French Diary

2012-01-30 Birds on the feeder

2012-01-30T19:31:00.000+01:00

We invested in a cheap sunflower dispenser…….it seems to be very popular !

Blue tit

Nuthatch

Great tit

again

nuthatch again

and possibly a Marsh tit (or Willow tit)

2012-01-28 The lake above us..

2012-01-28T19:16:00.000+01:00

We have never seen the lake as low as this at this time of year…..we hope it is because they have been working on the dam, and not just lack of rain……..

for those who have swum and paddled here…..we hope it gets better !

Fire ! Fire ! Oh no its not Frederic this time !! ……….This time it was Karl !! coucou ma puce !

2012-01-23 A Mixture !….Lillians Birthday, A snake…….and a Balcony.

2012-01-23T18:47:00.000+01:00

Lilu’s Birthday 11 today ! ( Marie Odile is singing Happy Birthday )

Dont look at the next picture if you dont like SNAKES !!

This is a half meter long snake Dave found in our Grange (Barn) it is dead, although we were not quite sure at first (!) We think a cat or something had dragged it out from its hibernation, it is what is called a Couleuvre here, which is a grass snake.

Although I suspect this is not a grass snake, but a Montpellier snake, but Couleuvre seems to do for most non venomous snakes……….

Balcony at our studio.

At last we got around to tiling the balcony at the studio……for those who have seen the studio, you will appreciate the improvement.

2012-01-21 Sushi Sushi Sushi !!!

2012-01-21T18:41:00.000+01:00

As it is approaching the Chinese New Year……I thought we should have something very…… Japanese !! Having been introduced to vegetarian sushi by my son Tom, I was interested to try it myself.

I started with the dessert, and an experiment with sweets (bon bon’s) these TOTALLY not for Diabetics are almond paste, surrounded by ‘lace’ sweets which i washed the sugar from, and wrapped around the lump of almond paste, they stick well, the green bits are more lace sweets cut diagonally …and then bits of dry apricot to represent fish !! (it does get better……hopefully)

These are the proper ones stuffed with raw veg and some for the boys with smoked salmon….served with soy sauce and wasabi paste……..tres bon!!

Now for the guinea pigs………………

A Happy Eater ? Well Karl liked it !!

2012-01-13 Mr ED !

2012-01-13T18:05:00.000+01:00

Some people who live up in the forest have this horse, he seems to prefer our grass and on several occasions has broken loose and made his way down to the nice grass opposite us………we phone and say, he’s here again, later they arrive by quad, and the girl rides him back up the mountain….about 5km !

Here he is on zoom !

And sometimes he likes a little nap !

2012-01-01 New Years Day !

2012-01-01T17:03:00.000+01:00

New Years day, No snow, not too cold ……Blue tit feeding on new hanging bird feeder…

Some of the ‘wild’ flowers that i bought in a packet and sprinkled down the side of the road between Annick and us…….they seem to all be doing better during the winter, than they did during the summer, this is a small pot marigold.

2011-12-24 Xmas Bingo !

2011-12-24T16:59:00.000+01:00

Every year we go to play ‘lotto’ in the village hall on 24th…..we go with Frederic and Almuth…..we play with cards from the 50’s and the corn (used as counters) is probably older !!

We also have a meal together the same night, at ours as its en-route , this year we did roast beef, a change for a veggie, and a chance to practice the yorkshires from the Nigella Lawson book……..eat your heart out Delia !!

2011-12-18 School Christmas at St. Jean-de-Muzols

2011-12-18T16:58:00.000+01:00

My two beautiful grandchildren……..

Good job the men were there to build the scooter…..

How very elegant !

New bag, scarf and scooter.

A bit big for that now !

The children's school play this year was A CIRCUS ! they had all been having lessons since October, and the whole school was involved, so several hours of circus acts followed, several of which I do not have photos of………but here is a taster.

Getting her hair done !! (by Granny, who has never done girls hair before!!)

One of the Clowns !

some of the equipment that the children used…….

These children are using Diablo's and they were very good !!

This one was the balancing, guess who’s good at that ??

Here he is again, in the chorus at the end…..

Later at the bingo, with Nuttella on crepes uuuuuummmmmmmmmmm

Nearly time for bed….

