Cricket, Chairs, Chickens and Charlie

Sunday was cricket day in Brittany.  There was a match between Central Brittany Cricket Club (CBCC) and Club Cricket de l'Oust.  It was a beautiful day in St Mayeux , about twenty minutes from my home, but in spite of the clear blue skies and sunshine there was a bitterly cold wind for the first couple of hours, so much so that I had my fleece and fleece scarf pulled up around my ears. 

Once CBCC had got the visitors out at 223 for 9, the wind disappeared.  I dragged my chair round to the opposite side of the field from the other spectators, so I could see the score board and enjoy the heat while I watched CBCC lose, unfortunately, to Club Cicket de l'Oust. 

It was ages since I went to a match and I thoroughly enjoyed my day, enhanced by the sunshine.  There was a large boundary hedge of Leylandii trees which kept gobbling up the ball and long intervals of searching were necessary.  Six hours of enjoyment - lovely day.

My chair tried to collapse under me, one of those folding chairs which I carry everywhere, and a fastening had escaped from its hole, but it managed to support me for the last hour of the match. Happily, today, a friend managed to mend it with a split pin and it's holding my weight beautifully again.

There was a kerfuffle up at the field on Thursday morning.  We could hear a lot of chicken noise while down at the house and quickly drove up in case it was a fox.  It was not a fox. What we found was this - no wonder the hen concerned was making such a noise!

She'd laid the egg on the left.  When I got it back to the house I put it with a normal sized chicken egg and a small duck egg - also a pound coin.  It was a truly large egg.  I think I have decided not to crack the shells on these very large eggs which are laid.  I'm going to try and blow them so I can decorate them.  The insides of the eggs can be used as an omelette or scrambled - I shan't waste them. 

We did this during Easter 2000 when we stayed with Dutch friends in Waddinxveen.  Once decorated they were hung on contorted willow branches which were arranged in a vase - a tradition in Holland.

Friday saw one of the chickens, a Maran, scuffling around in my polytunnel - I was not amused. She had also dust bathed in the outside veggie beds and not in just one place. Something had to be done. When I finally caught up with her near the goat gate, she flew up and rested on the top wooden bar before drifting down to the straw outside the barn door. Saturday and Sunday I had a great deal of trouble actually trying to get her in at all after Andy had clipped one of her wings to stop her flying out. So Monday was the day for sorting the situation out. We decided on adding 30cms of wire fencing to the top of the goat gate. This would mean she wouldn't have a solid surface to land on and might disuade her.   I shall see when I go to put them away tonight if the plan worked.

Today, I bought a little chair from the ex pat website here in France.  It was brand new and a good price.  I've always loved blue and white stripes so this was perfect for me.  We collected it this afternoon, then fixed the legs on and the cover.  I've got a throw folded on the seat as I'm sure one of my two cats will want to sit on it and climb up with muddy paws.  I'm very pleased with it.  It's too small for me to sit in as I'm so huge, but normal sized people can enjoy it until I get to be normal again.

You can just see my lovely delphiniums outside the window.  The plant has been absolutely amazing this year and I just love seeing it from the sitting room and when I go outside into the garden.  It has a spread of 5ft/150cm - with so many flower spikes - it's just so lovely.

Lastly, Charlie, my grandson went to his first formal swimming lesson yesterday back in Cornwall.  He shared the lesson with three slightly older girls and a male and female teacher.  No armbands or rings were allowed and parents had to wait in the cafe which does give a view of the pool.   Libby, his Mum and my son, Matthew, were in stitches laughing at his antics.   

 

 

He has played in his little pool and "swum" in my garden pool - these photos were when he was two in 2009, but this time was real - a big council swimming pool.  He even had to jump in the deep end, where the teachers were waiting to catch them in the water. He loved it and didn't stop asking when he could go again. I'm so pleased he enjoyed it, my own children loved swimming and gained lots of certificates and medals and Libby seems to have passed this love on in her genes.

Three things I love:

1.   The sun shining through my west facing window in the evenings.

2.   Seeing friends when I wasn't expecting to.

3.   The taste of the first of the year's strawberries - this morning. 

Flowers and growing chicks

The incredibly warm weather has really brought on the flowers in the garden and in the countryside.   The red hot pokers, I only bought a few weeks ago and it's lovely to see them in the border.

I have delphiniums just outside my sitting room window and like the budded stem below after a shower of rain.

The two clematis both grow up the same leg of my pergola.  The red one is Westenplatt which I planted last year.  I love the deep red of it.

The chicken and chicks are still in their little run in the rabbit park.  They are growing fast and now have the beginnings of their proper plumage.

In the lane outside my house there are baby horse chestnuts on the tree and my neighbours wonderful irises, which grow in the verges around their house.

