A collective sigh of relief rose up in the Dordogne over the last ten days – the cèpes had come after all! Prolonged cold, wet weather had worked on everyone’s spirits. Doom mongers predicted that if no warm weather came soon, there would be no cèpes. ...
A collective sigh of relief rose up in the Dordogne over the last ten days – the cèpes had come after all! Prolonged cold, wet weather had worked on everyone’s spirits. Doom mongers predicted that if no warm weather came soon, there would be no cèpes. ...
There was a time when I was afraid of dogs; even now I am not a fan of Alsatians. Once I was dubious about sheep but soon noticed that I was taller than they were. I am still far from enthusiastic about cows and decidedly afraid of horses that are not safely the...
People are so ungrateful: the weather got so hot we could barely breathe and spent a lot of time moving fans from A to B or floating in the pool. Then (of course) the weather broke with attendant thunder, lightning and a brief but hard downpour. The gods laughed and...
Chickens are back at La Chaise! There are four hens and a cock, two young black hens, a slightly larger cockerel and two red ‘granny’ hens to keep everyone in order. Also to lay eggs. I don’t know how long it is since we have had hens, perhaps not...
The three A’s have had a hard time of it at La Chaise these last few days – and so have the lambs. It was ear-tag time which is no fun for lambs or people. We always leave it to the very last possible moment for Clun lambs, being skittish, are likely to tear...
The gods expressed their extreme displeasure the night of the afternoon that I delivered little black kitten to the animal shelter. Rain, hail, thunder and lightning were thrown at the Dordogne, not at La Chaise particularly – but it felt like it. We sat (safely) on...
Two days ago a black kitten came to La Chaise, walked in off the road and said – in kitten speak – I think I shall live here. That is: it allowed itself to be picked up and stroked, made little near-purring noises, accepted some cat croquettes, even put up with...
As irony would have it, rain ceased in the Dordogne the day we arrived home from Spain. And when I say ‘ceased’ I mean just stopped, went away, gradually became a distant memory. Temperatures have soared, we are in the thirties centigrade. Thunderstorms...
There is a saying locally – or perhaps I invented it – that one artisan makes work for another. For example: our roof tilers had the misfortune to have one ridge of the hip roof completely disintegrate. A rush of tiles and poor quality, aged cement hit the ground as... 
