P.S. for Monday

I don't really want to go on about it, other than to say that I'm still inside.

Not that I would want to be a nuisance, or anything..................because she does have a lot on her mind, at the moment. It's just that .......... well ....... I can feel the call of the outside and I'm really quite sad.

Maybe tomorrow?

Dum-di dum-di dum-di dum....................

Thank you to my two responders to Suispont. Exactement: The Archers it is. I can see that my clue was just too good. To Keithyd, all I have to say is "Je suis Monsieur Mouton."

And while we're on the subject, Lisbeth tells me that Billy Connolly once suggested that the theme tune would make a good National Anthem because immigrants would be able to learn it quickly. In fact he believed that if they Dum-di dum-di dum-di dummed over on the boat, they would know it by the time they arrived!

Suispont: a clue

OK. As there are no suggestions in my comments, I am assuming that a) you don't have any ideas or b) you aren't interested. (Don't answer that or I might feel hurt.)

I do know that one of my readers googled it and found nothing. So here is a clue: the friend who said it is married to a Dutch farmer. (The dutch bit isn't important.) So think a) farming and b) washed clean by the BBC.

Suispont

Lisbeth has been having meetings with her lawyer, to discuss other meetings with other lawyers, in the hope that they can sort out a problem that she has with her droit de passage. (Her neighbours won’t allow her to park her car on her own land because she has to cross a small bit of their land.) It’s a long story (literally, as it’s now been going on for five years!) Anyway, the D de P is only tangential to what I want to say about Suispont. I mention it only to give some context. (She does have all the legal documents, by the way, that give her permission to cross their land.)

So - to help her understand the legal aspects of the problem, a very kind friend always comes with her to the various meetings. This friend is English but speaks French fluently. OK, with me so far? Good.

After the last visit to her lawyer (last Wednesday, I think it was) her friend mentioned in an e-mail that everything was fine “here, in Suispont”, and Lisbeth should “work it out”

All answers to ‘Comments’ for this post, please.

Sheep Poo Paper

Now this is what I call environmentally sound: Sheep Poo Paper. It's creative, interesting and enterprising. I will get Lisbeth to buy me some of the sheep poo cards, when she has a minute, then I can drop my very special friends an all sheepy greeting.

I am single. We are plural

I'm a sheep and we are sheep and we are all together
We can flock and we can stray in very clement weather

I am single. Sheep are plural. I am on my own
keeping contact with the rest to make me feel at home

"Sheep may safely graze." It's clear, that here there's more than one
But add an 'a' and now we see the 'group effect' has gone

So here inside the world of sheep, it's really quite divine
that I am me and we are sheep and hence, we are ovine

Ovine

One of Lisbeth's friends referred to me as her "ovine friend" This is such a nice term, don't you think? It's an adjective (obviously) meaning:

"of or pertaining to or of the nature of or characteristic of a sheep or sheep"

Now isn't that interesting: "characteristic of 'a' sheep or 'sheep'? We are singular and plural. Mmmmm..... I think I'll write one of my poems about that in my next post. Although I do have things stacking up that I want to talk about: There's the article about sheep poo being made into paper. Yes, really! And then I want to talk about 'Suispont'. There just aren't enough hours in the day.................

I'm still inside, if you're wondering? Perhaps I could drum up some 'Support Monsieur Mouton to go outside' comments to get Lisbeth moving?

P.S. 'Ovine' comes up as a spelling error. Left click and it suggests: Irvine, oven, Evin, bovine and Ivonne. Right click suggests: bovine, vine, opine and o vine. Fascinating, or what!

Thanks for the comments

Hey, thanks Tom, Biby and Anonymous for your comments. I like it when people comment. I'm sorry that I have accepted them late. I have been a bit en retard (as they say here in France) moderating them. This is because I'm not used to getting them. Well, it's all change now. I'm going to turn over a new wool leaf and check every day, so keep them coming.

For those who are interested, the comments are on posts for April the 17th, 18th and 20th.

Great photos (not of the hedge)

I know I said I'd bring up my going outside today, however, Lisbeth has been cutting the big hedge and this is her most hated job in the garden. It is tall, (over 12 ft, I would guess) which means she has to go up a step ladder right to the top and then reach some more and, as the ground isn't even or firm, it's always a bit dicey. Also, the temperatures have been near 30 degrees so I felt that it wasn't worth even broaching my going outside.

What I have been doing is looking at some great photos. This one features Harper, from Telford: just fabulous. And in this one the star is only 3 years old, yet weighs 321 pounds!

A great site to while away the hours!

Me inside, Lisbeth outside. Mmmmmm!

