Sunburn Friends and Birdsong

uThis weekend temperatures soared. We have the sunburn to prove it. From such arctic conditions last week it suddenly became too hot to work in the garden. We planted out leeks, lettuce and tomatoes and even they looked uncomfortable by the end of the day. The ground has dried and the weeds seem to be baked in clay - making hoeing hard, sweaty work. We tried to get the rotivator going but it wasn't being co-operative. Our friends Philippe and Manu came up to try and help fix it but to no avail. So at seven o'clock we had no choice but to open a bottle of chilled Aligote white and sit outdoors and chat. It was such a pleasure to be sat out of an evening and to be with friends. Our days are lengthening, giving us all such wonderful and much needed light. We have stunning sunsets here all through the year - the colours are remarkable and so varied. The sky is a completely domed - you can see all around you to the horizon without any visual interruption. Our friends from England who came to visit us recently remarked on the birdsong which they found really wonderful. The bird life here is certainly healthy and exuberant and likes to let you know about it!!

Teresa has been forcibly removed from her nest and the eggs destroyed. The henhouse was begining to reek even more unpleasantly than usual and one egg had glued itself to her underside feathers. She is still sitting in the box, however, looking somewhat shell-shocked and giving us such sorrowful looks we are feeling like criminals. We brought her food and water - the poor thing was horribly thirsty. We will get her a partner (she did have one but he died last year) and let her do some of her nesting next year with her own eggs. She is a worry.

Next week we fill the pool. Today we all felt like having a swim to cool us down.