Spring has arrived in St André

The primulas and pansies are planted and seem to have survived the cold snap we had at the beginning of the week.  The daffodils are excelling themselves in all the lanes around here and in my garden and brighten up any dull days.  Small trees in the lanes are covered in tiny white flowers sparkling like starlight.  The bees are loving it.  

It is the blackthorn – sloes in the Autumn - which is always out early in the year and when you look closely, has a really beautiful little flower.

An English neighbour with a second home here came to supper on Sunday last and we caught each other up with news of our primary home territories.  He brought me some much-needed fast acting yeast so I can continue with familiar ingredients for my bread making.  

The buttermilk plant continues to thrive and I have now baked twice using the liquid produced.  On the first dough made had a much faster rise than usual during proving but on baking it was disappointing.  

The second session was much more successful and here is the proof!

Lovely surprise to hear from, Wendy and Brett, my NZ housecarers from two years ago, I love it when people keep in touch.  Wendy is completing a book for each year showing their stays in different parts of the world and St André features on a double page spread!

Following the bad experience last month of not being able to cook anything during the 55 hours power cut, I have bought a second hand bottled gas hob.  I hope to have it installed in the garage in a movable unit so that in future I will not starve when EDF fails to provide a service.

There was a knock on my drive side window one evening last week. When I went out, a stranger with two dogs was holding one of my buff cochins in his arms – dead. He was so apologetic, the black lab had got to it before he could do anything and it was all over very quickly. I was just grateful that he had told me instead of walking off. He was distraught and asked what he could do. I told him “c’est la vie” “pas de problème” and tried to smile reassuringly. He said he would come and see me again if he was coming this way.   Later in the evening Jan, as he was called, drove back from St Nicolas du Pélem, with a bottle of red for me, so that was kind, and more profuse apologies.

Four of the seven remaining hens were back for the night but the other three must have shot off in various directions when the attack took place and were hiding out. While my neighbour and I were looking for them we discovered a clutch of hen eggs which the girls must have been laying for weeks without me knowing.  

I’d no idea how old they were so I cracked them individually before cooking up for the giving back to the hens.  All the eggs were good – amazingly.   I don't give shells as I have had lots of hens who've thought egg eating is a good idea so I avoid giving shells now.

Thank goodness I had moved to the field, on Sunday evening, the three black and white cochins because I have guests in the gite and I didn’t want the cockerel to wake them.  The missing hens were finally rounded up by me, my French neighbours and Mark, who's over from the UK in his holiday home. They spent the night safely back in their house. It could have all been so much worse. What a day!

We had our Social Group lunch at Auberge de Guerledan again on Friday and my lunch was paté de campagne, turkey in a cream sauce and crème brulée with the usual glass or two of rosé.   The little moulded thing at the back left was a sort of set eggy mix with mushrooms and surprisingly tasty.

Afterwards, Laura and I walked slightly further down the lane to become students for the afternoon.  We had enrolled in a Glass Class at La Verrière de Guerledan and three hours of concentration ahead.  It was a steep learning curve, but I enjoyed starting learning a new craft and especially the homemade flapjacks.  It was the first lesson in a batch of ten taking place once a month and Sue MacGilivray, is a kind, patient and interesting teacher.

There has been a lot of tree and branch felling everywhere and this week it was the turn of our hamlet.  Here is Francoise at the top of a cherry picker trimming a tree on Mark's boundary, the first of many branches removed further down the lane.

Here are muscari in my garden.  I only planted them last year and can't believe how much they have spread.

This is a peep into the garden of Christian and Paulette, neighbours, with their beautiful spring flowers along their conservatory path.

On a whim, I set off up the lane opposite the calvaire at lunchtime to see where Les Hauteurs de du Pélem were exactly.

Well - it was a tough climb for me in unsuitable loose clog type rubber shoes, but such a beautiful day that I kept going.  It certainly reached heights and the views were good.

I ended up walking back along the lanes so I didn't have to come down the steep track, with running water, and it was a good decision.

Lovely views and the gorse everywhere is gorgeous.

