Sexual Deception

Bee Orchids in the orchard.

Sexual deception as a means of achieving pollinization is exclusively known from certain orchid genera. I knew, theoretically, that our orchard should be a hot bed of sexual deception, but I had never seen it in action before.

A bee lands on an Early Spider Orchid in the orchard...

Two of the species of orchids in the orchard are from the genus Ophrys. Species in this genus don't produce any nectar to attract and reward pollinating insects. Instead, the flowers have evolved to look like insects, and they exude a pheromone which tricks male bees into thinking the flowers are female bees. The male bee comes to the flower and engages in what the scientific papers refer to as pseudocopulation.

It quickly moves to the top of the flower spike...

In practice, Bee Orchids, whilst they look like lovely furry bees, aren't very successful at attracting a 'mate'. Luckily for them, they are one of the few Ophrys who are not reliant on an insect partner and more often than not self-fertilize.

...where it attempts to mate with a newly opened flower.

The Early Spider Orchids can also self-pollenize if really necessary, but although it is not commonly witnessed, there are significant numbers of records of Mining Bees acting as pollinators too.

An Early Spider Orchid in the orchard.

'My' bee was only interested in the very newly opened flowers. Like many orchids, Early Spiders unfurl from the bud upside down and twist themselves around once fully open. The flower the bee chose was still upside down. Nico Vereecken's fantastic pictures of male bees and wasps 'mating' with Ophrys spp orchids show they have two styles - head first and abdomen first. The one I watched went for both positions!

Susan

A Bit More Backstory

Last year I wrote about my family's experience of emigrating to Australia. Whilst things here in Preuilly sur Claise are quiet, I though I would continue the story...

The first Sydney ferry I ever rode, the apparently
unpopular Kooleen. I always had a soft spot for it.
Photo by Jack Davis,1963 (used with permission).

After about a week living in the boarding house in Neutral Bay, my father found us a flat (apartment) in an old brick and sandstone house in Hunters Hill, one of the more exclusive suburbs of Sydney. It consisted of 4 rooms and a shared bathroom on the upper floor of a building built as a boarding house which later became a pub known as the Gladstone Hotel. The building had once been quite grand, with wide verandas and plenty of cast iron lacework, but by the time we were living there the wooden floor of the verandah was rotting, even though the iron lacework remained. More recently the building has been restored and turned into very stylish apartments - this used to be our front room. Coincidentally to our current situation, part of Hunters Hill was regarded as the French settlement of Sydney as part of the area was subdivided by a pair of brothers from Bordeaux, and many of their compatriots moved to the area. One of those was the French Consul, who lived in a building called Passy House. There is more about Hunters Hill here.

That's our house! Our living room was the corner room
on the upper storey( by John Ward used with permission)

A couple of days after moving to Hunters Hill I broke my arm falling of a "slippery dip" (slide) in the park opposite our house. This meant a night of pain, and the next morning a trip to Sydney city to visit outpatients at Sydney hospital. As it was a special trip we went by ferry, a mode of transport we usually didn't use because of the expense. This involved catching a bus to the Valentia Street (Woolwich) wharf and one of the old "K" ferries to Circular Quay.

This is Valentia Street Wharf as I remember it

Once at the hospital I had x-rays, and my right arm was encased in plaster. We then caught the ferry back to Hunters Hill. Showing how was grown up I was, I did what all adults did at that time: as the ferry arrived at the wharf I jumped ashore before the gangplank was in place. Unfortunately I landed on the plaster, and cracked it in two. Luckily the ferry hadn't left to go back to the city, so we climbed back on and I ended up with an industrial strength plaster cast.

Circular Quay in the late 60s - the Opera House
is still being built on Bennelong Point

The other events I remember vividly from our time in Sydney was being allowed to stand on the verandah to watch Apollo 7 make its way across the sky, and starting a long interest in photography by making a pinhole camera and developing the film in the bathroom with Dad. I can also remember catching the Manly Ferry on New Years Day 1968 to watch the start of the Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race and being convinced that the ferry was going to sink because it started rolling as we passed in front of Sydney Heads. (The weather wasn't this rough, but I was a London boy and no-one had warned me.) You may even be able to see me in this photo.

After 18 months my father found a job in Canberra and we left the life of living under Sydney Airport's flightpath for a life of complete... well - Canberra was never the most exciting of towns.

Simon

None of these photos are mine - I have tried to contact the owners of the bottom two photos for permission, but not heard back. If they are your photos and you object to their use here, please contact me.

