Harvest to come, Garden Flowers and St Michel en Grèves

It was much cooler this morning, and couldn't make up its mind whether to be sunny or chuck down a heavy shower.

The sunflowers coming up past my sitting room window are now in full bud and almost ready to unfurl their petals.  The plants are not going to win prizes for height, but already reach above my head.  I think they're going to need some vine eyes screwed into the wall to allow a string to support the stems against the wind.

The hot weather we've been having recently, interspersed with occasional heavy showers has meant that the vines are growing really fast and the tiny little pip sized grapes are now swelling up and it looks as if they'll be a good harvest this year.

Another good harvest will be blackberries in a couple of months when they've swelled with juice and turned to a deep purple.  My neighbour who abandoned his house and garden nearly two years ago has brambles everywhere and they are also all along the lanes around here.  Looks like the freezer will be full this year.

My worker worked hard yesterday and dug out the messy ground where I park the car.  There was a lot of mud there which had caused me to slip on more than one occasion after it had been raining.  The area was then lined with weed suppressing membrane and covered with shingle.  Looks much better than before.

This is one of the roses on the driveway

and here is another - I love them.

Although the cats have plenty of water to drink in the house, alongside their food dish, they always seem to prefer drinking out of puddles or, in this case, the pond.

and talking of cats, these are a few flowers hidden under leaves next to the catdoor.

and these mixed up flowers are under the kitchen window.

and this clematis growing to the left of the kitchen window.

This afternoon I drove to Plestin les Grèves on the north coast to see a French woman who has already had the same bypass operation that I'm going to have, at the same hospital with the same surgeon.  She was lovely.  She has done really well and lost 64 kg/141lbs/10st1lb.  She was very confident and told me everything I had wanted to know.  We'll keep in touch.

On the way I stopped at St Michel en Grèves.  The wind was blowing so strongly off the sea that it was really hard to hold the camera steady, even leaning against a post.

As I drove out towards Plestin les Grèves, I came across this house on the side of the road and had to stop.  I will try to find out more about why it is decorated like this.

Three things I like:

1.   Hearing the rain on the landing window.
2.   Eating the chocolate brownie I bought on the way home.
3.  My new photocard system - switch camera on and photographs simply transfer to my laptop.

Bon Repos Market and Wimbledon Mens' Final

Another super weather day here in St André.  I woke early and listened to the Archers programme I missed yesterday.  Then I fed the cats, rabbits and chicks before going up to the field to do the same for the hens, ducks, chickens, chicks and goats up there.  I had been meaning to check the end of the veggie plot to see if there were any courgettes.  I was apparently late doing this, as there were two which had turned into marrows.

 

From now on in, I spend my days giving away courgettes.  As I was off to lunch with friends I could get rid of these first two straightaway.  Don’t get me wrong, I love courgettes, but the plants produce so many that I am always inundated with them.  The year before last, I bought a recipe book devoted entirely to courgettes, but it seems to have hidden itself somewhere impenetrable.

Drove over to Bon Repos, which was absolutely packed, as you can see from the full tables outside the café where we had lunch.

I had to take a photograph, but not close enough, of the French veggie stall seller, who looks exactly like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (celebrity good life, self-sufficiency/chef - for those out of the UK).

Spent the afternoon watching the mens’ Wimbledon Final between Nadal and Djokovic.  It was a beautiful afternoon outside here, 44 degrees in the shade at 17.20 hours. 

This photograph from The Guardian On-Line. 

Djokovic took the first two sets but then failed to win the third set.  However, in the fourth set  he broke Nadal’s service bringing the score to 5-3 and he only had to win one more game, his service game, to be Wimbledon Champion - and he did it!  Congratulations to Novak Djokovic! 

On a personal note, I am having hassle with my neck where the operation scar is located.  It is still swollen above the scar and as it presses on my collar bone is quite sore.  I'm supposed to massage the scar, but massaging against a bone is not something I want to do.  I may try to see the surgeon who did the operation while I am in hospital for the bypass as he is in the same building.

Three things I like:

1.   The excitement of the Wimbledon Final.

2.   Seeing blue sky and no clouds over my house.

3.   Smelling honeysuckle drifting on the breeze.