Raspberries, Music and tired feet

Isn't that a beautiful flower, our Blue Danube potatoes are in flower now and look stunning.

June 21st, the longest day, is traditionally celebrated with a 'fete de musique' here in France. All musicians are able to perform in public, in cafes, restaurants or on the streets until midnight. We went to the nearby village of Ambrières les Vallées, where one of our young friends was performing with others from her music school. It was a very pleasant evening, good music, warm and light until 11 p.m.

Yesterday we harvested our first raspberries, I picked 270g of really ripe fruits and today another 220g. As raspberries are one of my favourite fruits I am really pleased to be here when they are ripe. In previous years we have missed them coming back to find them rotten or shrivelled on the canes. Hopefully we will be able to continue to harvest for some time to come.

Today we enjoyed a long walk. We started off from home and took a route through the countryside on the other side of the river and included a stretch along the river bank. It was probably the warmest year so far this year so we were exhausted when we arrived home 13km later. Luckily we were able to sit down and watch the football, why do the english team find it so difficult to score goals, it is always a nerve racking event, 90 minutes is too long sometimes.

Cows, Raspberries and 'Les Bleues'

We have just enjoyed a visit from friends from Holland. Although it was warm and sunny on Friday when they arrived and we could enjoy the pleasures of sitting outside in the yard, the weather turned very cold and windy and only now has the weather improved a bit. Never mind, we fitted in a visit to Bagnoles de l'Orne on Saturday, spent some time in the farmers market and then a short walk around the town, before heading back here for lunch. Despite the cold wind we did sit out in the afternoon, but had to keep wrapping up and then unwrapping as the clouds blew across the sun. Anyway they discovered the pleasures of living in the country, the peace and quiet and the farm animals which follow you as you walk by, the cows have so little to distract them that 'foreigners on the hoof' are worth checking out.

Anyway it is a bit warmer today and I have got the last of the plants in the garden, there really is no more room to fit anything else in.

The raspberries are beginning to ripen and we will have our first bowl either later today or tomorrow. The look luscious, deep red and plump!

As you may already know, the French are prone to striking but it would appear that the French Football team have gone too far. Last evening TV news broadcast of 20 mins was taken up with 18 mins about the French team being on strike and refusing to train for the manager. The minister for work gave her opinion about how bad it was for the working man, particularly the young who are finding it difficult to find work to see this display of unrest amongst 'les Bleues'. The Minister for sport is in South Africa and will stay until Tuesday to help sort out the problem, maybe she will take on the position of Manager/trainer - who knows. As Rob says this world cup is the tournament for the underdog, with all the so called 'top teams' failing to win their matches. We are not keen football fans but do try and keep up with big international tournaments, this one is certainly hotting up. As for

England well we will have to wait and see if they can figure out why they are in South Africa and why they receive such large salaries. Perhaps footballers should only get paid if they win matches not just for turning up.

Lots of peas and broad beans and my 'new asparagus bed' in the foreground (see left). The plants are I admit a bit small yet but as they were grown from seed only this spring I don't think they look too bad. Another few year and we can eat them assuming nothing happens to them in the mean time.

Weeds, Weeds and more Weeds.

Why do weeds grow faster than vegetables? If only we could eat all these weeds we would never go hungry.

Coming to the conclusion I am not good at growing carrots or parsnips. Only one parsnip so far - no really worth keeping. The carrots which have come through are looking healthy now at least 20 cm tall and will lots of foliage, but still lots of gaps along the rows.

Never mind, lets look at the positive, the potatoes are looking good. Broad beans look promising, both sowings are full of flowers and one lot have actually got some small beans developing. The peas are coming on, but considering how many seeds I have sown, there should be at least three times as many.

The sprouts, sprouting broccoli, red cauliflowers and red cabbage which were planted last month have grown and are looking very healthy. The raspberries are heavy with fruits, need a little more rain and some sun and then hopefully they will ripen, they are my favourite fruits.

The two blueberry bushes are laden with fruits just need to ripen - considering the price of blueberries in the shops these are well worth growing. The red current bush is also heavy with fruit and the rhubarb has grown from strength to strength since last month and there are lots of slim tender stems just waiting to be harvested - I will use them to make a dessert this weekend when we have house guests.

Been busy planting up the veggies plants I have raised in the greenhouse today. The asparagus look really promising in their new bed, just hope they settle and then we have to wait a few years before our first harvest - but it will be worth it.

Celery, more sprouts and sprouting broccoli, cucumbers, melons and squash and lots of climbing beans. I started planting out the tomatoes until I ran out of canes, must buy some more tomorrow. Will put some more in the open ground and will also plant some up in pots. We have plenty of tomatoes last year but would be pleased to have a glut so that I can use them in the chutney and to make soups and sauces.

Must buy compost tomorrow, so that I can plant up the window boxes and tubs, I have some home grown geraniums and lots of busy lizzies just waiting to brighten up the courtyard.

Let's hope the weather improves a little more sun and just a little warmer would be nice.

What is a 'Time Pole'?

A lines on a 'Time Pole' are similar to the rings which are seen when a tree is felled and a straight cut is made through the trunk. Those rings can be counted to calculate the age of the tree. The time pole is similar in that the lines marked on the pole indicate time, in this case they represent the age of the building from which the piece of timber was taken. It was part of the roof of the barn and was removed when the roof was repaired a couple of years ago.

Time Pole

Today we erected the 'time pole', a very old piece of wood which was removed from the barn when the roof was replaced. It has since been used as a support when cutting wood.

This is our first piece in our sculpture garden, see artist in residence adding the final touches.

What ever happened to spring, we have had really cold weather and in fact had a frost two nights ago, the french beans have been hit and the foliage on the potatoes has also been hit by the frost, just hope that is the last we will see before the summer. According to the weather girl the temperatures have been what we should expect in March and are unseasonably low for May.

Just one more day

Just one more day of campaigning to go. Each party leader is trying to out do the others by claiming they will be out and about trying to convince the undecided to vote for them. I can't help thinking that if people don't know who to vote for now, are they even likely to go out and vote on Thursday, isn't it more likely they will just stay at home. I don't think the opinion polls really take that into account.

With the reports on the news that there has been a significant increase in the numbers of people registering for postal votes - and each party accusing the others of electoral fraud, we may end up not looking any better than Afghanistan and will have to accept UN election observers in future to supervise our polling stations. It certainly will put a new stance on foreign policy - which our new government will have to deal with.

Election Fever

With just three days of campaigning left we have wall to wall election coverage on television. Just enjoyed a wonderful hour of Rory Bremner with his take on the election campaigns. Light relief on the other channel with the final of the snooker, such a contrast!

Quite a week ahead of us, will the Lib dems finally make an impact in Westminster? We've got our posters up, and 'I agree with Nick'.

Earlier this week attended our WI group meeting - Jeremy Spake from 'Airport' must say never watched the programme so didn't really know what to expect, but he was a great speaker, really knew how to work the audience and could speak and be heard without a microphone. Really had a good meeting well done Moreton Hall WI.