Roadtrip Reflections

Nothing in front of us and nothing behind as we drive the 100 km straight through the Pilliga Scrub. It may look scruffy and dusty, but it harbours more than 900 plant species, around 40 mammals, 50 reptiles and at least 15 amphibians. It is the largest remaining remnant of semi-arid woodland in New South Wales. Many of its plants are dependent on bushfires to regenerate. One of the dominant species is White Cypress-pine Callitris columellaris, which yields a termite resistant wood. My house in Australia was built of cypress-pine, and they are beautiful cone shaped dark green trees. Simon finds the drive through this forest, which we have both done many times, unbearably monotonous and closed in with vegetation. I, on the other hand, love the particular mix of native trees here, and like to look out the window at all the different subtle colours and leaf types.

 Currently this woodland habitat is under threat from coal seam gas* exploration and extraction. It was also where we saw our one and only feral goat of the trip. Semi-arid areas of woodland and pastoral properties, such as the Pilliga region, are the principal strongholds of feral goats in Australia. Although we only saw this single goat, I would not have been surprised to see more. I definately noticed a real proliferation of domestic goats closer to the coast, which did surprise me. There were a few herds of mohair producers, but also quite a number of herds of dairy goats. This latter is a new development as far as I know (ie since we left Australia, so within the last 15 years).

*For fairly sensible overview of coal seam gas, shale oil and gas and fracking see here, with good technical explanations for the lay person.  Bear in mind however that the author is connected to Santos, the parent company of the mining operation in the Pilliga, so conservation issues are subtly sidelined. For the conservation view point, read the Wilderness Society's latest press release on the Pilliga.

*********************************************************************

Ile de Ré Reflections: At first I watched this boat with interest -- clearly Bond villains off on some nefarious business to foil the good guys. Then I realised there were probably way too many teenagers on board for this to be a likely scenario...

************************************************************************ 

Brocante: Anyone who knows me knows I find brocantes some of the most tedious places on earth, but I am pleased to report that this year's annual brocante, held yesterday down on the plan d'eau in Preuilly revealed a generally better quality of merchandise than the usual tat. It is clear that drinking glasses and sundae type dessert glasses are the next big collectible. There were lots of sets of glasses in good condition and not outrageously priced. There was also a lot of galvanised metal containers of one sort or another, and very few ridiculously overpriced chipped and cracked salt glazed earthenware storage jars. The range of goods on offer was relatively limited, with no specialist napery stall nor anyone just selling old tools. I didn't see anyone attempting to flog the free plastic toys from cornflakes packets, and most stuff looked as if it was in reasonable condition and would likely work.

*************************************************

Farming News: Many farmers took the day off yesterday due to the storm in the night and the subsequent damp. The day before yesterday though they'd been harvesting as fast as they could in the heat and dry. Headers and their accompanying grain trucks and trailers were everywhere, in the fields and on the roads.

********************************************

Orchard News: The apples are starting to colour and the Hamburg grapes look magnificent (although still bright green). I'll be digging potatoes and lifting leeks when I get a chance in the next few days. I'm pleased to see that various things are moving in to the 'bee hotels'. To be honest, I don't know what the creaturs are as I have never seen them, but more and more holes are being blocked up by bits of dried grass and other vegetative matter. Maybe leafcutter bees...

Rusticated Romanesque

These two buildings sit side by side on George Street and Martin Place in central Sydney. You can see that similar materials have been used in their construction, and in fact, they had the same architect, although he was working for different clients.

 2 Martin Place (this is in fact the back of the building)

The architect was Austrian born American, Edward Raht, who introduced something called the Federation Romanesque style to Australia with his design for the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States of America in 1894. After working in Melbourne on the Equitable Life office there, he returned to Sydney to design the Bank of Australasia building on the corner of George Street and Martin Place (2 Martin Place) in the same style. In both cases he used hard dark trachyte stone from Bowral, rusticated (as if rough hewn) to give a sense of solid mass and conservative power, supported by steel frames. Both buildings are apparently beautiful inside, with extremely high quality materials and workmanship, but I find them stupendously ugly on the outside, particularly 350 George Street, with its 19th century pastiche of decorative devices and curiously squat proportions. The colour of the trachyte is very heavy, accentuating how firmly the building is planted on the ground and is intended to dominate its surroundings.

350 George Street

The Bank of Australasia became the ANZ Bank in time, and they still occupy their building. Equitable Life became National Mutual, then they moved out of their building in 1977. In 1984 it was completely renovated and the Société Générale moved in. Both buildings are reported to be in very good condition, and have retained their functional integrity.