La Chatonniere in the Green

The Labyrinth.

La Chatonniere is a most picturesque garden, no matter what the season. Because of its setting, nestled down in a valley all on its own, the landscape is designed to be a series of terraces, giving you magnificent views over the carefully laid out and themed gardens.

Looking across the bulb lawn - flowering is finished
but the pattern of leaves is an interesting effect.

They've obviously suffered a few losses over this last cold winter, with the Italian cypresses very burnt. Mme Azéroual, the head gardener's wife, said to me that they have lost quite a few of the clematis that were planted in amongst the roses on the pergolas.

Looking down on the inner terrace, full of perennials leafing up.

Nevertheless, in mid May, after lots of rain, it is a sea of greens. In many ways it is a more successful garden than nearby Villandry in these circumstances. Because more of the planting is permanent, it doesn't have that sense of a work in progress that Villandry can have at this time of year.

Susan

Update: Note that as of 2014, la Chatonniere is not open to individuals visiting any more. Visits must be of groups of 10 or more, on appointment only.

Hay guys! Check it out!

These horses, who came one by one to stand with their heads in the doorway of the pigeonnier (dovecote) at the Chateau de Boussay, amused me. They belong either to a member of the local hunt or to a local pony trekking stable, and I doubt that there really is hay stored in there. I think they were probably standing with their heads in the dark to discourage annoying flies on their faces.

If you are interested in knowing more about pigeonniers, Niall and Antoinette wrote an excellent post a while ago over on Chez Charnizay.

Susan

Gossamer Wings

The Black-veined White butterfly Aporia crataegi is known as le Gazé in French ('the Gossamer'). That's a much more evocative name than the matter of fact English name.

Last year they had one of their periodic boom years, and you saw them often in gardens, flowery meadows and open woodland. Sadly, they are extinct in Britain, and even in France, where they are still very commonly seen, they are in strong regression due to modern intensive farming methods, particularly the removal of hedgerows and the use of chemicals. Between 1960 and 1990 the equivalent of 440 000 hectares of hedgerow were destroyed in France, and in addition, the caterpillars are very sensitive to phytosanitary treatments used to ensure crops are pest and disease free.

A male Black-veined White visiting a garden near Preuilly.

The males are pure white with jet black veins. Females are more ivory coloured and often quite transparent. Where you see one, you are likely to see several, as they are quite gregarious. Flowering blackberry patches are always a good place to encounter them, and they will be so busy sipping nectar that they are easy to photograph. I was very pleased on my May 2011 butterfly survey to count 17 of them and see them in 6 of my 10 transects. I haven't seen any this year, but they should be on the wing any day now.

Susan

The Mill is Restored at Pont de Ruan

One of the restored water wheels.

We visit Pont de Ruan frequently, as it is on one of the scenic routes that we take clients on as we wend our way to or from Azay-le-Rideau. Over the last twelve months there has been a project to restore one of the mills on the Indre there and we have watched the progress with interest. Now it is virtually finished and the barriers are down. You can walk across a new passerelle to stand right in front of the pair of working water wheels.

Looking straight into the wheel.

It hasn't been over restored.

It is such a picturesque spot we never tire of photographing it.

One of the other mills in the complex.

The local river technician is based in the mill house and has invited me to drop in whenever we are passing. He knows our local river technician and I am always happy to do a bit of networking with the nature conservation professionals in the area. I mentioned our concerns about the over enthusiastic riverbank vegetation clearing down our way and he indicated he has similar issues up on the Indre. He didn't go into details, but it is obviously something he wants to tackle. For him, the main problem is hollow trees used by bats being removed.

Susan

A Refugee

A week or so ago there was a break in the weather just long enough for me to get some mowing done down at the orchard. On my way home I encountered this Lesser Bloody Nosed Beetle crossing the road.

It was coming from the direction of the recently poisoned and ploughed haymeadow, so presumably it was a survivor of the large population of these bedstraw munching members of the leaf beetle family that used to live in the meadow. Maybe it had got sick of trying to survive on the fringes and was migrating in the hope of finding a more welcoming site. It is female, so it may have been wanting to lay eggs somewhere safe. They are flightless, so ponderously walking is their mode of travel.

A Lesser Bloody Nosed Beetle on the move.