I'm still not outside!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The weather is just great and I'm still in my winter quarters. I am just going to raise the subject of my location, ready or not! I just can't go on inside any longer. I did promise photos as soon as I get outside. However, Lisbeth took this yesterday so it's on the computer. It's of her box ball. I know! Look really hard and you can just see a very small blob over the pot in the middle of the photo. (Small = far away? No, small = small!)

It's been another nice day and Lisbeth has been working on the laurel hedge that was cut down before she left in December. There's been ivy to clear away and a lot of weeding and heavy work, digging out some of the old roots and planting two new replacement shrubs, to complete the line. It has taken her all day and I know she dug over part of the veg garden before breakfast but it isn't like her to be so focused on other things that she doesn't have time for me. I'll raise it tomorrow and keep you posted (literally).

Slowing down and planting shrubs

It's been a more relaxing day today and Lisbeth has really slowed down. (That is, if you count only working from 8 - 11 am and then from 3.30 - 7 pm, slowing down!) At 11 am, she planned to take her morning coffee and once-a-week croissant upstairs to her bedroom and relax on her bed, with the windows open, and listen to the Archers Omnibus! (I know, culture bypass, or what! Although she doesn't have a TV so I suppose a bit of radio soap is acceptable. And there is all that stuff about Brian and Jennifer and Brian's son by another woman who's now got cancer and might die and she wants him and Jennifer to look after the child if she dies.........................)

Anyway, I digress. After making sure that she just has time to boil the kettle and heat the milk by eleven 'o' clock, (She gets the croissant and bread from the Bar over the square.), at five minutes to 11, the gas bottle runs out!!!!!! Imagine......... She flies past me and trundles a new one from the back room through to the kitchen and does the necessary disconnecting and reconnecting. (She keeps a tool for this job hanging in the kitchen.) I think I saw her going up the stairs with her tray around five past 11, missing only the first few minutes. (We're an hour ahead in France, if you're wondering!)

She seems to have enjoyed this and went back after lunch to read her book and have a rest for an hour. This is so unusual for her. I hope it's done her some good.

As I write this post, it's 8.45-ish at the end of another beautiful sunny day. Lisbeth is on the terrace with a glass of wine (only the second since she arrived) and some French bread and nice cheese. I can hear the birds that roost in her bamboo twittering as they settle for the night and the song of a blackbird, just outside the door. In the distance I can hear a cuckoo and there is the smell a BBQ, from the neighbour, wafting into the house through the open windows.

As the light fades and the blackbird continues to sing, I can't imagine a nicer place to be.

P.S. In case you're wondering what she was doing today, she was planting more shrubs: dug holes this morning; planted them and watered this evening. She's also re potted a box bush that is going to be pruned to a ball on a stem. (At the moment it's more like a small blob on a stem. I'll see if I can get a photo when I finally get outside.)

More drowning than waving

Poor old Lisbeth is still struggling to get everything up to speed with stuff in the garden. She says she's OK but I heard two people ask her, today, why she looked sad. Now I come to think about it, she doesn't seem her usual chirpy self. She just gets her head down and works flat out. (Once I'm outside, I can get some photos of what's what and what's where.) She's been so engrossed outside that we haven't had any time to discuss my moving outside. Somehow, I don't think the time is quite right! Maybe her coffee and her once a week croissant, tomorrow morning, will see her in better spirits.

Russell the sheep

Check out Russell the sheep. I like his hat.

A (rare) lyrical moment

Now I'm sure that spring is here
soft words are in the air
From bards and poets we will hear
(More Hardy than Voltaire)

To think of England now that spring
(so Browningesque) is here,
brings clouds of swallows on the wing
to hear the young Shakespeare

And Herrick writes of flowers new,
with Houseman, blossomed trees
The new born lamb, the skylark too,
are all the things that please

We look to see the spring appear
wherever we may be
for with the turning of the year
comes life enhancing chi

And the fig tree has knobs on

More work in the garden today. I've hardly seen Lisbeth. She's passed me lots of times going into the kitchen for water to mix up the spray for weeding the paths. You can only do this when the weather is nice, apparently, and it's been very warm and sunny today. I heard Lisbeth telling someone that the fig tree has little knobs on the branches (tiny figs) and is starting to make leaves. I'm really looking forward to going outside for the summer. I will raise it with her when I think the time is right.

Garden Gains: I should say so!

No wonder Lisbeth's a bit stiff tonight. She's been moving stuff and sweeping and rearranging in the big garden room. Then there was weeding and cutting and pruning and more weeding and mowing and more mowing and still more mowing. There is masses left to do but, for the first time since she came back to France, the garden is looking as if someone lives here. It's been warmer out than in, today. I expect to be moving outside soon. That will be really nice.

