Bees, visiting heron, bees and the garden

Sunday late afternoon saw me back at Guingamp station collecting more Workaways.  This time a French couple from the Paris region, Sylvain and Marion.  They have settled in and worked well this week and will spend the weekend with relatives north of Guingamp before returning on Monday to carry on helping me here.  

The other visitor I have had this week was not so welcome.  He is now called Hervé and this is him (or possibly her).

Hervé is very handsome and in other circumstances I might be pleased to have him around, however he is abusing my hospitality by eating my pond fish.  Fifteen minutes after the photo above, Sylvain, Marion and I manoeuvred a netted arc into the pond to protect them.  The next photo shows him standing on the net trying to bypass it.

He has no fear and spends his leisure hours in my garden - here he is walking past Gavin, my man in the garden.

The garden hens are perplexed and nervous and chicken heads move in unison like a slow motion Wimbledon match as he walks past or stands, resting, with neck withdrawn.  They clearly do not know what he is or if he poses a threat.

There are two proper lakes in the hamlet and I would like him to be persuaded to visit them instead.

On Monday, again in Guingamp - perhaps I should move nearer -I had two monitoring scans of my kidneys and urinary system and of my bone density.   As always, thank goodness, my kidneys etc are looking good and a clean bill of health.  Howver, I have slipped into the osteoporosis section of the chart for the bone density on both hips and on L2 in my lower back.  I am not aware of feeling any changes however, so that is partly good news.

Lots of plants doing well in the garden now.  Usually the rose on my pergola is disappointing and browns in the slightest rain, however because of the hot, dry weather we have had it has been lovely.

Wednesday saw friends, Jane and Alan bring me a swarm of bees with a white-marked queen for my empty hive.  They were all installed fairly quickly and seem to have settled. They kindly checked the other hives for health and honey production.  It was deemed necessary to add a second super to one of the pink hives - on the left in the photo below - as the first super is becoming full  - lovely news!  

The other two supers are certainly filling with honey but not to the same extent. I was told that probably I could start extracting honey in about 2-3 weeks.  Really exciting!

My Workaways have cleaned off the dirty frames from the bought in hive which was all but empty.  The final stragglers had left so that was the hive we were able to use for the new swarm.  I will be buying some more frames and foundation sheets to melt onto them over the next few weeks.  I'll also buy a couple more supers in case honey production steps up.  I should have been a boy scout!

I think I may now have the perfect Heron deterrent.  My guests for Middle Cottage have just this minutes arrived from Italy.  They have twin boys, Alberto and Tomaso, very excited to be here, who come with accompanying decibels!  I don't think I need worry about my fish for the next four days while they are staying ...   

Three things I like:

1.   Having Workaways helping me and enjoying their company.
2.   Cooking lots of different meals for my Workaways.
3.   Getting lots of reading done when the sun is shining and I can sit outside.  Part way through this one at the moment.

Summer has arrived in St André

Phew! what a hot week it's been in St André!  I am a true sun-worshipper but even I had to retire to the shade to read a book on Wednesday.  Even with the pool to dip in whenever it got too much I found the steps too arduous to climb and resorted to spraying myself with the hose, once I had let the first 20 seconds of boiling hot water out of its coiled length.  It was 33°C in the shade and the house, with doors and windows open to the light breeze, reached and stayed at 28°C for much of the day.  Nighttime saw an oscillating fan located at the side of my bed to move the air around and make it seem cooler.  

My latest Workaway, a lovely Dutch girl, Mimi, worked mainly in the morning to avoid the highest temperatures and managed to clear barrowloads of weeds in both the flower and veggie gardens.  She was pleasant and interesting and enjoyed playing the piano in Middle Cottage once the guests had left after the weekend.  

We went to Bon Repos last Sunday, the first time this year I've visited the market and sat down to people watch with a drinks in our hands.  There were three English musicians playing Boogie and other good stuff and then an English woman stood up to sing too.  It was a beautiful weather morning and we had a couple of drinks before ordering a light lunch. 

We walked around a local Chapel in Le Guiaudet so I could see where I would be going this evening to a harp concert.  The bell tower has nine bells!  

Mimi left yesterday to travel and meet friends in Dinan.  Tomorrow I pick up two French girls who will be here to help me for a week or so. 

Everything, inside and outside the polytunnel has been growing like mad.  Mimi picked a large bowlful of gooseberries which I turned into jam the following day.  Twelve jars at the final count.

We went to a Fest Noz at Bourbriac last Saturday starting off at a bar where my friend Maggie's son, William, was playing guitar with his friend, and then they went dancing before the fireworks to celebrate Bastille Day.