*****************************************************************

Ile de Ré Reflections: Pavement hollyhocks rule the island's narrow cobbled streets in mid-summer.

Gatekeepers Rule But Emperors Rock

This (below) is one of my most important butterfly transects. One of the purposes of the national butterfly survey (STERF) run by the Museum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris is to monitor the state of butterfly populations in cultivated land. This transect is a track between two fields, this year planted with barley and sunflowers. The butterflies aren't very interested in either of the crops. What is important for them is the pair of wildflower rich ditches and the grassy track which separate the fields and leads to an area of forest. So this is a rather rich transect, full of grassland butterflies in the summer. I have other transects bounded by crops which do not have such good field margins, and the constrastingly low numbers of butterflies recorded from these transects is obvious. The tendency with modern farming is for more and more land to go under the plough and for crop margins to become narrower and narrower. As their habitat reduces the numbers of grassland butterflies has plummeted, many species by as much as 70% in the last decade. Butterflies are being starved out of existence in some places.

I am very pleased indeed, however, to report that after the most dismal start ever to the butterfly surveying year, at last we have butterflies in good numbers. Some species even appear to be having an exceptionally good year after all, but there are still some strange absences. Gatekeepers Pyronia tithonus are so prolific I had real difficulty counting them properly, I've seen more of the rare and protected Large Blue Maculinea arion than I've ever seen before and the cheeky Large Skippers Ochlodes venutus are flitting about everywhere.

Marbled Fritillary Brenthis daphne, nectaring on some brambles, and if female, no doubt she's laid a few eggs as well, since the caterpillars eat bramble leaves.

On the other hand, I have recorded almost no other sorts of skippers, nor Small Heaths Coenonympha pamphilus, which should be so common you are disturbing them with every footstep through the grass. Half the fritillary species are missing, with virtually no Knapweeds Cinclidia phoebe, no records at all of Glanvilles Melitaea cinxia or Heaths Mellicta athalia and only a few early season records of Violets Clossiana dia. However, the lovely Marbled Fritillary is having a good year and I have recorded it on several transects. The Adonis Blues Polyommatus bellargus seem to be absent at the moment (like the Violet Fritillaries they were present earlier in the season), but Common P. icarus and Provencal Short-tail Everes alcetas numbers are building up.

I recorded 196 Gatekeepers over 10 transects in late July, and this pair are clearly intent on making more! I have a feeling they are going to oust the ubiquitous and usually abundant Meadow Browns Maniola jurtina from the top spot as France's most common butterfly this year.

The star butterfly! This (below) is a female Purple Emperor Apatura iris, come down from the treetops to imbibe minerals in a slight damp patch on a track. They are not rare but localised and hard to see. I had got in the car after finishing a set of transects which are close together and was just about to drive off when I noticed a large butterfly on the ground. That's one of the things you really notice about them -- they are large (for a European butterfly -- all you Australians with Orchard Swallowtails Papilio aegeus in your backyard can stop scoffing...). The Purple Emperor's wingspan is about 40mm, so they are about the same size as the Silver-washed Fritillary Argynnis paphia and their behaviour and appearance is distinctive. The males are the most amazing irridescent purply blue, but even the females have a silky lustre that is something special. This time I was really lucky with the photographic background, as they may be beautiful, but they have rather low habits. They don't care what the source of the mineral salts is, and are most often observed sitting on a pile of dog poo.

I was equally pleased to see a number of Large Blue females ovipositing on Wild Oregano Oreganum vulgare flower buds at another of my transects. This transect is a well managed stretch of rural roadside, extremely botanically rich, and hopefully the host ants the Large Blues require for their remarkable life cycle are also present.

***********************************************************************

A la cuisine hier: The liqueur de noix has reached the 'you have got to be joking!' stage, as Simon pointed out to me yesterday. It looks like a batch of primordial soup, just waiting for a lightning strike to kick start life on earth. I now have two batches on the go, due to additional walnuts kindly provided by Antoinette. They seemed to be a particularly lively lot, hurtling all over the kitchen in a bid for freedom as I chopped them open, and I have combined them with red wine, sugar and spices to make the cheaper and less alcoholic version, vin de noix.

The windfall apples have been boiled up and are being strained through the jelly bag to make pectin for next year's jam. It keeps well in the freezer.

Over the past 3 days I have scrubbed the terracotta tile kitchen floor and reapplied the colour reviver and hydrofuge/oleofuge products. Water had stopped beading on the surface, so it was time. I did each stage on successive evenings so it had overnight to dry each time.