On the way to bowls this morning the steam was coming off the fields as the day warmed up after a damp night.  My team won the game this morning, but it was a very close thing which always makes for a good time.

On the way home, I parked the car to have a closer look at the river weed which is in flower at the moment and looks amazing.

There were groups of wild white Marguerites along the banks and verges and I love the yellow centre with its swirls and patterns.  There were lots of insects on the blooms, but I'm not sure what they are.

And, last of all for today was a lovely patch of poppies in one of the fields I passed on the way back into St Nicolas du Pelem.  They're such ephemeral flowers and so lovely.

Wonderful April Weather

The weather here in Brittany has been absolutely incredible during April.  We have had barely any rain in April - I can't remember it raining at all.  The downside, as there always is one of course, has been that the water collected in containers on the field, where there is no mains connection, was getting worryingly low.  The temperatures have been in the mid to high twenties and even reaching the low thirties some days - July weather really.   

However, now we're in May and the weather has changed.  We have had bouts of torrential rain amongst the hot and sunny times.  The containers are all practically full again and I have stopped worrying.  The other upside of the rain is that I am no longer having to water the outside plants.  It's only the polytunnel that needs my attention and there aren't many plants in there at the moment.  All the animal water containers get filled by the rain and I'm only topping up the hen and chick container which is under cover so the rain doesn't reach it.

Nearly a disaster last night.  I went up to the field to put away the hens, ducks and chicks.  I started with the chicks.  None were still out in the hen area, so I shut their house/run door and concentrated on getting the last of the ducks in.  One duck has weak legs and can't manage the jump from the ground into the barn.  She sits at the doorway quacking and quacking, trying to attract the foxes, until I carry her into the hen/duck house for the night.   Tomorrow I will make sure another piece of wood is placed next to the barn to act as a step for her.  This morning I drove to the field to let everyone out for the day and surprise, surprise, there were eight chicks already out.  I checked all around their run and house - no gaps.  Then it started to pour with rain.  Two chicks ran straight into the old quail house and sheltered there.  I realised that last night the rebel eight were not in their own house, but had chosen the quail house for the night.  The door had not been closed and they could have been taken by the fox.  Relief all round and now I have decided that they could sleep in there in future as it's a bigger house, so tomorrow I shall put a locking door on it so they will be safe.  Phew!

My oldest son came out from England on Friday evening to stay for twenty-fours hours and in spite of the rain we had a good catch up and went out on Saturday for a lovely lunch to Le Pelinec in Canihuel, my favourite restaurant.   He had brought out my usual laptop which he had been repairing, but left some of the bits in his office, so had to take it back to the UK again - boys!  I can't edit my photos without it, so won't post any until I get it back.

Sunday morning, I went to meet some girlfriends at the cafe at Bon Repos.  Somehow luck was with us, and as we sat outside, chatting and people watching we had a whole hour of sunshine.  Afterwards, I drove to Silfiac where there was a plant and craft sale.  I succumbed to a pumpkin plant and to Crocosmia Lucifer, Alchemilla Mollis, Shasta Daisy and Coreopsis plants, and inside the hall I bought three books for a euro, one for me and two for my grandson.   So a good haul and a pleasant drive back. 

Surprise Easter Monday Chicks

I went out as usual this morning to do the goats, ducks and hens up at the field. We had about four weeks ago missed a little white bantam hen. She was a lovely little bird and I was sorry to realise she had gone, probably courtesy of the fox. Then about four days ago, I saw her on the veggie plot but couldn't catch her to put her back into the run. This morning as I was getting into the car, I saw a movement by a pile of wood next to the compost bins and there was less than day old grey chick. I went straight over and there were yellow, black and grey chicks and deep in the woodpile, the little white hen! 

I went back into the barn and got some hen food and put it on the ground in front of the woodpile and then collected a cat basket from the barn in which some of the hens lay. By the time I got back, Mum was sitting on the ground next to the food with all the chicks under her. I scooped her up with all the chicks in one brilliant move and popped them into the cat basket. Then I waited for a bit, just in case there were anymore chicks not with her. They are now all installed in a little house and run within the main rabbit run.  The photos are not brilliant, partly because I'm too fat to get down that far, but also because of the wire run netting, but better than nothing!

Here they are all enjoying themselves in the sun.

 

And here, three are already under Mum's wing going to sleep in their little house.

I had already hatched six blue eggs, eight weeks ago, and bought five day old Warren chicks in, on 24 March, and now I have seven others - ooh - plus two eggs which hadn't hatched so I've put them under Mum too. I shall be overrun with hens now and cockerels too I expect. But what a lovely surprise, after incubating and heated containers for the others, now their Mum will do all that for them and me with these new chicks.