Wake up! There is someone in the garage!!

These were the words I heard from Elizabeth at 03:15 this morning... So, being the man, I gracefully rose from my sleep and headed towards the garage door.

Listening for a while I heard nothing. "Too much wine", I thought to myself, especially after a good night round at a friend's house...

But, with my heart beating faster than normal, I pulled open the garage door and turned on the light.. Absolutely nothing in the garage! A quick check outside - also absolutely nothing. So it was back to bed for me.

Sometime later, 06:45 to be precise, Elizabeth was whispering in my ear again: "There is something in the garage!" "WELL!" I said, "it will have to wait till morning".

Morning came and we stalked towards the garage, Elizabeth armed with a long brush for protection. Top and bottom of it: there was nothing in the garage and no signs of anything having been there...

Elizabeth was beginning to think she was going crazy; I was thinking it was the fine whiskey we rounded off the night before with! She searched every space in the garage and found absolutely nothing. Just about to give up she heard something and to my surprise so did I - and it appeared to come from the motobineuse.

So, being the brave man, I lifted off the grass box and look what dropped out!!!

It quickly ran under the cutters and then, with the help of the brush shaft, ran off to a dark corner of the garage where it stayed put. "Pick it up!" I said to Elizabeth. "NO, you pick it up" she retorted... 

 So, with the aid of PPE ( personal protective equipment), I grabbed the beast.

He/She was then returned to the garden where it remained traumatised for a short while. It then scurried off back into the undergrowth..

An all round happy ending you might say... Except for Elizabeth's lack of sleep of course... Early to bed tonight Elizabeth and NO alcohol!!!

When Lightning Strikes..

When we visited Loches the other day we went for a walk in the park, which we've always admired. The flower beds contain the most beautiful assortment of plants in first class condition and the whole park is well laid out and obviously tended with care.

One thing struck us (pardon the pun - you'll see!):

When we last visited the park, in May 2010, it was a very different picture..

A plaque next to what remains of this tree explained that it was one of three sequoias planted to mark the opening of the new park in Loches in 1909. One died of  old age. A second became diseased and had to be cut down leaving just this one, which grew to 45metres tall.

Then at 5:40 pm on the evening of Sunday, April 24th 2011, this majestic sequoia was struck by lightning. It exploded causing a great deal of damage. At first it was thought it may be possible to preserve the tree which had split into three sections but it soon became obvious that it was too dangerous. So sadly the top sections of the tree were cut down but the bottom section was left as a reminder of a tree which had looked down on the park for a hundred years.

A graphic illustration of the damage lightning can do too, we'd say!

Dancing in the Street!

Faye la Vineuse held it's Fete today... aptly named Faye Fete!

And, yes, there was dancing in the street... you may be able to make out the band just to the left of the dancers..

In fact the whole village was bursting at the seams with stalls - both brocante and artisans - and visitors.

I was particularly taken with the imagination behind these figures based on local stereotypes.. What a great gift idea!

Every corner of the village was packed with stalls, some at pitched at improbable angles to make the most of the space available...

All the usual stuff was there; the naked doll with matted hair and one arm missing; the set of pans bearing the scars of 60 years of use; the incomplete set of  "Quilting for Beginners"  magazines and the odd weapon...

Once again, a small village putting on a great show.. It began at 6:30 this morning and ends with a Feu d'Artifice tonight at 23:30.

At least, that's when they're SAYING it will end!!

Loches Epopée Médiéval

We're getting into the swing of these themed weekends... First it was Richelieu's Cape et Epée, then it was Chinon's Marche Medieval and now this weekend it's L'Epopée Médiéval at Loches.

But what a disappointment it was after the previous two weekends!

In contrast to the other two, the event in Loches was blatantly a  money making exercise and this appeared to be reflected in the low turnout of people there.

The event centred on the area of the Donjon, and whilst the grounds around this are normally open and free to the public, today there was an entrance fee of 9 euros per adult and 5 euros per child. As you can see (below) the queue was not really what you would call a queue..

Wherever we went it was the same. We had no problem taking photos because there were few people to get in the way..

We saw a small procession in costume; presumably to entice the 'crowds' into parting with their 9 euros, but we were not impressed..

Perhaps we've been spoilt by the 'free' events we have enjoyed so much recently, or maybe it's because this is a weekend-long event, but the whole thing seemed too commercial and lacked the atmosphere of Chinon or Richelieu.

Anyway, we decided to call it a day and as we fought our way back through the crowds (!) we reflected on life in Braye..... it's good!

Le Lac, Châtellerault

Having read Jim and Pauline's blog and realised we didn't know the place existed, this afternoon we went to Le Lac in Châtellerault. What a gem of a place it is!

For starters, there is a large carpark - always a plus point. The weather, too, was just perfect and the notice by the Poste de Secours summed it up beautifully: "Baignade: Bonne". The area designated for swimming is roped off and supervised by lifeguards.

Not only was the swimming good, pedalos and canoes could be hired at the water's edge and they looked great fun too!.

 

Then after the water, there were showers to freshen up...

For those who prefer to stay out of the water, there were activity tents for the youngsters and a bright "Bibliotheque" bus..

Of course you can always take yourself off round the other side of the lake and just chill......

All this, plus an imaginative childrens playground and a refreshments tent.... And the cost of all this???

Nothing! Zilch! Gratuit!!

What a fantastic way to keep the children entertained and off the streets during the holidays. They were loving every second and I suspect there will be some tears when the time comes to pack up and go home.

Dog Fouling

Being a dog lover and having owned several dogs in the past, one of the more unpleasant tasks is cleaning up after them, especially when out for a walk.

On a recent visit to Rochefort, I was pleased to see a dog fouling station sited on a green area on the outskirts of the town.

It is the first one I have seen in France. They are a great idea and every town should have one, especially as I would like another dog in the future - that's if I can convince Elizabeth it won't eat her!

So well done Rochefort and my your town stay free of dog poo...

Whilst I was researching the availability of such facilities in England and came across this fact about UK dogs... "Estimates put the UK dog population between 6.5 and 7.4 million, producing 1,000 tonnes of excrement per day." However you look at it, that's an awful lot of dog poo!!!

I have noticed some facilities in my past work travels around the UK but they appear to be thin on the ground - unless, of course, you know otherwise...

Here are a couple of links if you would like to know a bit more...

Information about UK Dog fouling laws... *******
UK supplier of Dog fouling stations...      *******

Seedling Success

This year, for the first time, most of our flowers have been grown from seed. (Colin has always grown salad crops and vegetables this way). We collected seed from as many of our plants as possible last year and we also bought several assorted 25p packets from Lidl in the UK. 

We started off all the seeds in our mini greenhouse and planted them out once the risk of frost had passed. Overall, the results have been very encouraging. From one 25p packet of China Aster, for example, we now have 82 healthy plants, each with multiple stems of jewel-coloured blooms, 2-3' tall.

They look wonderful in the herbaceous borders and also make good cut flowers..

Last year's half-a-dozen bought Gazanias gave us enough seed to fill the front border and more besides..

                             

We had the same success with the Antirrhinums, Phlox, Dianthus and Verbena, to name a few. Encouraged by these results we are now trying to grow delphiniums from the seed we've collected from our one and only plant...

 

The following link gave advice on how to grow delphiniums from seed.

So far the results look promising... and we are already planning where all these spires of blue are going to go.

I, for one, am now a convert to seed propagation and we will (hopefully!) be able to post some photos of the fully grown plants in flower next year..... I did say "hopefully"!