The temperature has definitely taken a dive this week. This morning there was frost on the grass when I went up, later than usual due to the Japanese Grand Prix, to do the animals. 3°C registered on my thermometer and my neighbour, driving to the boulangerie, stopped on the lane to tell me that her car was showing 2.5°C. However, the sun is strong today and at 1345hrs it has reached 16°C - there's no breeze today and it feels lovely out there. Here's the horsechestnut in my lane against the bluest sky.
The conkers are all over the lane and are being popped open by the passing vehicles.
This week I've collected lots and put them on the stairs to ward off spiders. My friend, June, has done this for years and I've recently read about it on the internet too, so thought I'd try it.
The cats immediately move in front of the woodburner when it's alight - here they are washing each other before settling down for a sleep in the warm.
On Tuesday I walked with a friend in Bois de Beaucours and this time reached the Rocher de Guingamp. Incredibly huge rocks - the largest two leaning against each other in the form of an arch.
The length of the gap between the two main rocks is about 14 metres - just to give some idea of the scale.
Sorry about the dirty lens giving marks on the finished photos.
As we walked back down to the lake and along the bank we noticed these ruins a little way into the trees. 
This was a previous manoir and I was astounded to see the detail in the stonework and only to find it on my fourth visit to the woods.
Opposite the ruined manoir there is a basic building which is apparently used by hunters. It is simply furnished with a table and benches and has a working fireplace with a pile of large logs ready for burning. It would make a pleasant venue for an evening meal with friends but I'm not sure that would be allowed.
From the old to the new. Echoing the projection at the other end of the house, my neighbour's extension is, below, complete except for the outside paving.
Here it is, complete and it's lovely, both outside and inside. The proportions are good and the light is wonderful.
Last Sunday morning I was astounded to have a deer run through my garden followed by the hounds from the hunt. The hunters were still a couple of fields away and not in control of their animals. The law here is that the hunt cannot be within 150 metres of a residence and here they were in my rabbit run and garden. First I feared for the rabbits. One hounds got left in their area and was finding it difficult to get out. Gradually during the day the three rabbits all reappeared, having found sanctuary in the burrows they have dug at the back by the boundary wall. Then I worried about the cats. Purrdy was in the house so I knew she was alright. After about four hours, Claude came home but Gracie was nowhere to be seen. I went to bed worrying about her and she was not home by morning. I searched the hamlet calling for her but with no joy. It was finally, in the late evening, that she flew through the cat door and jumped onto my lap. She ate a sachet of treat food and then another one. Thank heavens everyone was safe. Not so the poor deer.
As the hounds left my garden they entered my neighbour's and on the far boundary they caught and killed the deer.
Two of my neighbours, both farmers, asked me to go into the Mairie to complain. I did this on Monday morning, explaining first that I have no problem with the hunt, just not in my garden. The mayor is the chap who organises the hunt from St Nicolas du Pélem. He is a pleasant man and said that there had been no hunt arranged for that weekend and it must have been people coming into the area from outside, so nothing they could do.
On to pleasanter things. I am harvesting various produce every day now and will be sorry to leave it all behind during my visit to the UK this month.
I visited the Vallée de Saintes, nr Carnoet, last weekend and took photos, in the sunshine, of all of the huge statues. I was asked by a French photographer to do a small interview on video for the internet and my French, normally ok, failed me totally, so that will be interesting to see! I'll post photos of the statues when I have a bad weather photography week later in the year.
Three things I like:
1. Finding a small goat kid on the lane and after a cuddle, finding where he lived and taking him home.
2. Having my French neighbours in for dinner one evening with no culinary disasters.
3. The wonderful sunshine we've had all week and being able to sunbathe with a book in October.
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