Taking care of the bees

 This post also appears on my Facebook page:

Last year our Japanese pagoda tree flowered for the first time and was alive with bees, bumble bees, different types of wasps and other insects.  I did put out a bowl of water which mainly attracted the local wasps.  This morning, on Facebook, I saw a photo of a bowl of water and marbles put out for bees (sorry, I don’t remember where).  The idea is that the bees can drink standing on the marbles and are less likely to fall in and drown.  I seem to remember being told long ago that bees like shiny things, so in theory they will be drawn to the bowl of shiny marbles.

After doing a little research online I’ve learnt that the water should be changed regularly to prevent mosquitoes from breeding there.  Don’t add sugar or honey to the water, not good for the bees.

The best laid plans...

Don’t always come off as they should. Rob came home from work with a nasty cough one day just before Christmas. By Christmas Eve we both had dreadful colds and felt quite ill. We managed to have a traditional Christmas dinner but didn’t feel much like eating and we forgot to finish opening the presents! Fortunately, Santa brought us some interesting DVDs, which we sort of watched/slept through.

Three weeks later we still have bouts of coughing. We were looking forward to Christmas in our new home so much. I took down the tree today, always a little sad, but the sun is shining and the evenings are slowly drawing out again. There are some little sprouts showing on the lawn, could they be the crocus bulbs I planted or a surprise left by the previous owners?

Moving on

We moved house on my birthday in September. We were sad to leave the village where we had been living for the last 7 years, but it was time to move on. The stairs were more and more difficult for me.
We have changed village, department and region as we now live in the Vendée department.

A new garden

Christian helped us with the decorating, he is a slave driver, but has such a good eye and lots of ideas. After cleaning up and decorating the new house, packing up to move and cleaning up the old house I was exhausted. I lost a bit of weight too The new house is not your typical house, I call it quirky. There are some steps and stairs but they are in small groups and not as deep, so I manage them quite easily.

The bathroom needed a change of colour! 

That's better.

Kitchen now comes with matching husband

I'm really pleased with what Christian helped us to do with the mezzanine, which doubles as a spare bedroom

Cosy living room

The corridor is wide enough to take a sofa bed.  This is now the grand-children's area with games and books (for when they are old enough).  It's really cosy and I like to snuggle up there with a book myself.

 We have a slightly bigger garden and a terrace facing south which is closed in on 3 sides so we have plenty of privacy. I have a cherry tree and a fig tree. Our new village is lovely, although very different. We are close to two rivers and canals and on a slope which used to be a vineyard. There is a vine in the garden so I’ve been reading up on how to prune it properly. We’ve been told that the grapes aren’t very good to eat, so who knows, we might make some wine!

Visiting Monet's garden

Even in the rain the garden is beautiful!  It really is a lovely place to visit, unfortunately the rest of the world thinks so too.  There really were a lot of people. The village of Giverny is very beautiful and interesting to look around.  I'd like to go back at other times of the year just to see the different flowers

Violets and a special cat

Yet another month goes by without me posting anything here. It seems to have been an ongoing theme here for a while.

Olivier is still in Prague – I think that all is well with him. He’s sent me pictures of impressive views, An Ice Hockey match and a ski slope. Oh yes; and he visited the British Embassy. He’s a real networker, I have a picture of him with the ex minister of education from a couple of years ago.

This week we’ve had some real spring sunshine. I spent around 45 minutes in the garden this afternoon, weeding. Everything is growing at a fast rate now, the birds are singing, it is lovely. We go for a walk when Rob arrives home in the evening and it is still light when we get back!

These violets appeared in February and now the lawn is sprinkled with them too. 

This ball of fluff is the cat that lives at a local café. He/she appeared there a year or so ago, thin and bedraggled and in need of a good home. Guess who always bags the best seat in the warm sunshine!

A bossy bird

The cherry tree in the garden of the Mairie (town hall) next door is easily visible over the wall as I hang out the washing. For the last month there has been a Great Tit in the tree declaring himself to the world. I can easily see him as the leaves are still buds and the branches are visible.

 A couple of weeks ago I was clipping the top of the hedge and the GT appeared to be advising me how to do it. I was definitely doing it wrong as he was very vocal – telling everyone who took time to listen.

 A few days after that, I was making a fuss of Tigger who paid a visit and was sunning herself on the garden table – which I imagine was warmed by the sun. I won’t say we were attacked, but there was a very angry visitor who flew past in a huff and made me (and Tigger ) jump. Was GT jealous of the attention I was giving to the cat, or was he trying to warn me of possible danger from the cat?

This week GT is far too busy flying around with his lady friend to bother with a mere human like me.

