Les Pomme-Poires

One of the trees in our orchard is marked on the plan we were given as a pomme-poire (=apple-pear). It has very attractive golden apple like fruit. I had a suspicion that it might be what is known in Australia as a nashi, and a little research on the net proved me right.

In the US they are known as Asian Pears, and they are a true pear, not an apple/pear hybrid. Apparently there are many varieties, and three basic types. Ours are the sort that look like russet apples.

Enough to tempt Atalanta herself

It's a long time since I've eaten a nashi, and I remember being pretty underwhelmed* – but it's amazing what a difference being freshly picked and not cold stored can make to a fruit's flavour. I've had Golden Delicious apples from the farmers' market, and yes, contrary to most people's perception of this ubiquituous apple, they can be golden and delicious when fresh. (Just as well, as we also have two trees of this apple in the orchard.)

The nashi crop won't be ready until mid-autumn I believe, but I've cooked a few little windfalls , along with some baby pears, in heavy red wine syrup. Except for the shape, the nashis were indistinguishable from the pears (well, perhaps not quite as flavoursome, but very like in texture) and very cute on their long stalks, ideal for picking them up to eat from the fingers.

The things people like about nashis seem to be that they are not prone to pests and diseases (this seems to be true in our orchard); crop heavily (we have a good crop, but not groaning branches) and can be left on the tree to ripen (unlike pears, which need to be picked before they are ripe). The things people don't like so much is that unripe nashis don't taste of anything (true in my experience); over ripe ones look perfect, but will have mushy brown centres; and they produce a lot of juice when cooked, making them not suitable for pies (although I've found some appealing cake recipes that feature nashis that I will be trying in the autumn when the main crop comes in).

Susan

*I like them - a lot. Simon

Buying France, Peu en Peu

Yesterday afternoon we had an appointment at the Notaire's office.

Although we have been gardening in the potager/verger (that's veggie garden/orchard to youse non French speakers) for almost 9 weeks, until yesterday we didn't own it. This came about through a combination of French property law (which is very thorough) and Monsieur P's wish not to maintain a garden he was selling.

The Orchard in May. It looks browner now.

This has been a really quite painless purchase. We didn't go through the compromis de vente process because the purchase price was comparatively small, so all we really had to do was make a firm offer and have it accepted. Once all the legalities like title search and advising the local farmers it was being sold, we had to write a cheque and sign some papers.

Apples last month: they have come on a bit since
the photo was taken, but they won't be ripe until October

The Notaire advises the commune of the new landowners (that's us - and I can hardly believe it myself), and in a couple of weeks time we will get a land tax notice ("quelque euros", according to the Notaire - the last notice was 12€ annually) and in due course we can collect the title papers.

Peaches: they are taking ages to ripen, we suspect
it may have something to do with lack of water.

To celebrate we went to the garden and picked some beans: this is our first picking of beans this year, and in the past two days the beans have gone from little wispy things to full on eating haricots verts - a whole kilo's worth! Add that to the three courgettes we picked and couple of tomatoes, and we managed to eat only our own vegetables this evening. We blanched and froze 800 grams of beans, and tomorrow we pick more. We anticipate growing enough beans not to have to buy any ever again...

Yesterday evening Susan stewed some plums and nectarines (separately, of course). Although the plums are not properly ripe, the windfalls are perfect usable and smell delicious. Two of the nectarine trees have finished cropping, and we await the onset of fruit from the other 3 trees (including the big one that broke).

Simon

More Travelling

We have been on the road again this week, looking for cars.

On Wednesday we drove to Nantes and back, and yesterday we drove to Nemours just south of Paris and back. We did it all on non toll paying roads, which probably added an hours or two on to the trip, but saved us a lot of money. Our route is here. One of the things it did reconfirm with us is how lucky we are to live where we do: to the west of us is prarie country - wide open grain fields, flat horizons and dust, and there are elements of the same to the northeast.

