LES GIRLS AND EDDIE APRIL 2010

This was the video I was unable to download from youtube initially. Success at last if out of date order.

Garden Improvements

We have now had the chickens for a whole month and are collecting 4 eggs daily! We have to give most of them away because how many folk eat four eggs a day! Our dog Eddie took to them immediately which was a great surprise, I had imagined feathers flying but no, he just sniffed around them and showed more interest in investigating their coop. The only thing he objects to is if I pick one of the girls up, that he DOES NOT like. We give them a treat each day after they have had their run in the garden. They love my home made yoghurt, a cup of tea in the afternoon and virtually anything else we care to give them. I am having lots of trouble trying to upload a video on the blog at the moment, which is really strange because I have been able to do it easily in the past and I havent changed my camera settings at all. Our weather has been lovely for the last couple of weeks now and the tan is building up nicely so I should be quite brown by the time I go to Africa. My holiday arrangements took a bit of a battering when I discovered that my favorite safari Lodge, the Serena Samburu, had been ruined in the floods during March. I have decided therefore to re-locate to a lodge called Sweetwaters in the Laikipia district, which is near the Samburu reserve but is situated on a private conservancy called Ol Pejeta and is quite well known for its Chimpanzee sanctuary. I am really looking forward to the change although devastated about the loss of my special lodge in the Samburu.We have now had the chickens for a whole month and are collecting 4 eggs daily! We have to give most of them away because how many folk eat four eggs a day! Our dog Eddie took to them immediately which was a great surprise, I had imagined feathers flying but no, he just sniffed around them and showed more interest in investigating their coop. The only thing he objects to is if I pick one of the girls up, that he DOES NOT like. We give them a treat each day after they have had their run in the garden. They love my home made yoghurt, a cup of tea in the afternoon and virtually anything else we care to give them. I am having lots of trouble trying to upload a video on the blog at the moment, which is really strange because I have been able to do it easily in the past and I havent changed my camera settings at all. Our weather has been lovely for the last couple of weeks now and the tan is building up nicely so I should be quite brown by the time I go to Africa. My holiday arrangements took a bit of a battering when I discovered that my favorite safari Lodge, the Serena Samburu, had been ruined in the floods during March. I have decided therefore to re-locate to a lodge called Sweetwaters in the Laikipia district, which is near the Samburu reserve but is situated on a private conservancy called Ol Pejeta and is quite well known for its Chimpanzee sanctuary. I am really looking forward to the change although devasted about the loss of my special lodge in the Samburu. The garden is looking a real treat at the moment with lots of roses starting to bloom. Our Mimosa tree is growing like a mad thing and looked beautiful in the early Spring. The fig trees, or as I call them my breakfast trees, are full of baby figs, and the peach tree has lots of little peaches. The choir I joined is practising hard for our first concert which is next Saturday and then we have the big production of Zimbe an African extravaganza which should be an experience for all concerned both choir and audience. We are all wearing brightly coloured outfits made from genuine African cloth. A picture on the blog will follow before long. Well as they say in the Disney cartoon, "that's all folks" must get the washing in because it looks like rain - ah well C'est la vie.

OUR EASTER PRESENT !

Les girls arrived on the 1st April.  I have always wanted to keep chickens and we thought now would be a good time.  Our friends Owen and Christine have a huge plot and keep lots of chickens and geese so we gleaned good information from them and they helped us pick up the food and birds.  Owen told us that the birds were 20 weeks old and that they would not start to lay until they were 25 weeks old.  Bearing in mind this is supposed to be a shared hoby, good old muggins was up at 7am to open the door and let the girls out.  I thought I would look inside the coop just to see whether cleaning was a daily chore or not and there it was THE EGG.    So, not enough for a quiche yet but who knows what tomorrow will bring.!  Our Jack Russell, Eddie, took one look at the birds and decided they were boring, so I hope we wont have any trouble from him.

