Mailhos was in full spring bloom within days of our arrival.
Following artic temperatures just days before, we have just spent our first week caked in sun block and shaded by sunhats under a glorious sunshine with far warmer températures than what we’ve experienced on our 9 months of roving. I arrived with sciatica pain streaking from my bum to ankle and Jean Francois with a banjaxed left knee and a historically dodgy ankle, worn even more by an excess of concrete pavements and too many long haul flights with minimun leg room. Our hopes for beginning to get the garden into shape were pretty low but in four days we’ve managed more than imagined.
The garden is such a silly mess. I have 700m2
of beds of what was once a healthy, dark and couscous like soil now covered in
an impossible layer of ground ivy and couch grass. Every dandelion I meet is a
godsend in comparison to the the thick layers of intricate roots that have to be gouged out by hand from an already beaten soil that has withstood 3 months of
constant downpours from November through to recently and was not protected by a green cover crop before our bizarre departure in May.
Jean Francois airs the soil with the
grelinette while I follow on my hands and knees armed with a kitchen
knife tearing out as many of
those bloody roots as possible.
before |
et after |
Vines, hortensia and wisteria have been pruned and rasberries tamed.
Cranes are migrating north from the south
filling the skies with their elaborate and noisy calls...
and wasps are trying against all odds to build a new home in my dusted out greenhouse.
and wasps are trying against all odds to build a new home in my dusted out greenhouse.
before |
et apres |
The plumber has passed to repair all frost damaged pipes. The carpenter came to be paid. The painter came to be paid. Work is starting on making my kitchen a little bigger and a little more practical.
In all our time away, its only my chicken family who
have really suffered. 18 of them were shared out among 3 different
friends. So far rooster Blue and Aurore have dissapeared with the fox . Blind fish got squashed by a hoof of a
horse and my dearest Honeybee has flown away to hide after being frightened by
a rabid and nasty neighbour’s dog. She’s been gone for a week today and
although someone saw a golden chicken walking alone on the Rivehaute road, Thursday at
10am there has been no sighting since despite our combing the area and posting reward-promising posters. Farmers here look at you agape when you enquire about a lost (and loved) chicken…
Welcome home.... :)
ReplyDeleteI hate the idea of blogs (and the sound of the word) and never thought I would read one with pleasure.
ReplyDeleteBut this one I do.
realistic tales of the good life, and lovely pictures too! thank you.
David
Enfin le retour du feuilleton Mailhos! Depuis des mois qu'on l'attendait... Merci Carol, merci Jean-François - et longue vie aux poulettes!
ReplyDelete..that is worth repeating...Merci Carol, merci Jean Francois - et longue vie aux poulettes!! xo, Marie
ReplyDeleteHow lovely to see you back.
ReplyDeleteI love this picture of the lost chicken. I hope you find honeybee.
ReplyDeleteNice post.
ReplyDelete