Some time ago I was interviewed about my weight, loss on the 'phone, for a small article in an English language newspaper, The Connexion, published in France.  I haven't had the original paper yet, but here is a photo which my friend, Dave, sent me.  Fame at last!

The great weather has meant that I have raced through this month's book group books which are these.  I always find it so easy to read out in the sunshine whereas in the winter the television distracts me.  I enjoyed both books and would recommend them.

I also read

This was very amusing and I would definitely recommend this to everyone.

Three things I like:

1.   Summer finally arriving!

2.   Getting the weeds under control.

3.   Being able to have a dip in the pool whenever I feel like it.

Uncertain days ahead

What a difference fourteen days makes to my world.  Who would have ever thought that the UK would be leaving the European Union?  For me, it was unthinkable and having done my postal vote I felt confident that the Remain side would win.  I felt physically sick on Friday, 24 June when I woke up to the seven o'clock BBC Breakfast News to hear the very sad and misguided result.  We have, of course, a couple of years of uncertainty until we find what effects it might have on those of us who live in Europe with the rules that applied while Britain was a member of the EU.  Financially it could be difficult for many British immigrants in Europe if pensions are frozen at current rates, if our medical situation changes and if the exchange rate goes against us.  I am still hoping that Article 50 will not be invoked and that we will not leave.  The lies told by the Leave campaign and believed by vulnerable people, were so enormous and serious that the referendum result should be declared void.

I have completed, in pencil so far, the forms for me to apply to become a French citizen. A friend, Nicky, who is also doing this is coming to lunch this week to discuss all the details so we know what we're up to with the documents we have to provide.

The Workaway I picked up when I took the boys back to Roscoff turned out to be a lazy, swearing and shouty person and I felt very threatened by him.  Two days after he arrived I took him to the train station to leave, I had already had to say I would call the police if his aggressive and frightening behaviour continued.  I have never had a bad experience like this and hope that I don't again.  My next Workaways are two French girls arriving later this month - I look forward to meeting them.

The weather was not kind during the last half of June.  Everything in both the veggie patch and garden has grown like mad because of the rain and the warmth in spite of very little sun except for in the late afternoon and evening.  

Some of the roses growing on the pergola have really suffered in the rain with the blossoms looking very tatty even before they are fully open, but on the whole the garden seems to have enjoyed the regular natural watering.

My chick, Annie, continues to thrive and spends her day between the terrace and the house and her nights in the garden hen house, which she hates and is always first out of the pophole when it's opened in the morning.

She likes to sit on the top edge of the laptop screen and peck at the cursor as I move it. It must look like a fly to her I think.  Whenever I swat a fly I knock it from the swat onto the floor and she rushes over immediately for a small protein snack.

My current book club book is The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion - I am just over half way through the 327 pages and am thoroughly enjoying it.  

I usually do all my reading in the garden while lying in the sunshine, so it has been difficult to get enough hours in so far.  Hopefully July will provide better reading possibilities with seriously sunshiny weather.

The second book I have to complete before the group meeting is All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.  The story takes place during the second world war and is mostly located in Brittany.

I have employed a great worker to do the more skilled tasks which most Workaways might not be able to tackle successfully.  Dan came for two days last week and cleared up several outstanding items on the To Do List.  He's returning on Monday to establish what is wrong with my leaking chimneys and hopefully to resolve the problems.  

My Land Rover - safely back home again having been to Garage Barrington at La Cheze and

got through it's CT (MOT equivalent) last week so that's another two years sorted, under the French system.  I completely forgot that the registration document had to be presented with the vehicle, so found myself driving nearly an hour back home and then back again to collect it before the booked time for the test.  I took the opportunity of being much further east of where I live to visit a friend, Colin, who I hadn't seen for a while.  We had a pizza and a coffee inside as the weather was not being kind.

Yesterday afternoon I visited, with other members of Gardeners in Brittany, a Facebook group, a garden in Gouarec.  The weather was kinder than it has been and at least it didn't rain while we were there.

I didn't take many photos of the garden but seem to have taken some of the buildings there and of members of our group.


















We hope to do more visits in the future to other gardens in Brittany.  There don't seem to be many open gardens in my department, 22, but I'm not far from departments 29 and 56 so we have a fairly wide range to wander in. 

No gardening here as it's been drizzling all day.  I bought two plants at the garden yesterday but they'll have to wait until the sun comes out before they find their homes in the earth here.  

Three things I like:

1.   Picking my veggies which are now growing up on the field.
2.   Meeting new like-minded people.
3.   Watching Annie getting bigger and stronger.