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.

june concert - chants de marins

This is the poster for this years concert at St Lubin in June. For photos of both Fortunes de Mer (Etienne & Etienne) plus Hervé & Hélène see my blog for 20th December 2008. We will be using a sound system this year, so singers being accompanied will be able to be heard.

Samson, our new cockerel

Here is Samson, a (predominantly) buff orpington cockerel, just over a year old who we acquired yesterday. He was fighting with his father (inevitable, really) so we got him for free. He is in quarantine for a few days, while I am treating his scaly legs (caused by mites, so insecticide and vaseline will do the trick), and then we will let him out to join the girls. Hopefully we will get some nice crossbred chicks from him. Our grey hens go broody prettly regularly when it warms up.

For those whoM I havent told, I now have a garden blog, in which I am posting pictures as well as information for myself, about planting dates etc. The link is given in the header to this blog.

new kitchen! new camera!

At last we have a camera that works, so here is the updated kitchen in pictures. Have finished the 'pelmet' bit, but still have to finish the tongue and groove on the ceiling - wet weather work, and it has been beautiful weather recently. The wood is lime waxed which gives it a sheen as well as making it white-ish, while still looking like wood, if you see what I mean.
Got lots of stuff in jars to hand now...
On the 'outside' the surface is plaster-boarded, as is the new hood over the cooker (below) which is simply the old hood boxed in to match the rest of the kitchen. Next job is to tile the area behind the cooker, for which we have bought plain cream-colour, matte surface tiles with slightly wany edges. THEN terracotta ceramic tiles on the floor of the kitchen area.

cold weather and foxes

We have had some truly cold weather recently - the duckpond is 10cm thick with ice and the ground has been frozen solid for a couple of weeks. The local foxes have obviously been having a hard time of it too, and with 4 fox-free years of poultry keeping we have been getting complacent.I saw a fox just outside our back door a couple of days ago, sniffing around where we had recently slaughtered a couple of lambs. Pete had buried the remains of the said lambs (heads and skins) in the woodland on our land and yesterday we discovered a large empty pit was all that remained. Also yesterday, one of our Indian runner ducks went AWOL, presumably eaten by a fox.Today, I went out to fed the chickens and ducks and saw a large fox eating another of the chickens, with two more chickens missing. So I'm afraid we have set the fox trap (humane - its a box with a drop-flap) in the woods, baited with the remains of a dead, half eaten, chicken. I don't really have much hope of trapping the fox, as they are too clever for that, but one has to try something. The remaining chooks & ducks have been corralled into the old hangar area, so will no longer be free to wander up into the woods.....

On a happier note; we have started work again in the house - for the first time in nearly 4 years. We have finished the 'pelmet' round the kitchen area. The outside is plasterboard, with a wooden moulding surround, which has been finished using liming wax.
'inside' the kitchen we have used tongue and groove, again finished with liming wax. Gives us a shelf for the jars of dry goods (sugar, pulses, rice etc) and serves to differentiate the kitchen area from the rest of the house.
Future plans include hiding the hood over the stove with a similar construction, then getting on with tongue-and-grooving the rest of the ceiling, using liming wax throughout to keep it light. After THAT lot is done, we will lay the reclaimed oak parquet on the floor of the main house. Should keep us occupied for this year...

New Year 2009 photos

Here are some of the photos that I take on each new years day, so we can keep track of what has changed from year to year. Probably only remotely interesting if you have been over here!

Below is the newly redecorated office - we rarely live anywhere long enough to redecorate a room, but I knew as soon as I had finished the previous yellow paintwork that it was not going to stay that way too long.
We have started the pelmet-thaing we had always planned to do around the kitchen. Here is the basic frame, now plaster-boarded in. I will post photos when it is finished (soon, I hope)
Outside, the sheep have a tidier enclosure under the hangar, with a gate, so the vet doesnt have to vault the wire fence (she's a bit short and found it somewhat awkward!)
The area I used for nursery beds when transporting plants out here has been cleared out a bit more, but the grass hasn't had time to cover the bare patches yet. That christmas tree is getting big now!
This is the filter bed with our little (polythene-covered) greenhouse, which went up in the spring.
The hangar, with some of our firewood store:
The new fencing round the field:
More fencing, plus the fruit cage:
The shrub bed behind the hangar:
fencing round the bottom field:
The next two pictures are of the (becoming) wooded area to the east side of the land, that we call Pixel's wood. The hole in the right bank is where we have discovered a large quantity of lovely compost/soil (what we suspect was the compost heap/dump/midden when the house had no plumbing). The soil is fabulous and most will go in the yet-to-be-set-up polytunnel.
This is the newly-laid hawthorn hedge round the orchard - the far side has yet to be laid, but the weather is too frosty to do it now.
Cant take pictures of the gîte, which we finished about June, as we have some long-term tenants in there at the moment. Will post some when it is available again - June this year. It is great not to have to pay to heat an empty building over the winter!

cats and christmas

Despite Rupert still being scared stiff of Gertie, Milly plays with her quite often now. Gertie finds a tail hanging over the edge of a chair more than mortal cat can bear, and takes a swipe. This usually results in a game of mutual biffing with Gertie usually getting mere than she gives, but it keeps her in her place!
This is the teaching room decked out for christmas dinner. I have been looking forward to an excuse to decorate it properly and we had fun fixing up all the greenery. Got to get it down now! Some of our friends came round on christmas day, and we shared the cooking between us. Started eating about four in the afternoon and finally left off about eleven o'clock. Rhett had devised a quiz about different countries and their national anthems/ currency/ which-side-of-the-road-driving habits etc - which was more hilarious than it sounds.... Definitely a good day was had by all.

chants de marin - second birthday

Thursday night was the 2nd anniversary of the Chants de Marin session we go to every month. The venue changes, with every second month at a different place or boat, and the months in between in a bar - les Mouettes - in the Port de Legué at St Brieuc, which is where it was on thursday...
Here are Etienne Miossec and Etienne Delahousse, two thirds of the group Fortunes de Mer who organise the sessions Hervé Guillimer (below) is well known in Brittany as a songwriter and performer, pictured here with Hélène, his partner, who comes from Quebec.
Hélène is obviously singing a proposition to Fanche le Marrec from Morlaix.Hervé on the whistle...
These next pictures are of Edwige Demory and Pierre-Jean Salaün who are two thirds of De Ouip en Ouap. Note the fantastic trompe l'oeil painted on the wall behind them and the birthday candles on chunks of chocolate cake that were doing the rounds all evening. Odile is Etienne Miossec's other half, and she usually takes the photos that appear on the Fortunes de Mer website. Below her is Françoise Delahousse, who is Etienne's wife (see above). Françoise usually sings songs in Breton, and is much in demand. This is Magalie, who runs a dance group in St Brieuc and who has a great voice when she is brave enough to sing in public (which is not often enough) Last, but not least, these pictures are of les 'Oufs' a band from Pontrieux, where the January session will be held, at their local bar. There are more than three of them, in fact there are loads of them, but they were scattered about the room - it was standing room only...
Definitely a good night out, and I was just a bit hoarse and groggy the next morning when I got to work. If anyone is interested in coming along, the sessions are the third tuesday of the month - just send me a message and I will ask Etienne to put you on the mailing list....