01/01/2022 Happy New Year

 The maximum temperature here today is 15C, minimum 9⁰C. Blue skies but with quite a lot of clouds. Wind 16km/h South-Easterly winds with gusts up to 30 km/h.  Dry at present but rain is forecast from tomorrow for the rest of the week.  Thursday morning we measured 46mm overnight!

Some more recent photos, eventually I will get back to all the photos that I have not had time to edit from last year!!

Watching France see the New Year in on TV at Chantilly last night.

A bit of Christmas cheer amongst the potplants.

Friends who could not travel to the UK at the last minute, because of COVID, joined us for Christmas dinner so the table was laid for four.  

The two of us on Christmas day.

27/12/21 a tough rose hanging on in winter.

30/12/21 Top : Viburnum tinus and cotoneaster berries.
Bottom : Calendula and another surviving rose that amazes me.
The centre tree is a Ginkgo biloba,

31/12/21 Calendula.

I think this is one of the Blackbird (Turdus merula) youngsters being bombed by a chaffinch!

European robin (Erithacus rubecula).

The last sunset of 2021

Take care everybody, keep well and please stay safe in these difficult times.

My local list of wildflowers. (91 Species 02/12/2021).

See also my

 Bird blog

Joining up with My Corner of the World. 

15/11/2021 - I am jumping to November photos at present...

  The maximum temperature here today is 11⁰C, minimum 8⁰C. Grey skies. Wind 16km/h icy North-Easterly winds with gusts up to 32 km/h!

I have so many photos from September and October, hopefully, over winter I will have time to go through them and catch up with the past!!

10/11/21 A French sunset but memories of a South African one.  Taken from just down the road from the house.

Common Carder Bumble Bee (Bombus pascuorum) I think...

As above.

Tapered Drone Fly (Eristalis pertina) with a Western Honey Bee (Apis mellifera).

Western Honey Bee see above...

As above...

As above.

Mexican Orange Blossom (Choisya ternata).

Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus).

Cosmos and Californian poppy with a couple of bees and a fly, still flowering well in mid-November

Remembrance Day November 11 2021

Before the service started, this little Jack Russel who obviously belonged to someone in the village, just wanted to play.  He was so cute.

As the service ended the Common Cranes (Grus grus) flew overhead calling as they headed South to warmer climates...

As above.

Love poinsettias (Euphorbiaceae pulcherrima).

A trip into Angouleme last week and I spotted this new (to me) wall mural.  Love it, and more memories of Southern Africa ...

A little closer...

As above...

and finally.

Take care everybody, keep well and stay safe.

My local list of wildflowers. (91 Species 20/06/2021).

See also my

 Bird blog

Joining up with My Corner of the World. 

18/06/2020 A few flowers over the last few days mostly from home.

Maximum temperature here today 17⁰C, minimum 11⁰C. Rain measured this morning 11 mm. 15km/h South-Westerly winds with gusts up to 42 km/h.

Orchid in the house.

Poinsettia in the house, still holding on since Christmas and it has new shoots.

Rose from our garden...

and a few days later.  Wish I could add the perfume.

Potato flower - our garden and an unknown bug.

The start of grapes - our garden.

Hydrangea - our garden.

Violas - our garden.

A neighbour's clematis.

A neighbour's honeysuckle.

A dahlia from down the road.

My local list of wildflowers. (69 Species 18/06/2020)

See also my

 Bird blog

02/04/2020 Just an update around the house and the garden.

Maximum temperature here today 16C, minimum 4C. Dry.  13km/h North-easterly fairly cold wind with gusts up to 28 km/h.  

Carpenter bee (Xylocopa violacea or Xylocopa valga)

Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus).

as above.

White 'Blue' bells.  Albino Spanish bells.

Ginkgo Biloba shoots.

The final stages of the Christmas Pointsettia.

Tulips at the end of their time; bought almost 4 weeks ago.

Bumble bee on the cherry blossom.

As above; I just liked the position of this shot!

Common Wall Lizard (Podarcis muralis)

As above - Love is in the air!

Cherry blossom in the garden and a Red Robin shrub.

Heating oil delivery...

As above. 1200 litres delivered and not quite full.

Last but not least - I have been busy in the kitchen.  The cornuelle is a flat cake a dozen centimetres wide. It forms an isosceles triangle whose centre is pierced with a hole and whose edges are generally ribbed. (Mine aren't as I do not have the right cutter.) This triangle, therefore, has three horns, which probably give its name to the cake.

The cornuelle is consumed traditionally around Palm Sunday (5 April this year), generally fifteen days before and fifteen days after.   In the South West of France, this festival is traditionally associated with the blessing of Palm Sunday. The hole in the centre of the cake allowed a sprig of blessed boxwood to slide in and the cornuelles were often sold at the entrance to the church. They can only be found today in pastry shops or in supermarkets. (Or in our house 😊  )  Recipe see Here

See also my

 Bird blog