Celebrating the French way

Lisbeth's been out since late morning with her French friends, attending the birthday celebration of Mme Sage. There were about sixteen people in all, friends and family, for a meal in a restaurant about 20 mins drive from here. The menu card was as follows:

Menu

Salade Campagnarde
Perche à la Sauce Dieppoise
Trou Normand
Cuisses de canard Farcies
Salade
Plateau de fromages
Dessert: Fraisier
Vins
Blanc: Sauvignon
Rouges: Chinon
Café

They began with Apéritifs at 12 noon and arrived back at Mme Sage's house around 5 pm. sometime after 7 pm, they had champagne and home-made almond cake. Lisbeth got home at 9 pm.

Naughty doodle sheep

If you were taking notes in a lecture and you started to doodle sheep (Doesn't everyone?) and then they came to life..............

Friends to relax with and quaint French charm

Lisbeth's just got back from two days away visiting friends in the Charente. I think she had a great time and.........No, she says she had a brilliant time. It was two days doing the things that give her a lot of pleasure: spending time with people she likes a lot, discussing interesting things, sharing good food and wine and meeting up with old friends. She says that their house is lovely and the atmosphere was very relaxing. I didn't get to go, of course, because I was house-sitting and Kombucha-sitting. Not as interesting a time as Lisbeth but then I'm a sheep and she's not.

This morning they visited a cafe in the nearby town. Lisbeth has been there before but not for some years and was delighted to find it virtually unchanged. You go into what looks like an old-fashioned, French peasant-style kitchen. And it is this lady's kitchen. It is the same old lady running it as was there 5 years ago. She is now 87 but very sprightly.

Lisbeth and her friend ordered coffee with hot milk. Old 70s cups came first (no saucers) with spoons, sugar and a small piece of chocolate each. When the lady returned (in the typical Mrs Overall-style apron) she was carrying two aluminum saucepans: one very small of strong coffee, which she divided between the two cups and an even smaller one of hot milk, which she left on the table for them to help themselves.

Lisbeth says it was one of those special moments here in France: a delightful experience, little changed since the 50s and full of French charm.

If I were Mouton Rothschild......?

If I were Mouton Rothschild,
instead of Mouton Sheep,
would a small glass drive you wild
before you go to sleep?

I know it's more romantic
to be some fancy wine
But is it just semantic
that 'Mouton' is a sign?

Add 'Rothschild' and the price goes up
Drink lots and you're asleep
Or else you could just talk to me
A happy Mouton Sheep

The new Speaking Clock?

I'm so happy to be back on line that I'm going to indulge myself and just had to put this in the posts again because I like it so much. It's the accent that does it along with the tone of voice. I think this sheep would be perfect for the Speaking Clock.

The beauty of broadband: NOT

I'm having terrible connection problems here in France. Of course, it may not be because I'm in France but I do know that the cable that brings my broadband comes first from the nearest town to the next village, then heads on out to my village. I'm told that the cable is old so I suppose it gets tired by the time it reaches me.

Anyway, I'm back on so I had better say what I had intended to say. Although I've been so stressed out getting back on line that I've forgotten.................. Big sheep's poo!

1000

A thousand hits today, that's true
It's there for all to see
So thanks and thanks to all of you
who have been reading me

Eggs at Easter

While I'm waiting for my hits to click over, I thought I'd say that Lisbeth spent the morning taking chocolate eggs to her friends. She tied them onto wiggly branches then added either some small yellow chicks and/or some variegated leaves. For her neighbour, she hung the branch on the fence for them to find when they opened their shutters. Then, after breakfast, she set off round the village delivering the rest in person. It took all morning but she said it was well worth the effort.

This afternoon, she worked with her friend, Mme Houx, to mark out a big circle at the bottom of the garden. (This has made her feel much better and more enthusiastic about being here.) Also in the afternoon, Lisbeth and her friend when next door for champagne, cake and coffee: a very French sort of a thing to do on high days and holidays.

Shall I wait up for my first 1000?

As I write this I see I have 998 on my hit counter. Shall I wait up for the next two hits so that I can go to bed knowing I've had my first 1000? It's like when you sell something on e-bay: you watch the last few minutes to see the bids sort themselves out. Isn't it exciting? (My counter doesn't include any of my page views, by the way. Also, I've resisted the temptation to use any of the various boosters to increase the hit rate. It's a purist thing!)

She's a lumberjack and she's OK..........

I forgot to say that Lisbeth was out working with her chainsaw on Friday. (This photo is actually from last year but it gives an idea of what she's about!)

