15/07/2021 Just a few photos - so much rain.

The maximum temperature here today 23⁰C, minimum 14⁰C.  Lots more rain over the past week -  we have had over 700mm to date this year;  last year at the same time we had only 500mm.  Wind 11km/h  Westerly winds with gusts up to 27 km/h.   

Today is the first time we have seen the sun since I last posted a blog, very few photos have been taken.  The garden is waterlogged and the vegetables are not looking happy, well most of them are not, though the courgettes seem to be doing better than the rest.  Blight is a problem with potatoes and tomatoes.  

Hummingbird Hawk Moth (Macroglossum stellatarum).

Hydrangea, Love in a Mist, Calendula,

European umbrella milkwort plus bee with large pollen sacs, Poppy, Rose.

The Passenger Moth (Dysgonia algira).

It was in a dark corner of the house on one of my cutting boards.  I tried moving the board after this shot to a lighter place. It flew off never to be seen again!

A drive-by shot the other day of the sky taken on the phone.

A friend commented that it looked like a steam train behind the clouds, sadly no, it really is a cloud.

I cannot pronounce this little fellow's name but you are welcome to try - (Deraeocoris ruber). 

 It was wandering around on my courgette plants.

Poppy, Love in a Mist, Cosmos (+ Tawny Longhorn Beetle [Paracorymbia fulva]), Potato flower,

Courgette, Sempervivum tectorum, Clematis, Fungi.

Love in a Mist (Nigella damascena) and wasp.

Two for the price of one.......

Longhorn beetle (Stictoleptura cordigera) and hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta).

Bush Cricket nymph....Munching away on the poppies!

Bumble bee (Bombus lucorum) I think!

As above

We have had a French stone mason here over a few days.  The wall in the big barn had a crack, not serious but if not treated might well have become a problem.  He and his mate have done a fantastic job and the finished job looks very good.  

They did an amazing job of cleaning up, the barn is probably cleaner now than it has been for ages!

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. 

 

Part 3 of the visit to Villbois Lavelette

Maximum temperature today 16C, minimum 6C.   Dry; 3 km/h North Easterly winds with up to 17 km/h gusts.

Looking up to the church in Villbois Lavelette...

A quiet road.

Interesting door and balcony.

The restored house of Francois de Corlieu dates from the 15th or 16th century. De Corlieu was a historian and counsellor to the King from 1544, but unfortunately drowned in the Charente river in 1576.

Under the roof of the covered market looking down one of the roads...

A close up of the Wisteria seen in the above photo.

Leaving the town down the immaculate road.

I do love these leafy lanes.

A bank of bluebells and almost home again.

Now to tell you the reason for the visit.  We had an appointment with the notaire in the town.

Looking at this photo, our house is with green shutters on the left. Opposite us is the house with red shutters that belongs to French sisters. BUT the barn attached to their house between the two houses belongs to the people who sold us our house.  The barn was never part of the original deal, though we have managed to rent it for storage over a number of years,  The owners also have a lot of things stored in there. 

We have asked a number of times if they would sell and there was no interest in the request.  A year ago they decided to sell but the price was too high.  This week we have agreed on a figure, and the papers were signed at the notaire on Tuesday.  We now have to wait 2 months for all to go through the official paths, but by the end of June, we should be the proud owners of the barn.   It is in good condition all but the door, so that will be job number one.  Then we hope we have a safe storage place for wood, bikes, car, trailer etc etc.  We are both delighted that all appears to be going as planned.

😊😊😊😊😊😊

N.B. My new bird blog is HERE 

Part 6 of the birds I saw last year in Africa.

29/09/2017 Some of the photos from yesterday. Rain forecast for tomorrow so you may see the others then!

Maximum temperature 27C,  minimum 15C.  8 km/h NW wind with 18 km/h gusts. Dry.

I have been in the kitchen most of the day once more so it means I can catch up on yesterday's trip....

Not often do we see sunrise :-)

The usual road obstructions along the way.

We had a 30 minute drive to meet up with friends at Rochechouart.  This is the chateau and Town Hall car park where we met...

Rochechouart chateau.  This is one of my older photos as at the moment the chateau is in a restoration program and there is lots of scaffolding...

The courtyard inside though is a photo I took yesterday

Driving on to Solignac in the Haute-Vienne, I almost missed this drive by view of the city of Limoges in the distance.

Arrival in Solignac, the first thing to take my eye is this abbey. Founded in the 7th century by saint Éloi, the Abbaye Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul was destroyed and rebuilt several times.  It has masses of interesting history.

I could not resist this cat enjoying the sun in the car park in front of the abbey.  We had a 50 minute walk around the town and a quick sit down for a cup of coffee before moving on.

The main street is closed at the moment for major road works but you can walk along the pavements.  The hotel is on the left, and the front of the abbey in the centre...

Hotel Restaurant Le Saint Eloi.

The back of the abbey.

A few of the houses looking from up high on the road.

I loved this old barn.

For my American followers, I though you might be interested in this Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham driven by one of our friends.

A drive by shot, sorry about the windscreen tinting at the top of the photo, but I

liked the picture!

The church of Saint-Mathurin, in Le Vigen.

We were on our way to lunch and then a visit to the medieval ruins of Château de Châlucet. Watch this space for the remainder of the trip.

11/08/2017 A walk to the next hamlet and what I saw along the way.

Maximum temperature 22C, minimum 12C.   9 km/h NW wind with 28 km/h gusts.  15 mm rain measured.

The first thing I see as I leave the house and walk around the corner is our neighbour's barn.

I just love these chicory flowers that are everywhere at the moment.

Clover flowers.

Bladder campion or maidenstears (Silene vulgaris).

Daisy with a fly.

Gatekeeper butterfly, female.

Gatekeeper butterfly, male.

Raspberries.

A rose bud peeking through a fence.

Rose hips.

It this a fungus growing on a rose plant?

Cuckoo Pint seeds.  A member of the Arum family and poisonous.

Thistle....

and another thistle with a bumble bee.

 Large Yellow Rest Harrow

Wisteria.

For those that might be interested, I have started my blog on our South African holiday earlier this year.