Les poissons en France

Monday, March 11, 2024

A Different Year, a Different result

 Last year we had a glorious display of tulips in the garden.

But this year will be very different ! The weather has been very wet but also somebody has decided that they wanted a change of diet.  

As you can see these tulips will not be blooming this year!  We think it is most likely Deer who are grazing on the tulips.  We have tried covering some with fine netting but anything left exposed is nibbled.

On a more positive note, we are excited by the proliferation of the Anemone Blandas up the Allée.  It must be about 5 years when we planted the first bulbs and we have added more since then.

We think we will have a carpet in another 5 or so years!!!

PS if you click on a picture you get a full screen view.

Wednesday, February 07, 2024

A Time of Waiting

 Since Christmas we've been in a bit of the doldrums.  The weather has been mixed with the odd bright day, lots of grey days, and (whilst not as cold as we've experienced here) days of cold ... too cold for me to want to get outside!  Sue has been restricted for about a month as she has had a minor medical issue which meant that she has not been able to do much physical work (ie gardening!) but hopefully she will be able to resume normal life next week.  

However, the past few days have seen temperatures improve and we have been trying to prepare for the new gardening year.  I've had the mower serviced whilst Sue has pruned roses, tried to look after geraniums in the Porcherie despite a lot of mould on them, perused catalogues and ordered plants so that hopefully she can hit the ground running! 

 Meanwhile I have regained a new enthusiasm for my Bonsai and have been repotting them all.


Now all I've got to do is organise the display area to show them off properly.

And today we've had some bright sunshine early afternoon and this is what we are seeing.

Pansies in front of the house ...


Tulips breaking through ...


The Winter Jasmine joyously blooming ...


Daffodils in bud and 3 out in flower ...


The first Crocuses out worshiping the sun ...


And 'Aunty Pauline's' Irises gloriously announcing that Spring is not far away!!!!

Friday, January 26, 2024

They don't just moan here!

 Yesterday we needed to go shopping but we had to wait-in first for a technician to come to service our water softener.  He'd finished just after lunch so we decided to go off to Cahors.  Bad move!  We knew that the farmers were protesting and blocking some of the local exits on the motorway ... however they had decided to block Cahor itself.

So, not only were they blocking roads with tractors, they were also dumping manure and erecting barricades of bales and tyres.  
We didn't appreciate the extent of the difficulties until we were in the non-moving traffic jam and it took us about an hour to get ourselves out and back on the road home ... empty-handed!

The revolutionary spirit is alive and well in France, they don't just moan.

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Lost in Translation !

 This morning we had a visit from the Assistant Mayor to give us our Christmas box of goodies because we are over 75 years old ... foie gras, terrine, pate, chutney and Walnut gateau.

I answered the door and received a box, but then Madame Adjointe asked if I knew, what sounded to me as, Mme Vallère.   No I replied.  It was only later that I began to realise that, underneath the French accent, she was saying Mme Waller ... Sue!  Here in France ladies retain their maiden name for all official business, normally saying Mme Waller, wife of M Herring.  This afternoon Mme Adjointe returned, having checked the records to see where Sue lived.  She and Sue had a good laugh when Sue said that I had forgotten my wife.

Sleigh bells ringing

 St Germain du Bel Air started it's Christmas celebrations on Sunday with it's 'traditional' Christmas Fair in front of the Town Hall.  As you can see it was well supported!

It all began about 10am with old-fashioned table games for the children, face painting for everyone, the drawing of the village raffle, horse-drawn carriage rides and a free glass of hot chocolate or mulled wine.

The children loved the carriage rides!

We met up with some of our good friends ...

... before we all moved on to champagne or wine (which was all sold at very reasonable prices) and just to prove my increasing Frenchness, I had a plate of oysters with my glass of champagne!!!! Needless to say Sue didn't risk it.

A great way to get into the Christmas spirit.

At the same time Guy and Lucy were at a Christmas fair in Taipei, Taiwan. 

It always seems bizarre to us that Taiwan, which isn't a Christian society, would go overboard in celebrating Christmas, but perhaps it is too good a marketing opportunity to miss.

Happy Christmas everyone.

Saturday, December 02, 2023

Boar Attack

 The first sign of a visit from sanglier (boar) was when I walked down the Allée.

That in itself is no great problem but then, upon further investigation and following the trail of disturbance to the beds where we have spread compost and where Sue then planted plants ...

 

So, an unexpected job for the Head Gardener ... replanting uprooted plants!

The joys of living close to Nature.

Monday, November 27, 2023

It's Amazing What you Learn about your Locality

..........when you read the British Newspapers. During the last week everywhere we've been the village signs have been turned upside down. We thought it very strange but had no idea why until we read an article in a UK newspaper. Apparently the Young Farmers are the culprits and it's a protest about just about everything!! The campaign is obviously effective as you certainly can't miss that the signs are upside down, however I question it's effectiveness if you have no idea why. John reads the national/local paper and has not seen any report.

John followed a "tractor snail" of "Adult" farmers in Cahors last week who were also protesting and there have been photos in the paper of loads of manure being dumped at the entrances of official buildings. What a waste!!

No doubt they have a genuine complaint but the French are not known for getting round the table to negotiate.



Wednesday, November 22, 2023

St Catherine will be Pleased

 Traditionally in France one must plant trees before St Catherine's Day (25th November) inferring that the climatic conditions are good at that time of year for them to establish. Well we are not doing too bad, subject to the odd hitch, explanation to follow. We just have the cypresses to plant and a couple of climbing roses which arrived earlier than expected and are "healed in". We are also proud that we have collected a lot of free compost from the recycling centre and spread it on our beds as a mulch.......still acres more to cover! We must be a sight to behold at the "dechetterie" two old crocks taking it in turns to rake and shovel the compost into the trailer. People are always telling us to reduce the garden, not do so much etc. but I am not ready to do that yet and John just has to take things a bit slower than before.

Well I promised the saga of the pseudoacacia (frisia). Note two has become one, we reflected that John's one was a rediculous price for it's size so he had to make do with a Yew for another bonsai. First we had to lift and pot the cherries we planted last year. Aesthetically we were not happy with their position, hence the frisia was purchased.

 It is obviously a bit of a lottery when you buy on line but we ordered the frisia from our usual online supplier with whom we are very satisfied. Initially the delivery was delayed (wasteing 2 days waiting  for a delivery which did not happen). however when the tree did arrive we were not happy. It was packed atrociously (normally this company have exceptional packaging for their plants) the roots were dry (supposedly specially treated?) and some branches were broken. We assume it came from a grower who do not observe the same ethos as our regular supplier, and we thought they ought to know.


Over the weekend we soaked the tree, pruned the broken branches and then planted it. In accordance with Alan Titchmarsh's recommendation we then swore at it and now we hope.

 However the supplier has been exceptional (returning to their normal service) and within a day they reminded us that we have a 2 year guarantee (may or may not be realisable when you are approaching 77) and they refunded 50% of the tree price. That I call service and will be pleased to continuing using them.

Our final job on Sunday was to plant the Leylandii (as the rain came down). John had previously lifted the non flourishing sycamores, chopped them in half and potted them up to see if they will grow as bonsai. (Hope springs eternal!!)