We haven't bought anything though - except for a small box of Charantais melons. Driving through the countryside around Richelieu and Chatellerault with the windows open gives interesting olofactory experience - alternating ripe melon and cowshed muck. It seemed a bit of a waste to drive through the Charente in melon season and not buy any, so in the end we followed a series of roadside "melon a vendre" signs and made a purchase of 5 juicy, ready to eat one day after the other melons. I think we got the "today" and "tomorrow" melons confused, but that's life...

Nemours in the sun

Annoyingly the car dealership at Nemours was closed. Even though we have an email giving their opening times, we think they may have put a typo in the date and gone on holidays yesterday, not the 16th of August. The day wasn't wasted though - we popped in on Ken and Walt, which is always a pleasure. Then on the way home we had a magnificent display of lightning of all kinds which lit up the sky in a big arc in the south and west - very impressive, and when we arrived home we even had 10 minutes of really heavy rain. Not our preferred option, but better than nowt.

Simon

Growing Endive

As part of our drive to reduce our food bill we have been growing vegetables. Looking towards winter, I decided to experiment with over-wintering crops - leeks, cabbages and endive.

Endive (or Chicorée) is a strange thing: a bitter, cabbage like vegetable you don't cook in a saucepan (unless I am completely wrong). Growing it is strange too: according to the packet I have to grow it until October/November, dig it up, cut of its bottom and top, stick it in a box and grow for another 6 months in the dark(ish)

Growing instructions for chicorée

If I had read the instructions before buying the seeds I might not have bought them. This seems a really weird way of growing stuff and we may not have somewhere to do the forcing bit over winter (15 degrees?? that could be tropical compared to last winter!) . Add to that the fact we have never cooked endive, only ever eaten it in restaurants - and even then I'm not sure I actually liked it - and you can see the issues mounting up. And where do I buy a forcing box?

I figure that while I am trying to find out if I am any good as a gardener or even enjoy gardening I have to do these experiments. You never know - I might find out what it is I am good at!

Simon

PS - if anyone has an easier way of growing endive, or good recipes for people who don't really do bitter (i.e. me) any suggestions will be welcomed.

The Drought Continues

It's been dry for a couple of months now, with good soaking rain on too few days. Most days have worked up to being hot, even if they've started out cool. Rain keeps being forecast, but not much has fallen on Preuilly. We had 2 or 3 good days of rain in the third week of July, but since then nothing, except for 2 minutes of light rain on Saturday evening. Naturally, this fell just as we headed into the courtyard for apéro.

The Claise, very low at the old ford near
the mill in the middle of Preuilly.

The river is as low as we have ever seen it (in contrast, April last year was as high as we have seen it). The farmers have been restricted as to how much they are allowed to extract for irrigating crops. Big cracks opened up in earth in the orchard, but the good rain in July closed them up again. So far they have not reopened, but who knows how long that will take!

The Claise at the mill in Preuilly in April 2008

Our tomatoes in particular have suffered, being slow to develop, then when there is some rain, putting on a spurt that causes their skins to split. I think our pears will ripen a little early, because it is hot and dry, whereas the big nectarine at the potager gate is just sitting, holding a bumper crop of large green marbles. We have five zucchini (courgette) plants, but so far they aren't even close to overwhelming us with produce. Our peppers are going to produce very large perfect peppers – but only one per plant. The chillies, on the other hand, are obviously in some sort of competition to see which can produce the most fruit.

The grapes are also doing well. We are told that the vine growing over the small shelter and into the Catalpa tree are exceptionally good red table grapes, and so far they have escaped any sort of mildew. We assume a combination of the hot weather and the fact they are out in the open is the reason for this.

Meanwhile, we water from our ever diminishing stream. A couple of weeks ago we met the man who has gardened in our potager for the last 20 years, and he says he has only seen it this bad once before.

