Good morning !!

Friday 30th July and all is well, our guests slept peacefully and have made off for the 'Mas du Clos' it is Alpha Romeo weekend, tomorrow night all rooms are booked out, we have had to turn people away today, such a shame, it really pays to book in advance. A beautiful morning sky, the clouds disappeared in under an hour and the temperature soared. Joanne will look after the guests tomorrow morning for breakfast, Chris is off to Gueret to take the first part of his hunting certificate, if he passes his theory, he can then advance to the practical and hopefully, will receive his French gun licence by mid October. Have a lovely evening !!

It's a Dogs Life !

Last night was BBQ night at La Petite Maison (so is every night in Summer ha ha) we ate potatoes, carrots, cabbage, courgette, brocolli & apple sauce, all from the garden picked fresh. Chris cooked everything outside in his new garden kitchen, he has been buying the various equipment from the vide greniers, we BBQ'D pork steaks and topped it all with a mustard and plumb gravy, yum yum. Afterwards we lounged until after dark, our citronella torches burning brightly, the bats silently feasting on the wing, the owls hooting, toads croaking and the tranquility that a new full moon brings was just splendid, Jess and Bonny enjoyed it to !!

Mouths to feed !!

We, the Housemartins (Hirondelles) are doing just fine, Chris & Joanne have made sure we are all safe and look out for us every day, we are growing up now and it won't be long before we leave our home and emigrate to Africa for the Winter. We must tell you all that it is just fantastic here at 'La Petite Maison' and
we will return every year to just lounge around and have our babies, just a perfect safe place, you should visit soon !!

Catch ! Catch ! Catch !

Beware of the man in the mask, nothing more to be said, a great day out !!!

Bon Anniversaire Fabien !!

Well, we have just about recovered from a hectic weekend, we celebrated Fabiens 21st birthday on Saturday night in style with a great bbq that went on well into the early hours. Brigitte, Phillipe, Virginie & Fabien did us proud with a fantastic assortment of fine French country cuisine, the speciality of course being bbq'd wild boar that had been marinated for two days in a secret marinade, delish !! After the main course we played petanque under floodlights, Phillipe had arrived earlier in the day with his tractor and turned part of the garden into a boules pitch, just great !! After midnight we returned to the new house and ate fantastic desserts of apricot tartes, strawberry tartes, pear tartes and so on. We finally hit the sack at 02.00 hrs, the morning arrived too soon, off again after walking Jess & Bonny and seeing to the rest of the managerie. We ate lunch in Aubusson with Phil, Brigitte, Virginie, Fabien and lots of their familly before heading off to Blessac for an outside wrestling tournament 'Catch' in France, a right old comedy, Ha Ha !! Joanne & Chris left just before the tag wrestling, visited the vide grenier and then returned to La Petite Maison just before 18.00 hrs, ahhhhh, peace !!

A Day in the Garden !!

17 degrees with showers, sun and cloud but warm enough when the sun is shining. Comfortable for gardening.

It was time to cut back the potato leaves to prevent any diseases in the leaves and stems working there way down into the crop. The crop is good this year, and even though we have been under attack from 'Colorado Beetles' and Mildew we have a plentiful supply of both 'Apollo' and 'Roseval' after a month left in the ground we will dig them all up and conserve them in the cave, we are of course harvesting and eating when required.

After the leaf cutting, it was a job in itself to dig out all the weeds that had grown beneath, once done, the garden once again looks respectable. The sweetcorn is in good health and continues to grow at least an inch a day, the Pumpkin jungle is amazing with fruit already the size of small footballs, Bonny has shown plenty of interest in these but is yet to turn up at the door with one in her mouth as she did with our only melon last year Ha Ha !!

Tomorrow day we will visit a vide grenier in 'St Sylvain de Bellegarde' Danny has a stall and last year it was a great atmosphere, the evening will find us at Fabiens birthday BBQ in Conjet Haut, we will play petanque and no doubt the wine and beer will flow !!

Indian Lunch !

Joanne dressed for the occasion of cooking an Indian lunch for our friends Jacqueline and Gerard, it was the first time that they have eaten Indian cuisine. Joanne made poppadums with homemade mango chutney and red onions from the garden, then homemade onion baji followed by chicken curry with pilau rice and of course French Fries !! Oh yes, homemade chips !! This was followed by prune crumble made with last years preserved prunes from the tree in the garden, it is already laden with this years crop which will be harvested September ish.