1st Met up with Muriel in St Georges this morning to walk the dogs together and have coffee. While I was there I dropped a coat off for dry cleaning and in response to her phone call, passed by Annette’s on the way home where she gave me a tray of lovely ripe purple figs from her tree. Home by noon to await the electrician who is coming to install the heated towel rail.
5th Had a lovely evening out on the terrace with Anna and her daughter Salome. We ate a Thai stir fry with prawns and chili. Entertaining is going to be so much more difficult as the weather cools.
This morning I harvested and preserved 2L of figs collected from tress overhanging the pavement on our morning walk. 2L is as much as I can fit into my largest induction compatible pot. There is a horde awaiting harvest down the road but I will have to do it in batches!
6th. A fledgling flew into my glass door this morning and I managed to get to it before Cassidy with a tea towel and popped it in a fork in the Olive Tree is the morning sun to recover. The best result was that a couple of hours later it had recovered enough to fly off.
13th Cassidy and I took a lovely walk into and around the village early this morning. Meschers is still dressed for summer
with bathing beauties in the fountain in front of the Town Hall and lights and bunting in the main street
miniture bathing huts in the park and the Sunday market
delightful old stone buildings and the lovely Romanesque Church.
14th. Cassidy and I went for a long early walk to the beaches of Meschers. We were home before 11am, today is scheduled to be even hotter than yesterday.
Meschers, unlike St Georges, has a number of smaller beaches held in the arms of the rocky coves beneath the cliffs. I have not started exploring them yet. Cassidy is not allowed on the beaches before 1st October. I think they will be more interesting.
You can see a window in the photo above, left. There are many caves in the cliffs some of which are now museums, having been inhabited till well into the last century.
The estuary here is 5klms across but on a good clear day you can see the port of Verdun on the opposite bank.
18th This weekend marks the Fêtê de voisins which is usually celebrated in all communes with tables in the street and all the neighbors bringing there own food and drink. It is no surprise that these are not happening this year but Martine, across the road invited the people from the houses in the development that are finished to celebrate in her garden. Off the ten of us there was one couple, one child and 7 single women – YES!!! The makings of a really good mutual support group.
20th Took a 20k cycle ride along the coast, heading south up the estuary. Past Port Maran with its caralets and on to the vineyards at Haute Talmond
From there I decided to explore a cycle path along a drainage canal that I had previously noted in passing. I came across something that I thought must be a bird hide by some open water, with unidentified waterfowl bobbing on the surface, but which on closer inspection I thought might be an old military installation due to the stenciled numbers on the locked door (with facilities!)
However all was revealed when it turned out that super cool and unfazed by my presence waterfowl turned out to be decoys!
22nd. My greenhouse in kit form was delivered today but missing the galvanised steel base. It was one of the more expensive options available and I chose it on the strength of the base so I’ll have to get in touch with them and sort this out.
As I had to stay in to await the delivery I decided to cook up a double batch of biscotti
When I was discussing them with my neighbor and saying that I usually double up on the recipe because it is such a mission to cook them three times she said “Oh no you only cook them twice, hence “Bis – cuit”” I had not realised that Biscuit was a French word but I guess it should be obvious – bis = twice. cuit = cooked! You learn something new every day.
I also harvested my one and only butternut and dug up the 3m long vine that extended along the length of the row of pots. I wont try and grow them again. Too much space and effort for too little reward.
24th I managed to find two more of the concrete stabilizers for the large garden umbrella on line and they were delivered today just in time to 60kph winds that are forecasts for tomorrow! In addition the fitter was here today to install the doors to the wardrobes. They finish the bedroom off nicely.
27th Went for a nice walk this afternoon with Monique from down the road. We walked along the cliff tops between the estuary and the vineyards so I could check on the vine leaves and see if they had started to change colour. They had not, in fact the red ones were still full of grapes.
We took the small road back towards Talmond, a route that I have not taken before, and discovered a large Lavoir and a small castle which is undergoing repairs. Shades of “Escape to the Chateau” (English TV program about Brits buying French Chateau, doing them up and starting B & B or other businesses)
capetocarpe 