B&B's arrive tomorrow and I'm in the middle of making a rather scrummy chocolate carrot cake. It's very hot & I'd like to go & have a dip in the pool--but it hs another 10 minutes in the oven.
Boris the cat has come in from his sleep outside under the picnic table--and has crashed out on the kitchen floor--probably the coolest place in the house.
Boris Becker is blathering away on the telly with Andrew Castle. It is Wimbledon and Nadal is playing. Changing his shirt ( ie Raffe, not Boris!)between games causes nearly as much excitement as the actual tennis match.
After my dip in the pool I plan to clean out one of the stables. A large freezer has been stored there since we arrived in France 4 years ago. With hindsight, I realise that it should never have come. A new smaller modern one would be more economical to run...but there you go! Anyhow, I've been held in getting on with tis job,up by a pair of swallows and their brood of 4 youngsters. They'd get very angry if you went anywhere near the shed whilst they were feeding, but now they've fledged and all is clear for me to get in there and sort it all out before they lay their 2nd clutch! The garden is now so productive that I need a freezer--the little one above the fridge is too small.
Next year I shall be loosing my office/utility room as it will become part of the gite that we're constructing in the East Wing of the house! The stable with the freezer will become an extended pantry--and one of the stables at the back of the house will become a laundry room. I sometimes think we'll be at least 100 years old by the time all the work is finished.....but it all keeps us out of mischief!
3 weeks ago a brood of black redstarts fledged. They are the funniest little birds. Very like sparrows, but with red patches & black patches-- and even more recognisable by their frantic bobbing up & down whilst shouting at you (or the cats!) to GO AWAY!
Since Geoff's shed ( by the pool--ie to house the pump) was constructed with a window looking out onto the back of the garden and the field in front of the R. Charente, we have been planning to turn it into a hide!
This week we were given a boost by Marie-Laure. Geoff & I go to see her every week for a bit of French tuition!
She lives a few miles away, and rents a holiday gite with an extensive garden with a woodland/ farmland boundary. It was recently occupied by a keen bird-watcher Rose Cockle who made a list of all the birds that were seen that week.I think the 1st in June? (The list may be seen on face-book --click on my link here on the blogger--& then 'Cherry-tree guesthouse' & you must click on the green woodpecker!)
I've purloined the list and plan to use it as a crib. There are at least 40 species of bird--many , many of the everyday common birds--which I don't like to knock! They give masses of entertainment and amusement. There are one or two species that are quite exciting--notably the black kite and the booted eagle. No hoopoes were seen that week--which we regularly see here--and the most concerning lack of appearance this year--for us, and M-l-- is that no owls seem to be about. The little owl that raised its chick in the eaves of our house hasn't come back. No owl has been down the chimney this year--possibly the late cold spring meant the fires were lit until later in the year. We don't even hear the tawny owls in the dusk and dark. It's all most disturbing. I hope they return before long.
Boris the cat has come in from his sleep outside under the picnic table--and has crashed out on the kitchen floor--probably the coolest place in the house.
Boris Becker is blathering away on the telly with Andrew Castle. It is Wimbledon and Nadal is playing. Changing his shirt ( ie Raffe, not Boris!)between games causes nearly as much excitement as the actual tennis match.
After my dip in the pool I plan to clean out one of the stables. A large freezer has been stored there since we arrived in France 4 years ago. With hindsight, I realise that it should never have come. A new smaller modern one would be more economical to run...but there you go! Anyhow, I've been held in getting on with tis job,up by a pair of swallows and their brood of 4 youngsters. They'd get very angry if you went anywhere near the shed whilst they were feeding, but now they've fledged and all is clear for me to get in there and sort it all out before they lay their 2nd clutch! The garden is now so productive that I need a freezer--the little one above the fridge is too small.
Next year I shall be loosing my office/utility room as it will become part of the gite that we're constructing in the East Wing of the house! The stable with the freezer will become an extended pantry--and one of the stables at the back of the house will become a laundry room. I sometimes think we'll be at least 100 years old by the time all the work is finished.....but it all keeps us out of mischief!
3 weeks ago a brood of black redstarts fledged. They are the funniest little birds. Very like sparrows, but with red patches & black patches-- and even more recognisable by their frantic bobbing up & down whilst shouting at you (or the cats!) to GO AWAY!
Since Geoff's shed ( by the pool--ie to house the pump) was constructed with a window looking out onto the back of the garden and the field in front of the R. Charente, we have been planning to turn it into a hide!
This week we were given a boost by Marie-Laure. Geoff & I go to see her every week for a bit of French tuition!
She lives a few miles away, and rents a holiday gite with an extensive garden with a woodland/ farmland boundary. It was recently occupied by a keen bird-watcher Rose Cockle who made a list of all the birds that were seen that week.I think the 1st in June? (The list may be seen on face-book --click on my link here on the blogger--& then 'Cherry-tree guesthouse' & you must click on the green woodpecker!)
I've purloined the list and plan to use it as a crib. There are at least 40 species of bird--many , many of the everyday common birds--which I don't like to knock! They give masses of entertainment and amusement. There are one or two species that are quite exciting--notably the black kite and the booted eagle. No hoopoes were seen that week--which we regularly see here--and the most concerning lack of appearance this year--for us, and M-l-- is that no owls seem to be about. The little owl that raised its chick in the eaves of our house hasn't come back. No owl has been down the chimney this year--possibly the late cold spring meant the fires were lit until later in the year. We don't even hear the tawny owls in the dusk and dark. It's all most disturbing. I hope they return before long.
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