who ate half of our potatoes in the orchard.
The rain has not stopped for days. We had 70mm in 24 hours which is 1/10 of the total average yearly fall. In 24 hours!
On my way to get some milk yesterday I took a short cut and 4 times I got stopped by rivers crossing the road. They were flood signs and don’t go any further signs which I ignored knowing the road. Even though it was impressive, at very slow speed it was safe. All the fields around are under water. We had not seen anything like that since we moved here 14 years ago.
When dark falls with a light on our heads we hunt for snails and slugs in the garden and boy do we find them! Once in the box they spend the rest of the night on the porch before being dispatched for a nice trip a few kilometres away the next day.
Don’t you give them to the chicken? We can’t.
Earlier on this month we lost Georges to lung cancer. He had had difficulty breathing lately and he knew his time was up. One morning after his coffee he slipped away in his armchair. He was 95. Raymonde said she wants to stay there in their home by the wind mill as long as she can. She weighs only 34 kg which isn’t much.
The builders have been working on our roof all week which had not been planned, but when Rob went up and gave us an overview of the state of our roof, we had to make a decision quickly. Nicky will be here on the 1st July for a couple of months and we didn’t want any mess then but it seems as it will be done by then. We took the opportunity to ask them to put a couple of Veluxes up there to give more light in the living room.
The team that rebuilt the roof originally had made a mess of the sun tunnels and they had been leaking ever since. The thought of being able to redecorate the bathrooms is so nice.
The work in the barn is coming on. The painting is finally over and the tiler will be here on Monday, finally. He had quoted us last September but we had not been able to get it together such that he could do the job earlier.
With the rain everything is overgrown just like last year and as next week seems to be dry I am going to make some paths everywhere with the lawn mower and tidy the strawberry and raspberry patch. At the moment only the slugs can get there. So glad the painting is over and I am now going to be able to work in the orchard. I can’t wait!
Being active is a shield: with social medias being so accessible we witness horrific world events that are soul destroying and I keep thinking we are so lucky to be here and not in Gaza or anywhere else in the world where there are genocides going on and women and children being killed as if they were cattle in a slaughter house. How can we let this happen…? Hey?
Just as we have a new grand-daughter, born on the 18th in Iceland. Both mum and baby are doing well, thank God, and the 6-minute video of the three-year-old sister meeting the little one is so beautiful and tender. Thanks to mobile phones and a good videographer of a son, we could witness that very special moment the next day.
What luxury.
La dame aux ânes 