May 2011--HOT HOT HOT!!!

The landscaping is finished but the tidying up is difficult when the ground is so hard.

But you can see that it is going to be very smart soon!

Mieke's willow sculpture..... at present here at Maureville... Geoff has been watering her garden at La Grange d'Amelie...but it was burning up, so he brought it back home where it had recovered well. We're going to have to return it soon!!!

Oh dear!

I've really rather neglected this blog this year...so now is the time to get going again.

We are having an extraordinary May. No rain for at least 6 weeks. The odd grey-ish day, but on the whole we've had temperatures over 24 for over a month and it doesn't look as though it is going to change for a while.

Geoff abandoned his indoor building project in April whilst I was away in England. I got back to find him doing mammoth works round the pool. We bought slabs to do a bit of landscaping last year, but the job has been on hold until the ground was suitable for work. Many friends with above-ground pools put decking around. It looks good, but we decided against this for 2 reasons. Firstly, the safety ladder we'd bought is ideal for keeping youngsters out. If we surrounded the pool with decking, we'd then have to put extra safety fencing around. The second reason for not having decking was because we discovered last summer, that, compared with that of friends with pools of similar size, our pool was 3 or 4 degrees warmer due to the sun shining on the surrounding walls. Today...May 21st.. the temperature of the pool is 26, yesterday it was even warmer!

The bizarre thing of such high temperatures for such a prolonged time so early in the season is that, not only is nature confused, but so am I! Somehow it feels like July...and I don't understand why there are no tomatoes ready to eat in the garden! ( well, of course, I understand...but it feels as though there should be!)

Well, the landscaping is nearly finished--just as well as the ground is as hard as concrete now. I have to finish building the dry stone wall around the top of the new paved area.... and the 'flowerbeds' above need weeding and planting now.

Of course--we really need some rain!!....but I do love the sunshine & don't want it to end!