Wildlife Watching in the Touraine du Sud in August

August is a good month for mammal spotting. The population will be at its peak, with youngsters becoming independent, but prior to the hunting season. You will notice rabbits and hares, roe deer, hedgehogs, red squirrels, badgers, martens, mice and foxes are much more visible. Sadly, at this time, the roadkill numbers increase dramatically, especially badgers and hedgehogs.

Scarce Swallowtail Iphiclides podalirius is not scarce at all, and the somewhat paler second generation, like this one below, will be flying.

One day in August you will notice that the swifts have gone (in fact, I'm beginning to wonder if they have already left, since I don't think I've seen one for a couple of days!). No more screaming scimitars in the sky. I miss them and look forward to their return next spring.

Wild Angelica Angelica sylvestris, with striking dusty purple stems, is one of the later flowering umbels, found in damp places.

If you have orchids in your lawn it should be safe to mow over them at the end of the month because the seed should have matured and been dispersed.

 Huge adult Stag Beetles Lucanus cervus are still out and about, arriving in their ludicrous out of control way at the lights if you have a barbecue, or just going about their business on the forest floor. This one's a female, so she doesn't have the impressive 'antlers', photographed in the Fôret de Loches.

Usually the first half of the month is hot, but it will cool down to pleasantly warm in the second half. According to Méteo de France, today is set to be a record 37°C.

We're Excellent!

Unlike many anglophones (Brits especially) who move to France we are not of pensionable age, so we needed a way of earning an income. When we moved here our original idea was to live in the graineterie and rent the house out as a gîte (holiday self-catering accommodation). But we soon realised just how many people were doing that and that one gîte couldn't give us a livable income. We decided to do something that could link into the tourist industry here, but acting as a complement to the holiday accommodation sector so that we worked as partners (as the French like to call separate but collaborating businesses).

Luckily, some serious periods of thought (and the need to justify having a Traction Avant) bought us to where we are now, and three years in the hard thinking is starting to pay off. We have been extremely lucky with our clients, who have been interesting and interested people, fun to spend the day with, and that makes our work so much easier.

Most of our enquiries about tours come after people have read our reviews on TripAdvisor, who have just awarded us a Certificate of Excellence. It means that we are rated amongst the top 10% of attractions listed on TripAdvisor. This is due to our clients who take the trouble to post a review about us on the popular travel forum. They have consistently rated us as excellent (with one exception out of 33 reviews, who thought we were very good).  This is very reassuring: for us in that it shows us we are apparently doing the right thing, as well as for our future clients when they are searching for something special to do in the Loire Valley.

You hear a lot of negative things these days about TripAdvisor, and some travellers don't trust the reviews to be genuine. Rumours that fake reviews are written by professionals abound, and we receive many offers from professionals to write more reviews (these hit the spam bin so fast it's a wonder we don't get whiplash). Furthermore, they wield a lot of power, as a single negative review can have a big impact on business. Although we ask our clients to write a review, what they say is entirely up to them and personal to them. Fortunately, the one time we had what looked like a negative review, we realised that the client had mistakenly reviewed us when she had actually used a different group, who have a guide with a similar name. We let TripAdvisor know and they immediately removed the review. What a relief!

On the whole, I think TripAdvisor is a useful tool for the canny traveller, who knows what they like and is willing to take the time to read between the lines of other people's reviews. What do you think? Do you use it, and how do you sift the useful information from the irrelevant?

Practising Sexual Confusion

One day in April we arrived at the Chateau Gaudrelle winery and were met as usual by their intern Cristina. We asked where Alexandre was, as it is always nice to catch up with the owner if he is around.
'Oh', said Cristina. 'He is out in the vineyard practising sexual confusion.'

I'm afraid we just fell about the place.

Photo courtesy of Chateau Gaudrelle.

What Alexandre was doing was hanging plastic dispensers of a product called RAK® (developed by BASF Crop Protection) on the vines. It allows him to combat the damage caused by Vine Moth caterpillars without resorting to insecticides. By broadcasting a pheromone that matches the chemical attractant produced by the female moths when they want to mate, the males don't know where turn and in their confusion fail to mate. Failure to mate means failure to produce caterpillars. Alexandre says the product is extremely well regarded in the industry.

*********************************************

Lecture: As part of the Archaeology Festival de la trace aux gestes there will be a lecture on the Paleolithique population of the southern Touraine. Friday 2 August at the Salle des Fêtes in Preuilly, 6 pm, free (in French).