According to a notice on the mairie notice board, there is a proposal to build a small young offenders detention centre on the former haymeadows and adjoining old furniture factory site. It is within the town boundaries, so I am sure it will result in many objections before/if it goes ahead. I just hope that if it does eventuate it turns out to be the sort of inspirational place we can all be proud of, where young people genuinely get a second chance. I was talking about it to Martin, a long time reader of our blog who we have only just met in person. He comes from a large local family (his cousin designed our staircase) and his hope is that all the wood working and furniture making skills in this town can be put to good use. Martin's idea is that it would be nice if some sort of continuity could be maintained, by providing inter-generational mentoring and vocational training, giving the young inmates the opportunity to come out with a trade, along the lines of the horticultural training provided at the Chateau de Verneuil.

Susan

PS The annual plant fair at the Chateau de Verneuil is today. I will be there and plan on buying all my vegetable seedlings from them. If you are going to buy plants, bring a box or two to put them in - they are in very short supply otherwise. Plan to have lunch in the dining hall served by the students - it's good value and good food, and another way you can support the foundation that runs the place.

An Anniversary

It seems like we are having anniversaries every year, and a different anniversary every week if we look hard enough. This is a biggie though - three years since we arrived to live permanently in France.

Our first morning as French residents:
The view from the Ibis at Calais Eurostar

On this day three years ago we had ideas of what we would be doing and how we would be living, but no real plans. Just living the adventure was exciting and didn't need to be complicated (on my behalf, anyway) with concepts like seriously making an income.

Buying breakfast at the Baie de Somme...

Since then, we have crystallised our ideas of how the house will look and got some way along the path of making it so, and it appears that our business plans are starting to pay off.

....and lunch at Alençon. Life on the road.

We still have plenty to do, of course, but in three years time we should at least have most of the boxes unpacked.

Simon

Eggs Florentine

Ingredients for Eggs Florentine.

The other day I had some left over cooked spinach and it occurred to me I could use it up by making Eggs Florentine for lunch. It's not a dish you encounter very much any more. I don't know why, as it is real comfort food without being stodge.

Just out of the oven.

To make it I first generously buttered two individual soufflé dishes, then covered their bases with a layer of chopped steamed spinach. Then I put in a small dollop of creme crue. The cream is optional. I pressed it a bit with the back of the spoon to create a shallow depression, into which I cracked an egg. Alternatively, you could mix the cream and the spinach and then create a dip for the egg in the mixture. Lightly salt and pepper the egg. Cover generously with bechamel sauce then smother with lots of grated cheese. I cheated by using a ready made sauce. You could make your own, and you could mix some of the grated cheese into the sauce rather than pile it all on top. Bake in a moderate oven for 15 minutes. If the top doesn't come out sufficiently brown you can put it under the grill for an extra 5 minutes. Serve with fresh bread which you dip into the gooey mixture, then tackle the rest with a spoon, just like eating a soft boiled egg.

Susan

The Flying Flock

One of our orchard neighbours owns the field next to her orchard as well. Rather than pay someone to mow it for hay a couple of times a year she invites a friend to agist her horses on it for a few weeks. They graze the lush grass and the arrangement suits everyone.

This involves erecting an electric fence and installing a water trough on a temporary basis. The horses are checked on a daily basis by their owner, but they remain unimpressed by my visits, as I do not come brandishing pony treats.

Susan

A Traction Roundup

A box of bits today:

When we first joined Traction Universelle (the French car club for owners of Traction Avants) we were mentioned in the club magazine, being Australian and exotic and all. This year we are making an effort to actually attend some of the outings and Susan has managed to get herself photo'd and published. It isn't the most flattering of photos (mouth full of black pudding, probably), and even though I was standing right next to her I managed not to be included. This is a skill I developed in the 1980's after over-exposure in band publicity shots.

On Sunday we went to the local chapter of Traction Universelle's Peche et Petanque day. There would have been 5 Tractions there, except that we had just washed Célestine prior to having some clients and the weather was slaughtering it down; so we took the Renault. I have no doubt we will write more about this in days to come.

When I was looking for video of Australia (for an upcoming post) I discovered this, an Australian Traction Avant filmed in the 1960s.

If you want to see the movie, it's here.

Simon

Gardening in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemeteries

Today is Victory in Europe Day, usually referred to in France as 8 mai. It's a public holiday, to celebrate the end of the Second World War in Europe and to remind ourselves why the European Union matters. There will be a ceremony at all the war memorials in the country. I thought today would be a good time to pay a little tribute to the gardeners who care for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemeteries all over the world.

A Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery in northern France.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemeteries are as much memorial gardens as they are cemeteries. The original blueprints included the distinctive, but simple common headstone design, which were to be set into a carefully thought out selection and arrangement of flowering plants. Since 1918 the Commission has looked after 708ha of land throughout the world, and the significance of flowers was recognised from the beginning.

Initially it was hoped that plants indigenous to the countries of the fallen would be used, in order to enhance the connection between the deceased's place of rest and his place of origin. In practice this turned out not always to be possible, and so far as I can tell (having checked the list provided on the excellent CWGC website) no Australian plants are used in Europe. Nevertheless, plants are carefully chosen to soften the rows of headstones and provide a rain splash filter but not obscure the inscriptions. In addition, the Commission wanted visitors to feel at ease and that they were in a place of beauty and peace, rather than somewhere eerie and frightening. In France, the graves and gardens are set in lawn, emphasising the garden atmosphere.

You can read more about the Commission's approach to gardening in the cemeteries on their website.

Susan

Bucking the Trend

A few days ago we visited Niall and Antoinette over at Chez Charnizay. They'd been to Scotland visiting family and kindly offered to bring back goodies. Our personalised pack consisted of 2 bags of real Scottish oats, a 4 person haggis, a lump of aged Cheddar and some boxes of painkillers (paracetamol has gone up to 19p per box of 16 in Tesco they tell us!)

A Roe buck by the wood pile Chez Charnizay.

While we were sitting around in the kitchen drinking coffee and discussing what literature we had studied at school (they'd never heard of any of the Australian classics...) a Roe buck hoved into view. As always with deer, he was nervous, hesitant and skittish, but Simon managed two reasonable photos through the glass of the front door. They are spoiled a bit by the reflections from the glass, but not too bad considering we dared not open the door for a clearer shot. Niall and Antoinette said they had never seen a deer come into the front garden before, although they regularly file along the back garden boundary.

Something has his attention...

In French there is no real equivalent of the word 'deer' as a generic lay term for all members of the Cervidae family. You can use les cervidés, but you can see it is a more formal word, taken directly from the scientific term. In both French and English you get terminology differences between large and small deer. Big deer like Red Deer have stags (cerfs) and hinds (biches), whereas small deer like Roe Deer have bucks (brocards) and does (chevrettes). But whereas they are all deer in English, Roe Deer are les chevreuils in French and Red Deer les cerfs élaphes. The young (up to 6 months) are fawns (faons) for both species.

Susan

Speaking of trends (or at least, statistical predictions) we have a new President, as I am no doubt you are aware. It was a squeakily close run thing, just as the polls predicted. Personally I am not convinced by François Hollande, but on verra... At least he is a moderate. He will not have an easy job, and I hope he manages the country wisely.

Rain Stops Play

The weather forecast for last Thursday indicated it would be sunny and warm, so I planned to do my (belated) first butterfly survey for the year. Unfortunately, at lunch time on the day the weather bureau changed their minds. More storms were coming through. I decided to risk it. Storms here can be very localised, and with luck would miss me.

The storm heads towards me near Chaumussay.

Well, as it turned out it was the luck that missed me, not the storms. I managed to get one of my 2km squares surveyed, around Chaumussay, but I arrived at my Parc de Boussay square to be greeted by a tremendous roll of thunder and it rained enough to make surveying pointless. Even if it hadn't rained on the day, the Parc de Boussay transects were all so waterlogged from the previous days' rain I would have had to squelch my way along the routes.

A spring form Map butterfly.

My best transects turned out to be slopes to the north of Chaumussay - as always, this is a very rich site - and one over the back of the valley, on a beef and dairy farm tucked away in the valley of a small stream feeding into the Claise. Here I photographed the lovely spring form Map you see above, and discovered a previously unknown (to me, at least) colony of Burnt Orchids.

Burnt Orchid.

Maps are an unusual butterfly in that the spring generation is a quite different coloration to the summer generation. You would think they were different species, looking at their uppers, but on the underside they remain identical. To see the summer form, see this photo I posted some time ago.

Storm water erosion from a few days earlier above one of my transects.

Burnt Orchids are small and often seem to like to grow in dampish places amongst quite long lush grass, where the soil is cool and slightly acid, such as the edge of the cattle pasture I survey along. Curiously they can also occasionally be found on dry limestone sites like l'Eperon de Murat at Ferrière-Larçon. The species must be divided genetically into a couple of ecotypes (similar to subspecies) which have developed adaptations for different types of habitat. They are not particularly common in the Touraine and Berry, although there is a concentration of records for them from the Claise Valley, and nearly 50 sites in the Brenne.

