Work in Progress

My long absence is due to the fact that I caught the very nasty bug called Borreliosis or Lyme desease. Whilst I was always vigilant about a bite from a tick on ourselves and always treated all animals with the latest generation of droplets to be put on their necks, I have never been aware that a tick has been biting me. Latest information explain that not only ticks can transmit this bacteria which is developped on mainly sheep and fallow deer but also any kind of insects which suck our blood might infect us. The consequences of suffering of lyme desease are widely spread and the antibodies of the bacteria will always remain in the body which means that one is never sure of a next crisis. But I define my blog as a happy place where I can mainly upload my photos like in an album and therefore will not go in details about my condition.

As a consequence, some things in the bayous did sort themselves out.



The vegetable garden looks like this


and in the front yard the green is sprouting in the gaps. In the other parts of the garden, weedy things have developped so massively that for the first time I am looking forward to the end of the growing season :-0.



August was the month when the change in the loft space made a good move forward.

After the plasterer had left, there were plenty of details to be finished. This is the bigger of the loft rooms before painting.





Some of the old floorboards had decayed too much and had to be replaced.


The builder kept some of the stonewalls visible, other not so nice looking bits were plastered over.




This last picture in the collage above is showing what will be the bathroom. So there is still some more work to be done, as well as the other loft room to be finished.



A wee boy was born and the happy event was a highlight of August. This is the card I made for him.





EG then started to empty the ‘piggery’… the name keeps its promise ;-). Eine echte Schweinerei!



The old David Brown and trailer came out to carry all of the more than hundred of years old roof isolation : hay, straw, twiglets and bundles of bracken.



The huge wasp nest is old and abandoned.





EG on his own spent hour after hour in the dust...



This cross was discovered just under the tiles. It was an old tradition here to protect the building and the lifestock.



NB: We hoped also to find old tins, as our neighbour did when he emptied the old isolation in his annexe. He found then a 16-paged handwritten document signed by "Albert I, roi des Belges", Albert was also called 'le Roi des soldats' (King of the soldiers) during the first WW. He gave in this document instructions what had to be done if he would not survive... very interesting scenarios indeed. Our area has always been very hard-fought and soldiers would take shelter in the haylofts over night where obviously they used tins to hide secret writings.





Eventually, it was all taken away and brushed out.



This is what will become our new living room.



Only minutes later, EG had carried his last trailerload away and filled it up on his way back with branches which were laying around the stream. Next winter will be coming - but our wood supply seems never to end :-).



tbc

Short Trip Across the Channel

This travel to the UK was triggered by the fact, that Uncle John, who is moving house, did still keep the grandfather's scythe. So, we had inherited of a scythe but needed to pick it up from North of Oxford quickly before the removal.
Our journey had to go through the beautiful Cotswolds :-).



It was foreseen to leave Friday morning with the dog, pay a visit to dear Niki at Nostalgia in Shepton Mallet and to call in in Bath for to get colour samples and to visit Gardenalia where I bought last year that wonderful second hand 'automatic' spate. (Note from EG - the one who calls a spade a spade.... - apologies for the spelling mistake)'Automatic' because the spade has captured so much knowledge during his life, that I don't need any effort anymore to dig holes with this wonderful, sound tool.



And EG wanted to visit the grave of Colonol John Rouse Merriott Chard, who was officer in the Zulu War at Rorke's Drift. The village is called Hatch Beauchamp and was supposed to be "not far" from Shepton Mallet. Unexpected heavy traffic on the M25 forced us to make slight changes to our initial plan as nearly all shops on our road where closed by the time we arrived and we headed then to Bristol where the chocolate dog was to stay in son's flat.



Finding Hatch Beauchamp was one thing but there was no sign post for the church or graveyard and it took us a while to find it. Eventually, we got there after having asked local people.



A small church and an old, silent graveyard - that is the last resting place for EG's hero.







Inside the church was this funny paper posted and I'd like to share it, it explains the 'hierarchy of biscuits'.



After a very slow drive back North, we had to stop for some Fish & Chips, a must when we begin our journeys in the UK.
We then discovered the lovely capital of the Cotswolds, Cirencester.








Cirencester is definetely to be visited again as shops started to close when we arrived. We had still a way to go to Great Rissington where I had booked for the overnight stay.



When reaching what seemed to be one end of the town, there was this enormous yew hedge to be admired!



We had to study the window with houses for sale as we are still searching for our dream destination in the UK. Cirencester is now top-listed together with Ludlow :-).



This house in the Cotswolds, however, is not for sale but would match our ideal exactly.





I will never get tired of these warm colours the Cotswold offer.



We arrived in due time at this lovely place: the Lambs Inn. It was very busy due to an air show on Sunday but our four poster bed was in Millies garden room, behind and it was very quiet, pleasant and comfortable.



Sunday morning, after a lovely full English cooked breakfast, we drove to Uncle John's and his wife and had a nice moment staying in their old cosy cottage. We found out, that Uncle John is an artist! This is one of his pictures - everybody busy on the streets but with mobile phones on their ears.
We went back to Bristol to get the dog back on board and then cruised along to Dover to catch the ferry. Again, almost 2 hours extra time was used up in traffic jams. Late at night, we were back at home, save and happy.