****************************************************************

Disconnected!: All the internet connected to Preuilly-sur-Claise's interchange died at 11am on Sunday. Antoinette in Charnizay rang Orange and was told 'Wednesday at the latest'. Yesterday at 17.00 our internet connected but with no access to the world wide web or email. At that stage we had Skype only but hopefully by the time you read this we will be back online properly. Thanks to Alex and Nicole for the access to their wifi over the last couple of days.

What's Wrong With These Photos?

We bought these dishwasher tablets for the bargain price of €1.25 in Leader Price in Chatellerault. Can you spot the anomaly?

Roadtrains

 B-Doubles parked on the roadside in Dubbo at lunchtime. 

(The western plains of New South Wales, December last year.)

Roadtrains, that is to say, multi-trailered articulated trucks, are a fairly well known Australian phenomenon. In the years that we have been away they have come to dominate the roads as never before. The trucks are getting bigger (now the largest in the world) and they are being allowed ever closer to urbanisation. In Queensland and New South Wales they are limited to 35m long, but in the Northern Territory they can be 55m long.

A roadtrain of the type known as a triple. 

We followed him out of Goondiwindi on the Queensland / New South Wales border and later encountered him creeping along at walking speed with one of his many wheels on fire.

Everyone on the main rural roads is limited to the speed of the roadtrains. You can't pass them because you rarely have enough visibility ahead to do it safely (due to heat shimmer), and even when you do, the roads are not quite wide enough to pass a gently swaying roadtrain. The roads are often on levee banks because the land is flood prone, there is no hard shoulder to speak of, and the bitumen ends abruptly in a sharp drop off. The roads are all undulating because of damage caused by the heavy vehicles and in some places because of retro installation of culverts. The biggest trucks are nearly 200 tonnes, although most are about half that weight. The roadtrain drivers' technique for staying stable is to ever so slowly increase speed all the time, which straightens out the trailers. Slowing down is done very gingerly, because of the risk of jack-knifing. Never argue with a roadtrain...

Surprisingly, this makes driving these roads a very pleasant experience (if you discount having to spot emus, kangaroos, feral pigs and goats or domestic sheep and cattle with a death wish on unfenced roads). Everyone just puts on their speed limiter or cruise control and hums along for kilometre after kilometre. This is in complete contrast to the insanely hyper city driving in Australia. We nearly got collected in Canberra because we stopped for a red light -- the car behind us had to swerve wildly and dash through. Clearly it is considered ridiculous to stop unless the light has been red for some seconds. Everyone drives with their foot flat to the floor, alternating between accelerator and brake.

***************************************************

Ile de Ré Reflections: A ketch glides into the harbour at Saint-Martin-de-Ré, almost silent its motor was so quiet.

******************************************************************

Orchard News: The paulownia has lost a few small branches in the storms, and one of the nectarines has lost the half dozen almost ripe fruit it had. I've propped up a branch of the laden old nectarine by the potager gate, as well as a branch on our Melrose apple. The Reine de Reinette apple has lost some fruit, but none of the other apples have and neither have the pears. I picked the last worthwhile sour cherries, so that's cherry season over for another year. I'll make a last precious batch of sour cherry syrup, and some pectin with the windfall apples. One of the cherry tomatoes has some colour, and they have survived the wild weather very well. The front of last year's compost bin has collapsed. The whole orchard was strewn with poplar leaves, which have come from the plantation by the river, a good 200 m away.

Up at the house the c.2.5 m tall hollyhocks have all taken a dive and I have tied them up in preparation for the next round.

Café Omega, Moree

When we pulled in to a motel to overnight in Moree, in central New South Wales, on 29 November 2012 we had no idea that the morning would reveal a vibrant café scene. Having travelled through Moree many times in the past we were dubious that this country town of not totally salubrious reputation would deliver anything worth reporting on. But these days it seems that there are a number of proper cafés in town, including one run by the Aboriginal community. We checked the internet to find somewhere to have breakfast, and one place in particular stood out -- Café Omega.

We really liked the nod to Australian heritage with the corrugated iron wainscoting.

We were delighted to discover that Café Omega has been thoroughly and professionally conceived, from its layout to its menu. It is a striking step up from any of the other inland cafés we set foot in. For a start, the interior isn't a deafening cacophony of chairs scraping, screaming steam injectors and ever escalating conversation. Someone has thought about the acoustics and got it right.

Might have to steal this idea...

Second, it was obvious that a wide range of the community uses the place, from young women with children, older women with their mothers, and the most significant social shift of all in Australia, older men coming in for a coffee rather than repairing to the pub for a beer. Customer and work flows had been carefully thought out so that they worked smoothly and there was a central aisle to the L-shaped counter at the back. Beyond that were toilets and the terrace (which was too hot to consider using the day we were there).

