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.

A touch of Spring weather - up to 18°C - in February!

I don't usually like February.  It always seems to me to be the most miserable month of the year for weather and I remember why I used to like to go to tropical climes at this time.  However, this year we have had some extraordinarily warm weather which has been very welcome.  The time it takes to travel to warmer places however, puts me off making the arrangements to go too far afield.  By the time I have driven and been ferried back from Brittany to the UK, driven up to a London airport from Cornwall, waited for hours at the airport, done the eleven hour flight to Tobago, gone through immigration and taxied to the hotel, and then reversed all that coming home, I am ready for a holiday.   Somehow it's easier to stay at home and keep feeding the woodburner.

The beginning of February saw two English Workaways arrive to help me, particularly up on the field.  The weather forecast was dreadful so I couldn't see us getting much work done but luckily because of the dryer weather we did loads on the To Do List.  Sunshine and blue skies have been de rigeur for a week or so.  All the outside veggie beds have been prepared and the polytunnel beds too.  

Pete and Ben have also replaced all the old raised bed frames with new timber which has not been an easy task as it was originally inserted when the concrete paths were poured.

As I have been baking bread every other day with three mouths to feed, I have almost run out of Strong White Bread Flour and don't seem to have anyone coming over from the UK to replenish my store cupboard.  






I may have to resort to French flour about which I had read dreadful hygiene comments in various Facebook groups.  I did buy a bag of Francine multi-cereales flour and as soon as I got home I decided to decant it into a plastic lidded container.  I am afraid to say that when I unrolled the fold of paper at the top of the bag, I found a live maggot wriggling free.  Not a good experience and I now feel like buying bread until I find an English supply.

The girls have been laying better which is the norm as we get into February each year and I had five eggs from the nine garden hens today, the best so far this year.  I have also had lots of duck eggs but am still waiting for the geese to start laying again.   I have just brought in the incubator and filled it with eggs, so in 21 days ....

We had a Bowls Competition last week - each female had to play all of the other females and the same amongst the men.  There was to be a final with the winning female playing the winning male.  Phil won for the men but had an appointment to rush off to so the final has been deferred.   To everyone's surprise, especially mine, I won all of my games with the girls and will therefore play against Phil in the final at some point. 

Daffodils and crocus are popping up in the flowerbeds, just showing their colour but not open yet. 

My neighbour's snowdrops are lightening up the area by their stream and are quite beautiful.  I love seeing the gardens coming back into life again.  

The gorse on the lane is brightening up the corner by the calvaire.

At this time of year, the mistletoe is silhouetted in the trees everywhere around here.  

My unsuspecting sheep have now been shorn.  The lovely New Zealand housecarers I had last April when I visited England, have returned this week for a couple of days visit and saw to Ricardo, Lisa and Martha.  It's a bit early in the year, but it is mild at the moment and they do have a good shelter.  Martha and Lisa are both pregnant and I can't wait to see the lambs.

Here Denis and Lynelle are attempting to get Lisa into the Land Rover

and here's Ricardo, almost done ...

Lunch at Auberge de Guerledan with the Book Group and a good menu ...

We seem to touch on the books nowadays and the meetings now seem to be more about the lunch, which is all good!

Afterwards some of us visited the glass shop in Caurel and I seem to have signed up to do a glass fusion course when there are enough students to make it viable.





Three things I like:

1.   Having surprise visit from friends - especially sheep shearers!
2.   Sowing lots of my veggie seeds - seven trays are already showing little shoots.
3.   Hearing the incubator in the kitchen and knowing that in three weeks there should be fluffy chicks.

The New Year begins in St André

I come into 2017 with mixed sentiments about how I think the year will pan out, with Brexit negotiations being mismanaged by Mrs May and the inauguration of a new seemingly lacking-in-morals US President.  I don't feel at all positive about the future of the world and am more and more grateful that I was born when I was, so won't be alive in the years to come.

