Two years today and still writing

It hardly seems possible but, as of today, I have been blogging for two years.  I’ve enjoyed the last twenty-four months of writing about and photographing my village life and hope to carry on blogging for a long time yet.   Apart from sharing my little bit of France with others, it has been a way for me to remember things that happen day to day.

The small amount of snow we had has now disappeared leaving the ground even wetter than it was before – at least the weeds are easy to pull up.  My hens are laying well and I’m even getting duck eggs now and then.  The duck pond didn’t freeze over enough to stop the birds swimming, it’s really been very mild this year.  I have two garden trolleys on the terrace which are regularly refilled with logs and they mean I only have to walk a few metres to get logs in for the woodburner.  

The kittens seem to have enjoyed the change in the weather.  Here, on Wednesday, the chairs on the terrace are covered in snow.  On Saturday afternoon I sat out on the terrace in this chair reading my Book Club book in the sunshine and it was lovely

The rhubarb crowns are shooting well and in a couple of weeks I think I shall be able to have my first rhubarb crumble of the year.  There are also onion type leaves which have pushed up about 6”/15cm above the earth which must have self-seeded, but I’m not sure what sort they are.  I still have leeks in the ground and parsnips too.

We've had some new arrivals in the village.  One of my neighbours is a cattle trader and this week we have a very small calf and Mum amongst the others.

The calf is so lovely and very, very small.

This is part of a stream running through a neighbour's wood.  He has been busy cutting logs this year and the cut edges are really orange.

This is a horse chestnut bud on a tree on the shrubby bit of land in the village - promises of things to come. 

Raindrops hanging from the moss on the garden wall.

This morning my seeds for this month arrived from the Seed Club I belong to.  We never know what we're getting so it's always a good surprise.  I had thyme and leeks on my list of seeds to buy so that's two things I can cross off.  I shall try my hand at growing the watermelon and squash are always welcome. 

Today it was our monthly Book Club meeting.  We had just read Secrets of the Tides by Hannah Richell.  Well - truthfully - I was the only one who hadn't completed the book.  This was partly because I should have been recovering from my gastric bypass revision and wouldn't have been at Book Club until I cancelled the operation.   It had mixed reviews but I was enjoying it so I shall read to the end.

Our book for this coming month is Between a Mother and Her Child by Elizabeth Noble.  It's quite a long book, 468 pages, so I hope it's a good one.  It's always nice to catch up with the others in the group in the more informal bit at the end of the meeting.

My last photograph for this post is of the sunset from the end of the garden last evening.  The skies have been lovely this week and the days have been mostly dry here.

Three things I like:

1.   Coming back home this evening and finding the woodburner heating it so well.
2.   Finding a broody duck sitting on the hen eggs in the new henhouse.
3.   Getting veggie seeds in the post today - I always look forward to them arriving.