THE LAST PICNIC WALK OF THE SEASON

We were warned that after this picnic there would be no more until probably September because the weather would get too hot for old folk to walk! Well they were right as usual, the weather over the last few weeks has topped 100F and it has been too hot to sit in front of a computer and write up the blog.

The picnic took place just over two weeks ago and we travelled by car North of St Pons de Thomiere, which is in the foothills of
the Montagne Noir ( Black Mountains). It was a beautifully hot day but because we were
at quite high an altitude there was a refreshing wind blowing. Our picnic destination was between two beautiful lakes, surrounded by pine forests and meadows full of the most beautiful wild flowers, many of them alpines. The pre-lunch walk covered about 10K and for once was reasonably flat, no cardiac hills thank goodness as Dave has only just had a defibulator fitted!

Of course the French know how to do things properly and the piicnic site was complete with this impressive barbee. The only thing we had to bring was picnic chairs and table, bread, and
he compulsory bottle of wine. Everything else was provided
by the club and the food as usual was excellent.




After eating and supping too much out came the music man and the dancing began.
It was a lovely day, enjoyed by all who took part and we all look forward to the next season of walks, chats, food and drink.
Can you imagine your village/town in the UK doing anything like this? Maybe more people would stay if life was more entertaining.

Since the picnic we have been to other soirees, and we are looking forward to the celebrations in the village for the 14th July (Bastille Day) with more food and entertainment and fireworks. The week after we have the Olive Festival and, yes you have guessed it, more gorging! C'est la vie en Bize.

This post is just to prove that the gardening is improving and it is not a totally lost cause. Bloody difficult though! I have always wanted to grow Morning Glory (Ipomea) I tried it in the UK but failed however it grow like a weed here and I love it. I have it climbing up every possible thing The Greek pot was given to me by our good friends Terry and Kate, who now live on the Island of Paxos in Greece. Their weather has been much better than here in the South of France. We had torrential rain yesterday and today and the ground is totally saturated... We have a mainly clay soil and the only time to pull weeds is when the soil is wet. The only problem is that your shoes or boots get totally clogged up with clay and you appear at least 2 ft taller with great heavy feet.

Dave is so much better after having the pacemaker fitted. He actually sleeps at night for the first time in over ten years and doesn't moan like Victor Meldrew which he used to do all day. So life is much better than it was.

Incidentally the flower in the last photo is called Belle de Nuit I first saw it in Greece and actually had some seeds which I stole from a Greek garden.. The seeds have come up well here and they must be at least five or more years old. It smells wonderful at night, but unfortunately we have so much wind here that it is difficult to smell any plant. Still we persevere and the roses are doing well. The rose in the photo is called Alexander, my maiden name and, of course, the strongest rose in the garden!

Thats all for today then, more later in the week when hopefully the weather is going to change for the better.

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THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS

This is the June photo of my life of vines in pictures.
The growth as you can see has been amazing, partly due to the wet weather conditions that the whole of France has suffered. Hopefully, however, this could mean a good vintage year
if we get some long awaited sunshine. It is warm, but it is wet and the next ten days don't look much better with thunder storms forecast for tonight and tomorrow. We had an amazing
storm last Monday which lasted most of the night. I have
a few solar lights in the garden and the lightening was so bright that the lights went off when the lightening struck and returned to on when the thunder roared - quite bizarre.

This photo of one of my climbing roses, is just to prove that I have actually been doing some sort of gardening. Most things
I have planted seem to be doing well, though how anything
can grow in this "concrete" beats me. I have a few pots of tomatoes on the go and two pots of beans, which are going mad
up the trellis beside the bougainvillea!

Just when we thought things were getting almost normal there was an enormous hiccup. Thankfully Tina and her boyfriend Tony were still here. David went for a medical and was advised to take part in a stress test as the doctor was a little worried about his heart rhythm. We drove down to Narbonne to the clinic and the test began. I was sitting in the waiting room happily reading a book when I saw a porter rushing down the corridor with a wheel chair. Who was the chair for? Yep you guessed it - David! Next thing I knew the doctor came and took me to the emergency room where D was, plugged in to a heart monitor which registered anything but a normal heart beat. "We will have to keep him in overnight and take him to Perpignon for further tests in the morning". Oh great, there I am in Narbonne with a car in the car park which I cannot drive. Fortunately Tina got a taxi and came to Narbonne and drove me and the car home.

So now he is in Perpignon. They do an Angiogram, followed by electric shock treatment, which does not work, and hey presto the poor old b****r has a pacemaker. Isn't it amazing how much happens in just over a week!. I have to say thank you for the people in the village and neighbours who offered assistance, especially Debbie and our friends Stuart and Sheila who live further up country. Christopher took me to the hospital which was difficult for him because he and Penny have visitors. Hopefully D will be back on Monday and everything will be better. I will get him out in the garden with the pick axe and the rotovator and that should sort him out!

To return to Tina and Tony, they finally found some work - it is very difficult here in France- on a luxury holiday barge on a canal just outside Paris. They seem to be enjoying themselves although I think the living accommodation is a little on the small side! Probably makes our airbed seem like sheer heaven. Anyway more of that I am sure.

We have nothing much planned for the next month as we dont know how David will feel. I am assured by those who know that a pacemaker can improve your life enormously - I hope so.