The weather is slowly warming up although we still have that annoyingly cold wind.  All the plants are beginning to shoot up and the only one I am concerned about is my lovely bougainvillea which looks as though it has suffered badly with our -7 degree frosts.  We will just have to wait and see.  We are looking forward to a good summer with lots of interesting plants and hundreds of boiled, scrambled, poached and fried eggs ----- C'est la vie

THE SOUTH OF FRANCE IN MARCH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These were taken between 7am and 9am this morning 8th March it is now 4.30pm and it is still snowing! All the plants are flattened, the palmy type of plant you can see in the darkest picture is now totally flat to the ground.  They tell us that this part of France has not seen snow like this for 10 years.  Our Sky box blew up when the power went off, and so now we have no television !  They say Merde in France, we say Shit in England.  The last picture is from our back terrace, overlooking the village

FREEZING FEBRUARY

You may wonder why the Blog has been so quiet of late.  Well the reason is the weather!  It has been so cold that D and I have been in bed until around 10.0am too scared to put our noses out !!  Even the locals are saying how cold it has been this winter.  My water buts are frozen solid, not that I want any water at the moment because when it is not snowing it is raining.  The wind blows of the Montagne Noir and necessitates the use of a wooly hat (not a pretty sight).  My lemon tree is braving the cold and still supplying lots of lovely lemons to go with the G & T's.

We recently visited a Truffle fair which was very interesting.,  Lots of food, wine and locals selling their truffles at crazy prices.  Needless to say I still have not sampled a truffle. The picture shows just one of the

Many stalls selling garlic, breads, meats etc.  It was a cold day, of course, so at the entrance to the fair was the most enormous cooking pot which was regularly filled with red wine and spices, the smell alone was

INTOXICATING

Last Saturday was the Mayors party for the "ancients" of the village, that is a nice name for us doddery old folk!   It was much the same as last year although some of us were of the impression that the wine was not as plentiful this year. Very enjoyable though and free!

The choir is working hard on the next challenge, an African piece called Zimbe which has words in Swahili and Zulu.  As you can imagine I am loving every minute of it.  We are going to wear authentic African clothes the material for which has been sent from South Africa.  The colours are wonderful. 

Some time ago I read two novels written by two sisters who had lived in Kenya. The books are well worth a read and very exciting the first is called Blood Sisters and the second A Durable Fire.  I was thrilled to discover that one of the sisters Barbara Keating had been a member of the choir and even more delighted when she turned up last week.  After a chat she said she would be back this week and so I took my books along and they are now signed!  The third in the trilogy is due out in late September but I dont think I will have it in time for my hols. Ah well c'est la vie.

INTO THE NEW YEAR 2010

Its been a while since I sat down to the Blog and I apologise to all those who are itching for more news (all two of you probably!).
You will be surprised to know that it has been very cold here but nothing of course compared to the UK.  After Christmas I did an unbelievable thing - I went with some friends to a game of Bingo!  It was quite a challenge because numbers in French are a little confusing to say the least, but the prizes were amazing - not that I won anything of course but my friend Debbie the Aussie won a freezer full of goodies.  The prizes were all meat and wine with boxes of oysters thrown in for good measure.  I never imagined anyone would get me to go to Bingo but I cant wait for the next one!

Driving is going well with no scrapes so far but I havent ventured into the main city of Narbonne yet as it has either been too cold or too wet and there is no fun wandering round the shops in that weather. 

My most exciting bit of news so far is that I have booked a safari for myself in September.  Unfortunately Dave just doesnt feel up to going with me so travelling alone to Africa is going to be a real adventure.  I am staying a night in London, just to guarantee that I dont miss the Kenya flight and then I go to Nairobi where I spend one day and night during which I will be going to the Karen Blixen Museum which is her old house where Out of Africa was filmed.  The next day I fly to the Samburu reserve for four nights and then on to the Mara where I may be lucky enough to see some of the Great Migration.  Samburu is my favorite place and I just have to go back there one more time, several times would be great but as we get older we have to consider returning to places may not be possible.  I will be staying 4 nights in the Mara in a newly built tented camp so that should be an experience.    If there is anybody out there who fancies joining me, just let me know!

It is the Mayors party next month so we are all hoping it will be as good as last year.  The village is quiet at the moment so roll on Spring when it livens up.  The garden is quiet at the moment too in fact it looks very dark and drab but then so do all gardens at this time of year.  I did notice this afternoon that the Mimosa is almost ready to flower so that will make a good photo for the next post. 

Well there is dusting to be done and a dinner to prepare - c'est la vie