Yesterday evening when we arrived to water our 'orchard neighbour' from the third garden was there. Her yellow plum was very ripe and she needed to get all the fruit collected or it would rot. She very kindly gave us about 4kg of plums, as none of ours are ripe yet. The yellow plums are quite an early variety, whereas ours – Sainte Catherine, Abricot Rouge and Canada – are all later varieties. We discussed the lack of water and how low the stream was. She told us that the people who live near the source of the stream have dammed it so as to have water for their garden. I suspected as much, as the drop in the level was so sudden, and didn't recover even when we had some good rain. Our neighbour has a water butt which used to collect the water from the roof of her toolshed / cabin in the orchard, but it is old and has many tiny holes now. She wants to install a new water tank, but has decided not too because of the risk it will be stolen if it looks too new. We want to put up a small shed and collect water too, so we will have to think very carefully about how to make these improvements secure.

Susan

Our Back Garden

As well as having a courtyard at the front of the graineterie, we have a back garden. This is where, last year, Susan planted her experimental wildlife garden, and also where we dry our clothes. When we bought the house the garden had a chain link fence, with a rickety wooden gate that didn't really open, all hung on rotting wooden posts.

In September 2007 the fence was demolished to allow the roofers access to the back of the barn, and since then we have had an unenclosed space that people don't appear to realise is part of our property and take the opportunity to park on when they are visiting the neighbours.

This is OK for a half ruined barn, but no good at all for the kind of sophisticated outdoor living Susan and I do (← insert wry humour icon here), so the plan is to enclose the area with a wall topped by wrought iron railings.

We arranged with Alex to do a devis for this work, and put in an application with the Mairie for permission to erect a wall. Two copies of the application and six copies of the plans were lodged three weeks ago. Last week we received a letter from the Prefecture asking for more photos and telling us that the architect from Bâtiments de France (the built heritage organisation) must agree, and that we have a 2 month delay to getting permission, rather than the normal one month delay. This means that in two months, if we hear nothing further, we can assume that permission is granted. After that we go to the Mairie and ask for a certificate giving permission for the work to go ahead.

We then have have to erect a notice ("a panel visible from the public way describing the project") while the work is underway.

At first glance this all looks like a lot of bureaucratic messing about for a garden wall, but we are lucky enough to own a quite important building near to heritage listed buildings. At least if we get permission to build the wall we won't be asked to demolish it at some time in the future - nor will we have a reputation as barbarians when it comes to submitting any plans we might have for working on the graineterie itself.

Simon

Preuilly's Brocante

We have written about Brocante/Vide Grenier before, but never about the one held in Preuilly sur Claise.

The first Vide Grenier we ever went to was in Preuilly, the day we signed the "compromis de vente" on our house. We have to admit to not being impressed with the items on offer, and left after about 10 minutes. That was three years ago, but since 2006 we have not been in town on the first weekend in August and so have missed the subsequent events. This year we are residents, and there are certain events you can't diplomatically miss, especially when neighbours and men you have had in the house installing staircases ask if you're going because they are having stalls.

So it passes that Saturday morning we went to the Brocante in Preuilly, taking the new passageway through the houses in the process. This is called "traverse du Sieur Tintin", a strange name - who was this Tintin who is due the honourofic "Sir"? Surely not the comic book character, but I can find no reference to any other. Maybe we have to ask the Archaeological Society.

Talking of whom: We have joined the Society. It has taken us a while to get around to it, due to a number of reasons; when you join the society you get a copy of the latest (annual) magazine, last years copy of which we had already bought: and we just haven't got around to it since this year's issue was published. There are lots of interesting things in this years "Cahirs de Poterne", some of which we will be mentioning in coming days.

We didn't buy anything at the brocante, but I have to say it was better than I remember 2006's being. A lot more stalls, and even some stuff I might have (on another day) considered buying.

