Snow Yeti Again

Well, this is going to sound a bit like a broken record, but we have had snow again this week. But first, let me tell you about our little trip last weekend to Rennes le Chateau.

We decided, after reading about the snow forecast, to make the most of the fine weather on Sunday and go to the market at Esperaza. Sun bright and people chirpy and market a little quiet but still nice. On the way home we took a detour and went to have a quick look around Rennes le Chateau.

Tour de Magdalene

Penitence

Chapel of Mary Magdalene

Those of you who have read Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) and Sepulchre (Kate Mosse) will know the story of Berenger Sauniere, who was a local priest accused of receiving funds inappropriately and even of spying for the Germans during WWI. His grave is in the churchyard of the Chapel of Mary Magadalene. This small chapel is beautifully decorated.

There are some nice windy streets and interesting buildings in the village, as well as stunning views over the Razes from nearby the Tower - the Tour de Magadalene. Inside the tourist office you can find a huge glass-covered excavation hole, which was dynamite blasted in the '60s to try and find "buried treasure", which of course was never found and probably never existed. But it did start fresh rumours about the priest, followed by a series of books and theories, some mentioned above. You can also visit the museum.

Feathered clouds on Sunday

Later in the day we had some lovely feather clouds which to us signify an oncoming storm. It was unbelievable as the weather was just warming up nicely and the day was so bright. But Monday morning was a completely different story. A large blanket of snow was everywhere we could see. The snowflakes started off wet and large and soon became thick on the ground. The temperature continued to drop and by the end of the day everything was quiet when we took Cassy for a walk down to the reserve. Wearing our good old NZ gumboots otherwise the snow would have gotten into our shoes!

Monday

Tuesday morning

Looking towards the back fence
Icicles on shed up to a meter long

After 4 days there is snow still sitting on the ground and in some trees. We have had watery sun occasionally during the week but not enough to get rid of all the snow. The icicles are beginning to thaw and crash to the ground. Now we feel we have seen enough winter and just want it to be spring! Poor birds are having a tough time finding enough to eat so we are putting out "fat balls" for them to nibble. It's quite lovely to see them all queueing up and then some underneath feeding on the bits that drop.

Robin in the snow

A couple of weeks ago we completed our new fence around the garden we planned to upgrade this winter. Before we could start we had to remove the privet hedge - one reason for getting rid of this hedge is that it looked rather straggly and another reason is that I am allergic to the flower pollen. We got a couple of the smaller ones out no trouble, but the others called for the more drastic action of pulley and block - I think Wouter likes to use these machines - like making cement is the grown man's answer to the sandpit.

Front garden with privet hedge

Wouter working wonders with the pulley

Wouter Kabouter......

I always hoped to find a kabouter (gnome) in the garden!

The posts are from acacia and were given to us by our vineyard neighbours. They just wanted to get rid of them and we said we would take them. Simple and great for us! We did buy a few small plants to pretty up the entrance (hopefully they survive the snow) and at some stage we will get something hanging on the rails by the gate. The other side of the fence will be covered with clematis once they grow. The centre part of this garden will also be changed, but we are not entirely sure how we will do this part.

Posts woven with Virginia creeper and pruned branches

By next Tuesday our temperatures will be into double figures again, so we are told, and then it will be a race against the clock to do all the chores that need to be done before planting, before trees sprout again, before fruit sets, and before weeds get too big to handle! After that's all done the snow will be long gone and we'll be looking at the next chores of building our outdoor guest barbecue making a cover for the well-pump.

Hoopoe and Mole

Hoopoe

Hoopoe - we have a hoopoe - 'huppe fasciee' (fr), or 'hop' (dutch) visiting our garden. Apparently these birds are pretty dirty in their habits. I'm wondering if it's the one who has been pooping purple on my nice white washing..... But the good thing is that they can eat things like the larvae of the processionary caterpillar.

The birds, according to the Wiki, are summer visitors and nesters throughout central Europe and central Asia. Its bill is long and tapered and it has strong head muscles which allow its beak to open while in the ground - perfect for eating the caterpillar larvae! Larger prey is beaten against the ground or a stone is used to kill it. The milky blue eggs laid are quickly discoloured by the dirty nest conditions.

