Garden Tour July 2021

 Due to the vagaries of the weather this year, the garden is still looking good.  We have flowers and the grass is green!  Normally we have a brown lawn by mid-July.  However, the weather seems to have settled down to it's normal seasonal character and we are forecast to have days of mid to upper 30 degs C.  So we thought that we would make a video of the garden now before it is all shrivelled up.  We did it at about 9 in the morning but the strong sunshine was already making the contrast between light and shade difficult!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCYXj_vlH8E

Do you remember what a party is?

During June, when the Covid epidemic seemed to be lying low, we began to think how nice it would be to meet up with friends again.  This idea germinated and grew until we'd sent out invitations to some 40 friends and acquaintances to come for a lunch and a bit of entertainment in our 'alley' !

The day was hot but we benefited from the shade of the trees and 36 valiant friends arrived.

This necessitated help with the preparations on the day ...

... but we were 'virtually' ready for midday.

Our guests had to wait for their meal whilst we provided some 'entertainment' which consisted in Sue and I reciting a poem about the river Céou which runs through our valley.

We had invited the Mayor and his wife, who live in the next valley to us, and he was most taken with the poem.  He asked if the book was available for sale as our commune is part of an organisation with 4 other villages along the Céou valley.  I delayed him by telling him that I needed a French friend to edit it first!  We had intended to read it first in French and then in English but the English performance was abandoned ... not because the English understood all of the French, but perhaps because they were hungry by then!

So we served them all with Jambalaya.  We did reduce the spice for French palates but I bought some fierce Chili sauce on line.  I couldn't get West Indian Hot Pepper Sauce so I had to do with Carolina Reaper, but it did the trick for the few brave enough to try it!

For French sensibilities we then offered cheese, which was followed by a selection of puddings ...

... Raspberry and ginger cheesecakes, meringues filled with a lemon mousse and a chocolate and chestnut gateaux.  However this last evolved into a 'manqué trifle' as it started to crumble as we were cutting it up.

We thoroughly enjoyed the day as did our friends.  We had taken the opportunity to invite our guests to give a donation towards the 'Open Gardens / Jardins Ouverts' charity we support which raises funds for Children's Charities and we were amazed to raise over 500 euros !!!!

For those of you curious or brave, here is a link to a video of the English version of the poem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEr__dTF7EA

Rabbit Rabbit........

 We showed you pictures of baby rabbits in our courtyard at the beginning of June.  For a few weeks we watched them in the garden, they were busy eating the WEEDS in the grass and took very little notice of us. Then they just seemed to disappear. What a  relief we thought, they were just visiting and gave us pleasure without causing any damage.

However things did not stay calm for long, remember never count your rabbits too soon!! During the first week of July we saw "Mummy Rabbit" leaping into the stachys bed in the courtyard carrying pieces of grass in her mouth...oh oh we thought. As there was no more activity we assumed our fears were unfounded.......until when we got up on the 12th of July there were SIX little bunnies waiting at the back door. By 13th there were only five and we were hoping that Mother Nature was taking her course and that number six had become somebodies dinner and the pattern would continue. But it didn't!

"My name's Silver Back, I may be small but Sue and John had not seen a wild grey rabbit before, so I'm special"          

"It's cold out here can we come in?"                               

They've now decamped to the Christo bed behind the barn, hopefully not to make room for the next litter. I have been studying rabbit reproduction on line and it's horrifying, particularly as you have to get permission from the authorities here to destroy them.