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Monday, July 25, 2011

2011-07-25 July Wildlife in Cailho

Unidentified Bee

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Very large Capricorn beetle (they eat the oak beams!!)

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    Kiwi asleep with her favourite person in the whole world……

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Praying Mantis

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A ‘no’ spot ladybird…..

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Wasp spiderP1010681

 

DragonflyP1010716  Caterpillar of the swallowtail butterfly……..the ‘real’ one!

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Swallowtail, but the scarce one (which are common here) not the one from the caterpillar above. 

P1010711Preying Mantis no.2 

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These are bee eaters…….but they are very difficult to photograph !

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Praying Mantis no.3         Bon Appitite !P1010958

A small toad

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Dave left me planting holes for a few herbs….so I planted CAT mint !!!!

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One of ‘CAT mint’s’ presents…….an eyed lizard, the gloves are in case he bites, which they can do……this one was nice.

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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

2011-07-13 The Lower Terrace.

On an overcast and damp morning, Dave and Stephane started the lower terrace, this was the job that was abandoned 2 years ago, when we discovered we needed new beams !

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This is Dave doing a little dance…….maybe its because the Almond tree which I have been nurturing for years has just been proved to be a blackthorn, and he and Stephane have just hacked it down !!!

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Yep looks level from here……..

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Stones or Lauzes (pronounced Lozes) which are roofing stones are found again, after being buried for 2 years, Stephane makes a start.

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Hard at it, the sun comes out, but we still have Lunch indoors as its windy.

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I think this is the following day as it looks warmer, and they are much further on.

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but soon they need more Lauzes, so we nick some from Annick ! (she knows!!)

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two days and a lot of blood, sweat and tears later……..

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Looking good !

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Now its Dave on his own, and he decides that…………….

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to finish the terrace to the top of the steps, he should first make the top steps ‘more even’ than they were…..

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what you can’t see is that it was hot and the air was so heavy that Dave had to have a ‘french style’ 2 hour lunch break ON HIS OWN!!

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Here goes the one that has made it impossible to climb the steps on this side before

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View from the bottom looking up at the (non) steps

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the replacement stones are smaller and will give even steps up.

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All level for the next day !

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Dave hastily trying to finish the terrace 10/8/2011

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The ROYAL approval…..but only on a soft mat !

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

2011-07-12 Onions and Shallots

 

 

We are very pleased with our onion and shallot crop this year, we have 2 sorts of both, some tiny shallots and some in the foreground which are larger. Then we bought sets of both yellow and red onions.

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Same , just taken from a different angle.

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Sunday, July 10, 2011

2011-07-10 Pearls a Singer!

OK so corny I know, glad it wasn’t me that thought of it….but now it’s sort of stuck !

I have had a yearning to have a play at restoring an old treadle machine for use for a long time, after dropping Mike and Sarah at the airport, we had a look around a brocante,( junk shop )and there she was, all dusty and facing the wrong way, well it was love at first sight, and I convinced Dave that I would look after her, and that I realised a treadle is not just for Christmas………so here she is after we got her home, the next pictures are self explanatory, so work your way to the end where I will give you an update on her progress.

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Here she is all cleaned up, just a few things to find, a bobbin case, there was not one in the big bag of bits i was given with her. there is a bolt missing from the left side of the treadle, (Dave to the rescue on that one) and the one I cant believe I missed, the extension table, which doubles as a cover when you want a table not a machine, was not there ! (DAVE !!)

I searched the internet for the bobbin case, and found a very nice lady who lives in Norfolk (my old stomping ground) she has confirmed which machine I have ( A Singer 15) she can also supply all the bits I need, plus a manual in English, and a new belt….she has some great web sites which are:-

http://www.helenhowes-sewingmachines.co.uk/ 

http://www.raindropkites.co.uk/

http://www.helenhowestextiles.co.uk/

http://www.helenhowestextiles.co.uk/class/index.html

She is a great lady, and very. very helpful, thank you Helen.

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

2011-07-06 Mike & Sarah’s visit

 

 

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Got Mike working on the first day of his holidays, what rotten friends we are, good job he was there to help Dave move the 6 stere of wood that was delivered whilst we were at the airport, and then on the beach !

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A little relaxing

 

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Got Sarah working  too ……I'm sure she also did all the washing up, what a great visitor !!

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But, guess who got the sun bed ?

 

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St Chinian market, and some colourful entertainment.

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This is the ‘un-posed’ one outside a bar….there’s a surprise !  XXX :O)