Apparently the female has a uropygial (or preening) gland which can be quickly modified with a foul (pardon the pun!) rotten meat-like smell which acts as a deterrent against predators, parasites and is also probably an antibacterial agent. The smell is absorbed into the feathers of female and young alike, so I guess if you had a nest in your garden you'd soon know about it! In addition to this secretion, nestlings are able to direct streams of faeces at nest intruders from the age of six days, and will also hiss at intruders in a snake like fashion. The song is an "oop oop" sound, which gives rise to its name.

Image from http://snipurl.com/exnjz

Moles

We also have a mole - taupe (fr) or mol (dutch) - he or she came out of its hiding place a few days ago after all the concrete drilling we are having done at the moment - we found out they don't like noise or vibrations... So we did a bit of investigating and apparently they eat their own weight in grubs every day. They like damp, dark places under trees or other plants, often live under a concrete path and build their little network of feeding holes from there. They seem to need about a quarter acre of land each to live on and have a complex system of tunnels and chambers. They have found mole fossils dating back 130 million years.

It seems they are hard to get rid of as they build safety walls in parts of their underground network to keep themselves safe. The French advertise all sorts of traps and electronic devices in brico (hardware) shops. Apparently they don't spread diseases like some rodents can do, but they do eat fungus and other harmful underground grubs and bugs in your garden as well as aerate the soil. Mice and other small rodents sometimes use the burrows for feeding leaving the moles to get the blame for eaten roots and seeds.

The good news is that they will also feed on the processionary caterpillar larvae, which could explain why even though there might be thousands of caterpillars, there seem to be comparatively few moths. We wonder why people don't seem to like them - the only reason we can think of is that they spoil the appearance of our lawns and gardens - yes, I know they can make a mess, but for our garden, one or two are welcome if they help to keep pests at bay and we will gladly rake the mounds of soil flat.

Image from http://snipurl.com/exp3f

Another update

We worked on the toilet and back bedroom at the same time, due to the location. The toilet, as you may remember, had pinky-purple floral paper and a beige radiator. The walls underneath were a kind of yellow and the back of the door was a greeny-yellow.

before

The walls were stripped, cleaned and covered with a mix of paint and sand and this was painted with the Vent de Sable colour from the hallway but at a quarter strength. The light colour is lovely on the walls and it highlights the flecks of stone in the light floor tiles. The radiator was painted white and the paintwork (window and door) have been painted blanc casse - broken white. The ceiling was painted a soft white.

after

tile detail

All together it's a warmer feel and smarter look than before. Just a note that the outside of the door remains as is until we have finished with the new bathroom and toilet as there will be so much mess and we decided to wait until that's finished to decorate the hallway. No pics yet of the bedroom as I still have to do the windows.

We are working like the clappers to get the large dining room done so that when the plumber and builder come in to work on the new bathroom and toilet we can focus on getting those finished - getting there!

who's behind the new door?

Meanwhile the weather has taken yet another lovely turn and it was positively warm today with 22 degrees and Cassy panting and looking for shady spots! Spring is really in the air and the plants - and weeds - are busting into bloom - it's really quite amazing. The change of seasons here is much more dramatic than in NZ (at least Auckland) with the hesitant "shall we flower or shall we wait a bit" feeling. We can expect this weather for the next 10 days or so.

acacia (or mimosa) - classed as a weed here!

erable

planting gladioli bulbs

Lastly, it was Cassy's 8th birthday last week, so on the weekend we decided to give him a nice long walk at one of the local parks. He was having a ball sniffing places he doesn't normally go and suddenly he disappeared from view - just at that moment we realised we were close to the fishing pond.... We heard "quack, quack, quack" and called Cassy back. As we reached the brow of the hill, there he was standing, dripping wet, wagging tail, ducks looking put out and two elderly fishermen further round the pond.... as I slipped Cassy's leash on both Wouter and I tried to look casual as we continued our walk. Needless to say, Cassy had a great time! Luckily for us he didn't try to catch a fish or a duck.

Spring Is In The Air

The weather took a lovely turn for almost two weeks and so while we would love to keep working inside, we felt we must make a start on our vegetable plot and other areas if we are to reap the rewards later in the season.

Daytime temperatures were getting up to 19.5/20 degrees, which is not bad for February - you could compare this to end of August in NZ. Our nights are still cold but the days have been brilliant and I'd love it to be like this most of the year. Having said that, we are just having a cold snap - Kiwis should know what that's like :) Many things have started to flower - the apricots, cherries, mimosa and a lot of spring flowers both in pots and in the garden. the irises are shooting up large new leaves in preparation for their beautiful flowers (which I can't wait to see).