Grilled bacon, tomato and cheese strips on good chunky white bread with strong café latte. This was the only good bread experience I had in Australia. Bread in Australia is still generally ghastly, but the bacon seems now universally superb (a completely different product to when we left Australia in 1997).

Finally, and most importantly, the food and the coffee were excellent, and came in reasonably priced, generous servings. The story of how this place came to be in this unlikely setting is told here, in a newspaper article. It must have been a tremendous risk at the time, to upstakes from more civilised parts and return to Moree with the idea of opening a café, but Charles Budway's vision has been achieved. We wish him bonne continuation.

***************************************************************

Ile de Ré Reflections: A view of harbourside buildings at Saint-Martin-de-Ré.

******************************************************************

Farming News: The wheat harvest must have begun, as the main thoroughfares of Preuilly have spilt red grain scattered all over them and there is a steady stream of trailers full of grain being towed to the silos in town.

*****************************************************************

Weather News: Another big 3 am thunderstorm this morning, this time with less sound and light, but more lashing winds. Instead of being over in less than an hour, this one lasted at least 3 hours. I spoke to Charles, one of our wine growing friends yesterday, and he said they were very happy. They may have lost 50% of their harvest to hail in June, but now the weather is hot and it is raining at night with no hail. Perfect for swelling and ripening grapes. They want this weather to continue for another couple of months, and I don't suppose too many people would argue with them.

***************************************************

Yesterday's Quiz: The answers are now added to yesterday's post. No one was awarded any points!

Mystery Chateau Interior

2 points if you can name the chateau where this photo was taken.

5 points if you can correctly and fully identify the group of objects on the table (material and place of origin will earn you points, as will any other interesting snippet of information regarding them).
*Answers below.
************************************************************

A la cuisine hier: Raspberry coulis. The raspberries came from our orchard neighbour, who picked them yesterday evening. They were over ripe and he made sure I knew I must cook them immediately. He said there was une livre in weight (a pound) in that old fashioned way they have here and they were €3. You do not ask for un demi-kilo of fruit at the market, that will not be understood, although you can say you will take cinq cents grammes.

Liqueur de noix. This is what the Italians call nocino and many people know it by that name, not realising that the French make it too. In the Touraine the green walnuts are ready in mid to late July for making this magic elixir. This year I was nearly too late and some of the shells inside their green overcoats were a bit more woody than I would have liked. I haven't been able to make it since 2009 due to a lack of suitable walnuts. My original brew has almost run out. It was a traditional recipe but this year I have got a bit adventurous and the mix is 10 green walnuts, chopped (cue walnut bits whizzing all over the kitchen), a used vanilla bean, half a star anise, 5 mixed peppercorns, ½ cup orange syrup, ½ a cinnamon stick, ½ cup white vermouth, 1 cup vodka. Now it gets to sit on the bench festering in a jar for a couple of months. Theoretically it should be ready for Christmas, but if it is anything like the last lot it needs 3 years to really round out the flavours and be drinkable. It's useable after two, as an addition to other things for a hint of indefinable nut flavour in cakes and desserts or poured over icecream, but the real test is if you can drink it straight and genuinely enjoy it.

8 jars of Sour Cherry and Redcurrant Jelly. The combination is much nicer than either fruit on its own, a totally zingulatory experience (sorry non-anglophone readers -- that isn't a real word, I just made it up...) Think sour rainbow straps, sour worms or bonbons aigre-doux.

Fried Rice. I often cook extra rice for a meal so that I have leftovers for fried rice the next day. By the way, has anyone noticed that ordinary long grain rice is almost impossible to get in France now? This is only a recent phenomena, of about 6 months. I can only easily get fragrant Thai and stupid parcooked long grain (what is the point, why is it yellow and why does it take the same amount of time to cook as regular rice?). Basmati is getting less easy to obtain. When I can get ordinary long grain, it is different to what I used to get. The new rice doesn't look as good, is fatter, seems to be more fragile both cooked and raw and breaks up easily. Does anyone know what is going on?

*******************************************************

Orchard News: Pears are looking good and some nectarines will soon be ripe. The tomatoes all have fruit (still totally green) but we clearly aren't going to get any zucchini or aubergines.

A badger (I presume) has dug out a Red-tailed Bumble Bee Bombus lapidarius nest in the ground by a fence post. There is a neat hole about 30 cm deep and 20 cm in diameter, with a number of dead bees at the bottom, and some more bodies in the excavation material. The nest is still clearly operating at some level though, as half a dozen bees entered and left by two different entrances as I watched.

