2011-07-25 July Wildlife in Cailho

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.

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

 

 

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!

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

 

 

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)