Now preparing the soil is important - we let things slip during late autumn and winter for a few reasons - we didn't have our things from NZ until late October, we planted a few things in beds but soon after that the weather deteriorated pretty fast, the soil is not very nice to work when it's wet - it's very claggy clay just like Auckland soil, but once it dries it becomes sandy - we will need to add organic matter over time to improve the soil structure.

We found out that the land we are on used to be a river, and therefore the soil is from the river bed. We find lots of stones while working in the garden and leave them in small piles until we have enough to go around and collect. Wouter is the 'slasher' (as well as the pole dancer!) and is getting rid of the large weeds, turning the soil once to dry it out a little and then running a manual tiller over it to fine it up. It seems to be working ok.

preparing more beds, broad beans in foreground (left)

Before winter set in Wouter planted a whole lot of things which just sat there all that time nice and cosy - heaps of onions, garlic, shallots, broad beans and so on - won't mention the obvious...... and now they are starting to shoot away. In the beds which are already prepared I've planted some more radishes - we got quite a few before the winter, but the ones which were left were eaten out by slugs and the local rabbit! An aside here - I put the old and crusty radishes in the wheelbarrow so they could be put onto the compost heap or just thrown out with the rest of the weeds. The following morning Wouter found Cassy half in the barrow having a feast of radishes...

Some seeds have been sown in pots to germinate and await warmer nights before being planted out. These include capsicums, tomatoes, chillies and aubergines. They should be planted out when they are a bit bigger as we will have problems with snails and slugs - we will do our usual trick of "hunting by torch light" and either burn them or pop them into boiling water and let the birds eat them the next day.

We've also bought lots of flower seeds - things like sunflowers, prairie mix, poppies, cornflowers and so on. It should be a riot of colour here later in the season.




For now we have jonquils flowering, daffodils, crocuses (in pot), cowslips, violets. The existing hydrangeas are budding - we transferred some round to the southern garden where they have the spring sun but in summer have shade from one of the trees - they are looking happy so far and we will need to water them in summer. The oleanders we planted earlier are looking fine, and some of the other shrubs we transferred from spots in the garden we didn't think they belonged also seem to like their new spaces. I must say that it's quite fun playing around in a new garden - loved my one in Waimauku and often miss some of the things there (especially my lemon tree, which I may have mentioned before...) but it's exciting to create a new look with different variables and see how we manage to feed ourselves and have flowers throughout the year from this new place.

Now for another story about the dog - while we were working in the garden, Cassy was getting the occasional ball throw and having a lie down on the soft soil in between - every so often he would get up and sniff around underneath the fruit trees with obviously fond memories of the figs which used to be there when we first moved in. Lo and behold, he managed to find some old potatoes - so, the garden once again becomes an interesting place.

While our backs were turned he had a munch - I called out to Wouter to check out what he was eating and we found it was raw, but fresh, potato. The following morning the potato magnet was strong and Wouter found Cassy slinking back into the laundry, looking very guilty, and his paws were so caked with mud that his toes couldn't fit together any more - this must have been really uncomfortable and was a dead give-away as to where he had been - you've guessed - in the vegie patch to find more potatoes. Pity we don't have truffles......

I'll just wait until they're not looking...

Garden

Wouter has been busy tidying up the garden. There was heaps to do and we were just waiting for the right weather - a few dry days so you don't get mud stuck to your boots and end up wearing "platforms", a bit of sun so you don't get wet while working outside, etc. So after a week of dry weather we decided it was time. There were poplars to remove - they were a hedge along the eastern boundary of the propery and a lot of them were rotten. Some we cut down earlier and already used for firewood. The latest ones removed will suffer the same fate.

The pines which contained the chenilles (caterpillars) processionaires have been chain-sawed into slices and await chopping - they need to dry and split a bit as when Wouter tried it, the axe bounced back. Obviously they behave differently here to in nz - I guess it's because they grow more slowly and therefore the timber is more dense. I'm sure if it's anything else, one of the readers will let us know.
There was/is also a lot of poison ivy growing through the as-yet-non-existent-lawn which has been and is being pulled out. It was also growing in, up, around, through, into the poplars, the ground around the poplars and so on. So Wouter has been busy clearing it all away. Whew! Quite a lot of wheelbarrow loads of rubbish has left this part of the garden. We figure it's also a deterrent against the chenilles returning to burrow into any soft soil and try and nest in our trees again. We want to make it as uninviting as possible for them.