*************************************************************

Weather News: There was a tremendous thunderstorm at 3 am this morning. The booming and banging and brilliant flashing was most impressive. When I went to buy bread this morning though the baker had been alarmed by the ferocity of it all and had not switched his ovens on, in case there was a power surge that blew everything up, so there will be no bread until lunchtime. Our dishwasher has had one of its periodic flashing lights conniptions, so I'm guessing that was the storm.

***************************************************

Quiz Answers: The chateau is Azay-le-Rideau, in one of the downstairs rooms decorated to acknowledge the Biencourt family occupancy.  The objects on the table are Imari ware porcelain bowls imported to France by the French East India Company from China in the 18th century. Imari is a Japanese ceramic style from the 17th century, later copied by the Chinese for the export market and also copied by European manufactures in both porcelain and stoneware. These 5 bowls were purchased at auction last year in Tours from the descendents of the Biencourt family for €2200. They are not perfect, having a few chips, but they are nice objects with a real connection to the chateau.

No one really even got close, although chm's guess that they might be stoneware (faïence) was good thinking. So, no points to anyone. Better luck next time!

Poupineau-Bardon

This is Désiré Poupineau and Aimée Bardon photographed in our/their backyard on 12 April 1939 on the occasion of their grand-daughter's wedding.

***************************************************

Lecture: As part of the Archaeology Festival de la trace aux gestes there will be a lecture on the livres de beurre ('pounds of butter') stone tools produced in le Grand Pressigny area 5500 years ago to make very big flint blades. Tuesday 6 August at 6 pm in the Salle des Fêtes in Preuilly, free (in French).

What's for lunch?

These female Wasp Spiders were all photographed in late July last year on a roadside between Preuilly-sur-Claise and Le Petit Pressigny . The spiders were only a couple of metres apart and each had captured a different insect.

Lunch is a white butterfly.

Lunch is a bumblebee.

Lunch is a dronefly.

************************************************************************

Party Report: Simon's birthday party went off very pleasantly and we were able to sit outside. This is a direct consequence of Simon and I getting soaked in the hammering rain that fell during the afternoon, putting the tent up. Naturally, after that the weather cleared up and when they arrived the guests moved the chairs out of the tent and onto the driveway. It worked surprisingly well. We put the food on a trestle table in the garage doorway, taking care to suspend a tarp over the top as we have nesting swallows. Many thanks to the cake bakers, salad and dip makers and beer connoisseurs who helped with the provisioning.

And what's for lunch? Leftover salad and chicken of course!

Memorial Service at Péchoire

One of the most beautiful and peaceful spots in the forest is also one of the most moving. Today home to a wonderful selection of wildflowers and forest glade dwelling insects which draws me to it at least once a year, it is also the final resting place of 4 Resistance fighters.

Four graves in the forest.

We wrote about the annual memorial service last year. It's the anniversary of the events again, and as our next door neighbour's gardener said to me, la guerre n'a pas dit au revoir.

Gathering in the forest.

So I thought it was a good moment to show some more photos.

The standards of the local returned services leagues.

The roadside memorial.

**************************************************************** 

Birthday Party Food Prepared:

•  Lebanese Chicken - check.
•  Dolmades - check.
• Spanakopita - filling made.
• Tzatziki - check.
• Zucchini Caviar - check.
• Baba Ganoush - check.
• Hummous - Bill is making his special version and bringing crudités.
• Lettuce - Tim is bringing some of his superb homegrown.
• Tomatoes - a selection of cherry types from the supermarket.
• Melon - from the market, guaranteed ripe for today by the stallholder.
• Flat breads - Simon is planning to make them today.
• Rhubarb and Cinnamon Cake - Antoinette is baking one to our friend Helen's recipe.
• Almond based cake - Elizabeth is baking something suitable for coeliacs.

The weather forecast looks ominous though, with orage avec risque de grêle et rares averses (storm with risk of hail and occasional showers) and gusts of wind up to 55 km/h. On the positive side the temperature is set to drop 10 - 15 degrees, into the 20s, but I really hope we don't have to move the party inside because of wind and rain...

Sorting out the Scabious

To the casual observer Small Scabious Scabiosa columbaria and Field Scabious Knautia arvensis appear to be identical. What's more, here in the Touraine, at any rate, they grow side by side, so on some sites you really do have to check every plant to know what you've got. My observation is that Field Scabious is by far the more common species, probably at the level of about 100 to 1.

Small Scabious stem leaves.