Above is a selection of my shopping treasures from Niki and Bath and the colour samples.



The garden at home was wet and it had been cold and nearly no work for the neighbour's who looked after horses, cats and garden.



Whilst it is so handy to live not too far from the UK, it still is each time a struggle to get from here to there. But all those lovely moments spent even for short trips are big highlights as driving by car allows so much freedom and the dog can come with us and we can do a lot of good to the British economy ;-).

A plus tard...

June Garden Impressions

Our little farm and garden was a bit left on its own in May but despite the drought, then bad frost for 3 nights and another periode of dryness, almost everything looks good again now. However, my old horse gets very slow and looks in pain and the vet came for to give her some injections. I hope she can last for a bit longer.
We could bring the hay harvest in - perfectly dry and the whole house smells now of fresh hay. Some hours later, rain started and we have had plenty of heavy rainfalls since EG has left for his business trip to Egypt. Due to the last two days of thunder and lightning, the chocolate dog ran out of hiding places and could not stop shivering.
Today seems to be a lot cooler and quieter though and it is time for a G.I.T. (Garden Inspection Tour). Come and see:



For the first time, this tree peony has been able to develop its buds. We had 8 stunning magenta flowers!



The first roses appeared in the front garden, top left Louise Odier, top right Pax, bottom left Sombreuil and bottom right Home Sweet Home.



Once the foxgloves are in bloom, the garden is overwhelmed by all kind of flying insects. Hélas, no honey bees could arrive yet and the project had to be postponed.



This agapanthus was rescued by EG from a compost heap in Madeira, travelled home with us in the suitcase and turns out to be .... white :-0.



The "grotto hill" gives us plenty of joy as there are so many different perennials developping there.



I am not the only one loving Lychnis. The voles, these *number-one-ennemies* of the garden, did pull all of them down which were growing in the 'northern embankment'. I suppose it is because they are evergreen and nice and juicy in winter. Obviously, no vole lives actually in the grotto hill.



One variety the voles do not touch are hardy geraniums. At last, the garden is now populated with all kind of different cranesbill. I lost count now, how many of them grow here.



In the same way as the bees are inspecting every hatch of the foxgloves I will never get tired to make pictures of them.



On top above is one of my best pair in the front garden: Hebe's lip and Philadelphus. Not only they flower at the same time, they also welcome everybody at the entrance gate with fantastic fragrance.
The pink one below might be Comte de Chambord with a very nice perfume and my ever preferred fragrance (together with Mme. Isaac Pereire) is of Sombreuil, the white rose on the bottom right.





When going for a G.I.T., the wee cat and the dog will join.
I often break one of the fragrant rose in full bloom and have a sniff on it every minute - or so. There are no better drugs in this world :-).



If you wonder what is the flower on the bottom right picture, it is Thalictrum 'Black Stockings'. Thalictrums are growing easily in our garden and are perfect because they are tall, stay upright even on the embankment, are very hardy and flower beautifully and attract bees. The best is, that voles don't have them on their diet :-).



The blue on top is one of my Penstemons which have survived the hard winter conditions. All species from the UK have almost no chance here.
For the very first time EG showed me this visitor: the Purple Emperor. I did not even know its name in any other language because I had never seen such a beauty before. Btw. the bumble bee is visiting a geranium thurstonianum.



This brand new beauty is geranium Midnight Clouds. The leaves are dark and well shaped and it looks very good even when not flowering.



Here is a first geranium selection - top left to right Sherwood, Striatum or Apfelblüte, Wargrave Pink, bottom left to right Trevor's White, Striatum or Apfelblüte and the last is an oxonianum but I must look up its label, sorry.



This is one of my favourite combinations in the 'south embankment'. The rose was bought as "quatre saisons" but it is of this dark magenta whilst "quatre saisons" is pale. Behind is Lysimachea Firecracker. I love the dark foliage but I cut off the yellow flowers when they open as it disturbs my camera's eye ;-).



Top left to right: This is behind the grilli kota Geranium t'Stich with foxgloves and linaria, then home grown Canterbury Bell, Geranium Splish Splash, bottom left Geranium Phaeum (mourning widow) and on the right rose Souvenir de Madame Auguste Charles.



Top left: Geranium Patricia, Thurstonianum (without bee :-)) and Splish Splash again.



Please sit down with me at the end of the tour and enjoy the view and sniff again on that rose which accompanied our walk around. (Abraham Darby)



P.S. Debbie, you are in my mind.

Adieu Lilian

My beautiful, lovely lady, my wonderful mother-in-law is gone.

I was blessed to know her and I was honoured to stay some of her last days and nights with her. She showed me then her very first "lettre sentimentale" she had received from a smart French young man in 1940 when she was 16 years old, it was the year when her own mother died. His name was Prosper and amongst the lines was this sentence: "vous étiez si mignonne dans votre uniforme et j'adore votre sourire. Je me réjouis de vous revoir samedi prochain".
She certainly never lost that beautiful smile she had first given to him.

R.I.P. ma chère Lilian. Tu me manques.