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... 