Three things I like:

1.   Spring has arrived in St André.

2.   The chicks are outside in a run this afternoon enjoying their first taste of sunshine.

3.   The evenings are lighter now the hour has gone forward.

Counting chicks, enjoying Spring flowers and Raoul

Strangely for this early in the year, I have had guests in one of the gites, not holiday makers but French floorers who were working nearby during the week and staying from Monday to Thursday.  They were nice lads and left the place pretty clean and even brought in logs for me one evening.  

My son and his friends have booked their ferry tickets to come for their usual visit in June and my good friend June will be here just before and stay on for a few days after their visit too.  All the accommodation will be needed for these eight people so I can't book in any Workaways during this eleven day period.  I have, however, just accepted two Mexican Workaways for just after I return from the UK in April, so hopefully we'll get some gardening done as it will be just the right time of year for planting and sowing again and the start of the frequent strimming.   

One of my best friends has moved into a sheltered housing apartment, brand new and beautifully appointed.  When we chatted last she sounded really happy and I'm glad to think she's safe and has help if she needs it in the future.  Another very good friend is in Tobago and Skyped me today from there to show me the beautiful sunshine over the rainforest and beach - you can go right off people!  I haven't been to Tobago for years and if I get the chance next year I may well take off for exotic climes in spite of the stuff I wrote in my last blog post.   

At my visit to the allergologue, Dr Amicel, she tested me for allergies to bees and seven other things including, dogs, cats, pollen etc - I reacted to them all.  I have now had blood tests and will then return to her towards the end of April, when I'm back from the UK, for the verdict.   My rheumatologist appointment with Dr Mobuchon, resulted in me having to order a special sort of steroid, difficult to obtain here, for injection into my wrist area.  It has now been a week and still not received at the Pharmacy so I just have to wait to be contacted.

I recently collected five advertised blueberry bushes which are rooted and in big pots. The previous owner is changing the use of her land where they were and sold them on.  I am looking forward to the summer harvest but I've never grown them before so hope they are easy.  I haven't been lucky with fruit here, apart from gooseberries, strawberries and rhubarb of which I get kilos.  All fruit trees were ravaged by my goats who escaped into the field next to where they should have been.  My raspberries and redcurrants are usually eaten by the birds before I get a chance to pick them.  I know that netting them might solve this problem but never had a problem with greedy birds eating my raspberries in Gloucestershire and I think they may be my favourite fruit.  I love the way you can just place them on your tongue and press them onto the roof of your mouth to enjoy the gorgeous flavour.   I've also succumbed to a couple of plum trees which are waiting to be planted too.

Great to report that eleven chicks survived the power cuts and travelling around and are now thriving in the brooder.  

They are very cute!  Here they are crowded into a bowl for the few minutes it takes me to clean out their brooder.


We have had a mouse infestation in the studio over the garage.  I was recommended to buy a particular sort of mouse traps and they have proved very effective.



  



Maggie and I are working our way through everything emptying, sorting, chucking out, disinfecting, steam cleaning and putting back. There is so much to do that we are doing it in parts, moving everything away from an area, dealing with it all and then moving on to the next part.  It has taken about ten hours so far and we are about 25-30% of the way through.

The two sheds in need of re-felting have had the attention of Dan who has done a good job on replacing the roof and the felt, he's also managed to get the pond pump working again without losing water, fixed the basin outlet in one of the cottages, been shopping for materials, shifted various furniture and bee hives for me, blocked up a mousehole, cut shelves to size, sawed wood for kindling, siliconed round a basin, found and replaced a chop saw blade, fixed the chicken gate, mended a wheelbarrow, took the trailer to the tip, etc etc.   

Everywhere Spring flowers are blooming.  The daffodils are from under my sitting room window and the other blooms are in my garden or village.

In addition to the plants which I have just collected from the blueberry bush supplier - primulas, pansies and primroses just waiting to be planted out into the garden - I now have a quite different sort of plant to care for. 

A friend brought me a buttermilk plant.  It consisted of a jar of white liquid with solids in the base.  I now have to feed it every day by removing the liquid to a jug in the fridge, washing the curds with cold water, putting them back into a clean jar and topping up with milk, putting the lid on very loosely and then storing it in the warm and dark until the next feed.  I use buttermilk in my bread making every other day and have just used the first harvest for today's loaf and rolls.  I can't wait to try the results.

