Where's the Ark?

We are going through a prolonged spell of wet weather. This last weather front began last Saturday, and since then I've only been able to get outside on my wall for one and a half days. AND...the forecast says it will not be dry weather till next Saturday!!!!!

As you can see the ground is absolutely saturated. I tried to dig a hole for one of Sue's plants that she wants to put up against the barn, but as soon as I'd dug it, it filled up with water.

So, I'd hoped to be finished on the wall by the end of April, but that isn't going to happen now. I'll just have to make up for lost time once the sun shines.

Boasting Time

Some of you may know that I have an interest in Bonsai. I only managed to bring some 5 trees over here from the UK, and then life took over and this interest took a back seat for a while.

Now, however, life, and our environment, is a bit more settled and I've been able to set up a small display area (albeit temporarily).

But.....what pleases me the most is that a Wisteria I've had in training for a number of years is finally about to flower.

I've finished helping out the gardener and collected a trailer load of sand ready to continue on my wall and guess what.....the forecast is for 3 days of rain!!!

Rain Delay

The weather has been very unsettled, with some really heavy April showers (some accompanied with thunder and lightning). What with this and the regular garden chores such as mowing, I've been distracted from my DIY jobs. Sue's been getting fed-up with me moping about staring out of the window at my wall! Tuesday we had so much rain that, this morning, we still had puddles on the car-parking area beside the house.





Sue's had a break from her garden as we had friends stay overnight last night. After they'd left, we spent the afternoon in the veg patch. I'd offered to help tidy it up as Sue was starting to feel that things were 'getting away from her'! Hopefully another day and then I'll get back to the wall.


However we may be wasting our time! Not only do we see a Hare heading down to check out our planting in the vegetable garden most mornings but this evening we'd just finished our meal when Sue saw a deer wandering down the path of the serpentine bed. We hope that we're not just preparing food for the wildlife!!!

In and Out

I was happily building my wall till Sue asked for some help. She wanted to plant out her Dahlias but she needed a 'man' to drive the stakes into the ground.

However, after we'd planted about 5 or 6, we discussed the stakes and decided that we didn't like them. The stakes won't look so bad once the Dahlias are growing, so we'll wait till then.

Stones and Plants

Yes folks, we're still at it (and will be for some time yet). I'm happily working my way along the wall, taking stones off one end and putting them on the other!

Meanwhile, the jolly gardener is still moving plants from A to B, and then having to water them in.

She also has to water the collection of seed trays which are now parked in the Porcherie (although not all of them!). This means bringing the trays out onto the road, watering them, then putting them all back inside, just in case we're not getting enough exercise.

Typical Easter Weather

We sometimes have problems in remembering what day of the week it is, but we knew that this weekend was Easter as it was wet and miserable, even in France! Easter Monday was actually only drizzle, so I was able to carry on working on the wall. But this meant that I could only do a little more today before I'd used up all of my sand and cement. However, I'm basically at the point where I've relaid all of the foundation stones of the wall, so I should be able to proceed a little quicker as I'll just be building up..and up...and up.

The view from JJ and Nadine's side nearly looks like a proper wall. We wonder how many years it's been since there was a wall all the way from our house to our barn!

We've got friends coming to dinner tonight, so Sue was cleaning up this morning. But then this afternoon she was back to the garden, moving more plants out of the vegetable garden in to her beds. Lots more smiles in evidence.

Damp Round the Edges

We've had a day of rain (as forecast!) and so I've not been able to get out on to my wall. However, it didn't stop old green fingers.

She was happy playing outside in the rain moving her seedlings and then potting some on. Isn't it nice to see someone with such simple pleasures.

The Party's Over.

We've finally got down to work again after our break in the UK. I'm back on wall-building and Sue's lifting plants from her holding beds in the vegetable garden and planting them up in our new beds. Some of the plants have been growing on for a couple of years and Sue found she was struggling to dig them up. So, after lunch, she had to call on her labourer to assist with the manual labour.




It's lovely to see plants going in to their correct places; we're starting to have a garden!

This morning, (before having to stop to help the head gardener), I was working on 'the wall'.

I'm pleased at what I've done so far, but the next part of the wall needs to be totally rebuilt as there's a big tree stump next to it which is still growing. After giving my helping hand to Sue I was able to clear the stones and rubble away from the stump, and I then got the chain saw out! I have to admit that I did think I was going to struggle to cut down the stump as it was about 50cm in diameter. However, I'm pleased to report that I was able to remove it, leaving a new stump, albeit very close to the ground.

Having cut the stump, I treated the 'new' stump in the hope of finally killing it off. Another satisfying day!

Wedding Bells

We flew back to the UK last Thursday for the wedding of Martin, the son of our best friends Paul and Jennifer, to Ammie.

The photo above was taken at the recovery 'do' on Sunday lunchtime, with Martin, Ammie, Paul (father of the groom), and one very special cat, Tango.

It was good to see some of our friends, but we're convinced that the traffic in the UK has doubled since we've been gone!

We had an 'incident' on the flight home. As we were boarding we passed a lady standing at the plane door and Sue thought that she was anxiously awaiting more of her party. Shortly after, the plane taxied out to the runway, at which point the aforementioned lady, who was sat just in front of us, had a panic attack. The poor girl kept saying to the stewardess that she had to get off and she was shaking and obviously very distressed. We realised that she was the Mum of a family of 2 boys, say 15 and 13, and a girl of about 9, plus Dad.

The pilot, having been informed of the problem, took the plane back to the terminal, and Mum was taken off, with her cabin bag and her passport, by the emergency services, leaving the rest of the family onboard! We were sorry for her, but we then became amused as the family calmed down following the departure of Mum. We heard the 13 year old ask his Dad, 'Can we watch Brive play rugby now that Mum's not with us?' We also heard Dad say, 'At least we won't have to drive all the way down to Marseille to see her sister now'. They kept us amused for the rest of the flight.

Every cloud has a silver lining, they say!

What's That Running Down the Road?

We often say that we never know what's going to happen tomorrow.

During the afternoon we'd heard the sound of kids playing. I said to Sue how nice it was to hear kids playing outside and being 'normal'. So we didn't expect anything unusual when we heard them approaching. But we were slightly surprised to see 3 kids on bikes.....plus a goat.

The goat, 'Fonfon', belonged to one of the girls and obviously thought that he was a dog! He raced along behind everyone when they all biked down the hill.

Needless to say all of this was accompanied by non-stop barking from Yoda once he'd seen the goat!