August is over and I can honestly say it came and went in a flash but we did manage a good crop of beans and I have 5 large bags of frozen ready for those long winter lunches. It is now September and all my crops are coming to an inevitable end. I have had a good blue berry and black berry crop but the sweet corn is a debateable success because the cobs are not ripe yet and if September does not turn a little Indian then the chickens will be feasting till November.
The most
amazing pumpkin bed is, mostly amazing, and I still wonder why the scientists
who put a man on the moon cannot make this fast growing plant nutritional and
the fruit interesting because all this growth is only for Halloween lanterns
and ONE pie as a frozen pile in stock would be a winter disaster. We are
planning to get together with those who grow and those who don’t, to compete in
the most British way and decide who has grown the biggest, most beautiful and who can make
the best lantern. I have suggested that we try a bake off to see who can make
pumpkin pie let alone who can make an edible one…I will keep you posted…
We have
three of these babies and everyday there are centimetres added to the girth and
although wonderful to watch, it is a little unnerving and it is no wonder that pumpkins are all part of Halloween spookiness…..
We finally
got up the courage to sort out the lilies in the pond and although Mike had
bought metal posts and fencing to corral the ailing duck damaged plants, it was
quite clear that dressed up like this on a very slippery pond bottom, Mike was
not going to find it easy to start hammering poles into the pond floor. We came
up with a brilliant idea and used an old gazibo we got from Sarah and plonked
it into the water and wrapped the fencing around it ….. simple … unfortunately the
dome to the gazebo came away in
transportation from the garden to the pond and the pond floor is not flat or
even close to flat.
We now have
a very wonky but beautifully shabby and chic architectural statement that says,
this is where the lilies can grow and not be devoured by the ducks. I for one
love it and this time next year it will look fantastic, like a pin cushion of lilies
floating in the centre of the Brevands gardens of bable, long may it stay
upright and in one place and not just rust into oblivion next winter…..
Here
we are again all sitting around a table having a laugh, and on this occasion
supporting Carol and Trevor all stalled up selling vintage clothing. We took up the offer of free afternoon tea
with a fabulous selection of cake served up on flowery crockery and proper cups
and saucers. The Ferme de Banoville had an open day and we joined in. We bumped
into the estate agent who showed us around our home here in Brevands and that
in itself was a lovely thing as Gill
introduced us to her husband as the lovely couple she sold a house to in
2007……where does the time go, I said, and really meant it
Here, Andy
and Sarah, like us, have taken responsibility for an ancient French farm
building and as they are far younger than us are developing an income to allow
them to stay. They are doing B&B and
offering cooking classes and handcrafted gifts. I felt a momentary flutter of
excitement that I should do this, but then sat back on my fat botty and thought…..
nah… leave it to the youngsters and enjoy the show.
And on the
subject of beautiful buildings we were out and about in the backend of Bayeux
buying a Bon Coin special and came across this farm entrance in Tour en Bessin.
Mike stopped so I could take a photo and I took a very furtive look beyond only
to see a Farm house with all the farm paraphernalia you would expect to see in
an old traditional farm but nothing else, no big chateaux and no gate house,
just a farm. If you don’t stop and look then it is gone and I am pleased that
Mike has a patient streak in him to allow me to stop and stare in wonder.
In the week
we had one of those impossibly wet days and both went into automatic mode, got
in the car, and let our mood dictate the direction and I am very pleased that
we ended up in Coutance at the depot vends. Shirley who visits often said she
had seen a bugle for not a lot of money, so mike, on auto pilot, made his way
to see what she had seen. Mike has never played a wind instruments but has
recently had an interest in learning, so ended up with not only the bugle but
this wonderful euphonium just screaming out for tender loving care. Mike has
spent hour’s googling, how to play a wind instrument and bought two mouth
pieces to practice on whilst looking for the real thing. He has the potential
of a good debouchage, good lips and face muscles and is actually getting a
sound out of his instruments already. I personally think it sounds like a
donkey in trouble but I have been amazed at how quickly the sound develops. The
euphonium is a much more pleasant noise to the bugle and as Mike cannot play
either as yet, I will encourage my big buddy on with the euphonium. The bass
sound makes me smile and I am hoping that the March of the Mods will resonate
our walls by Christmas…….
We have had double helpings of Ron and Pauline this year as they passed through and camped on the drive on their way for another few weeks in Spain. They are wetting our appetite to take a long drive to the sun and we spent many happy hours looking at the routes they take and the sites they stay in. We love having them to stay and they lift our spirits with their enthusiasm for camper holidays and how it is all still so achievable even when you are in your late 70’s. Ron and Pauline taught me to play crib last time they were with us but I mentioned that I have been playing on-line scrabble with my sister and two total strangers and that conversation led to a blistering three game epic on the kitchen table in which Mike wiped the floor with us. You will notice that there is wine on the table but no scrabble dictionary and that definitely felt unfair as the online game I play gives me access to a dictionary to play with letters and options but the table game is harder and much more of a challenge but a whole lot more sociable
It is September I know, but the shooting daffodil
bulbs in the back yard are just ridiculous, but, there they are ready to go again…….
In 2008 we had our back yard dug out and the top layer of stone and soil taken away and yet this little bunch of dafs still pop their heads up at the most ridiculously out of season time. We can do nothing about it. Mike did weed kill the area once and I dug a few bulbs out and transplanted them but there is a stubborn little dance of daffodils there so we will let them come and go and try to care for them as best we can. The machine is actually right over where they are now so even the heavy hand of the digger in 2008 has not been able to discourage them. So they win, and they stay, it is only fare
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