Both are very popular with nectar feeding insects - beetles, flies and leps especially. They grow in amongst the rank natural grassland. Field Scabious is not choosy about soil type, so long as the site is dry, but Small Scabious likes limestone 'underfoot'. Both are in flower from July to September, and both have pale lilac to lavender flower heads.

Field Scabious stem leaves.

Fortunately there are a couple of really easy ways to tell the two species apart if you take the time to look.

• stem leaves with fine rather soft lobes - Small; stem leaves rough, rather stiff and with thick toothy lobes - Field.
• individual flowers with 5 lobes - Small; individual flowers with 4 lobes - Field.

Field Scabious flower head.

Additionally, the basal leaves (often hidden in the surrounding long grass) are divided and end in a spoon shaped lobe for the Small Scabious, but are pointed and undivided for the Field Scabious. Small Scabious is a generally more delicate plant, with slightly smaller flower heads and finer stems and leaves.

Small Scabious flower head.

Don't confuse with Devils-bit Scabious Succisa pratensis, which has evenly sized flowers and undivided stem leaves.

Devil's-bit Scabious

The Scabious are all members of the Teasel family Dipsacaceae, so don't confuse them either with members of the Bellflower family Campanulaceae such as Round-headed Rampion Phyteuma tenerum, which grows on the same limestone sites; or Sheep's-bit Jasione montana, in the acid sand of the Sologne. Round-headed Rampion has deep blue threadlike flowers in a globular head, Sheep's-bit is sky blue, short and with undivided wavy edged leaves. And then there is Common Globularia Globularia vulgaris...

*********************************************************************

New Orchard Orchid:  Meet the newest member of the Orchard Orchid Team -- the Broad-leafed Helleborine Epipactis helleborine. They have a reputation for turning up out of the blue in all sorts of places, even quite urban environments.

**********************************************************

A la cuisine hier: Limoncello, Lemon and Blueberry Cloud Cake -- wowee! What a taste sensation! It would adapt well to being GF and is not dissimilar to my Chocolate Chestnut Soufflé Cake, but somewhat less trouble and better behaved. Blueberries and citrus make a great combo. The remaining 800 g of blueberries from my little pick-your-own outing are now in the freezer, awaiting further culinary adventures.

1.6 l of sour cherry / redcurrant juice is macerating in the fridge with an equal quantity of sugar for a couple of days, prior to being boiled up to jam temperature.

Tomates farcies (Stuffed Tomatoes) -- a classic French summer dish. I also stuffed some large button mushrooms and made some meat balls, all cooked together in the oven while I slow roasted a few tomatoes. I bought the mushrooms from the Dutch guy at Loches market who grows button and oyster mushrooms in a cave. So much better quality than supermarket mushrooms.

32 chicken thighs are swimming in an olive oil, lemon juice and cumin based marinade, ready for tomorrow's birthday party.

The Australian Institute of Sport

 The indoor stadium, where in his misspent youth Simon saw Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Joe Cocker and Jon English, and worked on a production of Aida.

While in Canberra last year we took advantage of being in the same town as the Australian Institute of Sport. Although the Institute's focus is training elite athletes, members of the public can join the AIS for AUD$63 a month and attend exercise classes and use the gym and swimming pool.

We chose to do daily morning aqua aerobics classes in the indoor 25m shallow pool. It was a friendly and welcoming group. For us hardy European types the water was heated to scarcely lower than bath temperature, but all the locals were complaining about how cold it was. I reckon the water temperature was at least 28°C. The pool is 1.1m deep for its entire length, and Simon found he was continually scraping his knees. I had no such problems, but we both struggled with the levels of co-ordination required for the Wednesday aqua Zumba class.

The swim centre is the building to the left.

The facilities at the AIS are excellent, as you would expect from an institution that receives much of the AUD$170M annual government funding for elite sport in Australia. Politicians perceive elite sporting achievement as very important to Australians, and as a result it is generously supported -- some would say at the expense of other less glamorous but ultimately more significant things (such as hospitals or even sport at a school and community level).

*******************************************************

Guided Walk: As part of the Archaeology Festival de la trace aux gestes there is a guided visit on Thursday 25 July to the Abbey of Saint Pierre in Preuilly (bring binoculars for looking at the capitals if you can) followed by a walking tour of the town to see various historic buildings and learn about their past. After the walk you can also attend a flint knapping demonstration at the museum, very educational and suitable for young and old. (Note: the commentary will be in French, but the demonstration and walk are both worth doing even if you don't understand the language, so long as you are interested in history, architecture and pre-history.) Meet at the Maison de Pays (Tourist Office) in Preuilly at 3 pm.

