Busy busy month! Lots of guests and meals, but all good fun!
The weather has been mixed - some lovely warm sunny days interspersed with a few wet and unusually cool ones. The grass has regained its green-ness anyway!
Struggling a bit for different photos this month - maybe Dave has a few more interesting ones up his sleeve - I haven't seen his album yet!!
We have enjoyed a couple of days out - and some good evenings with friends as well.
However the days are drawing in already. The summer soon flies by - but the Autumn here is lovely as well!
Am writing this on the 25th - am back to England for a few days on Thursday, then we are planning a camping trip near St Tropez next week, which we will look forward to.
Here are our albums for August
Lesley's album
Dave's album
Its been a busy month, and Lesley has just been back to England for a few days - so the blog is a bit late!!
The busy holiday season has well and truly started now, so we have had lots of guests coming and going - and lots more due for the rest of August.
The annual village fete took place in the middle of the month over 3 days as usual. It is organised and run by the village 'commitee' and lots of volunteers. It always appears to run like clockwork! Food is prepared here in the village for hundreds of people and a temporary bar is set up, as well as a huge marquee and 'disco'. Its the one time in the year when all the village turn out for one or more of the events - so lots of music, dancing, chatting and food and drink. All in all a great event.
We also had two very enjoyable walks this month, but need to pace ourselves a bit more in the hot weather
Here are our albums for July
Lesley's album
Dave's album
June has been the month for hatching baby geese! Our adult geese have turned out to be excellent at laying eggs, but useless at sitting on them. We invested in an incubator, but because conditions need to be simulated, it hasn't been easy to get the correct temperature, humidity etc. However Dave has persevered and we now have 10 baby geese, all of different ages! The oldest ones are now outside enjoying this lovely hot weather.
We have also enjoyed a couple more walks in the mountains, one to the Cascade d'Ars which is very impressive at this time of year, and another in very hot weather near Vicdessos.
So we have a few more photos in our albums this month!
Here they are
Lesley's albumDave's album
A very busy month with a visit to England and then planting, harvesting and cutting grass,
We are still experimenting with the incubator, hoping to hatch a few more baby geese, but so far we have just the one! He(she?) seemed very lost and confused at first so Odile (our neighbour at the farm suggesting putting a couple of their ducklings in with him for company. That seemed to work well - he is now thriving and has gone to live with the ducks for a while, until he (hopefully!) gets some brothers and sisters. The recent batch of eggs are looking more hopeful!
We also had some very good news at the beginning of the month - Lucy and Andy have got engaged!
We were pleased to be able to celebrate with them during our visit back to England.
Because this month has been so busy - we each found we hadn't taken many photos, so have produced a joint album for May!
Our album for May
This month we have enjoyed visits from Lucy and Andy and Daniel - it was lovely to see them, and a good excuse for several more walks and 'being tourists'!! They were very lucky with the warm and sunny weather - ideal for walking and table tennis!
We also visited the underground river at Labouiche with Daniel, which was quite impressive. Photography was not allowed inside the caves so here is the website
http://www.labouiche.com/accueil.php?lg=en
Highly recommended for anyone visiting the Ariege, especially low-season when its reasonably quiet.
The garden is coming to life, and we are particularly pleased with the Wisteria which Dave planted last year and seems to be thriving on the front of the house
Here are our albums for April
Lesley's album
Dave's album
Spring is on the way!! Or at least we keep thinking it is, then the cooler wetter weather returns!
Well, that is fairly typical of Spring in the Ariege - a bit of everything!!
We have enjoyed some more snow shoe walking in the sun and fresh snow, as well as a very warm day skiing in Andorra. Otherwise we have been busy with guests, the house and garden, painting commissions - and Lesley spent an enjoyable week in England seeing family.
Dave's album
Lesley's album
After a mild and sunny winter so far, the snow arrived in February, and then the rain! Excellent news for all snow sport lovers - and farmers!
Dave's album
Lesley's album