My lamb, Raoul, is doing well and running and springing around the fields with his mother, Martha.  I'm pretty sure that Lisa is not pregnant.  A friend has promised me one of her last year's ewe lambs so I will now have another potential mother for next year.  They have been enjoying the really sunny days we seem to get two or three times a week.  

The weather is very mild some days - up to 20°C and in the polytunnel it's up to 45°C. The seed trays I have sown in the polytunnel are also in plastic covered shelves and are being kept so warm I've had to open the doors.
  

Thirteen of the trays have seedlings growing strongly, so yesterday I took the two trays with broad beans and planted them out in the raised beds.  I also put my white onions into an adjacent bed and my back knows how long it took me, really  bent over as I couldn't find my kneeling pad.  

Yesterday I went to a Tupperware party - did I just write that?  Yes, a Tupperware party!  I used to sell Tupperware back when my children were very small, thirty years ago, and had/have boxes of it. It was a great afternoon at Nicole's and I met new people and got reacquainted with those I hadn't seen for a while. We had delicious chocolate cake, profiteroles and a very good chicken dish which was cooked in one of the containers being sold.  I got the recipe for this and will definitely be making it myself.   We didn't used to have wine at the parties I did, and that was a positive change!

The plan this year was to increase my bees and to this end I came back with these in the back of the car.   Maggie has been busy painting to protect them from the elements.

The usual tasks have been going on too, cleaning out the garden hens means more good stuff for the compost bins on the field.












My Book Group, renamed Social Group, and now should really be renamed again, Lunch Group, is meeting next week again in the Auberge de Guerledan at Caurel where we have a good meal in cosy surroundings and mention the books we have been assigned in between mouthfuls!   One of the books this month is this one, which I enjoyed.

The second book was Sacrilege by S J Parris which I am not enjoying quite as much.  I have borrowed it on a friend's Kindle and must try to finish it to return it to her.  














Last weekend was the Trail de St Nicolas du Pélem, with runners doing 26 kilometres and coming through my hamlet.  Here are some of the runners coming past the end of my drive, with mud splashed up the backs of their legs as it was not a good weather day.

This is the chappie who I have written about before, who does long walks around the area with miscellaneous animals.  He stopped and chatted for a few minutes and was harnessed to two huskies on long cords - if it had been snowing they could have pulled him along.

Starlings have been sitting everywhere along the lines crossing the village.  There have been hundreds of them on the wires.

Three things I like:

1.   Hearing the eleven successfully hatched chicks cheeping in the brooder in the kitchen.
2.   Crossing so many things of my To Do List.
3.   Living here in Brittany - always.

March and storm Zeus in Brittany

The winds were seriously strong here during Sunday last and I spent a good deal of the morning watching how far one of the very tall pine trees in my neighbour’s garden was bending to the east with each huge gust.  I was soaked from doing the animals first thing and my newly washed clothes are hanging drying in the warmth of the woodburner.  Later we had sunshine and blue skies but we had been warned of the violent weather to come. 

We had the first blip in the electricity supply and I quickly filled the kettle hoping to have a coffee before the current went for good.  It was only a few minutes later, at 11.50hrs, before the kettle had automatically switched off, that the lights, television, laptop, flykiller and all the other stuff I had previously had working died.  I didn’t realise for at least an hour that the incubator was off – when I did, I tried to use my mobile ‘phone and found I could make a call on it from inside the house – a first in nearly eleven years.  I called friends at Burlaouen, five minutes away, knowing that they were on a different electricity supply.  I lost the call, but almost immediately Roger called me back and I explained the situation.  Having driven as smoothly as possible with my precious cargo, we plugged in the incubator and it sprang into life on their outside electrical supply.  I stayed there having coffee for an hour or so and then came back home.  Within 90 minutes Linda called to say that their electricity had now disappeared too.  I called a friend in Kerfornan to see if they still had their supply; they did.  I collected the incubator and drove off to the next working socket.  Unfortunately, one of the eggs got a large bash in the side and had to be removed, it was a Jersey Giant egg, the only one in this batch.  I broke it on the roadside on the way home and it had contained a little black chick – very sad. 

