Inspiring Week

Certainly have had an interesting week. Firstly a workshop organised by the National Women's Commission to encourage more women to take up public positions. Of the twelve participants six of us were from Suffolk West WI. Do check out the NWC website it is well worth looking at, there are further similar events planned in other parts of the country so perhaps there is a workshop planned near you. http://www.thewnc.org.uk/

The following day there was, by chance, a talk in Bury by Wendi Momen the UK secretary of UNIFEM on ending violence against women. She was a fine example of a women in public life and knew some of the women we had met the previous day - a small world. Wendi spoke about different types of violence, not only domestic violence but also the forced marriage of very young girls and how many are forced into sexual relations with not only a much older husband but often with his male relations and friends resulting in pregnancy and she spoke of the health effects this has on very young girls.

Interestingly three of us were already planning to visit a group of young parents in a nearby town, who had expressed interest in meeting older /mature women who could be a positive role model. So the next day off we went and met up with a small group of girls and one young father. The group are being encouraged to stay in education both during their pregnancies and after their babies are born. A couple of the girls were very young and had very immature bodies, which reminded us of the previous evenings talk by Wendi Momen. Although all of these events were arranged independently of one another it was surprising how they linked together. The question is where do we go from here?

Thinking ahead

As we approach the end of January, it is time to give thought to the garden. I have done a stock check of the seed packets and made a list of both flowers and vegetables I want to grow this year. I shall start planting seeds in the warmth very soon in the hope of getting a long growing season. I also intend to restrict the number of plants I get but with just a few extra for my gardening friends to have a few.

Our good friends in France like the idea of growing their own food but have never tried it so I hope I will be able to encourage them by giving them some of my small plants. Sometimes we just need a nudge. Hopefully Alex will give it another try this year, despite his battle with the slugs and the neighbourhood cats.

It was interesting to compare how France and Britain coped with the bad weather earlier this month. In England there were complaints that the schools were closed and public transport didn't run t schedule, but in France the buses were ordered off the roads, that is where they run anyway and the lorries were banned from many routes to avoid accidents. It seemed to me that both places had similar problems and dealt with it is similar ways except that in England it was Gordon Brown's fault that it snowed,its easy to blame the government for everything, even the weather.

Snow in France

The weather forecasters here have got it right this time. It snowed overnight, there was a layer of about 5cm when we got up this morning. The sky was thick with snow clouds and it has snowed again, covering some of the foot prints which had been made in the snow.

When we went out this morning there were animal tracks in the fresh snow, cat prints to and from the front door and around the courtyard. There were other tracks from a larger animal which we assume are from a fox or foxes. They run up the road and in and out of our garden to the patch under the trees where the birds are feeding on the fallen apples. The print also run into the fields. The apples are providing food for a large flock of birds, blackbirds and what I think are mistle thrushes. A flock of about 50 birds are busy eating their way through the apples. We have hung a egg tray under the standard rose, with sunflower seeds for the smaller birds which are in and around the yard, robins, chaffinches and sparrows etc.

Happy New Year

It's cold outside and now it is starting to snow. We are having a quiet day after bringing in the new year with  friends who live locally. A mixture of English, French and Dutch - a truly European New Year's Eve, which is becoming a tradition in these parts.  We had dinner together and actually missed the chimes of midnight as the smokers were outside having a cigarette break. Never mind we were back in the warm just a few moments after midnight toasting in 2010 with champagne.

Serving the salmon

Hard core smokers in the cold!

Almost Christmas

Just two more shopping days to Christmas. It is hard to believe we have a recession in the UK when you see the masses out in the town. I walked to Salisbury's to do the big shop as I predicted the car park would be full, and it was. The place was heaving with people, admittedly most were in a friendly and laid back mood, it was the only way to go. I think I have got enough food to last a snow in and if not too bad. The presents are wrapped and the cake is made and just needs to be iced - I will do that tomorrow, no nothing fancy just ready rolled white fondant icing and a nice ribbon, that will do me. The mince pies are in the freezer, well they were till I took some out this afternoon - you have to taste them don't you.

I thought we were in for a thaw yesterday but today has remained cold and this evening it is very cold again, a clear night and what appears to be cleared paths and road surfaces are indeed black ice.

Snow and cold weather is affecting us all across Europe, global warming was supposed to bring milder wetter winters or was that colder wetter summers, I think the experts change their minds according to the weather we are experiencing. Any way Rob read in today's Times that it is the wrong sort of snow which is causing the problems with the Eurostar , too dry and powdery, but few pages further on it is the wrong type of snow which is causing further problems too wet and too soft! Is there ever the right sort of snow.

The paint job

Before the paint job






After the paint job.

How the time flies, Rob painted two of the outside walls of the garage this last week, he started a second coat which can just be seen on the left hand side but has now run out of paint, but that means his painting arm has time to recover.

I have kept up with my walking - in to the village and back on Thursday to get a few things from the shops 5 miles (8.1km) there and back. And earlier in the week I set off up the road towards the village but kept on going and did the shortest circular walk 4.8 miles (7.8km) as the weather was so nice. I had left Rob painting the garage and wondering which hill I was walking up when I didn't return home! Still not up to participating in the moon walk next year luckily I didn't register for it.

Yesterday we had some very heavy rain with a few strong gusts of wind, it seems quieter today although still raining on and off.

Rob's main job for this visit was to install three velux style windows in the roof of the garage. There is a large space above the garage about 9 x 6 meters which Rob is intending to use as an artists studio. Saturday Rob and Richard work all day but installed the windows with relative ease. They bring in lots of light and also mean we can see out across the fields.

Richard and Rob satisfied with their hard days work!






View of garage windows from the garden - they look as though they have always been there.

The garden is looking good, there are still some vegetables to eat

and others which were ready to be harvested have been cleared such as butternut squash, marrows, courgettes, aubergines, peas and runner beans. The areas which are now free of plants and weeds have been covered with either black plastic or with the cardboard packaging from the new windows. Hopefully this will prevent the weeds from taking hold this winter.

The eating apples are beginning to fall - so I have been using these windfalls to make apple juice. Not sure what the variety they are but they make good eaters and good sharp yet sweet juice.

We had rain on our journey down here, and the ground is now damp. With the damp and the mild temperature we were hopeful that mushrooms might have started to poke their heads out of the ground, so we went out yesterday to our usual spot but we weren't very successful, we did find a few which we ate with our supper last night. We did find an interesting beast, just 5cm long which we have now identified as a fire salamander, however not before posting it on the Autumn Watch site for identification.

The fire salamander

The grapes have ripened well and they are good to eat if full of pips. After our last attempt at wine making we will just enjoy these grapes fresh and leave the wine making to the experts.

All around us pear picking is in full swing, these are the small round pears used to make poiré (perry) which is a speciality of the region. These pears have to be picked of the ground by hand while they are still fresh, unlike the apples for cider which can be gathered by machine and can already be beginning to rot for the cider. It is really hard work, and apparently they don't know yet how much they will get per kilo for the pears, but it has been a good year so there are plenty to gather.