Sheltering

Guess what? It has rained non stop all day today and at 4:00 o'clock this afternoon it became very windy and our car alarm went off twice... As I was tiling, Elizabeth went to investigate thinking it was the gusts of wind moving the car. I suggested an animal/bird may have got inside, but could not think how. The solution was a simple one... Some idiot (Me) had left the drivers side window open from yesterday morning when we stopped to talk to our neighbour... So we now have a very wet drivers seat!

The constant rain did not deter the many birds on and around our feeders once I had replenished them this morning. One poor soul had however given up....

Our friend the Green Woodpecker positioned itself under a branch of our willow.

Given the state of our garden it is not at all surprising.

It would be a case of "Water with your ants, Sir?"

It poses the question - what do the ants do when the ground is so very waterlogged? We know what our moles have done... Our hill is full of mole hills so they have obviously taken to the high ground.

Rain, Rain and more Rain!!!

It rained most of yesterday and the same today... We think our guest, Elizabeth's son David has brought it with him from Lancashire... It has been sunny there today... Sorry David.

Regular readers will know we had three and now have two large weeping willow trees in the garden. These provide excellent shade when the sun shines but require a haircut several times a year to get rid of the lower growth.

The best time to do this is when the trees are laden with water and boy have they been laden over the past couple of days. So Elizabeth donned my old sea fishing waterproof and with shears in hand...

 A woman happy in her work

Elizabeth the master pruner, 

She also cuts my hair too... Not much difference really!

Apologies for the photographs, they were taken through the Kitchen window!! Well you don't think I was getting wet do you...

No end to the rain..

We (and many, many others) are getting heartily sick of the rain.

Today we had a thunder storm, hailstones and heavy rain. We now have a photo to illustrate the saying "rain coming down like stair rods" ..

These are some quite dramatic pictures taken over the past few days of the impending rain...

And after the rain, a beautiful double rainbow..

Now all we want is the sun to come out - and stay out!!

Spot the Difference Part Two

Following on with the Spot the Difference theme, these photos speak for themselves... The 2012 photos were taken today.

Riviere, on the banks of the Vienne, taken looking West...

2011

2012

 And looking East...

2011

2012

 And in Chinon...

2011

2012

2012

 We have never seen the river so high, even in the middle of winter.

Unseasonal weather... or what??

This time last year we had visitors here enjoying unbroken sunshine and temperatures in the 20C's.

This year.... well!
Our visitors are suffering unseasonally cold weather with strong winds, cool temperatures and rain. That's life I suppose!

To demonstrate just how strong the winds are, here are one or two images of the river Vienne, with waves more akin to Blackpool seafront than a river in central France....

A new business opportunity surfing on the Vienne...

All we can say is this is NOT the usual weather for mid April.

Sorry Mary and Ernie.... it can only get better!!

April Showers...

Today has been a day of April showers and the first of some much needed rain in our area for about a month. The potager was like a dust bowl!

At the end of the afternoon the sun came out for a time, followed by a quick shower which produced the most beautiful rainbow...

It will have done our potager the world of good... particularly the newly planted lettuces..

These are some Batavia lettuce which Colin has grown from seed. Looking forward to enjoying them in a few weeks time!

How windy has it been?

Elizabeth photographed this on our return to France on Sunday...

The wind farm is located on the side of the A16 just before Étaples; all who travel that route can't fail to have seen it. This turbine however has generated its last electricity...

The picture below is taken from google street view when all were intact.

Donc - how strong was the wind that did this...

Weather forecasts..

Weather forecasts, eh? All week we've been promised rain. Yesterday, as we gardened in shorts and t-shirts, the forecast claimed we were having a (much needed) shower.

The wheat fields around us are lovely and golden ...

....but the grains are small because there has been no rain to swell them.

Today the forecast was for rain at 2pm, so in anticipation of the non-event I pegged out two lines of washing.

And it rained!! Not much; but rain nevertheless; enough to leave raindrops on the flower petals.

We watched it falling for ten minutes or so and came to the conclusion that it is a different beast altogether to Lancashire rain. Lancashire rain is wet, persistent, cold and long lasting. This was gentle, mild and did little to alleviate the drought conditions.

So do we miss Lancashire rain???? What a daft question!

Where is my breakfast.....

As I have blogged before, our garden is full of youngsters at the moment. I had noticed the parents feeding a group of Grey Wagtails in front of the kitchen window for a couple of mornings. Yesterday morning I could not resist taking this little fellow sat on our patio.

Come on Mum where's my breakfast...

I am still waiting

What am I supposed to do with these??

Still waiting

May as well have a rest my little legs are aching!!

In the end no parent turned up so junior hopped along the patio, pecked at a couple of ants and walked off across the garden. So no photograph of Mum feeding baby. Ah well better luck next time..

Footnote. It rained this morning.... the full extent shown here..

A pathetic event not enough to wet the grass. Everything here is like a dust bowl........

Today has been truly glorious!

Today has been truly glorious! We had wall to wall sunshine and the temperature reached 20C.

The first thing we saw when opening the shutters this morning was a Black Redstart. Unfortunately we weren't quick enough to get a photo but here's one I found online

When we went outside the butterflies were out in force. First came the Peacock, though he is a rather bedraggled specimen..

Then came the Comma

And then that herald of Spring, the Brimstone

 Another creature enjoying the warmth was this tiny lizard

However the real thrill of the day was seeing a pair of bluetits going in and out of our nest box. I managed to capture this on film but we are having problems converting this to view on the computer!! Hopefully I can add the film later. It was such a delight to see!

Big Skies

Living in France we share the advantage of being 'an hour ahead'. This has been most noticeable for us during the winter months. We have remarked countless times that "it would be dark at home by now", whilst we are still outside gardening.

Admittedly we have a bit of a reputation locally for being the only people to mow the lawn in the near dark.. but, hey, we are the 'Mad English' after all!



(Incidentally, my photo of Colin was less successful. He puts it down to speed on his part; I put it down to the failing light and incorrect camera settings!)

These additional hours of daylight have allowed us to appreciate the evening skies and there have been some pretty dramatic ones recently at both ends of the day...

I think we'll let the photographs speak for themselves!