I have no conventional means of cooking or heating anything without electricity, but filled a saucepan with enough water for a mug of coffee, opened the woodburner door, flattened the fire a little and placed the pan directly on the burning logs.  Within minutes I was drinking a hot, sweet coffee – marvellous!  I repeated this six or seven times during the day and even cooked half a tin of baked beans in the same way which I had with bread and butter.  Not exactly gourmet cookery, but better than nothing.

It's strange when you live alone and have no electricity.  There is no-one to talk with, no company at all, no telephone, no Skype, no Facebook, no emails.  I couldn’t do the puzzles in The Times on-line to which I subscribe or play Scrabble with all my usual opponents.  So, finally I got out my friend’s Kindle, which she had lent me as it had this month’s Book Group book on it.  I read about 13% before it died.  I assume lack of battery and I can’t, of course, charge it.  I then switched to a real book, another of this month’s reads – Disclaimer by Renee Knight.  Not a long book, 360+ pages, but a good book.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I read it by the headlight I wore while I was in bed and then finished it in the morning once the sun had come through the windows. 

Before I put the animals to bed on Monday, I went to the furthest field to check again on Martha.  She was in the far end of the shelter and had given birth to a white lamb, another ram.  I took a few quick photos in the dying light on my mobile ‘phone.  I have never had a girl lamb born here, always boys.  The birth had only just happened and the afterbirth was on the fresh hay.  I picked up the lamb, holding it for a moment like a baby while I checked the gender and kissed him, leaving a lipstick mark on the top of his head.  He and Martha seemed fine.  I took in a bucket of water and poured a large heap of sheep nuts, corn and mixed cereal just inside the door so she didn’t have to come out into the dreadful weather.   The field was full of mud and it had crept into my rubber clogs and crept up my trousers as I crawled into the sheep shelter.  On the way back home I popped in to show my neighbours the photos and they invited me for aperitifs.   I went home first to wash and change my muddy clothes and shoes, returning after I’d put the garden hens to bed. 

We sat around the dining table in the candlelight and put the world to rights over our Muscat and then red wine.  Slices of sausage and toast with paté and cornichons kept the wolf from the door.   According to their battery radio 600,000 homes in this part of France were without electricity.  Around 21.00hrs I said my goodbyes and walked home.  I went straight to bed with my book and head torch.

Mid morning, Paulette arrived to say that because Christian’s mobile ‘phone battery was flat he had driven to the Mairie in St Nicolas du Pélem to telephone EDF regarding when we might expect to be reconnected.  Apparently their answer was this afternoon, so we live in hope. 

I have written this with the last vestiges of my laptop battery and now need to save it before it dies completely.

Well, EDF did not keep their promise.  Monday evening came and went.  On Tuesday morning, still no electricity.  I went off to a Bowls match and had a good morning playing doubles with Sue.  We were runners up in the final count. 

I shopped on the way home and on arriving back in the village, Christian told me that EDF were now saying between 20.00-21.00hrs for reconnecting us.  As I hadn’t had a hot meal since Saturday, they took pity on me and invited me for supper.  The main course was delicious, but something I had never eaten before – pig’s cheeks.  They had been casseroled for several hours in red wine, onions and carrots and were very tasty.  Home made apple pie for pudding and several glasses of alcohol to wash everything down.  While we were having our aperitifs the lights suddenly sprang into life.  The joy from us all was palpable.  I rushed home to make sure that everything was working chez moi and it was.  Three hours later when I went home to bed I checked the chest freezers – they were fine and nothing had defrosted.  The only defrosted food was that in the freezer part of the fridge freezer in my very warm house – so not much lost at all. 

I can’t tell you how lovely it is to have a hot shower, wash my hair, plug in the kettle, switch on a light, make a ‘phone all, go onto the internet and have my incubator back in the kitchen again with just four days to go until I see if we will have any chicks in spite of their eventful week.

There are so many trees down, chopped up by the roadside and still waiting for that to happen with their roots up in the air.  Smaller branches and twigs are all over the roads and it will all take some time to clear up.   I was lucky and don't seem to have had any damage here but I know there are plenty of people who have been hit badly by the storm and several serious casualties and even deaths.  Nature is a powerful thing.

Now for the star of the week - the first photo taken within the hour after his birth in the old pig ark which is now the sheep shelter.

Three things I like:

1.  The calm after the storm.

2.  Seeing my new mother and baby.

3.  Being connected to the electricity supply.