VERY, VERY HOT

 This week is just too hot, and getting hotter as the week progresses. The temperature has already hit 40 degrees C in the shade in the afternoon and 24C overnight. The most difficult to deal with is the 28C in the house (even with a fan). We are watering at 6.30 in the morning but everyday some more plants get added to the "not worth it" list and are abandoned to their fate. Any flower that does bloom is immediately burned by the sun so there is no "show".

I was going to call this Blog "The Good,The Bad and The Ugly" but I had a job to find any GOOD. The best I could do was a few cannas in the Exotic bed and the Insectivorous plant which must be flourishing with the abundant supply of insects.

To add to our woes the rabbits are systematically digging up the front "lawn".

In the past we have shown you photos of the Christo bed looking good late Summer. Not this year, along with all the local vegetation it is shrivelled.

We shouldn't be moaning as we are nowhere near as bad as Greece and other places around the world.

... Boozy Nights

 At our visit to the Château Saint-Sernin a couple of days ago, we saw information about their regular Friday night 'do'.

We liked the sound of it so invited our friend Judith to join us and we went not knowing quite what to expect, especially as it is situated 'in the sticks'!

We arrived to find, to our astonishment, that the venue was filling up and we even had allocated seats.  We were a little disappointed as we had been placed on a table with 4 other English ... although we soon found that they were OK (ie they didn't come from Essex).

As you can see there were a lot of people attending (the organisers limit the numbers to 100), the bar was serving the vineyard's wines and there were 3 different food stalls.

The band were playing Spanish style music (it could be said that they were a Gypsy Kings tribute band for those of a certain age!)

As the evening wore on ...

... we shared a bottle of wine and enjoyed a meal of empanadas (a filled spanish type of pasty), a spicy chicken and rice dish and a pudding of fromage frais and mango.

The music continued loud and lively and it was lovely to be sat outside in the warm evening.

New Project

 When we were in Spain last year we saw a front door made out of different scraps of wood and then fitted together like a jigsaw.

 We were both impressed with it and John said that he would try to make one. Please note we have had "n" front doors in the last 17 years!! If I am honest I thought that it would never happen but all of a sudden he has been moved to start the project. He has found sufficient odd bits of wood in the barn and has been planeing all day. He was particularly delighted that his planer worked straight away as it has not been used since he made the stairs years ago. 

Hopefully the enthusiasm and energy will continue. Watch this space!!

Instagram?

 No you have not come to Instagram by mistake. Although you could be forgiven for thinking that you have because I am going to show you some photos of my pots which have worked. There are plenty more which haven't but of course I'm not about to show you those.

                      

 There are two of these on either side of the entrance to the exotic bed.

This Marsh Hibiscus has been in bud for 2 months and has eventually burst out.

As you can see I am into oleanders this year as they cope with very hot temperatures. Their positioning is a work in progress (well actually no progress) and they need more watering than I imagined.

Not strictly a pot just an up date on the trunkery.

 

 As I have noted in the past the weather has been very variable this year but we are now into the scorching temperatures when the flowers burn up as fast as they come out.

 

One Thing leads to ...

 

Two or three weeks ago we went with a group of friends for a meal down at the local campsite.  Over the course of the meal, and a couple of glasses of a nice wine, one couple invited us to go to the vineyard where the wine is produced for a tasting session.

This 'chateau', in the same family for 14 generations, is run by a lovely lady and her Polynesian husband.  They have 32 hectares of vines which produces some 100,000 bottles of wine!  There is a definite Polynesian influence on some of the wine labels and the emblem of the vineyard.

We started our tour in a large space where the 'cuves', the fermenting tanks, were a background to a very eclectic exhibition of Art.

After an explanation of the wine-making process we started tasting, 5 different reds which all had differing qualities.  We ended with a very 'interesting' slightly sweet white.  Some of you will know that we don't really like white wine, but we left with 6 bottles of the red which suited us best ... and 6 bottles of the white!