baa baa had a little lamb (called Mary)

Completely unexpected, as we hadn't put the sheep to a ram last year, Baa Baa has popped a tiny black lamb. Dolly's lamb last year was a ram lamb, with obviously more go in him than we realised. Our friend Carol commented the other day that Baa Baa looked a bit broad in the beam, but she always seems to be like that. Pete thought he heard a lamb bleating this afternoon, and when I went to feed the sheep only Dolly came down for food - very unusual. So I went up the field to find Baa Baa and infant who was by then at least a couple of hours old. Good eh? Dolly is also excited - she went bouncing around the field all on her own - daft bat!
In addition, one of the grey hens has gone broody again, and we have put a dozen duck eggs under her to try and get a brood of ducks - lots of people want some of our Indian Runners. She started on the 21st April, so hopefully around the 19-20th May there will be some duck chicks.

kitchen fireplace and ham

The vegetarians amongst you must turn away quickly.Others are invited to admire our first foray into the art of 'le traiteur'
Voila! air-dried ham and lots of it. It still has some drying to do, so we will not be eating it too soon, but judging from our first tastes it is unlikely to last too long, and will get better as it dries further. The pantry smells like heaven now!

We have eventually dry-lined and tiled the fireplace behind the cooker in the kitchen. Pete is seen grouting the tiles, and below is the finished effect. It's beginning to look like a proper grown-up kitchen now. Floor tiles and whitewashing the walls next.

Marathon de Paris 2009

Last weekend was the Paris marathon, which Greg ran, but Pete didn't. We had a great time, with a bit of sightseeing thrown in.
Our apartment was very close to the Pompidou centre, which is a superb building, with a very inviting plaza in front of it
- just the place to sit and people-watch.
Here are some of the crowds at the start, just down the Champs Elysées from the Arc de Triomphe.
Greg takes on calories before the start
It was a bit of a tense time, waiting for the start...
Shorts and legs in the top left hand of this picture = Greg passing Bastille the second time (really!)
Pete and Alice at Bastille, before we jumped back onto a metro train to meet Greg at the finish.

On Monday we did a bit of reminiscing, and found the road we stayed on during our honeymoon - 36 years ago to the week. The metro line (which we hadn't realised at the time is above ground) is little changed, but the cars look a bit quaint back then.

Lastly, we found the lion statue that had amused us originally - scrambling to get away from the water spay up its bum - the spray was still on, but was further back in the garden!

cats & sunshine

Here is the new length of 'dead hedge' we have used to replace the useless bamboo screen we put up as a temporary expedient last autumn. The colours won't last, but are pretty at the moment. This is all from the willow trees we coppiced a few weeks ago.Hugh was vainly trying to disguise himself as a bunch of twigs, so he could get some sunshine in peace, but with very little success. Gertie soon found him and chased him out of it!
Then she decided to help Pete with the hole for the gate post...
and the twig that had fallen into it,
She looked up to the camera just as I pressed the shutter. Bit of a sweety really.