For the last couple of months we have been spotting a family of red-legged partridges waddling about around our hamlet. They are so funny to watch and we have been trying to capture them on camera for a long time. Finally today I noticed two of them through the office window as they explored Michel’s garden next door.
So I whipped out the video camera and managed to grab some photos and video of these cute little fellas.
We just hope that they stay well clear of our cats!
This weekend had been designated as a gardening weekend by Lisa, much to the children’s dismay. Luckily for them, Saturday turned out to be not only too wet, but also too busy. It was the open day at the Lycée Notre Dame in Fontenay, where Rosie may potentially be studying next year, which was a rather long and arduous couple of hours. The afternoon consisted of shopping for me, and cooking and baking for Lisa and the kids, then out to Lynn and Alan’s for supper. Much wine was drunk (too much, some might say…), and Lynn fed us wonderfully as usual. Another special night with great friends. The partying was too much for Molly and Joe, and they ended up going to sleep on the spare bed at Lynn’s, so we left them there for the night to have an unexpected sleepover.
Sunday morning was met with bleary eyes and sore heads, but the walk round to Lynn’s to fetch the kids and the car soon blew the cobwebs away. After a coffee , then home for lunch, we finally got round to the gardening. Today’s job: clearing the brambles from around the edge of our field.
The field, which is a 1000m sq plot at the end of our lane, is not something we use very much. Molly and Joe like to play football on there, and we pick the fruit from the trees each year. But apart from that, all we seem to do is maintain it; cutting the grass and keeping the edges clear of brambles. One day maybe we’ll realise our dream of having a lovely patio and summer house on this space, though, of course, we would need to look out for flying pigs…
The plan of attack for this afternoon was for Lisa to snip the bottom of the canes from one side, while I pulled them out from the other. It was tough going, but once we get started on a job like this, we don’t tend to stop until its done. So we snipped, tugged, pulled and cursed our way through what felt like several miles of long, thorny branches. Seriously, is there anything more annoying than being hooked up by great lengths of brambles? It seems the more you try to shake it off, the more it manages to cling to you. Very frustrating!
One particularly vicious branch came lashing out of the hedge like a bullwhip and caught me square in the face, slicing my nose with one of it’s deadly barbs. The air, already a subtle shade of blue, turned positively azure and I took a moment to stem the flow of blood. But, undeterred, we slogged on.
We finally reached a natural end-point and decided to call it a day. The second half would have to wait til next weekend, weather permitting. But we were very pleased with our work, and, even though the edges are never going to be perfectly neat and tidy, at least now there are nice, big gaps where previously there was a tangled mess of branches and thorns.
Of course, the next project is to start finding and removing all the thorns from our hands, arms, legs….and, well, everywhere else…
After a long evening last night with great friends and rather a large quantity of red wine, the morning was always destined to be quiet. We spent the morning having coffee (well, in my case tea, and keep it coming!) with the parents of Simeon, Joe’s friend. They are planning a trip to London and wanted some advice.
With the predicted rain never appearing, after lunch Molly, Joe and Richard went outside to play football. The weather got warmer and clearer with every passing minute. I finally took a photo of the daffodils which have been showing us a hint of spring for the last couple of weeks. Also the snowdrops are out, along with some lizards and the midges are dancing. A little reminder of warmer times to come.
Last weekend was a time of many discoveries.
Molly and Joe decided they would investigate the room at the back of the house that is currently just used to store our stock of Foussais apple juice. Having discussed it between themselves, they decided this would be their new den and set about clearing the room out.
Here’s where the discoveries began.
Firstly, we discovered that we actually have working electricity in the back room. Having poked my finger into the light fitting and felt the jolt of electricity zap up my arm, I figured that it was actually live and proved it beyond doubt by adding a bulb. There was great rejoicing from Molly and Joe as their den now had light!
Next came some interesting objects. Tucked in the corner of the room were two blocks, each carved with a picture of an eagle and the word “EAGLE” carved across the top.
These were both about the size and weight of a small breeze-block, but we have really no idea what they are for. At first they appeared to be a mould, but surely the writing would need to be in reverse if this were true. And why two the same? If you have any suggestions as to what these might be, do let me know!
Next came a rather chilling discovery – “We’ve found a skeleton!” yelled Joe. “U-oh” thought I, this could be trouble. Abandoning my spade in the front border, I ran round to the back room, already anticipating the police sealing off our house for forensic investigations.
“We think it’s a sea-horse” said Joe. All concerns about being surrounded by gendarmes for the next week melted away as I investigated the “sea-horse” skeleton. It turned out to be a poor unfortunate ex-mouse…
After Lisa mentioned to the kids that there wasanother room inside that needed clearing out, all thoughts of this ourside den were abandoned and this new potential space became a possible play-room.
Up they went to investigate the room, empty save for a tonne of muck and dust, at the top of our back stairs. After several hours of sweeping and clearing, the room actually started to reveal itself as a really good space.
And once we attacked the floorboards with a mop, we very very pleasantly surprised – this room has probably the best floor of the entire house!
The floorboards cleaned up really well and we decided that, with some work on the ceiling and a new velux window, this would be a perfect playroom, home for all the Playmobil currently strewn all over my study downstairs.
Another project for the list!
A friend of our spotted this little fellow growing in the neighbour’s flowerbed this morning. I think someone need to mention to Mother nature that it is still only December!
