Working hard

I know.  I am terrible at updating my blog.  It is just that life keeps getting in the way and so I have no time to sit at the computer.

A short time after my last post I received an urgent request from someone I know to take over from her at her job.  After a lot of discussion and deliberation, I have taken it on and am now even more busy than before.  But you can't really knock back paid work when on offer can you.

So I spend my weekday mornings working in garden, looking after the poultry and cats and doing all the usual household tasks.  Then the afternoons are spent teaching english at a local school and tutoring kidlets in english.  We have had a good giggle thinking about the fact that there is going to be a whole generation of French children who grow up speaking english with an Australian accent.....

As it is more academic than what I was doing before, I need to prepare lesson plans and do a lot more prep work.  A lot of fun though and the kidlets are mostly really good.  A few challenges, but nothing I can't handle.

Guy is not coping well with my working afternoons.  He is such a stress boy and spends all the time I am away from home ripping his fur out.  He looks very moth eaten and scruffy.  Have tried everything to calm him down, but he is so attached to me that he can't cope with me being gone for any amount of time.  At least when working in the garden he can see me, but when I drive off he falls apart.

Eric.  Well he is his usual self and really doesn't care much so long as food bowl is full and he has a warm spot to sleep.

Poor Sophie is getting very old and starting to show her age.  I have a feeling she will not last the winter.  It will be sad, but at least the last few years of her life have been very comfortable and she has had a good quality of life with us. 

McKinnell is growing up and turning into a very handsome young cat.  He is starting to fill out and keep some weight on now, which is a good thing.  Still an absolute sook and cries for cuddles and attention, but with a lovely nature and personality.  A real talker too.  He loves to follow me around "helping" outside and meowling the whole time.

The hens are doing really well and all my chicks from this year are at the layer stage, so we have plenty of eggs.  Nougat still hates Garlic, some things never change.  Garlic is still my sooky boy and loves his cuddles, but is getting way too big to pick up for very long.  He is magnificent and much bigger than Nougat.  I keep telling Nougat to stop picking on Garlic.  Someday soon Garlic is going to realise he is the bigger rooster and put Nougat in his place.

My duckling is growing well.  Not big enough for Christmas dinner, so it will live a while longer.  It is best friends with the dwarf/legbar hen and they spend all their time together.  Really cute to watch them.

In september I visited a Chateau that is famous for its gardens with the garden club.  The Chateau de la Bourdaisière.  Absolutely fabulous!  Incredible gardens with all sorts of flowers, but specialising in tomatoes and dahlias.  We had the special lunch menu where everything was tomato based which was really good and very interesting.  You normally don't think of tomatoes as a dessert fruit, but the tomato sorbet we had was lovely.

I am loving the glossy black tomatoes, and am going to try and grow them next year.  Will also be trialling a new way of staking the plants.  They had them attached to tripods, which were much more sturdy than the single stake that most people use.  Shall see what happens next year.

The school I am working at is only 15minutes away, but most of the kids did not know me beforehand.  Now I am known by all of them, to the point of not being able to go anywhere without one of them coming up to me and trying to talk in english.  Cute, but some days you really want to remain anonymous...lol  The stories I could tell after such a short time.... there are NO secrets when children are involved.  I should be writing them down so I can write a book afterwards.  The secret life of French families, or somesuch title.

All the staff are really nice and have been very welcoming and helpful.  I think I am very lucky to have such a lovely group of people to work with.  It really does make a huge difference.  We always have a nice chat and quite often a good laugh over something.  Helping my french enormously as well.

We are spending Christmas here this year.  Our roof is being replaced and work is due to start at any time after 25th december, so we need to be onsite ready.  It will be good to not have to worry when we get storms.  Normally we are frozen in place each time the wind gusts, waiting to hear the insidious drip drip of leaks, or the crack and clatter of another tile breaking/turning to dust - or mud during heavy rain.

Personally, I am fine with staying home and curling up in front of the fire with the cats and a good book.  I also have 2 really nice teas to enjoy, so I am quite content.

