LONG TIME NO POST

Sorry avid readers, but for once I have not been well. It started off about 2 months ago with Sciatica which got progressively worse and worse, so I went to the doc, which I NEVER do unless I cannot heal myself, and he sent me for x-rays which showed up major pinched nerves and discs and probably arthiritis. So now I have to go and see a physio. The doc had given me chortisone (sorry if I spell it wrong) for a week and it seems to be working. But then I had a Mammogram which as you girls will know as a boob test. Wow is it different over here in France and so much more efficient. First of all they take about 4 pictures on each side and then you have to have a test similar to when you are having a baby with bloody cold stuff and a MAN looking at a screen at your very small boob. It was really the most awful experience as when I was lying there I obviously thought the worse. Well they dont do that in the UK. Anyway the boss radiologist who spoke no English at all said c'est bon Madame, and that was that. I got slightly pissed that night because all I could think about on the examination table was " there goes my holiday to Kenya" !!!! Isnt it amazing what goes through your mind when you actually think you are about to die.

So we have now watched the England/Germany game with the family and had "a few" and I actually feel a lot better. Tomorrow I will make an appointment with the masseur and after that another choir practice.

We have the watering system on now and it is extremely hot. Around 35 - 40 daily with a little thunder ce soir but no rain.

Our African choral experience was, I think, a great success there are no photos at the moment but as soon as I get some you will see them too. I am now counting the days to my holiday. It will be a very exciting experience for me as I love travel but have never done Africa and back on my own before.

I am going to try and add a photo here of one of our trees which I think is fab and I hope you avid readers like it too but if not C'EST LA VIE

SUNRISE IN JUNE

This was the view from the terrace the other morning and I just thought it was worth sharing with everybody. The weather is much better now although we still have a strong wind blowing.

We have the first dress rehearsal of Zimbe today so I will post again after the concert. C'est la vie

MAY ROSE COLLECTION

This little collection of my early Spring roses is a bit of an experiment with Windows Movie Maker. I am practising for the Safari films I hope to make so please excuse the silly "credits" page, it is just a bit of fun!

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