After we got home to Cailho, and before another round of lotto/bingo on the 24th, I did a full roast beef dinner, not bad on the Yorkshire pud’s hey ? Respond and i’ll tell you the secret !!!!

Our lotto/bingo, note the use of ancient bingo cards and maize as markers (which was probably used during the war, oh no i mentioned the war !!!)

Thanks Tom & Karine for our Christmas present, the birds are equally as pleased, they have been forming a queue, like at Heathrow airport !!!

Blue tits, Great tits and we think Marsh tits so far……

First flower of 2012………..in memory of Arthur ………….RIP 2/1/2012 .

2011-12-12 Wild Things !

2011-12-12T22:22:00.000+01:00

Shame this does not capture the really intense colours of this double rainbow (Arch en Ciel)

Spindle trees (we have them EVERYWHERE)

In the mornings this is the scene from the terrace……..later as the clouds rise, they disappear (usually !!)

It’s like someone has poured dry ice down the valley…..cue for a song ?

2011-12-02 A Day out in Beziers

2011-12-02T22:07:00.000+01:00

The day before my birthday Dave and decided to go to Beziers to see the Christmas Market and the flower market, and have lunch in the new Polygone centre…………….we don’t know what has happened to the Christmas Market, it just wasn’t there, so we shopped for flowers and had a great time in the Polygone….here I am on my wheels !!

There is a glass partition behind me, and they tell me its very strong ! The Christmas decorations were fantastic, including this very large tree.

This is usually a water feature, now its an ice feature…..yes that is a C&A sign on the next floor !!

2011-12-01 New Bread Maker #3

2011-12-01T15:49:00.000+01:00

We have had a bread maker for 8 years and after we moved to France 6 years ago it has been in use 3-4 times every week…..it was getting difficult to remove the bread from the pan as it was scratched a lot. Also we had heard that the new generation of bread makers allow for such things as altering humidity !!!

So we searched for a bread maker and decided on the morphy richards daily……we wanted one which was good for making dough (for pizza) as well. The first one I ordered from Amazon .fr it was dispatched from WALES and after a few days I began to look at the track your parcel….thingy. after 2 weeks I rang and asked and was told it had come to France but had been returned as ‘undeliverable’….maybe the label got washed off in the rain !

Undeterred I searched for one originating in France so as it didn’t have to cross the ‘Dover-Calais Triangle’ I found one which was refurbished but like new, so I bought it and a few days later it arrived…….all was good it was very simple to use and did make dough as well…….only thing was I forgot to check to PAN size……it was a titchy 0.4kg compared to our old 0.75kg so unless we wanted to bake EVERY day then we had to sell it….fortunately a friend of a friend wanted one just like that……..here is the loaf, good, but smaller than our butter dish!

2011-12-01 Mushrooms, December. ID’s required !

2011-12-01T14:48:00.000+01:00

Some of these we could ID others only vaguely……needless to say NONE of these were eaten !!!

We think these are Monks Hoods ?

We are 99% sure this is a Wood Blewit, but having read that some people can be allergic to them, we gave them a miss too !!

The Fly Agaric or Tu Mouche as it is called here.

And this is a Cep but as for which sort ?……..it stained a very dark blue when cut and the tubes were yellow before turning blue when cut, the underside of the tubes were a deep brick colour…..there are too many toxic ones that also look like this for us to be sure, but would love to know for future reference……..if anyone out there is willing to eat this one please let me know for next year !!

2011-11-15 Pot Stand !

2011-11-15T15:39:00.000+01:00

After searching all brocantes in the area for something ‘substantial ‘ to put all my pots on by the fire, including my beautiful new tagine from Annick, Dave decided to make one !……….

Second hand iron one 200€ ….New wooden one 12€ no contest really,

and it looks so nice…….go on ask what its made of, or have a guess !

Ps The “hanging trays of Cailho”….are for drying all the mushrooms…….converted from the tomato drying trays of summer !