Speaking of books, my kindle has died.  I was devastated!  Mind you, as Wayne said, it has seen A LOT of use over the years that I have owned it.  It has also travelled all over and is probably more well travelled than most people.  Luckily all my books are archived so I can access them still on my new kindle.  After a month, I received a new one for my birthday which was wonderful.  It is already bulging with titles and getting a good workout.  Still trying to get used to the new way of using it though.  No buttons like the old one, just touch screen controls.  Sometimes I am wondering why it won't go to next page, only to realise that no matter how many times I press the side it won't work... you need to touch the screen. Sigh.

Busy time of year.....

Wow!  It just seems like yesterday that I made my last post, and here it is two months later.

I had heaps of catching up to do after my recuperation, and have been so busy that time has just flown by.  In fact there are still things that I am behind on.

October saw the death of one of my chicks.  I had purchased two dwarf chickens (not bantams) as my "mother hens" for next year.  The sweetest of the two was still a bit too young to cope with being outside in the cold and unfortunately she died.  I was a bit sad as she was the one that liked to cuddle.  A lovely little personality and quite tame as well.

Two weeks later my rooster took ill.  He was quite often a bit "off colour" as he ate anything that he could fit in his beak.  Bees, rubbish, you name it.  If it could be swallowed - it was swallowed.  He developed sour crop and could not be saved.  Unfortunately he was very much a "don't touch me" kind of rooster, so by the time I could touch him, he was too weak and sick to survive.  A real shame as he was a superbe rooster and absolutely enormous.  I have a replacement, but he is just not quite as good as my original.  Nothing wrong with him, but the first one was a hard act to follow.

November saw heavy frosts starting to hit and everyone racing to get ready for winter.  The garden however was still in full flower, so I am still now - in december - doing my autumn pruning!  Another week should see it done for the year.

We spent a weekend weather proofing and insulating the hen house.  It really is a chicken palace now!  I use the deep litter method, so it is very cosy inside.  The mice think so too..... grrr.  They are so bold that they don't even move till you get right up to them.  Have been putting mint in the house which mice hate, but it only lasts a few days to a week and has to be redone.  I will get rid of them though!  If all else fails, I will lock Sophie in there overnight.....

The spare bedroom is now much better organised and more user friendly for my sewing projects.  Cannot wait to start making a few new outfits.  Same with the office.  I had a major sort out and reorganised a lot of things and now have a good work space for my craft projects as well as desk space for working.  Much nicer and easier to work there now.

Guy and Eric are loving our new heating.  The wood pellet fire is fabulous and they think it is just for them.  There is now a basket in front of it and they take turns curling up in it and basking in the warmth.  Think I might have to get a second basket so they can each have their own.  Sophie, meanwhile, has discovered the joys of a heated bed.  We have a heating pad in her bed in one of the outbuildings.  It is on a timer and turns on around 17h30 and off around 08h30.  Between those hours she is not to be found outside.  In fact, she demands dinner at 1700h and then goes to bed!  In the morning she stays in bed till it starts cooling off, and quite often is still in bed late in the morning.  Very funny when you go looking for her and call out for ages, only to go into the dependance and see a little furry head poking out of the cat bed all blinky and fuzzy eyed.

We planted a new apple tree this weekend, part of the plan of getting ready to replace a few fruit trees which are very old and not fruiting very well anymore.  It will bear fruit in about three years, so that will be just in time for the current old trees to be fading out.  Gradually over the next few years we will replace some of the older fruit trees and rejuvenate the orchard.  Will be nice to have eating apples as well as the current cooking and cider apples.

Our neighbour has been in hospital the past few weeks.  All ok now and he is back home, but his chickens have meantime moved out and decided they prefer to live chez nous.  I was feeding them whilst he was unwell, and combined with the fact that they have always wandered in when the gate is open and visited our terrain, they now think I am their owner.  They follow me around everywhere and if they hear my voice they come running (have you ever seen chickens run flat out?  Funniest thing you have ever seen!!!).  After the fruit tree planting saturday I was digging up the parsnips and the last of the carrots and beetroots with the assistance of his flock.  Really funny to have a flock of chickens poised attentively around you waiting for a juicy worm or bug to be unearthed.  Had to be careful not to tread on one of them if I stepped backwards!  Afterwards I was trying to put them back in their coop, but it was more like a Keystone Cops or Benny Hill episode than anything.  I am tempting them through the gate and closing it, to turn around and walk back to the house, only to find more chickens to herd towards the gate, shepherd through, close, turn, more chickens..... repeat repeat repeat.  The cheeky beggers were walking in the gate and along the fence a bit (till behind a tree and out of sight), then flying back over to my side again whilst I was busy getting their flock mates through the gate.  All in the freezing cold without my coat on.  I was not a happy bunny, but had to laugh as it was so ridiculas.

