First of all – a great big Bonjour and welcome to all our new subscribers and re-bonjour to all our older friends!
Talking of new and old, this week my duck Belle has been very edgy. Several weeks ago she moved into an empty coop that I stored on the terrace outside my back door which was odd as she’s a sociable girl and is team leader in duck pen 2. It became obvious a few days later that she had the urge to nest as she was scuttling around the garden collecting twigs and pulling straw from the bales in the shed and plonking them in the coop.
Every day she returned to the pen for a rendezvous with Dickie Duck and her gang, then she flew back to her personal pied-a-terre on the terrace and laid an egg. A few days after this routine started I noticed that three other ducks were also flying out of the pen, laying an egg in Belle’s nest when her back was turned.
This morning when I checked, it looks as though there are more than a dozen eggs about to hatch. The weather in this part of France has been unusually fine but it gets very cold at night so I’ve been insulating a big plastic box to put inside a small pen for Belle and her babies.
Pierre the farmer came in for a coffee yesterday and rolled his eyes at my comfy duck abode. “You just have to leave them to it” he said “it’s nature”. I didn’t dare tell him that I’ve set up a second box in the house in case they get too cold and I have to bring them all in… he’ll definitely think I’m crackers!
With best wishes and bisous from France,
Janine
Editor
This week’s Top Features:
Great Cultural Exchange opportunities in France: A win-win for hosts who need help with their homes and businesses, and savvy travellers who want to immerse themselves in the day to day life of France!
Visiting the recently renovated Picasso Museum in Paris: Bob Lyons visits the Hotel Salé, home to a large collection of Picasso’s work and other prominent artists…
Attending the Menton Lemon Festival: Darina Nykl falls head over heels in love with Menton in the south of France
Monopoly game with real money: It’s the Monopoly game’s 80th birthday so Hasbro, the makers, decided to swap the toy money for real money in one box in France!
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