The first lamb of 2013 – born with the new moon overnight Sunday 10th February The lake at danger levels after the winter...
The weather is decidedly beyond the pale as a subject for discussion, even so far so sunny this Monday. Were it a child, one would confine it to the naughty step for days. So that is enough of that for this week at least. Last Thursday evening I went down to Tocane...
The weather gods are still fighting over La Chaise. January has always had two faces. The Blue Faced Hag has, possibly temporarily, given way to the various gods of winds and rain. Temperatures in the last ten days went into double figures and, not liking the...
The gods, the weather gods are angry with us! Never should I have mentioned the mildness of this year’s beginning. The Blue-Faced Hag, ‘Cailleach Bheur’ the Celtic goddess of winter, woke up, dumped some 10 cm of snow on La Chaise, its fields and...
Weather-wise, the first days of the year have not been too bad. The temperatures have been reasonable, the rain moderate – with a few exceptional days when it managed to get in under the roof tiles. The main feature of this past fortnight has been the mildness of...
Christmas at La Chaise was mild chaos. We managed to sit out on the terrace in bright sun for pre-lunch drinks twice. The temperature was in double figures, low but double nevertheless. The Rayburn behaved itself, even getting a little too hot at times. But the...
Our annus horribilis is proceeding to its close, perhaps earlier than expected if the ancient Mayans did their maths right, but probably not without a nasty surprise or two. To start with, the ‘fridge to the left of the Rayburn is making strange noises. The...
On our way back to La Chaise, we decided to go off the motorway near Figueras (just a few kilometres on the Spanish side of the border) to look for a very famous vineyard in that region. Mistake, big mistake. Not only was the vineyard not where the wine merchant,...
This last ten days I have taken leave of absence from La Chaise. Of course, as a control freak, I could not go without leaving many, many written instructions. I don’t know why I bother to bother my little blonde head with these instructions. Arnold knows...
Drama in Perigueux’s courtroom! A woodland proprietor was claiming damages, with interest, from her neighbour who had carelessly allowed his bonfire to damage her trees. Claim: her financial loss was otherwise irreparable. (Yes, the price of wood has recently... 