These events are more than just jumble sales, they are also a chance for everyone to catch up on everyone else's news and for local organisations to recruit members and raise funds. The school was selling old desks and some of the canvas camping beds the children have their afternoon naps on, and the pompiers were running the beer and food tents. We bonjoured our way around the stalls, although some of the people we greeted I know I have met - but have no idea of who they are or where we met them.

Simon

Rare Fly Bites Man in French Orchard

Actually it was in the right shoulder blade, but that's a mere detail.

We get a lot of interesting species of insect around here, many of which are normally restricted to coastal areas. Because these species have very precise ecological requirements and as their natural habitat is increasingly destroyed by being built on or intensively farmed, they are becoming rarer and rarer. The reason they turn up here, even though we are 200km from the coast is because of le Parc Régional de la Brenne, with its large areas of wet grassland and marsh, similar to coastal grazing marsh.


The other day Simon shouted to me to slap him on the back as he was being bitten by something through his T-shirt and it was very painful. The culprit turned out to be a 9mm long female Haematopota bigoti, the Big-Spotted Cleg. I don't think it has a specific French name, but in general terms, it is a petit taon. H. bigoti is one of two rare coastal species of small horsefly (known as March flies in Australia) that I have recorded here. I love them, and think they are exceptionally beautiful with their psychedelically patterned eyes (but then, I rarely get bitten by them).

Susan

Events in and around Preuilly for August 2009

Saturday 1 – Brocante – Comité des Fêtes
Jumble sale. Plan'dEau, Preuilly sur Claise

Saturday 1 – Yzeures sur Creuse - Yzeures n'Rock
Rock and ska concert, Site de la Baignade, free entry

Sunday 2 – Barrou - Vide Grenier
Jumble sale

Tuesday 4 – Saturday 8 – La Guerche -Nocturne au Château de la Guerche.
Events from the château's past, re-enacted from 8.45 every evening. 12€ Adults, 8€ concessions

Saturday 8 – Le Mariage de Ludivine et Johnny
Ludivine and Johnny's wedding.

Saturday 8 – le Grand Pressigny – Promenade
A walk to explore the geology of the area, and discover its impact on the people of the area, from the paleolithic era to our time.

Wednesday 12 – Promenades guidées de Preuilly sur Claise, par la Société Archéologique
A guided walk around preuilly sur Claise by the Archeological Society, 10.00am. We don't know where it starts, we will find out and report back.

Friday 14 – Sunday 16 – Chédigny - Blues in Chedigny
12th Annual Chédigny Bues Festival

Friday 14 – Sunday 16 – Angles sur l'Anglin Foire aux Livres
Book fair, displays of artisanal skills, street theatre

Sunday 15 - Grand Pressigny – Bourse d'Exchange
Car, motorbike , tractor and "documentation" swap meet.

Monday 16 – Concert – La Société Archéologique de Preuilly.
The Archeological Society of Preuilly has organised a Cello and Organ concert. 5.00pm

Sunday 23 – Tours - Loches – Voyage d’une journée en train vapeur vers la ville historique de Loches
Steam Train journy from Orleans to Loches via Tours More information here

Sunday 30 – Chaumussay – Foulées
Foulées is athletes (?) but this is a Marché Paysan and Vide Greniers (local produce and jumble sale) so I am not sure the connection

The Musée de la Poterne is open from 2.30pm to 6.30pm, Tuesday to Sunday

Until the 27th August at the Mediatheque has an exhibition "Promenades dans les rues de Preuilly sur Claise"

Market days in Preuilly are Thursdays and Saturdays. The market is held in Place des Halles in the morning.

On Saturday nights there is a pizza van in Place des Halles.

Wildlife to look out for in August: brightly coloured grasshoppers; spreadwing damselflies; giant horseflies; Jersey Tiger moths.