My left wrist continues to be painful and weak on lifting or twisting against something. After four x-rays at my rheumatologist's surgery, he confirms there is no fracture, but probably a ligament problem which often results from a fall. Incidentally, he said there had not been a cracked bone at all higher up near the elbow. Neither, as I thought after internet searching, do I have algodystrophy - the Guingamp ED Dr Sakkar, seems to be hopeless at diagnosis. Needless to say, I shall not be returning for my next appointment with him. I have been booked in for an arthroscan on 15 February - done with contrast which shows up tears. If a tear is found it may be necessary to have a small operation to repair it to avoid permanent disability occuring in that hand.

I was woken early one morning by my GP’s receptionist saying that Dr Quarck had asked me to go in and talk to her at midday.  It was cold again this morning although water not frozen in the animal drinkers.  I pulled clothes over my pyjamas and went to the field with two thicknesses on my legs. 

Dr Quarck wanted to ensure that I understood the possible side effects of Aclasta.  I said that the rheumatologist had explained that I might get flu like symptoms for a couple of days.  That was not enough information.  Apparently, Aclasta has can have the effect of severely diminishing bone in the jaw and can be extremely painful. My GP called me in to make sure that the rheumatologist had explained this. He hadn't. I have to see my dentist (not until April in the UK) before to check that he would be happy with this before, and if I went ahead, afterwards to monitor the situation. I said that if there is any possibility of losing bone in my jaw I will definitely not be having this treatment. I am dentalphobic and could not cope with this possibility - in tears even discussing with the GP I am so bad at tooth talk.  She explained that the treatment wasn’t urgent so I shouldn’t worry.  

When I heard Christian's chain saw buzzing, I quickly popped round to him with three logs which were too long for my woodburner for him to halve them.  I loaded the six halves into the Bag for Life I had brought and his wife, Paulette shook her head putting the bag into their wheelbarrow and filling it with more logs from the pile they had just cut - as a cadeau.  Christian then wheeled the barrow back to my sitting room door and helped me bring the wood into the chimney area.  They are so kind, I am very lucky to have such lovely neighbours.  Here is the view from across their garden on different mornings this week.

There has been a female blackbird visiting my bird table regularly this year.  She had such a red/orange breast when the sunshine caught it, that I could hardly believe she was a blackbird.  

Other birds have been mainly blue tits and great tits with an occasional robin too. Lots of magpies around and sparrows too. A friend gave me some black oats which her hens wouldn’t eat and I have been putting these on the bird table - they are disappearing, so I presume they are enjoying them.

A power cut resulted in loss of both telephones and internet for two days.  When the rest of the hamlet got internet and 'phones back I only got internet.  My 'phone line remained unusable.  Christian called Orange for me and they said it would be five days before they could fix the problem.  In the event, the phones were restored after three days, so not quite so bad and I was able to use the laptop to make 'phone calls with Voip.

Two parties so far this year.  I went to the first at Sally and Richard's, met old friends and stayed overnight with Lorna and Alan.  The following week I should have been back for a party at Lorna's but had a rotten cold and took myself off to bed for a couple of days, with Asda Max Strength Cold and Flu medication and lots of hot drinks of lemon, honey and ginger. Thank goodness, eight days saw the back of the germs.  Hopefully that is my cold for the year!

As the month has progressed it has got colder and colder overnight.  This morning it was -5°C in St André, but three miles away it was -10°C!  Here is the whitened lane one morning with the cats accompanying me to the field to let the animals out.

Here are some of the frosted leaves on the verge in the lane.

The rhubarb is pushing through the earth on the veggie patch and looking good for this year.  A friend in Spain has thick snow in her area and posted photos of her making Snow Angels.  At least we haven't had snow yet.

Because the sunshine doesn't reach the garden hen run, I have relented and allowed the girls out in the garden where they can shelter in the doorways of the cottages and enjoy the warmth of the sun.  Every day seems to be sunny with blue skies, but, of course, it is these clear skies which are allowing the night time temperature to drop so severely.

Bulbs in the narrow bed under the sitting room window are pushing up well through the earth and if they survive the hens scratching around they will be lovely in the Spring.