Since the poplars were cut away we now have a view over to the vineyard on the eastern side, and further towards the Corbiere mountains. Also the place just looks more airy and inviting.

We have decided to plant oleanders along the fenceline and hedge them about one and a half meters high. This will preserve the view but give the place a Mediterranean feel. Yes, we do know they are poisonous but as we don't have small kids around we figure we are safe enough. They are on our side of the fence and we'll keep them trim. Behind the fence is a sloping garden from the council which will prevent anyone getting to close to them over there.

The New House

Most of you will know that we were offline for a couple of weeks (story in itself further down the page) so this is a running commentary of how things have been for the first couple of weeks in the new house.

We had our first visitors late in the first week who promptly highlighted a problem with the toilet. The problem - flushing fills the bowl and then the bowl empties and sort of surges back. Next morning Wouter was outside digging around the inspection holes to see where the problem might be. The first hole showed no obvious problems, neither the second. Coordinating flushing with inspecting proved the problem actually lay between the second hole and the road. So Wouter took some buckets of water and filled the second inspection pit to see how quickly it filled and drained. After filling to the brim with water and not draining away, all of a sudden the water drained. It seems something must have been stuck further along the pipe - we don't really want to know what was stuck, only that it now drains properly and we don't have to call out the 'plombier'.

[2 days later] Spoke too soon! The loo is playing up again which meant Wouter had to figure out where the problem was again - different place this time so we're wondering if it's just the goose neck in the toilet - not too concerned as replacing it would be quite cheap. However, until that happens we'll have to be careful with what goes down there as it doesn't seem to be able to handle too much at once...

There was a sudden cold snap start of October - we were supposed to get some rain, but that was very short lived. However, it has been very windy, which is typical for this part of the region - close to Carcasonne and a sort of east-west wind tunnel over the plains to the coast. We wondered why there were so many trees on the western boundary, and now we know! So they will stay to cut down the blast from the west when we do get it.

On the northern boundary there are lots of leilandis, which we thought we'd seen the last of in NZ, as they were fairly high maintenance there. They cover quite a long boundary and do keep the wind at bay, so we will keep them trim. The leilandis on the eastern side will be replaced with pyrocanthus - the fire thorn - when we get chance. They are a bit like cotone asters in their bright berries at this time of year and make a great hedge. My favourites are the bright orange ones, but we plan to mix the reds, oranges and yellows as they give a nice effect. The only disadvantage is the thorns, so we'll have to watch out when pruning...

In the northern garden Wouter has managed to even out some of the ground which was rotary hoed before we moved in. It's quite a large area and we're trying to decide what is the best thing to do with it. Maybe just a lawn? Anyway, we won't rush into this decision as whatever we do, we need it to be low maintenance.

Wouter made some seed beds in the southern garden to plant some seedlings. The first shoots of radishes are through, and hopefully it's not too cold yet for the others still to make an appearance - I have beetroot, onions and chard (like a sort of silverbeet with red stalks). In the last couple of days we've also planted more yellow and red onions, garlic, shallots - lovely.

Over the next week we plan to get an electrician in to check all is ok. The other person we need is a plumber to see about the central heating - it may be ok but we'd rather not use it until it's been checked over and we know what we're doing with it.

The next person we need fairly quickly is the chimney sweep - Wouter has replaced the worn chord inside the door of the fireplace and cleaned it up ready for use. We also have had some firewood delivered as we both like a fire when it's colder. In fact, we're trying it out tonight to see if there are any obvious problems so we can tell the person who comes to check it out.

Our other immediate need is a settee - we have 2 chairs at the moment until our container from nz - one is a borrowed chair and the other is a garden seat we found here when we moved in. I've sanded it down and painted it - it looks fine and is usable, but neither is comfortable for sitting on for longer periods of time.

Wouter has been designing our new kitchen - using a programme called "SketchUp" by Google - it's a free download, and you can draw and design heaps of things - buildings, gardens, etc. It's really great once you get used to the tools and what you can do with them. The weather has picked up again, so we've been out in the garden trying to finish off some chores which need doing before the next lot of rain arrives and another cold snap. Wouter had a burn off a few days ago which cleared a couple of big piles of weeds, branches and other garden rubbish. Great.

