Autumn begins

It’s a little bit like leaving the birthday cards out when you leave the post about your birthday at the top for a few days, isn’t it?

We had a lovely weekend, I am now a fan of tiramisu. By the time we got back from taking Dom and J-M to the station on Sunday, Olivier had left too. So all that was left were the empty rooms and the washing.

I don’t know how it is where you come from, but all of a sudden the leaves have changed colour and are falling off the trees. It’s quite cold in the mornings, though still sunny during the day. I’ve had lots of big spiders to vacuum up before I go to bed.

This year we don’t seem to have seen so many insects. I think it’s got something to do with the hundreds of butterflies I saw last summer. The village was sprayed with something by a helicopter in the spring. I’ve seen a few butterflies but only really during the month of September. One stick insect, no praying mantises or ladybirds, very few bees, one queen wasp and a few wood lice. I was a bit silly, I sprayed the woodlice with insecticide, by an open window and couldn’t breathe properly myself for a few minutes. (now I know what it feels like). I hope that they come back next year –but not the woodlice.

Autumn

Last year at this time I was writing about the benefits of spreading dung on your field. This year I’ve come up with something a little more romantic. When Christian was 6 he had a poem to learn about autumn. It caught my imagination and I’ve often wondered what it was and who wrote it. This morning I Googled it. It was by a Belgian poet called Maurice Careme (1899-1978). He had been a teacher for some of his life and wrote many of his poems for children. In France you will find 5 schools named after him. Don’t worry – the poem is short and I’ve dared to translated it.

Autumn
Autumn in the corner of the woods,
Plays harmonica.
What fun for the leaves!
They waltz in the arms
Of the wind that carries them.
They say they are dead
But no one believes it.
Autumn in the corner of the woods,
Plays harmonica.

Maurice Careme

A busy Autumn

I think that I saw a Eurasian Jay this morning. He was on the wall across the road and strutted around while I fetched my book to look him up. Fortunately I had my glasses on or I wouldn’t have noticed he was special.

Yesterday I crushed a big grass hopper in the front door. We thought we’d thrown him out earlier, but it appears we hadn’t. Olivier told me he was cycling along one evening when one landed on his shoulder and was enjoying the ride. I should have told him it was Jiminy Cricket. Perhaps he should have listened to see if he would have given him some careers advice. I told Olivier (again) the story of the time I was hanging out the washing and felt something wriggling around inside my t-shirt…

A week ago I discovered a European House Centipede (Cute, aren’t they?) in the bathroom, he was very close to where I had hung up my hair washing towel. (Thank God he didn’t hide in there). Olivier came to the rescue with a shoe, leaving a few legs on the wall – oh well. Looking him up (the centipede not Olivier) I discovered that he is a goody and quite harmless. They run very fast when they get the chance to.

Here is a tip: Don’t crush cockroaches. When Dom was on the campus last year there were cockroaches, fortunately they didn’t reach the 4th floor. Students were asked not to crush them because that releases the eggs. The forth floor was also where Dom discovered that earwigs have wings.

Now, where was I?

I’m not sure where the time has gone this week but wherever it went, it went quickly. I’ve been very busy with the postcards as usual. Rob and I have been trying to get out for more and longer walks. Though it’s cold, the weather has been really sunny. I didn’t think the autumn colours would be so special this year but on the way back from La Rochelle this morning, there really was every shade of brown, red, orange and yellow imaginable.

It’s holiday time again here, so I have Olivier home and Dom is staying for a few days. Dom is still enjoying life in Poitiers and I got to wash her ‘psycho’ t-shirt. (goes with the association for psychiatric students).

This morning was my annual visit to the Swedish Chef. He was an hour behind with his appointments and really apologetic. Everything is well in that department and he sent off the usual tests to Bordeaux. He also told me that my breasts are the type which are at low risk for cancer. You see, there are advantages to having small ones!

November
‘If there’s ice in November that will bear a duck,
There’ll be nothing after, but sludge and muck’

Hope everyone remembered to put their clocks back an hour. It’s strange to have the evenings so dark so early. This week the schools are on holiday so they won’t really feel the full benefit of that extra hour in bed. they’ll be used to it by the time they go back to school next week. The weather here is still very mild, much too mild for the end of October, the news reports are full of people on the beach, some are even braving the sea!

Dom is home for her ‘pause pedagogique’ (not holiday); She’s got loads of work to do so I haven’t seen too much of her. She looks well so she isn’t starving to death or something dreadful in Poitiers. She’s dropping psychology next term and just doing philosophy. I don’t know what to make of that decision. As the new washer/dryer has been delayed a week I’m struggling to do her washing and get it dry.

Today is a holiday. The idea is that you visit the graves of your loved ones. Rob is working as quite a few people will be out visiting monuments instead.