Following the success of my German pet/house sitters in May, I have now found a couple from New Zealand who are going to pet/house sit for me when I do my usual trip to Cornwall in October. I love the site I’ve found - housecarers.com. It costs nothing at all, not even to register. My first sitters, Steffi and Peter were lovely and the next ones, Wendy and Patrick and I have had a good conversation on the ‘phone and I feel absolutely confident that they will be great too.
I have extra animals for
them to look after now as this week I collected some sheep. They are Ouessants, the native
Breton breed. When I first came to
Brittany I had three but gave them away eventually in favour of sheep to
eat. These newest ones are to perform
the function of strimmers so hopefully I shan’t have to pay my worker to do
that work now.
They were sold to me by two Americans living in a castle nearly two hours south of me. Trying to catch them was a farce in a field with seriously overgrown thistles. They seem to be settling in and are in the field with Basil and Betsy, my goats. I have called the ram lamb Arthur, after Arthur Ashe, the tennis player.
They were sold to me by two Americans living in a castle nearly two hours south of me. Trying to catch them was a farce in a field with seriously overgrown thistles. They seem to be settling in and are in the field with Basil and Betsy, my goats. I have called the ram lamb Arthur, after Arthur Ashe, the tennis player.
A friend, Carole, finally arrived to stay last week. Her train connection from the boat at Caen to Le Mans was delayed by 75 minutes and she had left her mobile in Surrey meaning that she had no contact details for me and no address. I got a message from her son telling me that she'd missed her connection at Le Mans to come to Guingamp and came back home to telephone and find the possible train she may have caught. Happily, we met up at the station and if was a relief to be driving her back to my home. During the wait I picked up a dozen day old chicks to replace some of the hens which the fox had taken recently. The following morning I had to despatch one chick which was clearly not doing well. The remaining eleven are fine and already have some of their adult plumage.
Carole's husband, Chris, arrived by motorbike on Sunday evening from the Normandy landing celebrations. Carole and I happened to be in the lane when we heard a bike arriving so made hitchhiking signs as he came round the bend. They left for Caen on Tuesday morning.
Carole's husband, Chris, arrived by motorbike on Sunday evening from the Normandy landing celebrations. Carole and I happened to be in the lane when we heard a bike arriving so made hitchhiking signs as he came round the bend. They left for Caen on Tuesday morning.
It was good to catch up as we hadn't seen each other since 2008 when my oldest son and I were on our way to Tobago and stayed the night with them to be near to Gatwick.
I had my second stay of guests in Small Cottage and the couple may have found a house less than ten minutes away which they would like to buy for a permanent move to Brittany.
Other newcomers are a lavender frizzle cockerel and his partner and another unrelated bantam cockerel who has paired up with the white bantam who hatched and is looking after the Araucana chick. They are all in a run together with three black Orpington chicks at the moment and all seem to get on well. This is the frizzle cockerel - I love him!
I developed a cold overnight two weeks ago and although I do feel better than I did, breathing through my nose is difficult to impossible and my voice is not my own. Friends were coming to lunch on Sunday and Jac 'phoned to say that she had a rotten cold and they wouldn't be coming. That meant that I have had to eat, all by myself, all of the trifle that I made our pudding today - it's been hard but I did it!
Today I have been harvesting garlic which I planted in the Autumn. I've also picked some really large gooseberries which I've already simmered with sugar for pudding today.
The poppies and foxgloves in the veggie patch are looking wonderful. I know I should be ruthless and weed them out but I just can't bear to do that.
This last photo is one of the sitting places in the garden. Luckily I have lots of garden furniture which I brought from Cornwall with me and I have little places for each time of day. This is my morning coffee position. I really like the large flowered clematis on the wall and the nasturtium which has climbed through it.
I developed a cold overnight two weeks ago and although I do feel better than I did, breathing through my nose is difficult to impossible and my voice is not my own. Friends were coming to lunch on Sunday and Jac 'phoned to say that she had a rotten cold and they wouldn't be coming. That meant that I have had to eat, all by myself, all of the trifle that I made our pudding today - it's been hard but I did it!
Today I have been harvesting garlic which I planted in the Autumn. I've also picked some really large gooseberries which I've already simmered with sugar for pudding today.
The poppies and foxgloves in the veggie patch are looking wonderful. I know I should be ruthless and weed them out but I just can't bear to do that.
This last photo is one of the sitting places in the garden. Luckily I have lots of garden furniture which I brought from Cornwall with me and I have little places for each time of day. This is my morning coffee position. I really like the large flowered clematis on the wall and the nasturtium which has climbed through it.
Three things I like:
1. Seeing old friends and catching up.
2. Having my new kitchen worksurfaces fitted - hope the rest of the kitchen will be done soon.
3. Having the swimming pool cleaned and refilled for the summer.
1. Seeing old friends and catching up.
2. Having my new kitchen worksurfaces fitted - hope the rest of the kitchen will be done soon.
3. Having the swimming pool cleaned and refilled for the summer.
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