They are the very first French wild orchid species I ever saw, down in the Charente, where they are common on roadsides. You don't get a good sense of the scale in photos, but the flowers are tiny, only a few millimetres across. I think they look like little clowns in their buttoned down the front romper suits.

The storm from our place by the time I got home.

Even though I only got half my survey done I was pleased to be out there, and the various orchids are always a bonus at this time of year (Monkeys, Ladys, Early Spiders and Early Purples were all out in addition to the Burnt-tips). I'm really disappointed to see that my friend Elizabeth and I are the only Anglo looking names on the list of STERF surveyors. I cannot understand why more British people don't get involved. After all, many of them have plenty of leisure time and/or have an interest in nature. Contributing to a well run citizen science project such as this is easy and a terrific way of following the seasons in your area. The project always needs more surveyors, especially in the mountains and away from the Ile de France/Paris region. The more people collecting data the better our picture of what is happening to butterfly populations, and by extension, as butterflies are good indicators of the general state of the natural environment, what is happening on a broader scale. An individual only needs to contribute a couple of hours a month of their time, but it all adds up. If you think you might like to do it, but feel you are not expert enough or have some other concern, please feel free to contact me to discuss how you might help. I can be emailed via my profile link on the right.

Susan

Dead as a Doornail

Our bathroom door.

Ever wondered where the expression 'dead as a doornail' comes from? I don't think I had particularly, but recently, thanks to a lunch date with the Abbé Proust at his home in Richelieu, I found out.

The back of a reproduction oak plank door in the Chateau
d'Azay-le-Rideau, showing the bent over doornails.

I have always admired the hand forged door furniture you see on traditional oak plank doors. Typically these rustic doors are in the attic spaces of old houses here. We have one, left in situ to become the door to our bathroom. The Chateau d'Azay-le-Rideau has a beautiful example, reproduced by some modern master craftsman for the newly opened wall walk in the magnificent restored roof space.

The front of the door above.

And the Abbé, when I arrived for lunch, was busy constructing a very nice one of his own, to go in a doorway in a partition wall in his capacious attic. He showed me the hand made iron nails he had purchased from an expert on such matters from l'Ile Bouchard.

Close up of the hand forged doornail heads on our bathroom door.
It is difficult to know how old these are, but probably 19th century.

The nails are hammered in to the front of the door, then bent over and the point buried back into the door from behind. On the front they look like a rivet head, on the back they look like a staple. Once hammered home they cannot be removed and reused, as you cannot straighten them out, hence, they are 'dead'. They are used to join the wooden planks and braces that make up the door structure, to attach the door hinges and latches, and can be hammered in over the entire surface of the door for defensive or decorative purposes.

Our bathroom door from the inside.

To see what unused doornails look like, see here.

Susan

Maïzena

I guess the dream of any marketing person is to have 'their' product become so associated with its function or genre that the brand name enters the language. It's one step above becoming a household name. Hoover managed it in the UK with their vacuum cleaners. I've never heard a British person talk about vacuuming, only hoovering.

In France, Unilever have managed it with Maïzena. Recipes don't call for fécule/amidon de maïs (cornflour/starch), they tell you to use 2 c. à c. Maïzena (2 tsp cornflour). One of the nice things about Maïzena, too, is that it is actually 100% maize. In the UK a product can be called Cornflour, but when you read the ingredients list it turns out to be wheat starch - a trap for all those needing to cater for gluten free diets.

Susan

In case you are wondering:

1. The pair of dots on the i in Maïzena tell you that the i is pronounced, so instead of being 'mayzena' the word is said more like 'myzena'.

2. Cornflour should more properly be referred to as cornstarch, as it is in America. It is not a flour, extracted with a dry milling process, but a starch, extracted using a wet process.

3. c. à c. in French recipes stands for cuillère à café, literally, 'coffee spoon', but in practice this is what would be called a teaspoon in English. c. à s. stands for cuillère à soupe (='soup spoon'), a measure which would be called a table spoon in English. And I'm not going to get into the whole English language thing of how much a tablespoon actually holds and the fact that traditionally a tablespoon is not the spoon you put on the table (that is a dessert spoon).