2011-11-12 Revamping the Bathroom sink

2011-11-12T14:41:00.000+01:00

We had always wanted more storage in the bathroom, and a cupboard under the sink was the best solution, so we bought a complete unit, and Dave did his back in lifting it out of the car, so several weeks later he has installed it and an over sink, mirrored bathroom cabinet, which is twice the depth you can see , as it goes into the space under the stairs . I have just finished the tiling…….please note the IKEA light we are using over the sink, and remember its name (box is on the sink) when you are in bathroom !

2011-11-11 Mikes visit to Cailho.

2011-11-11T17:57:00.000+01:00

We put Mike to work as soon as he landed…..buying a new TV, as we have been ‘out of the loop’ for so long we enlisted an expert.

It was good to watch, and also note the time !(that was PM!)

Yes the wii works…..all is OK then ! and here is Dave do you like his wee mee!!

there were several games that followed, including slashing up the melons……its a man thing ! (note the time) Yawn

next day down by the river

A wee mike ! A wee Dave too !

Dave and Karl, trying to sort out the water pipe !!!!

Mike was further downstream, and they were all trying to push the pipe upstream……..:O) ( I have the video too !!)

Mike and Karl on the new terrace…..mikes boots were soaking by this time.

then we went mushrooming in the woods……no luck

2011-11-09 After the 4 weeks rain…MUSHROOMS !!

2011-11-09T17:30:00.000+01:00

The Parasol , or St Michael, big and tasty……….

All 39 Parasols, ready for drying
This is a ‘drumstick’ a parasol which has not opened yet….usually a lot smaller than this monster.

Parasols, two small field mushrooms, and ink caps (white as the rain had washed their spots off !)

The following are just fungi pictures for looking at only……

Parasol quiche yummy yummy !

And here are the intrepid mushroom hunters….in the RAIN !!

2011-11-05 Dave revamps the bathroom and stairs…..

2011-11-07T18:54:00.001+01:00

We decided to have a cupboard under the bathroom sink…..this involved buying a new unit (which is the piece of kit Dave was putting in the cave 3 weeks ago when he hurt his back). So when he was better, he started to fit the new sink and cupboard, and soon realised that he had to work on the stairs above first , before he could finish the sink…….so as well as intermittent water supply, we have not had a functioning bathroom either, he has now finished sanding and revamping the stairs so we look forward to having a new functioning sink soon….here are the pic’s of the stairs getting their makeover !

2011-11-02 Mairie to the rescue?

2011-11-07T18:03:00.001+01:00

We have had a problem with our water supply, all this rain from the sky and intermittently none in the taps……on Wednesday 2nd November we were all issued with 1 litre of water……..was this for drinking and washing ? it was another 2 days before the situation was resolved, but no more water was supplied……..lets hope we never have a REAL drought !

As Dave and I are known now as the local shop…We (of course) had several litres already stored in the cave, 25 litres to be exact…we used at least 15 of those, so how do the French manage on 1 litre for 2 days ????

2011-10-21 Old Tractor

2011-11-07T17:56:00.001+01:00

Spotted this in Beziers, though you might like this one Dad ??

2011-10-18 Chinese Hornet

2011-11-07T17:46:00.001+01:00

Not something we ever wanted to see, allegedly a bee killing hornet, if you Google it, the statistics are amazing……we had seen this one, or maybe more (!) flying around and managed to capture it for ID purpose…….. we then disposed of it in a bucket of water…….

How we understand it, is that ordinary hornets reduce in number, to usually only the queen, during the winter……with these, the whole colony can survive.

2011-10-12 Kiwi, need I say more ?

2011-11-07T17:36:00.001+01:00

Two favourite sleeping positions of Kiwi…….one day I will catch the moment she falls off the sofa !

Ahhhhhhhh

2011-10-11 Views from Cailho

2011-11-07T17:29:00.001+01:00

These pictures range from 11th October to 5thNovember…….

These few are especially for Sam to show her how it does look without the rain!

From half way to Dausse

Same place

And now an attempt to show you how much rain we have had here, this was November the 5th…..good job we don’t have fireworks night here on this day!

I hope this works !

2011-10-22 Sam’s visit & Fete de Chataigne at St Pons

2011-10-22T17:14:00.000+02:00

Sam came to visit, just as the weather changed :O( This was taken on her first day, we had just been to the beach, and this was taken in the Valley de l’orb on the way home to Cailho.

