Tuesday 6 April 2010 - Wood sculptures and the Abbey at Bon Repos

Today, I drove back home from Silfiac and passed through the road from St Brigitte to Bon Repos and just had to stop to look at some incredible wood sculptures along the side of the road. I think the sculpter may be called Philippe Cormard. There were mushrooms, a seahorse, an enormous acorn and a similar sized nest with eggs.  There were huge, wonderful gnarled treetrunks lying on the ground, which I presume are the materials for future projects.

I then drove on to l'Abbaye de Bon Repos.  This is a really old building standing next to the Nantes Brest Canal.  over the bridge towards Laniscat.

Four French people were enjoying lunch in the sunshine on one of the tables on the grass alongside the canal. They started talking to me while I was taking photographs and we had quite a conversation before I got back into my car and drove over the bridge to Laniscat.

Along the road to Laniscat I stopped to look at a waterfall and fast flowing stream with gorse along the roadside.

My last stop was to look at pussywillow which was just breaking into blossom.














































Three Beautiful Things:
1.   Playing bowls with friends after being absent for a few weeks.
2.   Seeing my new fruit bushes and cherry tree finally planted.
3.   Coming home to a clean and tidy house after my cleaner has been busy.

Easter Sunday 4 April 2010 - New sheep and new logs

Ten days ago, a friend from England arrived to stay with me for a few days and, while we were catching up with each other, we spent the afternoon taking the Landrover to collect a lovely Pol Dorset ewe, Mary, who had a little ram lamb, Bramwell. If you say either of the names carefully, you can make a baaaing sound!

Bramwell is three months old tomorrow and a sturdy little chap.  They both look very healthy and I hope to have some good lambs from Mary in the future. Pol Dorsets are able to produce every eight months, so she could be prolific, but I shall let nature take its course.   Every eight months seems a bit frequent to me and I don't want her to be worn out, I want her to enjoy living here.

On our way to collect the sheep we saw the first swallows of the year – later than usual because of the cold winter we’ve had - but how did swallows in Africa know it was still cold here?  Answers on a postcard please.  This was taken a few years ago - I always think they look like notes on a stave.

In spite of the rainy week, in between showers we cleared the bottom of a very scruffy bank along the driveway full of brambles and and perennial weeds - I'd never seen the edge of the drive before.  We planted lots of ground cover plants, like aubretia, sedum, saxifrage, and other taller perennials.  

I’m really pleased with the way it’s widened the look of the drive and hope they all expand and knit together well, and my French neighbours have commented favourably too, which is always good. I’ve also bought sixty single flower geraniums – favourites of the French – and am looking forward to getting those in the ground and pots if it ever stops raining long enough.

My beech and oak logs for next winter have been delivered and now they're stacked too and at least a metre deep from the wall so there are quite a few.  We use old roof slate crates to contain them and that seems to work really well.

However, these crates are getting old and a bit rotten now and I’ll have to look out for people having their slates replaced and try to get some stronger newer ones for the next delivery of logs.

And last, but not least, one of my Easter bunnies this morning - this one's called Ruby.  Happy Easter!

Three Beautiful Things:

1.   The warmth from the woodburner as I sit and write this.

2.   Watching Mary and Bramwell together settling in well.

3.   Collecting more eggs now the days are a little longer.