RIP Max

Max died today.
My lovely fun loving bouncy dog died.
He was on the drive when a van went past and he ran to it and the van killed him. The driver slowed down but did not even stop.
He died straight away.
I carried him half way down the drive home, then left him and ran screaming for Andy.  Naomi, our neighbour had heard me screaming and had come to see what had happened and was really upset as well.
Andy came with Max's basket and wrapped him in his blanket to take him back to the house.
We will bury him tomorrow.
I cannot stop crying. it is my fault this lovely puppy died

May 30th

Here in France today is not a holiday, we have ours on Thursday when we 'faire le pont' (make the bridge) and have Friday off as well.

I am really sorry for all you folks over in the UK your weather sounds horrible.

Here it is lovely. I think this weekend has been one of the warmest so far. So for all those people who choose to come to France, they should be lucky with the weather.

However our potager is looking very sad. We have water restrictions here. Luckily we have a well that is on our land so we use that to water the veg but the grass is yellow. It looks like it normally does at the end of August and it is only the end of May!!! What's it going to be like in a couple of months?

Sorry I have not posted for ages. I do have loads to tell you and will start again tomorrow

Miss - RIP

Her favourite sunbathing position

This morning at 9 o'clock my beautiful, loyal and wonderful dog died.

She has been with us since we moved into this house - nearly 12 years. We got her from the SPA  ( French RSPCA) and they think she was about 18months old.

Both the boys grew up with her and she has always been there, following me around, checking where I was and looking for cuddles and love.

She had not been 100% for a while, but the vet said it was just old age. Then 5 weeks ago she was bitten by a snake on her nose. Amazingly she got through this, but I was warned the poison may do lasting damage.

I don't know what she died from, but I was with her and that was very important to me. I hope she knew I was there.

We will bury her in the garden tonight.

The house will not be the same

What's in our back garden this year?

We have been in our house for nearly 12 years and every spring we look out of our back door and try and work out what will be in our back garden this year

Our back garden is not really our garden, but one of the many fields that surround us.

We have had a variety of crops over the years, wheat, peas, colza (rape), oats, potatoes ( we were able to help ourselves to any that were left in the field when they had been picked  - by eastern European women, but that's another story). Last year we had sunflowers.

This year we have watched the tractors planting and the wheat start to grow, but right behind our house we have had an empty space for a few weeks now and we could not work out what it was going to be, we thought maybe sunflowers or mais ( corn). 

This is the view out of my bathroom window

 

You can see our garden at the front, then the wheat, then the empty field, then the wheat again.

 

Yesterday MOH and I were enjoying the sunshine  in the back when the farmer walked across the field towards us.

This was the first time we had met him. He rents the fields from our neighbour, who stopped farming about 14 years ago. 

Naturally we asked him what was going in the empty space.

Apparently it is going to be 2 metre squares of different variations of mais which will be castrated in July to produce the best grains.

This is something that is very popular with the farmers around here. Mais is grown quite a lot in our area and most of the big farmers do this. It is very labour intensive, they always use young people between 16 & 18 year olds for a couple of weeks in the summer to castrate the mais. Both my boys have done this, D will do it again this year for his second year. They are paid the SMIC, the basic wage.

The farmer told us yesterday that if the results are good they can make a good profit.

 

This is a picture from last year. It grows really high, then it is trimmed back to make it easier to walk through.

 

Because the weather has been so warm recently they needed to water in the seeds they had just sown.

 

 

This was taken yesterday evening with the water going over the ground

 

 

 

My final photo shows part of our back garden

Can you see the line across the grass? 

This is just one of the dog paths. Miss has created these paths all round the garden and Max is following them too.

Lightening Strike

On Sunday evening we had a small storm, lots of wind, dark sky and rumbles of thunder. We saw just one flash of lightening in the distance. It all lasted about 30 minutes.

Look at what happened with the one lightening flash.....

This is the hundred year old sequoia in the Jardin Botanique in Loches

It took the full force of the lightening strike

The area looked just like a bomb had gone off ..

 

 

It's a good job that it was raining heavily at the time, so there were not many people in the park!!!!

Evening Walk

Yesterday evening MOH and I dropped our youngest son - nearly 17, off in the middle of nowhere for a party.

He was meeting up with some friends whohad organised a party in a 'field'. Well that was what he told us. We dropped at the place where he was told to go, then he walked to where he thought they were. When I called him 10 minutes later he had not found them, then said he had just seen them in the distance. I called him again later and he had found them - I could hear them all talking so I know he was OK!!

So, MOH and I decided to go for a wander around Loches, our nearest town. 

The weather was beautiful and really warm.

This is the entrance to the medieval part of the town where the chateau is.

This is one of the views from the top of the city. You can just see a large white marquee in the distance. this is for the Foire de Paques  ( Easter Fair) next weekend.

The next two pictures are of a lovely new shop that sells all nic nacs and expensive ones too!

Then to finish off our walk, MOH decided he wanted a kebab. there is only one kebab shop in Loches and it has a good reputation.

Here is our ekbab and chips. It cost 4.50€ and was very nice. We sat and ate it on a bench enjoying the sunshine.

This is just on our way to the car, so it is a bit darker than the others and this of one of the towers around Loches, with the river by the side.

Hope you enjoyed our evening walk.

Lazing by the pool

This is a picture of Max, lazing by the pool at the weekend.

His nose was almost touching the water and when he was thirsty he just reached down for a drink.

He was also very interested by the swallows that swoop down to the pool to get a drink. He did not move but just sat there watching them.

 They are like airplanes, they chose the best way to approach, maybe take a couple of tries, then swoop down into the water for a drink. The young birds sometimes end up actually in the water and have to work really hard to fly out again.

It is lovely to watch them every year.

He was also studying some turtle doves that decided to be very brave and come for a drink. They tried to sit on the edge and lean in but it was too far, so they left without a drink.The only birds I have seen who can do that are the chickens. I have got a picture somewhere but I can't find it at the moment.

While I was lying in the sun reading, I heard this almighty splashing and guess what - he had fallen in the pool.

He was trying to swim but was not at all happy, so I scooped him up by his collar and dumped him on the side.

MOH asked why I had not stopped to take a picture, I said I thought it was more important to get him out!!