A Jersey Tiger visiting Hemp Agrimony

Wildflowers to look out for in August: Wild carrots (lacy white flowers) and parsnips (similar yellow flowers) are everywhere on roadsides, the edges of ditches and in fields - these are the ancestors of our vegetables today; Hemp Agrimony flowering on the river banks; Cluster Bellflowers; Devil's Bit Scabious.

Also in August - fabulous fields of sunflowers.

The Finished Article

A special one - the staircase was finished at 16hr.

Simon

P.S The music is "Cause We've Ended as Lovers". Written by Stevie Wonder, and played by Jeff Beck.

Almost There!

We are getting close - first flight of steps is complete and usable, second flight is half done and will be finished by lunchtime.

Just for certain people (you know who you are) a movie.

Nicolas, who has been team leader on the installation
(and speaks American) sits on half a staircase

Jean-Louis arrives with the afternoon's reinforcements
(and the second half of the staircase)

Simon

To Pick up on an Earlier Theme...

... WOOHOO!!

At last we have something that quite definitely is starting to look like the beginnings of a staircase!!

Our old staircase was démonté in 2 hours yesterday morning, which is quicker than I would have done it myself (and a lot more scientific - I just know that if I had demolished the second flight a good proportion of the house would have to have been rebuilt). We have kept the old banister and stringer arrangement as a souvenir and future house decoration because it felt plain wrong to destroy such a lovely old thing (oops - am I not appearing totally practical here?). It is made of oak rather than exotique, and it was trop triste to think of it being burnt as firewood.

Next stop, roof.

By lunchtime the stringers were (more or less) in place; trying to put something new and straight into something old that isn't straight takes a lot of adjustment and thought.

The adjustments and thought that went into putting the stringers in place was as nothing compared to the effort, thought, shifting of positions (both physically and mentally) and finagling involved in getting the noyau in the right place - and then the ever more involved process of making the marches and contremarches fit. Part of the problem is that the landing isn't level so a decision has to be made as to where the stairs actually arrive to. We have decided they should arrive at the highest point, and that at some stage in the future we will lift the floorboards and insert shims to make it level. Or something - maybe "levelish" would be a more realistic aim!

The staircase builders were here until gone 6.00pm, and the team of 3 was supplemented during the afternoon by the boss (M.Chaboisson) and by Jean-Louis (who gave the impression of having stopped by on his way home from work).

So this is where things stood at the end of play yesterday. We were assured that they have broken the back of it and things should go smoother and faster today, which so far (they arrived at 8.00) appears to be the case. Apparently no-one had told them (until Jean-Louis arrived) that all the steps were 50mm longer than necessary so that they could be cut in-situ to fit the vagaries of our walls.

Sitting around while experts push bits of wood around and look slightly concerned is a stressful thing. I kept on getting worried that things weren't going right and everything was going to be an issue and we weren't going to be getting a staircase after all. Luckily, Henri Proust arrived bearing a bottle of Thierry Landry (Chinon) red and distracted us just enough to make it all ok again.

Soon we should have a staircase - until then we have a beautiful piece of abstract (or maybe impressionist, on the grounds that it gives the impression of being a staircase) art.

Simon

The Staircase Takes Shape

The past two afternoons we have been up to M.Chaboisson's atelier to keep up to date with how our staircase is progressing.

On Monday afternoon the contremarches were being cut and and the final set of marches being shaped. The precision is amazing...

The underside of our steps look like this. The curved end will
fit into the infamous noyau

Yesterday afternoon when we arrived we were somewhat overcome to see recognisable chunks of staircase being fitted together. Jean-Louis has completed the noyau and was cutting the rebates into it that the steps will fit into. He was then fitting the steps to check the fit. This is precise work, done by hand with very sharp chisels, so although we took photos, we didn't use the flash: this is why the photos may not be the best quality.

Steps being fitted into the noyau

While that was happening, Jean-Michel was assisting one of the younger workers (I assume one of the apprentices) with putting together the handrail that will eventually go on the landing in our attic. Although it will hardly ever been seen, the second flight of stairs is being made with all the same attention to detail as the first flight.