We have finished doing undercoats of paint in the first bedroom which will eventually be ours. It is looking much lighter - heaps different to the previous paper and cupboard doors - there is so much more light in there now.

On Wednesday the guy from Orange (telecom) came to connect our phone and internet and cable tv. The phone now works, but apparently we don't have a decoder to use the tv - thought it was too good to be true. Anyway, now we have to go back to Carcasonne to get the decoder and find out what happened with our code which enables us to use the internet. ..... [After our visit to Telecom, we were sent the codes by courier - once connected, we found a lot of emails from Telecom telling us the courier couldn't find our place - imagine, no internet connection and we are contacted by email...]

Problem with the roof - we had a rain shower yesterday morning and suddenly drips galore from the dining ceiling - reason - when our dish was connected by the delivery people, he installed it on the roof but managed to break one of the female terracotta tiles on the roof - so Wouter had to buy a ladder to get on the roof then he had to find the tile, replace it - in the meantime he broke another 3 tiles as they are so fragile. Hopefully that leak is now fixed. We are learning all the time how to manage French property and how to fix it as well!

There is a sudden surge into autumn. Two weeks ago when we moved in, it was still hot during the day and evenings, now it's much cooler at night, but still warm during the day. The leaves on the trees were still very green, and now quite a few have fallen and there are heaps of colours appearing the garden which we both love:
Cassy has made himself at home and absolutely loves the fig trees - he knows how to slip away when we're not looking and scrump at the 4 trees which are bearing fruit - some dark variety figs which are really tasty - no wonder he likes them!

One last little item for this blog - we found an interesting insect - at least that is what we thought at first. Then we thought that because it was feeding intently on the pineapple sage with a probiscus that it could be a very small humming bird. Next time we saw it, Wouter took lots of photos to see if we could enlarge it in Photoshop and see what was feeding. It moves so fast that it was hard to photograph, but then suddenly we managed to get pics and I saw that it had feelers - out with the bird theory and back in with insect. However, we still don't know what it is, so any feedback would be appreciated - size about 4cm length:
Thanks to all for the well wishes - much appreciated.

Limoux by Night

On Sunday we moved house, well, flat/apartment. We are now in Limoux, which is a lovely old town with some interesting history.

It is in the foothills of the Pyrenees and is in the centre of Cathar country. Apparently there were Crusades against heretics in the 13^th century. They have the longest carnival in the world (so they say) and have a Foie Gras celebration each year at the end of autumn, so we may get to see and taste that one.

The area is in a slight dip in the landscape, with surrounding vineyards and sunflowers, and we ourselves are surrounded by churches and a couple of musea (a piano museum, automate museum, museum of local history and paintings – I haven’t been in any of them yet, but we have time enough in between looking for property. This is the church view from our front balcony.

The river is just behind the property and is beautifully lit up at night. There are ducks on the water so we are being careful where we take Cassy as we’d hate him to start hunting them, especially with little ones around. However, we have found a couple of nice spots to take him in the water without disturbing the ducks, and he’s very keen to get wet, as we found out last night to our dismay. I let him off the leash, believing he would come back to me, but it was so warm and he was determined to have a swim and catch the ball – but, we didn’t have a ball to throw so he wasn’t going to come out without a long splash first!

Just behind the garden where we are you can find a couple of cours de boule, where older gentlemen play boules in the evenings. We are becoming part of the landscape as they call Cassy when we go walking and say bonsoir to us.

There is a market on Fridays and in July also Tuesday evenings. Markets are a great place to pick up local produce and get some good deals, but only if you know your prices – sometimes (but not often) the supermarket is cheaper but then you don’t always know where the produce is from, despite the drive to label items with country of origin.

Anyway, we’re almost settled in now and Cassy loves being with us all the time, and we have our own shower and toilet, which is a bit of a luxury until the novelty wears off again! I’m in my element as I can work in the garden, something I’ve missed over the last few months since we moved from Old North Road. So being able to pull weeds, de-lateral tomatoes, and pick kumquats (and eat them for the first time) was a real pleasure.

Take a look at the pics of Limoux by night. A la prochaine.

This is our street and our place is on the left, just past the no entry sign. Our car is the 3rd on the right from the front.