04/03/2019 A few odd photos that I missed at the end of last month.

Maximum temperature today 16C, minimum 6C.  4mm rain measured this morning; as I type this we are having a mixture of more rain plus some hail.  31km/h North-westerly winds with gusts up to 77 km/h.   It is very windy outside!

The tiny church down the road from us at Fleurignac has just had a new/restored bell put in after months of being without it.  Apparently, it had a crack.

Around the corner from the church is this old Lavoir.

Our local village of Vitrac, the local well...

as above, the Mairie and the local war memorial...

The Mairie from another angle.

Our last game of French scrabble at Vitrac where this word gave me a winning streak.  Yes, it is in the French scrabble dictionary!!

Out for a drive near Xambes - grape vines...

The town of Xambes - too many wind turbines...

You can see here just how close they are to the town!!  Thank goodness we did not buy a house near here!

A bee in the garden...

as above...

and a bumble bee.

Even a few lizards came out of hibernation for several days before the weather turned cooler again.

Last week we took a trip to the recycling centre here in the Charente.  It was extremely interesting, but because there was lots of info to go with it, which I do not put on the diary, I have put the post on my other blog HERE.

I have updated my bird blog HERE.

05/04/2018 Photos from the last few days. I am not keeping up very well!!!

Maximum temperature today 16C, minimum 9C.   6 mm of rain measured over the last two mornings; 20 km/h South Westerly winds with up to 53 km/h gusts. 

Rain again today and very windy out.

Total rainfall so far this year now 412 mm.

Lawn daisy in the garden yesterday, with what I think is a fly of some kind.  I am hoping that someone can identify it for me 😊

My possible identification is Hilara maura a species of dance fly but....

Tulips.

The road en route to scrabble yesterday.  The sides of the road are full of cowslips and dandelions.

Cowslips.

Scrabble at St Adjutory.

Hawthorn in blossom.

Most of the people are playing the French card game belote....

we are playing scrabble as usual.

Yesterday's yellow tulip.

The kalanchoe today.

The yellow tulip today...

as above.

N.B. My new bird blog is HERE 

Part 3 of the birds I saw last year in Africa.

15/03/2018 Looking back at Tuesday! Scrabble at Vitrac.

Maximum temperature today 14C, minimum 7C.   6 mm of rain measured this morning and it has been raining heavily again all day; 11 km/h South Westerly winds with up to 32 km/h gusts.  

337 mm of rain so far this year!  The cold is returning again next week!!

Sorry I am behind again.  Firstly the WiFi went down.  Then when we got it back, my computer updated, and then decided that it had lost all my personal settings!! Frustrating!!

The church Saint-Maixent (eleventh and 12th centuries). The first stone was laid in the year 1080 under the tutelage of the powerful lord of Chabanais. The church of Vitrac in the 12th century was as important as his sister in Chasseneuil-sur-Bonnieure.

Rivaillon, not as flooded as it was but normally this is a very small stream.

The bridge on the main road into town.

Looks like some one is having repairs done in the town with scaffolding up.

Heading into the Salle Communale to play scrabble....

The new kiosk at the back of the hall which will be nice when we have luncheons on sunny days with the doors open.

The people at the back are playing belote, a card game that is very popular here - too complicated for us!

We will stick to our French scrabble which is not easy, but I did actually win a game this week with a little help on a couple of words :-)

10/10/2017 Join me on a walk around Vitrac St Vincent.

Maximum temperature 19C,  minimum 11C.  3km/h SE wind with 9 km/h gusts. 2mm of rain measured. 

It had to happen - Rose day 10.

Vitrac - cars parked while we all went to scrabble in the town hall. Church in the background.

Standing on one of the bridges looking at the other. Le rivaillon river.

Some of the houses.

Houses at the back of the church.

The first house on the left is for sale.

Le Rivaillon river standing on the stone bridge which is in the 3rd photo.

Looking across the bridge to some of the houses.

Another of the houses.

This one is also for sale, but it is in the local parkland and has no grounds as such.  Lots of events are held in the area!!

The barn that belongs to the commune also used for events.

Scrabble in French in the town hall.

Back home in the evening.

P.S.  For those interested, Part 5 of our holiday in South Africa and Botswana is now on my other blog.

03/10/2017 Grey skies and rain so few photos as at French scrabble this afternoon.

Maximum temperature 20C,  minimum 12C.  11 km/h NE wind with 23 km/h gusts. 3 mm of rain measured this morning.

Day three of the rose in the garden!

Driving to scrabble - the trees in our garden are dropping their leaves but it does not look like autumn/fall here!

A drive by view across the fields.  The small white dot on the right in the distance is the resistance memorial. 

Scrabble today was at St Adjutory.....

The tabac still closed for the long French lunch break!

Scrabble, Nigel must have found a fabulous word by the smile on his face!  The lady in the centre is French and comes up with some great words, hard to compete with but they are always happy to help.

I had dreadful tiles today and had to keep asking for help :-((