Bonjour
Hope you had a good week and a great big welcome to new subscribers – I’m delighted to meet you, and a warm re-bonjour to longterm friends here…
This week I’ve been in Charente-Maritime, lovely La Rochelle, the exquisite island of Ile de Ré – where the colourful hollyhocks were out alongside the poppies and meadow flowers – and the seaside town of Royan. I’ve been researching where to go off the tourist track – scrumptious restaurants the locals love, what to see and do and lots more, features coming up soon of course.
I came home yesterday to a somewhat extended family which was a surprise to me I can tell you. I’ve kept chickens for around 7 years. In all that time we’ve never had a chicken egg hatch so we sort of thought it would never happen. This year though, several chickens have been having a go.
Barbie’s been nesting in the greenhouse for weeks, we’re pretty sure it’s going to end in tears. Tallulah Pompom Head has been sitting on eggs in a bucket for a while, but then forgets, wanders off and comes back days later. Fluffy Brown One has been in the coop for months, she is seriously obsessed!
But yesterday, Arya, the chicken with a needle like beak, suddenly turned up at the door with 10 chicks – right out of the blue. They are beautiful yellow and black fluff balls (here they are on Instagram). Arya then flew over the fence into next door’s garden leaving my other half with them just as a storm was about to break and our 5 cats were making their way to the door to come in out of the rain. We’ve got them in the kitchen under a heat lamp and they think we are now their parents!
The storm hit hard last night and bought down a couple of trees so I think we did the right thing, though I’d rather Arya had stayed with them.
Everyone is moaning about the unseasonal rain here. I always used to think Brits were the most weather-obsessed race but no, the French are just as bad. Every conversation lately has included the weather (or Brexit, but I’m not going there…). We meet, we stare at the rain, we talk about how much it is raining, we talk about getting caught in the rain, how much it might rain tomorrow, how much it rained yesterday. Sometimes we say, “oh well it’s good for the garden”. I’m hoping the sun comes back soon!
Wishing you a very bon weekend,
Bisous from France
Janine
Editor
Ps No newsletter next week as I am away in Toulouse and Montpellier… back soon! Join me on my travels on: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
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