Next day was the Chestnut fete at St Pons………a little colder, and by the end of the day RAIN !

This certainly beats my small chestnut pan !

I am laughing, because I leaned on the rail behind us, and it started to tip over !!

People towers apparently a catalan tradition…..

There were some very young children at the top !!

And some very BIG people in the crowd !

2011-10-11 Garden in October

2011-10-11T16:44:00.000+02:00

After 3 years we have our first crop of olives…..

Strawberry tree

last of the butterflies……

A fire salamander

Nearly all our courges….

First harvest !

Our Grenade/pomegranate tree….no fruit yet, but lovely flowers..

At last a few mushrooms from the field behind us.

These are Fairy Ring Champignon, delicious !!

and finally the olives, not a huge crop, but its a start !

uuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmm !!

2011-10-08 Fire at Night !

2011-10-09T19:09:00.000+02:00

We had been out for a meal and got back about 10.30pm, we looked at the stars for a few minutes, and then went inside. Because there was supposed to be a good meteor storm we went out again at midnight and this is what we saw…….

We phoned 18 the fire brigade here, but they were already on it…….the fire was out by this morning !

2011-09-08 New Skylight

2011-09-09T18:46:00.000+02:00

The old window in our bedroom, was very small, so we replaced it with something a bit BIGGER !

Half the workforce, taking a phone call on the roof.

Making the hole BIGGER !

the new window on the roof

A picture I promised to never to put on the blog…………….oooooops !!

The (almost) finished window….

2011-09-04 Lightning !

2011-09-09T18:29:00.000+02:00

I wish I could convey the spectacle of this storm in pictures…….but believe me it was fantastic !

2011-09-03 September Garden

2011-09-03T18:11:00.000+02:00

A few wildlife piccys first……..

Mr Toad (of course) who lives on our doorstep, under the outside light which drops him the odd moth or two at night.

He thinks we cant see him :O)

Here is one of his friends we think (different nose!) making itself comfortable in one of my strawberry runner pots….we it was nice and damp on a hot day…

Spotted this prize strutter going up to Le Sahuc one day, we don’t see a lot of these…….pheasants around here.

This wasp type insect was drinking the water from our leaking water tank, never seen one like this before….or since. look at that waist girls ! Anyone know what I can name this one?

Les Tomates ………….These are the Coeur de bœuf , (the really fat ones) from Rogers plants (thanks Roger!) also there are some ‘Cornue des Andes’ (long ones) supplied by Rogers neighbour….. I did grown the St Pierre's myself and bought a few extra Coeur de boeuf ……..the yellow ones were also from Roger. The peppers/ chillies I grew, and the one courgette was all my own growing, you may need a magnifying glass for that !

Feast your eyes…………

That’s 700g or 1.08 pounds (whatever that is!)

The beautiful hibiscus which was given to me is in flower again, and as I am writing this on 9th OCTOBER it is coming into flower for a third time….

Very few mushrooms this year AS YET……these 3 ceps and a handful of St Michaels……I dried these, and we had the others in a mixed omelette.

lovely blue colour when you first cut them, fades as they dry.

This was a surprise, I first thought that a snail had crawled inside the cob of the sweetcorn…….but this is actually A corn (normal one beside it for size comparison) its a fungus which distorts the growth, you will see in the next two pictures it was filled with black powder like spores……no I didn’t breathe whilst taking these photos…..

2011-08-16 Tom, Karine & les Lutins.

2011-08-16T14:33:00.000+02:00

We met Tom & Family at Valras Plage, they had left home at 4.30am and were on the beach by 8.00am….we got there ….later !

Relaxing around the house

Going to pick blackberries…….or catch butterflies ?

The first picture may explain why I didn’t get too many blackberries in my basket !!

On their last day, Dave and I took the children to the river, whilst Tom & Karine got some sleep before the drive home at 10.00pm.

We didn’t want to disturb T&K so we fitted the children with our caps…..

My favourite picture!

2011-08-13 Vide Grenier St Chinian

2011-08-13T14:02:00.000+02:00

We got together with Cheryl & Roger and did a vide grenier (empty attic or as we would know it car boot!)