**************************************************************

Ile de Ré Reflections: A view of Ars-en-Ré.

******************************************************** 

A la cuisine hier: 22 Blueberry Muffins baked, using some of the blueberries I picked the other day in the Sologne when Antoinette, Pauline and I went on a blueberry picking expedition after Walt blogged about it. All the blueberries disobligingly sank to the bottom, despite me following the instructions to coat them in a little flour to prevent this happening.

A kilo each of sour cherries and redcurrants boiled up together and strained through the jelly bag, ready to make sharp spicy ruby coloured jelly which can be used in both sweet and savoury dishes. Delicious with cheese and strong flavoured cold meats, but also spread between sponge cakes or used like jam on toast.

************************************************************

SAP AGM: I attended the Société d'Archaeologique de Preuilly Assemblée Génerale yesterday afternoon in the Salle des Fêtes. It was a choice between having the air-conditioning on or being able to hear the speaker, so it wasn't all that pleasant. Not much news -- I see the key members frequently enough to be up to date. I managed to get at least two people's names wrong whilst mingling before the meeting got underway. Oh well...

**************************************************************

Swimming: The difference in the weather between yesterday and the day before was particularly marked. Friday it rained all morning, at times quite heavily. It wasn't really cold, but only the diehards were at the pool and we swam happily through the rain, with Laurent directing poolside under a large umbrella. Yesterday I reckon it had already hit 30° C by the time we arrived at the pool at 10.30 am. There were probably more people than I've seen there before enjoying the water, but we still got a good swim in, dodging the occasional child on a floating mat or thrashing their way to daddy.

Sydney Harbour

Sydney Harbour, photographed from the plane coming in to Kingsford Smith airport.
**********************************************

Ile de Ré Reflections: Our tent on its first outing, to the municipal camp ground in Saint-Martin-de-Ré.

Yesterday's Social Whirl: In the morning swimming with Huub, Ingrid, Anneloes, Tristan, Laurent et al. Late afternoon fellow blogger Jean and a friend dropped in. In the evening we went over to Martin's place for apéro (which of course stretched into a barbecue dinner, and we were joined by his arborist brother Antoine, sister-in-law Brigitte and their neighbours). Much deep discussion about life the universe and everything over the rosé.

Rouler une Galoche

There's been a lot of fuss made in the international English language newspapers recently, claiming that the French finally have a word for 'French kissing'. The French themselves are quite surprised to hear this, since they've been using the verb galocher in the sense of 'snogging' or 'sucking face' for decades. The origins of the expression probably come from associating the slurping, squelching sounds made when walking in galoshes to that of passionate kissing with tongues. If you want to be more elegant in your language in French you use embrasser. My reading suggests that what seems to have changed is that galocher has appeared for the first time this year in the most widely used abridged dictionary, le Petit Robert. It's been in the big Robert for years.

Anyway, all that is just an excuse on my part to post some photos of a Hummingbird Hawk Moth Macroglossum stellatarum giving some tongue to a Fragrant Orchid Gymnadenia conopsea. These photos were taken on 30 June near the Mary Chapel in the Bois des Prêtres at Boussay.

In this photo you can see that the proboscis is actually in two parts.

Fragrant Orchids have long spurs full of nectar and give off a scent to attract long tongued insects to them for pollination. Studies have shown that the Hummingbird Hawk Moth is one of the most important pollinators of Fragrant Orchids and that the orchid is very successful at attracting pollinators, with three quarters of flowers being fertilised and setting seed. It is certainly a species that, although local and restricted to certain sites, is thriving in the Val de la Claise Tourangelle.

Mind you, this moth wasn't getting close enough to pollinate the flowers. Its tongue is longer than the flower's spur, so it doesn't have to land and poke its face into the flower. I suspect this is the reason that another, night flying hawk moth is the top pollinator, with the day flying Hummingbirds coming in second.

Technically the 'tongue' is a proboscis, made up of a pair of gutter shaped parts which link together to make a tube. The moth expands and contracts a sac in its head to create suction and nectar is drawn up the tube. The precision they achieve with controlling the long extended tongue is mind blowing. When not in use it coils up neatly and sits tucked into a slot under the moth's 'chin'.

*************************************************************

Weather News: After a couple of weeks of non-stop dry sunny hot weather it at last built up into a terrific thunderstorm last night. Lots of thunder and lightning, but best of all, a significant downpour which will provide much needed refreshment to the land. It's amazing after all the rain we've had in the first half of the year how quickly the rivers have come down to their normal summer levels with this recent relatively short dry spell.

Spot the Differences #1