At last we have now battled the garden and won. (Except for the brambles from the neighbouring field, however armed with a lethal dose of something we found in the garage, we will overcome). Sounds like a battle field and yes thats what it felt like when we arrived, although the previous owner was a ‘keen’ gardener, she had things everywhere in the most inappropriate places and I think over the last two years the only gardening that been down was by the lawnmower man mowing the lawn. The garden is now under control although we still have a continuous bonfire, which Terry feels the need to keep topped up. We are now doing the extras for example pruning and cutting down unwanted bushes that have gone wild, we have discovered three fig trees full of fruit, probably will be ready in August, September, we have a very healthy grape vine full of grapes, not sure whether white or red, two cherry trees, badly treated by birds so no fruit this year, one apricot tree, a few fruit not many, three persimmon trees, full of fruit probably ready at the end the year, one prolific peach tree probably ready next month or August, a pear tree, about 40 healthy pears, two apple trees and a damson tree and three maids a milking (sorry couldn’t resist). Just outside the front gate and along the road leading to our house, there are masses of plum trees, golden and red ones, they are laden and have been ripening over the last week and will continue to do so for at least a month. Mum has made four big jars of plum jam, so far I am sure she will make more as she hates the thought of the plums being wasted!!!!! I have made a couple jars of plums in Armangac also two jars of prunes in Armangac, should be ready in October, when we return. Getting very domesticated I hear you saying, don’t hold your breath as there is still an element of novelty here!!!.
Now the garden is under control we have started exploring the local villages and found some very pretty ones, Forces, Condom, Vianne, Barbaste for example, most of them was almost like something out of film set. This area is full bastide villages, villages surrounded by walls generally from the 15th – 17th century, it is almost as though the 21st century has not touched the places, even the people are the same, one of the big complaints in country France is that a number of these villages have an ageing population and the young people are not particularly interested in sticking around.
We have also been ‘doing’ the brochants which are antique come second hand little shops, we have managed to find a very unusual one in another local Bastide village called Durance, the main reason it is unusual is because of the owners, she is quite odd, with white hair in a short bob with talonous (probably not a word but a good adjective to use) bright red nails and he looks like a younger version of my Uncle John, so much so, I feel I have a strong affinity with him, strange. Luckily he is a very nice man, I felt a bit sorry for him as we went there looking for an antique wardrobe and he took us upstairs in his house and showed us a couple, one was beautiful and made by a craftsman (artisan) but was too big and the other one rather small. Then he remembered another one in a bedroom off to the left, so by using a note pad we almost came to agreement with the price, until I asked him if the matching bed, bedside table and chair could be included, well he seemed quite excited about this prospect except he wanted to charge us extra for the brand new mattress, I say poor man, after I totally confused him we managed to get all the furniture including delivery plus just an extra 100 Euros for the new mattress. The main reason for the confusion is that he didnot want to part with the brand new mattress and he kept saying neuf, neuf which we thought was nine, so with the help of a dictionary (I carry around) neuf also meant new, so we agreed yes we definitely wanted the mattress and got the lot. It turns out that Uncle John (Andre) look a like and his wife Mortisha tried their hand at Chamber l’hotels (bed and breakfast) but found it was too much like work, when I say work I mean work and not hard work, as the French do not seem to have the concept of work in their lifestyle. I suppose it is more in the country, we are always surprised at the amount of MEN who are sitting around in cafes drinking coffee or playing petanque in the village squares at all time of the day .... who has got it right we ask!!!! Anyway Andre delivered the said furniture and spent a couple of hours here reassembling everything at no extra charge, what a nice man.
Talking of relaxing, this week Terry and I are going to visit the local spa at Casteljaloux, apparently it is a health resort with swimming, saunas, steam, massages, treatments etc, so should be interesting, we thought we should test run it for future guests.
To help with my French I offered to work in the kitchen of our local duck restaurant, I was there for about three hours yesterday, they were extremely friendly and helpful. I gather that they were impressed that I would make this effort and was allocated the daughter Claire ( who lived in UK for 18mths) as my coach, we decided we would only speak in French (sometimes a bit difficult so had to check in English if I was understanding the conversation) sort of went like this – “Claire did you just say .......................................?” and she would answer oui or alternatively I would say “Claire did you just say ...................................?” her response would be quite blank and her expression would instantly tell me I was totally on the wrong planet or barking mad. So this has shaken my confidence a bit as quite naturally I can understand more than I can speak the language (or thought I did) and quite often I would be nodding my head quite knowingly and acknowledging the conversation as we do, now I am a bit worried of what I am nodding my head to and maybe explains some of the surprised expressions I have been noticing!! Who cares total immersion seems to be the best way to learn a language and working in a French kitchen does that for one!!!! I thought I might pick up some French culinary skills but less said about that the better, probably not a conversation that should be published on a blog.
Whilst in the greenhouse yesterday, Terry noticed some movement to the left of his periphery vision and low and behold a 6 foot pencil thin snake slithered out of the greenhouse into the bush surrounding the property, that was a surprise I can tell you and one that we did not expect in the French countryside, although we have seen a couple of very long worms, one could have been termed as a snake as it was a foot long and thicker than a pencil but was definitely a worm.
We are really enjoying the tranquille lifestyle here and other than the horses next door and the toads in the pond talking to each other it is very quiet here, there is nothing better than just sitting or laying in the sunlounger with a good book and just listen to the silence or the sounds of nature, as Terry often says “our piece of paradise”.
Carol and Helene at Warpole
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