Well, I said I would keep notes, to help with keeping myself up-to-date with what I have done, but I didn’t! However, I do know what I was doing 2 weeks ago, as Pat and I were having a wonderful short break with R&L (Pat’s brother and sister-in-law) and Dave the dog. As an aside you do have to love the French expression for sister-in-law it is belle-soeur which actually translates as beautiful sister. Mother in law is the same – eg. Belle-mère. For those of you who haven’t read Pat’s blog, we were staying in a wonderful place called Aigues Mortes, very interesting town. A few too many mosquitoes for our liking but these can be worked around. It was a very nice trip, however it did get very hot (high 30’s) and I realised that since I left Australia I’ve not really got any clothes to deal with those type of temperatures. So my first stop on the Sunday was the local markets to get some loose, cotton long shorts. Glad I did that, and on the last day, as R&P were off getting the car sorted I did a little bit more shopping (well the sales were on) and bought another lovely pair of cotton trousers. I’ve worn both a lot since we have been home. Though thankfully this week it has cooled down a lot.
Actually the sales have been good to us this year – once you get used to the fact that the French only have two sales a year (the dates are dictated by the government) you can use them to your advantage. We have also purchased two arm chairs for our living room and a new tap for the kitchen sink. And talking about the kitchen; that is something Pat has been working hard on since we got back. We have our new work top’s in and they look fantastic, the new sink (it’s a double sink – yah) and obviously the new tap. I’ve also repainted the cupboard & draw fronts to help with the problem’s we were having with staining on the original paint work. The new paint is so much better.
On Friday night we also had the opening of the student art exhibition. I have two works in, the church on Crete and the sunset that I’ve just finished. I’m really pleased with how these look all framed up. Now I’ve just got to figure out where I can put them in the house when the exhibition finishes. I’m currently painting a picture of flowers…
Me at the exhibition
Church on Crete
My sunset
I’ve also been doing some work in the garden, I’ve had to pick a large number of courgettes (zucchini’s) as they have gone silly. I’ve also discovered that if you leave them on the plant for too long, they really grow fast. So I’ve had to make courgette moussaka (using the courgette instead of egg plants), I’ve made zucchini bread (very nice) and muffins (same as the bread mix). I’ve put some of the courgettes into the freezer with the intention of making courgette soup. I’m up for any other ideas.
I’ve also have to pick most of my rocket and remove most of my lettuces as with the heat they just bolted and went to seed. However, my tomatoes are in heaven and I’ve had lots of cherry tomotes (red and yellow) and I’ve just started being able to pick my roma tomatoes (they are the long ones) and I’ve got some ones that I’m not quite sure what they are but they are similar to a beef steak but with ridges (T&R – answer please they are the seeds you sent me ). But after last year’s disaster with the tomatoes I’m really glad that this year they are going so well.
The other of wonderful things that are going well in my garden is that I have some Kangaroo Paw seedlings, I’m hoping that a few of them will get big enough to flower before summer ends.
I’ve also got a very good crop of blue berries, so much so that Pat and I picked a whole lot yesterday morning and made blueberry pancakes for breakfast – yum. Now I’ve just got to wait for my cucamelon’s and cucumbers to flourish. They seem to be really struggling this year.
Seedlings
I must admit for someone who doesn’t really like gardening, I do a lot more of it than I really want to. I guess because I like being able to grow my own food and I do enjoy a pretty garden.
So look out for Pat’s blog next week to keep up-to-date (especially with the kitchen changes) – http://patblog.patbell.co.uk
And I will see you again in 2 weeks.