As I sit here typing, the dogs a few houses are barking, as usual, it’s annoying but at least they’re quiet when their owner’s home. Also at the moment is a squawking magpie because Wallace is terrorising its fledgling. Otherwise it’s a quiet hamlet or “Lieue Dit” which translates as “place said”. Delia has a constant battle to stop Siena running down the bottom of the garden to bark at ramblers, dogs barking in the distance, or what ever it is that Siena thinks she has heard! Delia’s never had a dog that barked much. Me? All of them.
Just some photos from a sunset foray a few weeks ago
The cherries have passed now, I actually asked my neighbour if he would mind me taking some from his tree. They’re small but juicy. I have a cherry stoner I bought when we lived in Leicester where the house was built on an old cherry orchard. Delia can’t eat cherries she has discovered to her regret, but not me, my porridge was even tastier. Then came the blueberries. Our blueberry bush is protected (mostly) by the fact that the nearby cherry tree fruits slightly earlier giving plenty of distraction for the birds. Not a huge crop this year but still very satisfying for us both to grow our own.
I had hoped to talk of my health woes in the past tense but unfortunately my shingles continues. The disgusting rash is healing well but it doesn’t reflect the extreme sensitivity and pain of the nerves still affected. The best way I can describe it is like very bad sunburn, I can’t wear a shirt and the pain only lessens when I sit still, slight jarring (like walking) has to be done carefully or the pain is excruciating. The plate-sized affected area seems to be moving back towards where the shingles first showed as a line of, what seemed to be, insect bites; my theory (hope?) is that it’s going vanish where it started. In addition, the kidneys flare up when I am lying down and the pain killers wear off during the night it wakes me up. At least Delia recovered from her tummy bug fairly quickly and is back to slaving away doing everything around the house (and out.. she mowed the lawn last week for the first time ever!). She’s been great, I feel guilty about all she has had to be doing without my help.