Wednesday 31 July 2013

Another puzzler for today.

Two puzzles actually.

Question 1
Where was this photograph taken? Many of our 'local' readers will have driven past it.


Question 2
What film does it represent, who was the actor and what year was it shown?


Answer to where it is linked here. If you go to street view and look at the building at the bottom you can see the clock!

The film could be 'Safety Last' with Harold Lloyd 1923.



Tuesday 30 July 2013

Hand Reared!

Our chickens are...


Should be tasty when they get to the pot!!! Better keep laying girls...

Be careful of that GLUTEN Elizabeth!!

Monday 29 July 2013

Guess What?? 1

Can you name this week's 'mystery' flower??

And to make it easier, here's a close up...
Only on line entries accepted. *Limited to one entry per household.

(*Management reserve the right to refuse entries where they have reason to suspect foul play.There are no prizes.Entries to be in by 6pm Tuesday 30th July.
Judges decision is final. Entries from the Craig family (Jim and Pauline) will not be accepted)

The Answer:  The Artichoke!
See Comments for winners..

Sunday 28 July 2013

Fête Champêtre du Bois du Temple 2013

Braye-sous-Faye's annual event, the Fête Champêtre du Bois du Temple, was held today and we went along with our friends Jim and Pauline.

This year, as well as a multitude of brocante and vide grenier stalls, the display of old cars was back. 

After a morning coffee we took a stroll around the various stalls which, surprisingly, had a different selection of 'goods' than we are used to seeing at these events. Elizabeth made several purchases, primarily frames to display her cards and pictures for a brocante she is taking part in with friend Jean later in the year.

After lunch we returned for a tour around the old vehicles...

There were several 2CV's on display and this interesting 'derivative' caught our attention. Jim thought we should have had ours there, but ours is to use not to show! 

This was followed by the entertainment... Over dressed Brazilian dancers

and a very gravelly voiced singer.

Maybe if we had waited for the next performance the dancers clothing could have been more like this. Unfortunately it rained...

The event is usually rounded off in the evening by a firework display which is in the field right opposite our house. Will it be on tonight?


Saturday 27 July 2013

And Colin Slept through the Lot!

When we drove back from shopping in Chatellerault this morning it was hard to think that the storm last night had actually happened..
Yet these had been the scenes from the window during the early hours of Saturday morning as we experienced our second night of storms...
The whole garden was illuminated by the flashes of lightning in one of the worst storms I've ever known. It began around 3am and lasted well over an hour and a half, with constant flashes of lightning and cracks of thunder. The wind picked up force as it came roaring across the fields, bending all the plants it touched in its wake...

A closer look along the roadside en route to Chatellerault and the debris was evidence enough for all to see..  A row of newly planted trees outside Lidl in Chatellerault had been snapped like matchsticks, despite substantial stakes supporting them.

And not only trees; these phone lines were down by the road on the outskirts of Chatellerault.

Back at home we had to begin the clear up operation. We had been very lucky and had no structural damage. What damage there was was limited to plants and trees.

Branches were ripped out our favourite Catalpa and strewn across the lawn..

The peppers Colin had tended from seed were flattened,as were a couple of tomato plants.

The poplars had lost many smaller branches and when Colin looked over into the field, there were several larger branches up to 6 metres out into the fiels and we needed to go and retrieve them before they did some serious damage to the farmer's machinery.
The whole of the lawn was strewn with whatever the wind could find to displace

I think I woke with the very first rumble of thunder and I didn't go back to sleep until the storm had well and truly passed, some two hours later at least.

And Colin?? Well - he slept through the lot; thunder bolts and all!

Friday 26 July 2013

A Day in the Life of a Lavender

A photographic look at some of the visitors to one lavender plant in the course of a day...

 

Not bad for a few moments of observation! Lavender really is a magnet for insects, butterflies and bees!

Thursday 25 July 2013

Three Happy Hens taking a Bath...

The sight of our three hens taking a dust bath made entertaining viewing the other day.They had found a patch of powdery ash where once we'd had a bonfire.

For quite some time they rolled in it, tossing and flicking the ash over themselves creating the messiest three birds you've ever seen.

And then, of course, when they'd had enough, they came running at us shaking off the dust as they ran..

Dustbathing is quite normal behaviour for hens and other birds. They do it to keep their feathers free from parasites and to help maintain the feathers insulating properties.

They looked awful....but ever so funny!

Wednesday 24 July 2013

STERF Butterfly Survey July 2013

This month's butterfly survey was in complete contrast to the previous couple of months. We can report a plentiful supply of Gatekeeper....

.....Easy to spot, but not easy to count when there are Ragwort plants in the area and each stem covered with the creatures!

Ringlet were also there in number...

As were Marbled White...

It was encouraging to see the healthy number of Silver-washed Fritillary...

And a number of  *Large Skipper (Ochlodes venatus). Colin took this captivating shot of one in the flower of a Convolvulus...

When we looked back to July's survey for 2012 we noticed a striking similarity with today's results. Maybe things aren't all that bad in the Butterfly world!

* Thanks to Susan (see comments) for the ID.

Tuesday 23 July 2013

Still going strong!!

We wrote about this car nearly two years ago (See Here) and last week we followed it through Jaulnay and Elizabeth had the camera to hand!!


Not much appears to have changed over the last two years, same duct tape, same roof rack and the same driver. It must be an excellent example of 'Cheap Motoring' 

The $64,000 question is how much longer can it keep going and continue to pass it's Control Technique.

We did see a puff of smoke from the engine!!


Time will tell...