August came to an end with Libby and Charlie taking the ferry from Roscoff back to England, after three plus good weeks on holiday here. I think we only had one wet night and one wet morning through the whole time they were in St André - really lucky. The sunsets have been wonderful.
One of our trips out was to Branferé. The animals are kept in very large areas, probably the most room I have ever seen given in this sort of place. Here are photos of flamingo, Charlie and a wallaby, ring-tailed lemur and a red panda. It was a well laid out place, but the food in the restaurant was abyssmal.
The chicks which were hatched in the kitchen on 25/26 August for Charlie to watch, have been thriving and now have quite a lot of adult plumage. They have been spending the sunny days out in a larger crate in the garden and just coming back to their smaller brooder at night.
The family's departure was quickly followed by the arrival of my very good friend, June. We had a more relaxed week, with a few meals out and a visit to Chateaulin, where the bridge is beautifully reflected in the water.
We then drove on to Locronan where this photo shows the sun shining through the stained glass window in the chapel onto the old stone flags
and later to the beach at Kervel which was lovely. There were guys fishing for tellines, a small shellfish, which they export to Spain, it looked like very hard work as they pulled their tractors through the sand and shallow water at the edge of the sea.
It was a beautiful day and we paddled in water that was really warm in the shallows.
Wherever we went somehow we found ourselves having a coffee, an icecream or a glass of something reviving plus several meals out.
When I took June back to Dinard on Thursday we spent the afternoon on the prom of Plage l'Ecluse in the sunshine before driving to the airport.
With help from Lorna again, I harvested my first ever honey from nine frames from my beehives.
I was delighted to finally pot up 10 kgs of delicious, sweet, runny and very sticky honey, June helped with this part of the operation.
I hope to add to my hives for next year. At the end of the week I inserted anti-varroa strips, Apistan, into the four hives to protect my bees. The strips stay in the hives for six weeks.
All gite bookings have finished now unless there are unexpected bookings which come in. It has been a less busy year than last year. I have had lots of one and two day bookings, mainly from French guests, which has meant more work than usual for the washing machine and my cleaner, but all guests are welcome. Luckily, because of the incredibly hot weather, the linen has been dry within a couple of hours of being hung out in the garden.
The vine leaves have been cut back to allow the sunshine to reach and finishing ripening the grapes.
There are so many bunches, I shall be eating a lot of grapes again this year. I expect we will also juice a lot for the freezer. It is amazing to think what a tiny hole, surrounded by stone, that this vine was planted into and how prolific it is now.
It rained this afternoon which was good because the garden needed refreshing and the water containers need filling too. I can't believe we are already a third of the way through September. This year has just sped by.
Three things I like:
1. Harvesting the honey from my bees - a lovely experience.
2. Having family and friends to stay.
3. Meeting and making new friends from my new beekeeping interest.
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