I had my first guests of the year into Small Cottage for two nights this week.  They are farmers looking to buy a farm in Brittany, so Brexit hasn't discouraged everyone from travelling to and moving into mainland Europe.  The exchange rate is not good, but maybe it will improve again eventually.  They brought bags of logs for the Small Cottage woodburner in their pickup in case they had to buy logs and left all those they didn't use for the cottage.  They also asked if I needed anything brought over and came with five bags of layers pellets for the girls.  Very nice guests indeed!

There was a strange sight along the top lane this afternoon.  I couldn't see signs of a burst water main but just this one tree was covered in ice from top to bottom.

Three things I like:

1.   These glorious blue, blue sky sunny January days.

2.   Making new friends.

3.   The room filled with bread baking aromas.

Last day of 2016

The year is only eleven hours from finishing as I write this in front of the woodburner at St André.  I arrived back home on Thursday morning with my daughter and grandson who will be here until their ferry sails from Roscoff on 2 January 2017.  As I was going to be away I didn't do decorations inside but did have my usual two pallet Christmas trees hung in the driveway.

Amazingly, I was driving back from St Nicolas du Pélem, just before Christmas and found a Christmas tree in the middle of the road.  I turned the car around and just about managed to get the majority of it into the Land Rover with the back door open.  My housecarers decorated it and placed it in the garden opposite their cottage.  They took care of everything here while I was away and did a good job - all animals are fine and they even lit the woodburner in my house ready for our arrival - double brownie points!

I went over to Cornwall for Christmas, the first in the UK since I moved here in 2006. 

One lunchtime, with Libby and Charlie, we ate at a new Mexican restaurant, Chiquito in Truro.  There were sombreros for diners to wear during the meal.

I stayed with my son, Matthew, and the weather was mostly dry and bright. We spent Christmas Day at Brett's parents home, here are Matthew and Brett while we were playing Jenga. 

On Boxing Day, Val and Colin came back to us for lunch, Breton prawn cocktail, duck, spicy red cabbage, petit pois, roasted butternut squash and dauphinoise potatoes, followed by lemon meringue pie and Christmas pudding with cream.

We were joined by others later for food and drinks.  No Christmas would be complete without Quality Street of course ...    We seemed to have four or five days in a row spent drinking quite a lot with various friends coming round, ending with a party the night before I came back home.

The ducklings that were born in October have grown and nearly have all their adult plumage now.

Earlier in December we had our Writers' Group Christmas lunch at Le St Antoine in Plemet. The food was excellent and we had a great time.  We enjoyed it so much that we are planning to go back in April for our normal meeting and also to celebrate my 70th birthday.

I missed a couple of the competition bowls matches this year due to hospital appointments but managed to make this one, doubles, and Daryl was my partner.  At the start of the last end of the final we were only one point behind but Martin and Linda played too well for us and we were runners up.  It was a good day with a good selection of buffet food provided by members.

My most recent Workaways, a young French man, and then an older Italian, worked hard clearing up for the winter months.  Amongst other tasks, apples were collected and stored, individually wrapped in newspaper and the log delivery was neatly stacked away.  Luckily my Breton neighbour is my log supplier so I should always be ok for nipping round for a wheelbarrow of logs if necessary.

They and my neighbours, Christian and Paulette, helped collect some attractive pieces of carved stone which had been dumped as waste in an area used by the local stone mason. Not sure what I'll do with them, but they were too nice to leave.

My baking has been going well and I now bake bread every other day.  I think it's the buttermilk which helps the rise.  In our Brittany supermarkets there are usually seven different types and I use this for the liquid necessary topped up with a little water.

And, lastly a photo taken by a previous Workaway, Bill, of my village from the other side of the calvaire, he posted it on Facebook and I've nicked it ...  hope you don't mind, Bill.

Three things I like:

1.   Coming back through my door when I've been away - there's no place like home.

2.   Catching up with friends and family when I'm back in Cornwall.

3.   Settling down in the warm, with the cats on my lap and computer table, in front of the woodburner when it's dark and chilly outside.

I WISH A HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!