Lockdown Birthday Number 2
Hello everyone
After posting last week’s blog rather late, this week I was trying to be ready early. Friday was my birthday and I have a long held rule of no work on my birthday. I have to say this isn’t really work and I am enjoying writing it, but the birthday rule stays.
As you will see by the date this is being posted, my plan to be organised early did not work out. I had a lot of work to do up to Friday and then I had my birthday. Lockdown birthday number 2 but a day to celebrate nonetheless. A fabulous bouquet arrived from my sister and her family – Amaryllis – my absolute favourite. Such a treat.
I had a lovely day, in spite of lockdown, which involved eating too much and chatting to a lot of family and friends, including a hysterical conversation with my sister and brother-in-law in Australia. My brother-in-law Simon misheard something I said and we ended up creating a new range of bath products for Australia with Si as the model! I think my son would rather not have had to listen to it – and that was before Max and I had opened the fizz! My elderly neighbours insisted we visit for tea. After chestnut cake and tiramisu, they presented me with an enormous bunch of lilac from their garden (the scent is divine), lots of dahlias to plant and some wild asparagus – more on that later.
The boys then cooked me supper while I had virtual aperitifs with my Mother and Alex and then some friends from university days. Lots of fizz, food and presents – and fab French patisserie to finish.
The temperature here has dropped by at least 10 degrees – I am back in my thermals. Just a week ago we were having lunch in the garden in blazing sunshine. The kiwi plant, just in leaf, has taken a hit, in spite of being wrapped in fleece, and the leaves have been burnt by the frost (an odd concept but true). The lettuces survived but my apple blossom is also looking a little battle weary. Fingers crossed we haven’t lost too much of the fruit crop and the kiwi fights back. The not so good news is that more frost is forecast in the coming days. I am holding back on planting at the moment, but there are some beautiful colours in the garden and the wisteria is out, full of bees on a sunny day and such a wonderful smell.
Of greater importance than my little kiwi plant is the potential frost damage to vineyards across France. The late frost has caused huge concern as wine producers light ‘candles’ in their vineyards trying to protect the vines that are just coming into bud from the cold. They aren’t really candles, but cans of paraffin which cost quite a lot of money but are an attempt to keep the frost from the young shoots on the vines. In Italy we have seen reports that orchards have been sprayed with water that then freezes, forming a sort of thermal layer against the cold. It’s a bit like pressing pause, with the hope that when you resume all will be well. How tough on the wine producers and others. A late frost can spell disaster – something we probably don’t think about when reaching for a glass of wine.
The kittens continue to explore the garden and bring some of their finds (mainly wildlife) back into the house. Monday another shrew, Wednesday a tiny grass snake. Sadly neither made it out alive – quite the hunters. I do love cats but am not so keen on their hunting instincts when they are so well fed by us! They are getting more reluctant to come in for supper. It took several hours to coax Nina in on Thursday – far too much fun to be had outside. Eventually I managed to lure her over with a stick and then I had to play with her for a while until she relaxed enough for me to scoop her up! I think they are still too young to stay outside at night, and given the wildlife around plus the large wild cats I have seen in the garden, I am not sure their chances would be great. They will hopefully learn that it is best to be in the house and cosy at night. The adventures will still be there the next day. Today is their first experience of rain…some bedraggled kittens who, surprisingly, seem more keen to come in today!
The big exciting news of the week is wild asparagus (asperge sauvage or respounchous). Our friends who live down the road told me that their neighbour had brought some round, explained what to do with it and where to find it and they had gone off to find some themselves. What fun. I may even have been a little jealous of this. Anyway it went from my mind as work was quite full on this week. On Tuesday I dropped a rather late Easter gift off at my elderly neighbours (my homemade truffles) and on the way down the drive, after pointing out the various plants I can have, she suddenly plucked something from the side and asked me if I had come across wild asparagus!
What a coincidence. Anyway she picked me some to try and off I went. On the way back I wondered if we might have some in the copse, so nipped in and guess what – we do. So exciting. I added to the bunch and we had it that evening lightly steamed and then briefly sautéed in olive oil, garlic and lemon juice. They are quite bitter but tasty nonetheless and great nutritionally. I now find that everywhere I walk I am scouring the verges, wooded areas, etc., to see if I can spot wild asparagus. Once you know, it is amazing how much there is all around us. I love learning about things like that. Great to pass on, so that those customs don’t die. Some of the surprise birthday bunch of wild asparagus has been used in an omelette with spring onions, mushrooms, black pepper and sumac – and a tiny sprinkling of Vieux Rodez – a recently discovered local cheese that is very similar to parmesan. Delicious.
My week didn’t quite turn out as planned – when does it these days? I was supposed to be spending this week decorating but work overtook that ambition. I have done some more gardening and we have cleared two of the diamond shaped beds around fruit trees. I also helped Max clear up grass cuttings as he wielded the strimmer through the fast growing grass in some of the garden. I had my first and hopefully only experience of a virtual funeral. I can’t imagine how hard that is for the family who couldn’t be there in person. This pandemic has opened our eyes to so many things we just take for granted. It wouldn’t be a normal week if a courier problem didn’t make an appearance, this time DHL’s computer system had a moment and booked collections on wrong days! More phone time trying to sort out a pick up. I am not sure what I will do when I don’t have to deal with these things anymore! On a positive note, we have have some amazing sunrises though.
We are off to collect a free bed base and a beautiful old stove tomorrow. More on that next week.
Enjoy the remainder of the weekend and the week to come.
Thank you for reading this and for your comments. It is always lovely to get some feedback and to know someone is reading the ramblings of a novice blogger trying to get to grips with life in rural France.
A bientôt
Ali xx