We left at 5.30am and got to St Chinian for 6.10……and we were not the first, or the last, but we did want a space where we could have access to our cars, and we got it, as did all those who turned up later on……….sorry guys!

Us before we sold anything….and we did clear quite a bit !

A fun day, we all went home early and had a good sleep !!

2011-08-10 The Garden in August

2011-08-10T16:12:00.000+02:00

Onion, red and yellow plus some shallots…….

Dave making the raspberry supports, note the purple sprouting broccoli plants in the foreground :O)

Tomatoes, coeur de boeuf (heart of beef) big solid, hardly any pips, and a new one for us andine cornue long pepper shaped, which has been voted the best by all who have tasted it !!

Our first successful sweet corn crop..

Le Andine Cornue……

Florence Fennel

An un-named courge……..probably a pumpkin

Butternut squashes

Beef/Andine/cherry toms

and again !

sun drying has been a bit patchy this year……but these dried in 2 days.

these in 1 day !

Are you drooling yet?

uuummmmmmmmmmmm bet you are now !!

2011-08-05 Fete l’Ail Rose Lautrec (Pink Garlic festival at Lautrec)

2011-08-05T13:16:00.000+02:00

We went to this fete for the first time with our friends Cheryl and Roger, it is held on the first Friday of each August, and hoped to buy our ‘years’ supply of the pink garlic for which this town is famous.

Firstly some pictures of the town of Lautrec……….(as in the famous ‘two-loos Lautrec’) here there were four…….its a Dave joke !!!

Cheryl taking a picture of the same place, from which she has a picture at home.

Now for the Fete itself…….The Model making with garlic Competition .

Yes its all garlic bits and pieces !

WOW ! our favourite, and probably the winner, we didn’t find out…..

Then the Garlic tressing demo wagon.

It was quite hot….. !

This was the Longest Garlic Tress competition ….the record is over 22 metres….so he still a long way to go.

Us with our luxury picnic, my trusty chariot in the background!

A good time was had by all……..maybe a return visit next year, and yes we did buy our Pink Garlic !!

2011-07-25 July Wildlife in Cailho

2011-07-25T10:37:00.000+02:00

Unidentified Bee

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

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

Praying Mantis

A ‘no’ spot ladybird…..

Wasp spider

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

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

Preying Mantis no.2

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

Praying Mantis no.3 Bon Appitite !

A small toad

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

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

2011-07-13 The Lower Terrace.

2011-07-13T09:56:00.000+02:00

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 !

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 !!!

Yep looks level from here……..

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

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

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

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

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

Looking good !

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

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

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!!

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

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

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

All level for the next day !

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

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

2011-07-12 Onions and Shallots

2011-07-12T22:35:00.000+02:00

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.

Same , just taken from a different angle.

2011-07-10 Pearls a Singer!

2011-07-10T18:19:00.000+02:00

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.

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.

2011-07-06 Mike & Sarah’s visit

2011-07-06T18:13:00.000+02:00

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 !

A little relaxing

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

But, guess who got the sun bed ?

St Chinian market, and some colourful entertainment.

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

2011-07-04 Wasps nest in the lavender…….

2011-07-04T18:02:00.000+02:00

This is Dave, No its not fancy dress, he is preparing to do battle with the wasps nest we found in the lavender……its not a huge nest yet, about the size of a tennis ball…….the next picture shows him in action, yes it is dark, that’s when the wasps are sleepy……I stayed inside !!

2011-07-02 Fete de Mons de Trivalle

2011-07-02T17:42:00.000+02:00

Fete de Mons le Trivalle …..the entertainment during repas.

Is it a bird ? Is it a plane? NO its old dust sheets on a parasol !!! this is a sort of ‘mini theatre’ which was going to happen in three little tents like this, but the wind got the better of them and it was trashed !

How long since you saw someone playing with a Diablo ?

2011-06-28 Dave learns how to build a dry stone wall

2011-06-28T09:42:00.000+02:00

Dave went on a course to St Gervais to see if they built walls their dry stone walls any differently to here……..apart from a few small points, basically they didn’t……but he enjoyed the day, and they asked him to go back to help in the work group, who are busy restoring an old cemetery at the moment. The guy in the orange hat is the ‘expert’ !