Very busy of late. The blackcurrants have all ripened on cue, and there's loads of them again. They seem top thrive on neglect as they didn't get pruned last year. Given quite a bit away and some of our guests have had some. Well, quite a few actually. I said 'help yourselves' so they did. Everyday. I wasn't going to get any for us as I still have plenty in the freezer from last year, plus several pots of blackcurrant jam, plus two and a half bottles of blackcurrant vodka, but in the end I relented - can't bear to see them go to waste. Anyway, I found a recipe for blackcurrant jelly, which although it requires two lots of cooking, does at least avoid the need to prick each currant first or even the worry of the jam ending up like a jar of little bullets. Finished it today, it's all potted up - here's hoping it tastes alright. I did an apple and blackcurrant crumble the other day, that was nice, and I bought a cheap bottle of vodka in Lidls this week, so I'll do another blackcurrant liqueur with that. Better drink the rest up.
Had a snake in the garden today. Adrian was watering the bamboos and it slithered out in front of him. Then it started climbing up inside one of the bamboos, then a bit later it got brave and came out across the grass, onto the terrace and hid itself amongst the tomato pots. Looked it up and it appears to be a 'Coulevre d'Esculape'. The longest snake in France I think and mostly harmless (depending on what creature you are). Well, it has no venom, but a fondness for killing it's prey by constriction. Here are some pics:
We've had some lovely guests in lately, so that's cheered me up no end. The sun is shining, the guests are nice and life is so much better. Although nearly had some issues with the french folk that are leaving tomorrow. They arrived last week, first of all they wanted the heating on, although it's the end of June. Then they wanted a torch, which I do loan out from time to time if guests staying in the gites at the far end of the garden are going out for the evening and getting back late after dark. But these guys are in the cottage nearest to the parking area, there's an outside light and it doesn't start getting dark until nearly 11pm at the mo. So I wasked them why they wanted it and for how long. 'The whole week please. We need it incase we want to get up to go to the toilet at night'. 'In that case, 'No'. We do have lights in the cottage you know. The switches are located near the doors'. There was something else, but I can't remember what it was now, something trivial. Anway, two days after they arrived, I was cleaning in one of the other gites, it was about 9.30am and Adrian came to get me, said one of the women wanted to talk to me. Well, I arrived at the house, she was standing outside, still in her dressing gown and pj's and I thought, 'oh, what now, what can be so bad that she hasn't even been able to get dressed yet?' So I took a deep breath, smiled my very nicest smiled and asked her how I could help. 'Have you got any documentation?' she said. Well, at this point I am nearly having a breakdown, what the hell does that mean? Insurance, registration, what? We've got it all, it's all above board, I was just stressed that she was asking for it. 'No, no' she says, 'Publicity, business cards, that kind of thing. We thing your place is wonderful and I want to tell all my friends and relatives about you, they must come and have a holiday here, it's so lovely.' And since then they've been nice as pie, every time I see them, they tell me how wonderful it all is and of course, they've also enjoyed plenty of blackcurrants. You never can tell.
It's the girl's school fete on Sunday. It's good, but it always drags on, there's lots of hanging around and it's always hot. They all dress up to a different theme for each class and parade through the village first of all. Georgia's class are going to be cowboys and cowgirls and Isabella's class are going to be trees. Due to set off 2.30pm. Probable start 2.45pm. Then they get on stage, class by class, and put on a little performance. Due to start 3pm. Probable start 3.45pm. This year they are doing extra performances for various reasons, so I expect it will finish sometime around Tuesday. There's a bar and a crepe stall and other stalls with games and prizes and what-have-you, so plenty of opportunity to spend money in the name of supporting the school, I just wish they'd get organised a bit better.
Getting a few crops in the garden now. The carrots are failing, so that's a shame as they were so good last year, definately one of my favourite crops. On the other hand, we're getting some peas, raspberries, strawbs, a little mangetout and the broccoli, leeks and sweetcorn are still alive (nothing short of a miracle). The courgettes are still alive as well, but not in the best spot this year, so not sure if we'll get any courgettes themselves as there are no flowers yet. The melons are still waiting to be planted out. Oh yes, we've also got quite a few tomatoes growing, although they're still green. And so far a success - I've finally manged to get a sunflower seed to grow. There are other thing to tell, but it's late now and I can't be bothered. But here's a couple of pics of the girls and their peas:
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