The photo above was taken by Wayne on his iphone.  Me wrangling the neighbours chickens with the assistance of Sophie.  She loves chickens, and always helps me feed, lock up etc every day.  Mind you, she is also quite fond of sampling any tidbits I throw out for them as well......

Anyway, Christmas is coming quickly and hopefully things will slow down a bit.  We are celebrating on Christmas Eve with our neighbours (French celebrate Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day) which will be lovely.  We are sharing the food preparation and it should be a great night.  The 25th we will be recovering quietly at home, and gathering strength for the Orphans Picnic on Boxing Day which we are hosting.  (Casual potluck for friends in our group who are not travelling to family for the fetes.)

Hope everyone has a lovely Christmas and look forward to having more time in the New Year to blog more frequently.  Best wishes!

Groseilles

 

Today in a thunderstorm that flooded our courtyard and had water rising into the house through the laundry pipes, I picked currants.

Well, what else can you do when catastrophe is looking you in the face? 

I was seriously worried that both our house, and the neighbours, would be flooded out.  The rain was so heavy and went on for about 3hours without cease.  Jean started bailing out their undercover area, and I started worrying. 

Luckily it eased off just at the door lintels and so we were saved from a flooded house.  The laundry and arriere cuisine were awash though, which will take a week or so to dry out properly.  The waterline was a centimetre from our doors, phew!

As always when stressed, worried or upset, I cook.  So when the rain eased off enough I went out in my cagoule and sabots (weather proof jacket and gardening shoes typical of this region) and checked the orchard and outbuildings.  Whilst there I noticed the currants were ripe, so back to the house for a deep bowl and return to the orchard for some berry picking.

Sophie declined to asist as it was simply too wet.

I picked about a kilo each of red and white currants, and there are many more kilos still to be gathered in the days and weeks to come. 

Whilst I am typing this the house smells of warm berries drying in the oven and the sun is shining through the windows.  A complete change from this morning!

 I love the look of white currants.  They are like little pearls.  Very pretty.  Am hoping that they dry well enough to keep for making fruit cakes later in the year.  It will be very satisfying if we get some grapes also off our small vines and I can dry them to use as well. 

Have been reminded that not enough photos of the house on the blog.  Sorry about that.  The main reason is that the work we have been doing has not made any cosmetic changes to the house - as of yet.  I could post photos of wiring and holes made in walls, but they just do not have the same appeal to me as a nice flower of fruit or view of the village.  So here are 2 photos to keep you going.  The above is taken from what will be the garden area looking across to the courtyard and house.  I say "will be the garden area" as it is not started yet.  At present it is a field of mud and weeds.  Due to missing the opportunity to sow lawn earlier this year, I now need to wait till september.  Not being able to do heavy work has also put a bit of a dampener on my garden plans and delayed everything a bit.  Oh well, when it does come together it will be worth it.

This photo is a view from near the orchard towards the rear of the garage and atelier, and the grenier.  The overgrown mess to the left is hiding the chicken coop, rabbit hutches and pigeon house.  I had made a huge amount of progress clearing it all out before I fell ill, and now after months of nothing it has regained its vigour (in fact I think it has profited from the cutting back!) and has grown back bigger and badder than before.  Sigh.

You can see my nearly finished clothesline though.  Black enamel posts and bright red line.  Super cute!

We have no cherries left on our tree thanks to the weather.  Our neighbours, however, have one tree which had a good crop (not fabulous, but enough to share).  So late this afternoon a group of us spent a pleasant half hour picking cherries and chatting.  It was a lovely way to pass the time and as always we had a lot of fun.  Jean likes to tease everyone, and it is a good laugh to try and outwit him or think up a good ripost in french to get him back.  Anita had her little dog, Violette with her.  She spent the time sitting on the grass watching the silly humans strain to reach the fruit, and eating the ones that fell to the ground.  I have never known a dog to love cherries like she does!