Omnibus Edition

Well the weather finally broke last Wednesday evening. Perfect timing as we had managed to get most of the plants I had grown from seed in the ground by then. Actually, we had to buy "yet more compost" and spread it on the beds and plant into that as the earth was so hard we had to use the trowel as a chisel to make a planting hole. Of course the storms do not now know when to stop. However, although the rain has been very heavy it has not caused any damage and has done the garden a power of good. You will recall that last week I was reporting that every thing in the garden was burnt up ... that wasn't strictly true. As the long bed is in the shade until early afternoon it didn't suffer so much and in fact for it looked like the herbaceous border I had envisaged when I planted it.

Of course gardens are ephemeral so I am glad I captured the fleeting moment.

Have any of you intimate knowledge of Kestrels? We have been watching a pair for more than six weeks but despite studying them on the internet we cannot work out what on earth they are doing. Initially we were convinced that they were nesting in a hole in the back wall of the house. Our neighbours had told us that this was a regular occurrence before we moved in. Then we were not so sure. We would see one roosting on a dead branch above the long bed and the other would bring  "her" food which she took further down the alley. We looked and listened for evidence of a nest in the alley, but nothing. Then they became very busy bringing food to the hole in the wall, and would be very agitated if we were eating in the courtyard. We also found lots of fur on the ground below the hole. We had read that they cache food during the day to eat just before they roost so that they do not "go to bed hungry". Yesterday the pair were incredibly busy, so the eggs may have hatched, wherever they are! If we ever work out what is happening we will let you know.

On our way to the airport to collect my cousin and his wife on Saturday we called into our favourite "greengrocers". Well that is a rather simplistic description, it is a fabulous supermarket chain which sells excellent fruit and veg from all over the world. Whilst browsing John found some wonderful must have figs. Knowing that June and David love foie gras as much as we do, we decided to go and buy some for yesterdays meal. John was convinced that the supermarkets opened on Sunday mornings but apparently that is only in July and August. How disappointing as the figs desperately needed the foie gras. Eventually we found a farm shop open and David and I went shopping. I chose the foie gras and he chose several bottles of good wine to go with it. Unfortunately the man on the till was a "stand in" and hadn't a clue how the till worked and to further complicate the issue he had no idea the price of one bottle of wine. This confusion seemed to go on for ever!! As the desire for the foie gras still loomed large we stayed with it, paying some by bank card and some in cash. Phew!! Just as we were leaving he said something and I realised we had bought a raw foie gras! Oh no, we were going to have to exchange it and that meant a return to the till to pay the difference. We fell into the car exhausted ... but it was delicious!!