Bumblebee update

Unfortunately I found this lying on the grass this morning:

I don't think that the cats would have done this.  I haven't seen any cats in the garden since the nest appeared as it's close to where they come in and out.  Looking online I have discovered that badgers enjoy a bit on honey and sometimes foxes.  I don't think that there are many foxes around here and badgers?  I've never heard talk of them.  I'll have to grab a passing farmer and ask them if there are badgers locally.

The gate into the garden is locked at night so I don't think a human would have done this.  Good news is that the bees are still going to and fro so there is some of the hidden nest left.

Sage from the garden

I'm pleased to say that when I cut it I was accompanied by more bees that I've seen for a long time.

January wraps up

I was hoping to write more posts this year. This January has one post less than last year.

MIL is in hospital again. She fell and broke her arm just over a week ago. We’ll just have to wait and see how she heals.

Dom and J-M have both had flu. Dom couldn’t speak to me when I phoned her yesterday – no voice. Rob and I had our flu vaccinations in November. Apparently this year it’s only 25% effective against this year’s flu.

I’m really starting to enjoy Facebook. There is always something going on.  

The buds on the trees are starting to become noticeable, a sure sign that spring is on its way. Time to start thinking about getting into the garden to tidy up.

Gardening question and a busy week coming up

A question for gardening experts: At the beginning of October I bought some Anemone bulbs and planted half of them in the garden. The remainder went in half way through the month. This week I have observed that they are already growing. Is this normal or has the mild weather woken them up too early? I was so looking forward to seeing the flowers in the spring.

Next week is going to be a busy one. On Thursday Dom will be presenting her Thesis. We’ll be going to Poitiers to watch and also visit their house. We haven’t visited since we helped them to move in just over a year ago. Hopefully on Friday we’re off to an auction in Bordeaux. It’s been 18 months since we were there last time. Hopefully the weather will be kind to us on our travels.

Talking of weather; it is still very mild and sunny. The news reports are still full of people swimming in the sea and dining out of doors. We are threatened with huge drops in temperatures within the next few days.

Oh, and Olivier will be home for a few days next weekend

There and back again

I haven’t been blogging or visiting blogs much these past two weeks as we went for a week in the UK. It was our first visit home for 8 years. We flew to and came back from East Midland’s airport. It only took around one and a half hours. We tried out acupuncture bracelets for travel sickness; we highly recommend them. I also put in ear plugs as I really suffered with pain as the air pressure changed last time we flew. I put them in for takeoff and landing and I had no problems whatsoever!

 We stayed for a couple of nights with our eldest son C and J. It’s 10 years since C moved to the UK. It’s quite strange being looked after by your children. We were taken out for two lovely meals and treated to homemade Paella too. I don’t know how I only managed to put on 1 kilo. They also put us up for the night before we left.

We hired a car and headed for Rob’s mother’s house and stayed with her for the middle part of our visit. She’s 90 now and we hadn’t seen her for a few years. She looks surprisingly well and gets around very slowly using a frame and various bars around the house. We took her out for a walk in her wheelchair and did simple things like eating fish and chips which we all enjoyed. I visited my mum and went to see my sister in her ‘new’ house at long last.

While I was cooking something tempting for MIL I spilt boiling water on my hand, which I put under the cold tap straight away. MIL told me to break off a piece of her Aloe Vera plant and apply the gel to the burn. I had no pain, swelling or redness. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself; I’m going to get myself a plant!

It was strange being home again. The spring is advanced by a couple of weeks here. Though we had sunny weather in the UK, we came home to good weather had two very hot days. Yesterday and today have been quite cold, cold enough to consider putting the heating on again. There was some sunshine in the middle of the day. I didn’t a bit of gardening and planted lettuce, parsley and rocket seeds as well as a Cosmos mixture and some sunflower seeds. When I finished the rain kindly watered them – how organized is that?

Sunflower progress

I planted two varieties of sunflowers. When they’ve dried out I’ll probably hang them from a tree so that the birds can get at them without being interrupted by the local cats

Taller than the front door! 

It’s called Friday 13th

The end of last week was a particularly bad one here. The Maritime Museum caught fire in town. The museum is/was in a ship which had just been renovated at an enormous cost ready for the season; an electrical fault.

 The weather on Friday itself was very wet, windy and cold. The music festival that the town was holding over five nights was delayed for that evening, and then cancelled. Olivier had a job for the five days and nights of the festival on a food stand. This involved us collecting him from town around four o’clock every morning. Fortunately Rob was on holiday for four of the days, but we still found it very tiring. We did have an early night on the evening that was cancelled – if you call 2 am early.

This year I have been growing some sunflowers and they were doing very well, especially the one that was taller than me. The wind blew it over. I put the top in water but after a couple of days it was obvious that it was dying.

Here is one in the fields

Mystery plant

What is this plant called? Do you know of it?