THE FLOWER FESTIVAL IN GIRONA, SPAIN

Umbrella covered in rose petals.

A large crowd of us travelled to Girona on Sunday 18th May to see the famous flower festival. It was quite a cold day when we set off but we hoped for warm sunshine when we got to Spain. The coach journey took just under 2 hours and we were soon in the heart of the festival, which was held in and around the Cathedral. As we were leaving one display to see another, a few spots of rain fell - "just a quick shower" we thought but how wrong we were! Soon the heavens opened and there we were in sandals, thin blouses and slacks, absolutely soaked to the skin. It was actually quite funny and a good job it was warm otherwise pneumonia would have set in.




A large corner display of mixed blooms absolutely fantastic





The Roman room





To say it was amazing was an understatement and I am sure we did not see all the arrangements as the wet weather and soaking clothes slowed our progress considerably and we had to return to the coach for the journey to the all important lunch venue. As usual there was too much food and far too much wine and we were then entertained to flamenco dancing and the afternoon terminated with a Can Can, - well we were close to the French border! On the way home we stopped at the border supermarket and stocked up on brandy, gin, pastis and a few coffin nails (Benson & Hedges!)

A brilliant outing followed on Tuesday by one of those walks again, this time in very warm conditions but with a howling gale blowing. Still it was another really lovely walk and the picnic afterwards ran true to form, too much of everything.

When we arrived home Tina and Tony had booked a table at the local favorite restaurant and although we had really had enough to eat at lunch time we did not want to refuse their kind offer of a meal. It turned out that the meal was to celebrate the fact that they have both found a job on a luxury barge, based near Paris and they will be off to take up their new post at the weekend. A lovely bottle of Champagne accompanied the meal - all in all another very pleasant day.

A WALK BY THE SEA

Fantastic scenery on this walk, not far from Narbonne and about 40 mins from home. It was quite cold and breezy when we set off and it looked as though we could get a thunder storm.



We had to climb a steep slope at the beginning, well what a surprise, but the climb was well worth while because the views were tremendous. The hillsides are full of wild flowers and the wild lavender is about to flower.

After our walk, out came the picnic hampers with all the usual treats. Aperitifs, wine, too much food again. Yes that's me on the right sitting with Sandra and Debbie. Looking at the photo now it appears we made an effort to get away from our French friends, but we were actually only trying to escape the mozzies!

The weather changed just in time for lunch and we got quite a tan sitting on the beach. Hopefully the Summer is on its way so we should get quite a few good picnics in the coming weeks before they stop around the end of June I think when the weather becomes too hot for long walks.

Vive la difference!

This photo of the vineyard was taken on the 1st May. The vines are really getting a move on now and the flowers are beginning to open. The are only tiny of course but the more flowers the more wine YUMM






The wild flowers are also springing up all over the fields and hedgerows, it really is beautiful round here at this time of the year. Temperatures are improving daily so we hope that the cursed wind will take a holiday and the sun will prevail.

Tina and Tony have arrived from their recent travels in the British Virgin Islands and Switzerland respectively and they are both looking for work on a luxury yacht for the summer.

We spent last Sunday down by the river celebrating India's 9th birthday. We played all the usual British party games including races on the grass. These fascinated the French kids as they had never seen such races as the three legged race and had not a clue how to cope! It was hilarious to watch. Guess which couple won - and it wasn't two kids (or was it?). The champagne and wine flowed and Dave and I were well on the way - disgusting at a kids party I know.

A couple of weeks earlier we joined the old folks for a ramble and picnic, some ramble! The distance was about 12Kms downhill on the way out and all uphill on the way back, it nearly killed us. Then came the picnic and I wont bore you with the whole story, suffice to know there was too much food and far too much wine, aperitifs and digestives (that's strong liquors not biscuits).

More news of live in Bize and where the kids end up will no doubt follow...............

SPRING THEY SAY - WELL SORT OF

Thought I would record how the vine grows, month by month.

This is a photo of our nearest vineyard, just a spit away on the 1st March














This was taken on the 1st April, not a lot of change to be seen until you get close up and then you see the bulging buds! Sorry but my bulging buds are a bit out of focus!






Bulging Buds






However since taking this photo on the 1st April the buds have become leaves and all the vineyards around have suddenly sprung into life. They say its Spring but it has been extremely cold on some days and quite sweaty on others.

We were invited to a quiz night at Anita and Geoffrey's last week. Good night, great food and of course we were in the winning team! All Brits on this occasion but it is nice to speak your own lingo occasionally.

Dave had an appointment with the local hospital diabetic clinic today and we met a really nice doctor who spoke enough anglais. They are very thorough here and he has to go back in a couple of weeks for a MOT! That will be a whole day in the clinic, so I will just have to walk around Narbonne and spend money!

Xavier, our local bobby, has just finished building our wall. He has made an excellent job and it defines the boundary of the property making it look more like a proper plot of land and not a concrete jungle.

Heard from daughter Tina this week, she is coming back from the job in the Caribbean and hopes to get work on a yacht. That girl will never settle down and I cant say I blame her.

Off to the market tomorrow to buy more plants, nothing scheduled much for this week but watch this space for the growing grapes.