Rob and Jan

Although it has been very difficult to get over losing JJ, the arrival of Daisy has helped to take our minds off our loss. She is 12 months old and belonged to Polly?s Dad, he is returning to England and couldn?t take both his dogs with him.
Daisy is a Labrador-Whippet cross, mostly whippet in build though. She can run faster than Rokxy, much to Rokxy?s annoyance! When she can?t catch Daisy she yaps and barks at her, presumably telling her to slow down!
She is much more genteel than Rokxy, I call them Beauty and the Beast or Lady and the Tramp, you can guess who is who?.

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?She has settled in without any troube, she just seemed to be at home straight way. Just before we got Daisy, we looked after Bruce and Polly’s dogs (Meg and Amy), while they were in England. Rokxy gets on fine with both of them, even though they put her in her place when they have had enough of her wanting to play all the time!

The downstairs bathroom is coming along slowly, got to step up a gear now as Jan?s dad and her 2 sisters (Mary and Fiona) are arriving in just over a weeks time. Main reason I haven?t finished it yet is the amount of work needed to be done in the garden, that’s my story anyway! The veggie plot is nearly finished now, lots of different vegetables planted, it will be interesting to see what flourishes and what fails. The fruit garden is doing well, most of the bushes seem to be shooting up, looking forward to raspberries and gooseberries etc. as long as the birds, slugs or dogs don?t get them first..

We have had a few evenings of thunder storms over the past week or so, including one horrendous downpour with high winds and hailstones, over 1 inch of rain in an hour! The plants in the garden and some still in pots ready for planting took quite a battering, hopefully they will recover over the next few days.

Jan planted some lettuce about 2 weeks ago, so far the slugs have eaten about half, they should finish the rest off fairly soon, would be nice if they left us a few. We have tried the beer trap with partial success, next is the copper wire and the ash from the bonfire to try to deter the little bastards.

Since the last blog update the weather was initially very good but then the rainy season started so we may just grow rice as the garden is doing a fair impression of a paddy field!

I already have a reasonable tan from working in the garden so much, apart from where I have been wearing socks and heavy boots, white ankles and feet look a bit silly, still, it gives Jan something else to laugh at when I take my clothes off!

The apple and pear trees are fine despite hard pruning over winter, there is lots of blossom and the fruit is already appearing on the pear trees.

We lost a few trees and shrubs over the winter, the only one I can remember is the fig tree, the others Jan can name but the only clue I can give is they are now all brown and very brittle, even I know that this means they are suffering from a condition technically known as ?buggered?.

Our nearest neighbour, who has returned from spending the winter in Paris, invited us in for a coffee the other day. She speaks good English, so between her English and my crap French, we get along fine. She has invited us to accompany her to the village Fete in June, it?s like being summoned by the lady of the manor!

Last weekend we went to not one, but two, flower markets, whoopee!! (with our friends Lynn and Barry) On Saturday, we went to Fourcҳ, a beautiful Bastide town about an hours drive north of us. The whole town centre is closed off for 2 days, with flower stalls everywhere, Jan was in her element, just glad I?ve got deep pockets and short arms otherwise we would have needed a bigger car!
See pic below of some of the flowers at the Saturday market.

Then on Sunday it was our village ?Marchՠau Plantes?, not on the scale of Saturday?s market but still plenty of plants to buy. It?s all locals supplying the plants, with profits going to charity, much cheaper than yesterday, definitely my kind of market (apart from the fact it?s all plants and flowers, so not my kind of market at all really!).

I?ve just started the process of registering the car here in France, already fallen at the first hurdle, sent off a cheque to Renault for a certificate to prove it is at EU standard, this was returned as it was not for the correct amount, the fee went up recently! Let?s hope the rest of the procedure is smoother.

A couple of friends have recently had problems with their PCs which I have sorted out. Just keeping my hand in, never know when I might run out of things to do in the house and garden!

Usual apologies for not updating this blog more frequently, must try harder.
I must update this blog more often; I must update this blog more often; I must update this blog more often; I must update this blog more often; I must update this blog more often; I must update this blog more often; I must update this blog more often; I must update this blog more often; I must update this blog more often; I must update this blog more often; I must update this blog more often; I must update this blog more often;

Bye for now, look out for another update soon (but don’t hold your breath!).