Anyway, she was cutting down the tree that you can just see on the right. No, not the thin spindly one. The one next to that. You can only see some of the leaves. It's an old laurel and she wants to make a seating area and the tree is in the middle of the space. She had to get it done because her friend came today. (The one who's helping her design the garden.) They needed the tree gone so that they could really see the space. Their discussion went well and Lisbeth likes her friends ideas. They also discussed what shrubs and plants might be good to plant so as to obscure the back of the neighbour's shed.

In the photo she's using a sawing-horse. Yesterday, it was more 'free-hand' as she lopped off the branches from the top down. She dealt with all the small stuff, immediately, putting it ready for burning at the end of the garden, leaving the bigger stuff stacked up for another chain-saw session.

P.S. She got a bit frustrated at the end of the day because she mislaid the nut that holds the chain in place. You have to undo it to dismantle the chain part of the chainsaw for cleaning and when she came to put it back together, the nut had disappeared. It took her ages to find that it had rolled under a plant. I kept out of the way and prayed the nut fairy would come to the rescue.

Good night - Bad night

Lisbeth had a better night last night, I'm pleased to say. I say better, because the night before was not very successful for her, or for me.

Imagine the scene: I am doing my standing thing in the hall. It's just after 4 am. The house is quiet and nothing stirs in the village. Without warning, I hear Lisbeth's bedroom door open. She comes noisily down the stairs and goes into the kitchen. She bumps and bangs around in there for a while then goes back upstairs with a cup of hot chocolate in one hand and a piece of buttered toast in the other. No apology or anything!

To sleep, perchance to dream? Chance would be a fine thing!

If your head exploded, now..........

If your head exploded, now,
when you'd just stopped chewing?
Would you want to disavow
what you had been doing?

But wait a minute, with no head
you wouldn't think at all.
I'm pretty sure you would be dead
And certainly less tall.

So don't forget your head is there
Don't take it too for granted.
Give it lots of loving care
for fear it gets transplanted.

Lisbeth's head explodes

No, not really! Although she said that she felt as if it would.

She had to get to grips with some tricky French interactions, today, and not having been back long she found it a bit of a stretch, grammatically speaking. There was something at the tax office, a decision to be made in the bank and something she didn't understand regarding the house insurance. All these issues were somewhat difficult to explain in French.

That being said, the day was pretty successful. There are two things that still need to be resolved and the bank and the insurers will ring her when they are sorted or with the relevant information. The man in the bank was very complimentary about her French and the man in the insurers was pleased to see her back in France.

So her head resides comfortably on the top of her neck - as does mine. So all is well. And all that shall be well, is well, in the world of heads.

Meeting one of my readers

Friends came see Lisbeth, today. She likes having visitors. She knew the lady, already, from her trips to Bristol and was delighted that they came and that she was able to meet her friend's husband: a very nice man, who used to be a headmaster. They have bought a house a little further south of here and were in this area en route to see other friends. They brought with them some lovely bread and cheese and Lisbeth made soup and a fresh fruit salad. They had a look around the house, flat and garden, then sat and talked over a leisurely lunch.

I was introduced to the lady as it seems that she has been reading my blog. It was such a treat for me to meet one of my readers, although I was a little disappointed to be still in my winter quarters in the hall and not outside where I can present myself in a more appropriate way. However, she said "Ah.......... so this is Monsieur Mouton", in such a very nice tone of voice, that it quite made my day.

She's like a whirlwind (not a rainbow)

Good gosh! Lisbeth's working inside and outside and up and down stairs and having visitors and staying out late...............and.............

She did more sorting and organizing in the house on Sunday morning then went out with her French friends to an Exposition (Exhibition) near Poitiers in the afternoon. They stopped en route to put green box leaves ('blessed' at a church service) on the graves of their relatives. She said it was a really quite a nice thing to do and everyone was out doing the same. Mme Sage had kept back some of the leaves for Lisbeth. It is the custom, here, to keep a bunch somewhere in the house to protect it for the coming year. Lisbeth will divide hers up between the house and her little building in the garden.

The Exhibition consisted of paintings, jewelry, sculptures and pottery made by local artists. She said it was all very interesting but not as interesting as the town. Lisbeth likes old towns and this one had a Gallo-Roman church, a monastery and real monks.

Today, Lisbeth had a visitor in the morning, worked in the garden until 4pm, (mowing and pruning and the like), then went to see her friend Mme Houx. She finds this particular friend truly inspiring and has come back feeling much more positive about getting to grips with all the work that's been piling up while she's been in England. Thank goodness, is all I can say, because she's been a bit down about it all since she arrived back and has been looking at houses on the web. Not a good sign. Let's hope that things begin to look up on this house front, from here in!