Autumn Activity

All creatures here seem to be frantically busy preparing for winter. We have never seen the colony of bees in our wall so active and "our" red squirrel is a constant source of amusement as he rushes around collecting and storing walnuts. Unfortunately he is choosing to cache them in my flower pots as it is easier to dig than the dry earth. I won't find him so cute if he digs up the pansies when he is hungry in January!! The humans have been harvesting walnuts as well.

John has finished digging the holes in the back field and the trees are due to be delivered next week. I have had to modify my ideas as the trees I originally wanted are not available. It would seem that all trees here are grafted on to a long "trunk" so that they look like lollipops for a number of years  until they start to mature. I wanted the trees to look like 'proper' forest trees and grow like wild trees but the nurseryman told me that I had to accept that this is how trees are grown here.  So when in Rome/France.......

 The weather forecast is indicating that frosts are on the way (although it keeps changing its mind) so I am frantically lifting and moving plants before it arrives. However the garden is full of colour and it is hard to pull up plants that are still looking good.

Activity has even extended as far as bedroom three where John has started to fit the shower.

However we decided that we needed a break from all this work and took a day off yesterday. John has been keen to visit a sculpture park near Limoges for sometime so, as it was the perfect sunny autumn day for such a visit, we set off. We stopped for lunch en route and feared we would never actually get there as we were replete and felt like just going to sleep - must have been the food not the wine! However we pushed ourselves and the journey through miles of deciduous woods was a delight. When we reached our destination it was a cross between a Scottish loch and Rutland Water. 

We thoroughly enjoyed the walk but the sculpture park was very disappointing. As you know we like contemporary art but all the pieces were untitled and the "trail" had no signage.

 However the toadstools were fascinating.