blog 21 August
Once again
this year we have a great display of sunflowers and as always I am staggered by
their size and jolliness. From such a
small seed these amazing plants just pick up their skirts and grow and blossom
with such determination and conviction that I am in awe…. I just want to be is
a sunflower….
I had the
all clear from the professor of ears nose and throat at the university hospital
in Caen and although I still have a sore throat this great eminent of his
subject pronounced me OK and not sick but I was to go away and seek out, calm,
inner peace and sleep to rid me of a virus which has clung onto to me for an
entire year, so I am taking advice from my sunflowers and I will take what the
summer offers me with a big smile and a jolly attitude.
Our trusted
white van, vehicle of choice, sprung a
water leak in the middle of July which progressed to an electrical warning
light then no battery charge and then a defunct battery…..fortunately we had the yellow beryl to get around in and with all this fantastic weather there
was no real hurry to get to the bottom of the problem, although, I could hear
Mike's cogs turning and he kept going out with electrical meters and battery
chargers over a period of five days and finally announced that the white van needed major
attention. When Mike took out the battery he found this very frazzed rat
squashed in the battery housing and I daren’t wish that was the course of our
problems but we did need to log his demise and then get on with the job of
replacing the alternator. The local garage quoted 370 Euro to put her back on
the road but as Mike and I left the shop sucking air past our now very
sensitive teeth I just knew Mike would have a far cheaper option and a trip to
the breakers yard had us back up and running in an afternoon for a mere 90 Euro, good job Mike, you so have the magic touch.
With the
very dry weather the very last thing we expected was an attack of moles in the
middle of the garden. We had a huge problem during the wet winter so we had to
act quickly and Mike applied himself and very cleverly set his traps and hey
presto, 4 moles later we have a calmer lawn without the acne attack that just
makes us cringe. The thought of not being able to clear these blots on the
landscape quickly, is too much to tolerate and when I come in from my morning
walk with HOSS and announce. MOLE ALERT, I can feel Mike’s tension levels rise..
We are both
still very committed to the Sunday morning browse through the local vide
grenier looking for that special bargain of which we can boast quite a
few. Recently we are now
concentrating on things we can sell on to give us a little income. The most wonderful part of the vide grenier
in the summer is bumping into your mates doing
exactly the same as you are and I
was even more delighted we were able to take a break for coffee at the pavement
café to watch the world go by and chat about our purchases so far. Mark and
Shirley are the king and queen of buy and sell and I sit in their shadow of
knowledge and confidence and to be honest given the choice to be Shirley or a
sunflower then I would choose Shirley without hesitation……
I was very delighted
when I got to lift the shallots this year as we are blessed with a fabulous
crop. You plant one shallot and you get
six back what a great deal that is. Our
new raised beds have revolutionised the way we work in the allotment and just
to have a sense of order and control has made this year a pleasure. At the end
of last year I proclaimed I would never grow another vegetable, but I take it
all back as this small and significant change in the way we have approached
this part of our lives has just turned it all around. Since stopping work I find I have so many
more hours at my disposal and I have found a new energy and enthusiasm for
growing….. The poly tunnel is brimming with tomatoes, lettuce and runner beans
and although I have not done much new work out there due to the blistering heat
as soon as September clicks over then I will start a new propagation program to
replenish the garden next year
We had a
rogue runner bean plant in the poly that I left to develop and it has grown into
the tomato plants and I have them growing together and holding each other up, I
am not sure how I will untangle all of this at clear up time, but for now, I
love the spontaneity of this melange and harvesting is very interesting
Every day I
bring in a basket like this, I am freezing tomatoes giving us a base sauce to
cook with all through winter and I am freezing down the beans and
courgettes. We have been eating fresher
than fresh sweet corn for lunch for the past week and salads for dinner, it is very satisfying and I cannot imagine why
in a fit of pique and tiredness that I thought I could give this all this up and open tins and
packets instead
And finally on our way to the shops this week
we came across these two lost souls wondering in the road and for a split
second I was tempted to round them up and take them home. I have always had a
soft spot for a lost pig and although we drove past and let the thought of
ownership slope off our shoulders as we left Bucaille a sudden realisation that
the gate to the garden is open as we have paying guests in our mobile homes and
sweet pigs could so easily decide to own us, and grunt their way through our
now, so precious veg patch ……happily though they made it home so dream on
little piggies, no veg at Bucaille for you this time!
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