I thought I’d lost it when it shriveled up and died last year. It’s come back and flowering later this year due to the colder weather.

Son and daughter

I haven’t written much recently as I’ve been busy. Olivier and washing came home for a few days. He’s fine, but I think he’s lost weight. His job at KFC keeps him on the move as well as his studies. He says he doesn’t always have time for lunch. I think he should try getting up a little earlier…

Dom and J-M came for the weekend last weekend. It’s always a pleasure to see them. Dom made Brownies and they were delicious, of course. She’s waiting to see if her paper will be published. We went to our favourite Charity shop Emmaüs and I bought lots of books in English.

We’ve had lovely weather after a week of snow and very cold temperatures in February. Tomorrow I’m going to try to get out in the garden and plant some seeds. I garden mainly on my knees and on Friday we’re starting the injections of gel into my right knee, so I must get some done before that.


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January 5th 2012

Rob took this picture this afternoon, just before we went for a very windy walk. It's a hollyhock from last summer which is still flowering!  I'm writing this before going to bed, the temperature outside is 18°C = 64.4°F.  Like the title of this post says, it is January 5th.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

Monday
While doing my weekly shop at the supermarket I was amazed to hear that they’d tapped into all of my favourite tunes on my computer: Bob Dylan, Tracey Chapman, Peter Gabriel, George Harrison… it was all very strange because they usually have the radio on which is useless - or perhaps I imagined it?

The afternoon found us trying to sort out my Social Security. I seem to have been taken off the list somewhere. It’s very complicated in France and I’ve been having problems for 3 years now, since I set up in business. We were amazed to see that all of our letters were scanned and on the computer so that whoever is unfortunate enough to get landed my case can see what went on. At least my blood tests have been paid for so I’m still in there somewhere…

Tuesday
Christian started his new job at head office on Monday. Apparently he talked and drank coffee all day which he found very boring. He’s used to being rushed off his feet all day and missing out on lunch. He’ll be moving into a house he’s renting with a friend on Friday and his birthday is on Sunday (23 already).

My pupil whose daughter is adopting a little girl from Haiti looked much more relaxed. The plane with the orphans arrived at midday, just before her lesson with me. They were really worried that the children would be trapped there because of all the problems with kidnapping. This adoption had been set up a long time before the earthquake.

I went for my usual leg treatment and just missed the bus by a few seconds so I had to wait in town for the next bus; another afternoon gone..

Wednesday
I got out into the garden; pruned the roses right back and cut away the dead ivy. There is a nest cradled in the branches of the ivy, so I was careful not to disturb it. I’ve got so much to do in the garden, it’s a real jungle, but I didn’t see any lions and tigers.

Rob got home at around 6 and it was light enough to go for a walk to the sea, it made a lovely change. We saw and heard blue tits calling to each other We know that spring is on the way when we can go for a walk in the early evening.

A couple of pictures of my butterflies – only you can’t see them. The flowers look good though, don’t they? The blossom and the rose petals have all gone with the wind.
Rob took the pictures

A good weekend

This has been a strange weekend altogether. Olivier went off to Nantes on Friday evening for the weekend to visit a friend who is at university there. I made spinach tart for lunch yesterday and chicken and bean casserole in the evening and there was no one to complain! I lay awake for a while during the night wondering if he’d been beaten up and thrown into or perhaps fallen into the River Loire in a drunken state.

The weather has been magnificent, 25°C yesterday and no wind. This afternoon I went out and cleaned out the gutters which was easy as the leaves were dry and just needed brushing out. I don’t mind going up a ladder but I don’t like coming down. Managed to get my foot tangled up in some rosemary on the way down once, but I only panicked a little bit.

I think I’ve seen more butterflies this weekend than I have all summer. Yesterday two gendarmes were mating on the kitchen windowsill. They are very quick and both run off in opposite directions afterwards. Once out in the garden I did a little tidying up cutting and pruning, I’d forgotten to look out for these (don’t look if you don’t like spiders). They weave magnificent webs and have very plump bodies. Fortunately, I didn’t find one in my hair.

Hollyhocks!

Because of the wet spring this year there have been lots of flowers. My clematises (clementi?)seemed to flower and flower for ages. The roses have been abundant, despite my laziness in pruning. This year is a bumper year for hollyhocks in Charente Maritime, the department where I live. We’re famous for our postcards of little houses on Ré island with green or blue shutters and tall hollyhocks decorating the walls – this year the hollyhocks are as high as the roof in some cases, the local paper devoted a colour double-page spread to them.

I’ll leave you to browse the pictures I found on Google. It seems we have ‘hollyhock’ cookies too! ( They contain hollyhock petals and the cook also makes honeysuckle cookies.)