4. The use of the word corn to mean specifically maize is a New World thing. Traditionally, in Britain, the word corn meant cereal grains in general and could be used interchangeably with the word wheat.

Preuilly Plage

Back in February I posted a series of old photos of Preuilly sur Claise, alongside a modern view from the same place.

While I was collecting images there was one that had me amazed, simply because it seemed so unlikely and I had never heard anything about it previously:

Preuilly Plage

The same view today

An aerial view. The pool is at
the bottom right hand side

A different aerial view. It looks like the old pool is
empty but the new pool has not yet opened

Another view from the same angle,
this time showing the new pool

We have asked around town, and it seems that the beach was there in the late 60's - early 70's, and closed when the swimming pool was opened. When we first ask people about it no-one remembers anything, but when we show the photo we get a glimmering of remembering, but no details. The only detail we do get is that the new pool was opened because the old Maire likes to swim every day.

Is it possible to be nostalgic for something you never knew?

Simon

PS - If anyone has better photos of the beach at Preuilly sur Claise, we would love to see them.

Wildlife Watching in the Claise Valley in May

Orchids: May is peak season for many orchid species and only June will have more species flowering at once. Look out for Violet Limodores on the forest fringes, Tongue Orchids in damp Brenne pasture, Lady Orchids in the dappled shade and on east facing banks, Common Spotted Orchids by ditches in the pine forests and Besom Heath scrub - and many more. The orchid season has been delayed by 2 - 3 weeks compared to last year, and is likely to last longer because of cooler wetter conditions. Last year everything flowered and finished very early and quickly. I spotted my first Lady Orchid for this season only yesterday, and even the Early Purples have hardly hit their peak. Last year the Ladies came out on the same date as the Early Purples and the more precocious of the Early Spider Orchids.

If you see a huge ant in May it is likely to be this Carpenter Ant.

Butterflies: The first generation of lovely blue butterflies will be flitting about flower rich grassland at this time of year. You should see lots of Common Blues and on the chalky sites with Horseshoe Vetch flowering there will be the gorgeous Adonis Blue. Some of our most spectacular looking larger butterflies will arrive from warmer breeding grounds in the south and we will be treated to the sight of Swallowtails nectaring on the clover or Southern White Admirals checking out the honeysuckle. Some of our hardy overwintering locals will transform from caterpillars to butterflies in May too. The Glanville Fritillaries spent the winter as caterpillars in a communal nest around a Ribwort Plantain, and if they have survived the February cold we should see them on the wing in grassy places with plenty of wild flowers in May.

Bumblebees get busy in May...

Dragonflies: The first of the damselflies will emerge this month. Watch out for Common Bluetails, who happily fly in the cooler weather and will stay with us until the autumn. Other dragonflies have a very short flight period of only 6 weeks over May and June, like the Clubtails. They all tend to emerge together so for a month it seems they are everywhere, then just as suddenly they are gone.

...unfortunately, so do Common Cherry Fruit Flies.

Other insects: Finally, what would a post about May wildlife be without mentioning Mayflies! They will be rising from rivers and streams all over, shimmering in the sun, resting on the grass and bankside vegetation and once they have 'done their duty' and procreated, they can go on to provide a calorie boost for the fish and birds. To watch a charming little video featuring Mayflies click here (it's actually a Vodaphone ad!).

It was so cold, wet and windy in April that, as feared, I didn't get a chance to do my monthly butterfly survey. Even though we still need rain, after three years in a row of insufficient rain over the winter (2011 and 2012), spring (2011) and/or the summer (2010), let's hope we get some calm sunny days in May. However, the long term forecast is for this cool wet weather to continue throughout this month too. Statistically, May is the wettest month on average in the Claise Valley, but the rain is normally accompagnied by some days of sunshine and temperatures in the low 20s.

Susan

No Blog Today

This is because of the new interface which we are having to learn.

The old method of writing blog posts used to work, but recently Google (who run Blogger/Blogspot) have introduced a new interface which doesn't work.I assume that the new interface is designed by people who write web pages, and that is all they do.

They spend all day every day writing the new interface, using it, getting it to work for them without it ever entering their heads that people who blog also do other stuff - like have families, jobs, play sport, do the stuff they blog about....

If I had all my working life to learn the new interface and the new way of doing things it wouldn't worry me (as long as it worked, which it so patently doesn't).

But I don't have that time. I want to go in, type my new blog entry - quickly - and have it appear when I want it to appear, looking like how I want it.