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.

London, Honey fungus and friends

Six of us got together last week for lunch. What's so unusual about that one might think but ten years ago we met for the first time when we embarked on our degree course organised by the WI. That first semester seems a long way off now, in fact it is hard to believe we spent so much time on our course, but we all survived the course and we all became good friends too. It is always good to get together as we are all very opinionated but generally we all think along the same lines so we don't fall out or argue. As usual the conversation was dominated by WI issues, but with interludes of family weddings, house moving and new kitchens....

We went to London this week primarily to visit the private view of an exhibition put on by one of our friends, but used the opportunity to explore Bloomsbury. We followed a planned walk, which took us down streets we hadn't yet discovered. Lots of beautiful squares and gardens - people were out picnicking at lunchtime - it was a lovely day dry and sunny and pleasantly warm. Just a few streets away from the main thoroughfares it is amazingly peaceful and quiet, hard to imagine you are in central London.

The photo shows a charging point for an electric car - the only one we noticed but I am sure there must be more around.

It continues to be very dry which means there are very few mushrooms around, we did find some honey fungus last weekend which was growing abundantly on some trees in a local wood, but they don't need rain to grow. We are still eating the tomatoes which are ripening well on the window sill. We have stored the pears in the fridge to prevent them ripening too fast but we have had plenty despite pruning the pear tree very hard last winter.

Drought

Despite the horrific weather reports from the UK, the east of England has not had rain for about the last ten weeks. The ground is hard and the grass has resembles dry straw. The local paper reported that the local sugar campaign had been delayed because the farmers were finding it difficult to harvest the sugar beat. Our region of France has also suffered from the lack of rain since the beginning of August and it proved very difficult to lift the potatoes as the ground resembled concrete, the main crop of potatoes was very poor I think due to lack of water - I suppose i should have watered them. However it is not a matter of life or death unlike areas of East Africa who are suffering a severe drought after several years of failed rainy seasons. I don't think any of this is particularly due to global warming but it does bring home the fact that no matter where we live we all need rain even if we moan about a wet summer.

We spent last Saturday at Great Yarmouth, it was good to see the resort so busy, there were families on the beach and enjoying the fun of the pier. The beach cafés were also doing a brisk trade. We haven't spent much time in Great Yarmouth before and I had forgotten how wide and clean the beaches are. Lots of space for everyone. Just off shore are 32 wind turbines, currently one of the largest offshore wind farms. They are really impressive and there is information centre on the sea front explaining how they were built and how much energy they produce. Unfortunately when we first arrived they were still as there was no wind, not something you usually encounter on the British coast. Later on the wind picked up a little and they were soon turning into the wind. There is something special about sitting on the bench over looking the north sea whilst enjoying 'good old' fish and chips.