2007-12-25 Christmas Day 2007

Christmas Day 2007.....

we are lucky to have ivy, sloe and spindle nearby, so i could easily make my own Christmas wreath.

2007-12-17 Putting up the Xmas lights

Dave got some "HELP" putting up the lights !!!
and this is later.......for Cailho this is extremely extravagant lighting !!!

2007-12-15 Snow in Cailho

It snowed the day we had lunch with Pierre and Amelle


So we drove back down the mountain over untouched snow!

it was absolutely stunning, still snowing and deadly silent......spooky!

Dave ventured out later to take this after it had stopped snowing

2007-12-12 Frederic Almuth & English Beer Barrel

Frederic and Almuth collect Beer Barrels

When we were in UK for my 50th birthday, we we told by Dave's brother that Butcombe are now selling their beer in 5 litre barrels , these are the size F & A collect and have NEVER had an English one in their 204 barrel collection . so we drank and signed one (which is the done thing) at my party, and brought a full one home on the plane !! So now they have 2 types of Butcombe beer in the collection, the bitter (as pictured) and the Gold which we drank later this day with Roger and Cheryl.

2007-12-12 My Lemon tree !

Frederic and Almuth bought me a lemon tree for my birthday.

it already has one lemon, as indicated!

i hope i can keep it alive!!

2007-11-07 Planting Trees

We went to the market at St Jean du Gard with Pierre and Armelle.............and bought several trees for the garden.
this is an abutus (strawberry tree)


these two in the foreground are Reine Claude (greengages)


abutus and gardener!


Genadine (pomegranette) which has caused a bit of interest here, as it will be the only one (if it survives)

and OK so its not a tree, but an Agarve, which should stand the drought with no problems.

2007-11-03 Repairing the Wall

A small section (3mtrs) of dry stone retaining wall had fallen down, maybe 20 years ago.......the Cailho task force were called in to do the repair.

at one time there were 10 people either building or sorting stones

even les enfants were enrolled !!


this is about a fortnight later, when the 5 main builders returned to finish the wall.

here is the wall finished, and it only cost 2 lunches !!!!

AND A LOT OF HARD WORK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BRAVO!

2007-10-31 Courges !

We grew Courges
but unfortunatly we had to pick them before they were any size at all, as they were planted under the fallen wall....see next pictures...........the coin in the photo is a 5 cent piece.

2007-10-19 Snakes alive !!!!

This is a BABY Montpellier snake.




It is about 60cm long and was basking in the road outside our house.


We are hoping (NOT) to see Mummy and Daddy.........they get to 2m !!!!

2007-10-16 Mushrooming with Malc & Ginette.

Malc & his bride to be......Ginette.

The best cepe we have ever found to date.......


And it weighs....over a 1/4 kg !!!




Now how do i cook it ?????

2007-10-07 In the burnt area we saw ......horses

After the fire


Dave walked up to the ridge
and was surprised to find 3 horses up there!

2007 -09-30 Bringing home the wood, and Sunrise from Cailho

Dave on the tractor
its a Massey Fergerson 825 1963-65 and the driver is just a bit older !!!
Sunrise at Cailho.........mist in the valley, Olargues will see this day about 10.00am

2007-09-22 Ths months wldlfe

Wildlife Sept/Oct


A hawkmoth caterpillar.....but which one?A hornet sized hoverfly, they keep buzzing into the house.
a purple edged large beetle, perhaps this is what the grubs in the compost heap turn into?
St. Michael or parasol mushroom......probably our favorite so far !!

2007-09-21 Garden Progress

Now the autumn clear up.

Dave clearng the back wall
cutting down one of the cherry trees. this one had a lot of damage and was a bitter tasting fruit.
Squeaky lending a helpful meeeow from the bird table!
Squeaky and Dave planting the Viburnum,
meanwhile i was sorting through the compost heap, separating the compost from the very large grubs......i expect they are big beetle grubs, but they process the compost at such a terriffic rate, they are worth keeping !!

2007-09-17 Vultures !!

WE couldn't believe our eyes !!5 large Black Vultures circling over Cailho,

was it the locals, or the smell of burning pig from the previous weeks fire???

this is the photo which was the decider on the species, up until this we were thinking we had seen Golden Eagles...........

i hope one day they will pass through again, there is a colony living in the Gorge de Tarn which might be where they were from.

2007-09-16 Our first Vendange !!

We were privileged to be able to help out at a friend's Vendange.

The very first (but hopefully not the last time)

This variety is the Mourvedre



Still a few to cut!


Dave steals Jane's bucket..................only kidding!!