Apart from an appalling four day visit from an incredibly
irritating and boring man I met on an internet dating site, you know who you are, these last few
weeks have been good. I have had lovely visits too, thank goodness, from two lots of
friends, Carole and Geoff and then Les and Roy.
The garden, the veggie patch and
polytunnel are all producing well and I can’t stop taking photos.
The poppies outside my sitting room window
have been gorgeous although the stiff breeze earlier this evening has scattered
scarlet petals over the terrace.
My geese have laid so well this
year, or perhaps I should say, my goose, as I was told I was buying two geese
but believe I may have a gander. I have
sold lots of goose eggs but finally allowed them to keep three and these are
being covered by the goose so perhaps I may go up to the barn one day and find
three goslings – fingers crossed. One of my bantam hens has been a surrogate to three eggs and they hatched about two weeks ago.
The
ducks too have never laid so many eggs.
I am inundated - so I designed
and ordered two signs which I have placed at the top of the lane and opposite
my house to encourage customers to buy from the honesty shelf I have at the
front of the house.
Yesterday, a Breton chap,
who comes through the village twice a week on the way to his gardening job, came
into the garden asking about goose eggs.
I only had two from two weeks ago which I wouldn’t sell as they aren’t
fresh, but he insisted saying he loved them.
Today a Breton woman who has a horse in training in the village came to
buy both duck and hen eggs and my first customers, only ten minutes after I put
up the shelf, were French walkers who bought half a dozen hen egg. None of them could understand the honesty
system but seemed to approve once I’d explained it.
My Land Rover has been costing me
a lot of money having repairs done. A
new power steering pump, radiator and door hinge have been necessary and the rear
windscreen washer and service are still to be done in July. There is a Land Rover garage an hour away
over at La Chèze, run by an Englishman where I’ll get all work done now that I’ve
lost my worker back to the UK.
Luckily their building borders a lake so it's possible to have a lovely walk and sit and read by the water.
Onto medical matters now and it
seems that I have another operation in the pipeline. I have had rectal bleeding for a couple of
months. Two weeks ago I saw my GP and
two days later had a consultant appointment.
After a very uncomfortable examination he said he’d found a polyp which
would need to be removed in surgery. I
am going into the Clinic at Guingamp to have a colonoscopy on Monday when he
will see whether there is anything further untoward to deal with at the same
time.
A couple of weekends ago I
attended Part 1 of a Beekeeping Course.
Luckily this is held only about 10 minutes from home so not a huge
effort required to go. I was re-enthused
and have already received my bee suit, hat, veil and gloves from Simon the
Beekeeper in the UK ready for Part 2 on 14 June. There were about eleven people on the course
and all were very friendly.
I do hope
that I shall be able to get a hive set up before the end of this year so that I
am ready to go next year without delay.
More friends arrive from the UK
next week and they are closely followed by another friend and my oldest son and
three of his friends too so it will be a busy month. Almost no bookings for the cottages yet this
year – perhaps it’s just a slow start.
On Wednesday, a friend, Sally,
had an impromptu birthday barbeque. She
lives about an hour from me. I drove
over and it was a beautiful warm, sunny evening, absolutely perfect for
alfresco eating, well worth the drive.
It’s been a lovely sunny couple
of days and I’ve enjoyed lying out in the sunshine reading and napping!
Three things I like:
1. Good friends visiting and catching up.
2. The prompt French healthcare I’ve received.
3. The pretty filly and mare in the field behind me.
3 comments:
Gosh a 4 day long first date.... I won't ask more but it sounds a little strange!
So sorry you need more surgery - or can they remove the polyp during the colonoscopy? I hope not real surgery as you have had a basinful already and you don't deserve to have any more. Not fair. :-(
Your garden looks lovely and I see you let things that have self seeded grow in the gravel like I do! Great that you are selling your eggs this way. I only have hen eggs these days but still enough to sell the excess to a neighbour. I'll be needing some new layers for next year though. Also impressed by you going on the beekeeping course - was that in French? Hope you like honey, though maybe you can sell the excess along with the eggs!
Unfortunately, Mandy, I did ask, but they can only remove very small polyps during the colonoscopy. A lot of self-seeded plants have been passed on to visiting friends - I like the idea of my garden being spread about. The course was in English. I love honey but the main reason is to help the bees survive.
Lovely pictures of summer, do hope all goes well. All the best
Paul
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