Spring has sprung !

It’s late spring and everything in the garden is growing madly.

loot from the garden

Graham has been picking cherries every day. I would have taken a photo but someone had to hold the ladder. In exchange he has requested that I make 'cherry ripe' since it’s his favourite and we can’t buy it here.

It’s a race to beat the birds to the ripening fruit, but we have so many cherries that we are giving them away – not easy as almost everyone has a cherry tree. The strawberries are ripening too and the figs are still a little small but it won’t be long and we’ll have to think of things to do with them too.

I think I'll try making this strawberry mousse ...

doesn't this look yummy ? courtesy of Leeane and her Fabulously French blog

Every garden has roses. Ours were overgrown when we arrived so , after lots of pruning back and feeding, we are looking forward to more flowers this summer.

Through the spring we have also discovered that we have white and mauve lilac and daphne bushes ( 2 to 3 metres high ) and then there’s the honeysuckle and wisteria climbing the stone walls.  

daphne competing with a grape vine for space 

The local commune (council) workers take a lot of trouble planting out every little spot in our streets. The flowers are changed from season to season , and there is always someone weeding or sweeping the paths and gutters. During the cold winter months when there isn’t any need for garden maintenance they sit indoors making decorations for summer and Christmas.

cheeky gardener

keeping watch at the traffic lights

Last year they made flowerpot people for summer and for Christmas, trees from logs. For this summer they’ve made these wicker birds…

a wishing well in a local carpark

pigeonnier in the garden at the local bank

And we came across this little fellow keeping watch over his owner’s motorbike at Bergerac…

Sorry if some of the pictures are a little dull. After a week of glorious sunshine shared with two lots of visitors , the weather has changed again and we had to dash out between thunderstorms to get some more photos for you. C'est la vie.

bonne semaine mes amis

Colombier Marché

It was “Victory in Europe” Day today and a public holiday so almost every village has a marché. We decided to go to Colombier, just south of Bergerac near Monbazillac. The organisers advertised that there would be 400 stallholders but we’re sure there were more. We parked in a field beside the vines and walked into the village.

A cast of thousands ( or at least hundreds)

It took us three and a half hours to check out all the stalls, dodging strollers, dogs on leads, groups stopping to chat in the middle of the path and hundreds of others spending the morning doing the same thing.

Hiding amongst the garden pots...

A bit worm eaten but still looking good...

Any takers ?

It doesn’t matter how many marches you go to, there is always something you haven’t seen before. Any ideas what these two things do ???

It was the best marché so far this year and we bought lots of little things , mainly for ourselves.

Have come to the conclusion that the shopping trolley is a good idea for these events. Walking for hours with a basket and arms full of goodies is exhausting. 

My new market basket ( only the tourists use that other style !)

Graham is reluctant to be seen in public with it, but sometimes it's the best option

We shall follow the french lead and take our trolley along too and get our own back on those with strollers and dogs on leads. Though some of the dogs are sooo cute !

Bon semaine mes amis

May Day …

Yesterday was a public holiday in France , la Fête du Travail, one of three this month. Many villages and towns held marchés and repas  (a community lunch) to celebrate. In our region, Aquitaine, it is traditional  to share an omelette à l’aillet at this lunch. Aillet is a type of garlic that is only grown in this area at this time of year – it looks like shallots.

At first I thought these were shallots

Apparently, eating these aillets on May Day ensures your good health throughout the summer. Probably because historically, there was a prevalence of diseases in the hot summers here and ,without modern medicines ,they had to rely on the antiseptic qualities of garlic. 

Yummm

In Bergerac they made an omelette with 2,000 eggs !

No worries about health inspectors - he's probably stirring

It is also the time for le muguet, or lily of the valley as it’s known elsewhere. This has been for sale in the marchés for the past couple of weeks, and it’s said that if you are given a bouquet of this  then you are loved. Perhaps tomorrow.

Sweet little posies at the markets for a euro or two

As I mentioned, there are three public holidays this month, all of them on a Thursday. It is the custom in France that, when there is a day between a holiday and the weekend, many people take the day between as well. This is called le pont (the bridge). So lots of people won't be at work today , or any Friday in May. You can never accuse a frenchman of putting work ahead of life.

Lilas (lilac) from our garden

Bon week-end mes amis