We were also pleased to see that our handrails have been formed. These are looking lovely - all graceful curves and flowing lines.

Once all the pices are cut, sanded, and the fitting checked, they will be dismantled and bought to the house to be contructed. I think that's how it goes, anyway - I can't see how they can put it together in the factory and install it in one lump. Then again, I am no expert!

When we were leaving we asked the receptionist at the atelier if she knew when the staircase was being installed. She said she thought Thursday or Friday - but no!! She rang this morning at just gone 8.00 to say they will be down immediately to demolish the old staircase this morning..

...and start erecting the new one this afternoon. Wooohoooo!

Simon

Our Recent Travels

In our search for a Traction Avant we have travelled a fair bit, and seem some stuff. Some of the stuff we even took photos of, and now seems a resonable time to show some of those photos.

Our first stop was lunch in a bar in Thoiry. The food was interesting (a whole demi-sel pork hock each - cold- served with frites - very hot) as was the wildlife in the beer garden. Swallows and House Martins nesting on the same walls, so we managed to take the following two photos without moving from our seats. The owner also had a Braque hongrois (Vizsla) puppy of amusing demeanour.

Swallow

A baby House MartinSusan tries the driving seat of a Traction Avant for size

The Chateau at Thoiry. We had never heard of it, but
it is an African Wildlife Park as well.

One of the 13th Century bridges in and around Bellac.
There is a whole string of them leading into town, and
one inside the town itself

Looking back, we didn't take all that many photos compared to what we normally manage. Maybe the heat got to us, or maybe it's because we were "on a mission" and concentrating on our destinations rather than the views.

We will try do better next time.

Simon

The Welcome Return of Wet Stuff

Last week, it rained.

This allowed us to traipse off and do other stuff besides watering the jardin (see yesterday's post) and has made a major difference to the way our crops have developed. No matter how much you water, 10 minutes of rain is always more effective. And easier, if you're having to cart water up from a stream.

I was bemoaning the fact the other day that even though I sowed a second batch of beetroot, chard and carrots in the garden, nothing had happened. At the same time I had put some seeds into pots, and most of them had sprouted within days.

Well - now we are all lined up for a glut of beet, because a week after the plants in pots germinated the seeds in the garden have sprouted - every single one of them. Even allowing for losses we are lined up for hundreds of beetroot and chard plants. But still no carrots (although I am semi expecting that today when we check the jardin they too will have come through).

Special Forces gardening with the spade
Martine and Christian gave us

The other difference the rain makes is to how much easier digging the garden becomes. Susan was creating a plot for saffron bulbs, and achieved in 10 minutes what last week would have taken her an hour (at least, she says). I was preparing a bed for the veggies I planted in pots, something I gave up as far too hard last week but managed with some style in about 5 minutes this week.

The rain has also made a major difference to the orchard, too. Large cracks in the ground had been opening up around the trees, the kind of thing I thought we had left behind us when we left Queensland and perpetual drought, so it was rather nice to see the cracks closing and the return of the rain.

We also had the orchard mowed just before (and during the start of) the rain. We have decided not to buy a ride on mower, but to pay Alex to mow for us. It only takes a couple of hours 3 times a year on a lawn tractor, but buying a mower capable of doing the job (and capable of keeping on doing the job for year after year) would be uneconomical.

This is sort of a disappointment to me. I was looking forwards to have my own tractor and playing at famers, but with only half an acre to mow it doesn't make sense. We will be buying a push mower though, so that will be a chance for me to find out if mowing lawns really is the hateful, hot and hard work I remember it being from my childhood.

Simon

Simon's Secret Project

Over the last couple of weeks the blog hasn't exactly been receiving our full attention, which will not come as a surprise to anyone who has restored a house or who owns a large garden/orchard. There is a reason - apart from the staircase - for the lack of variety in our blog posts though, and that is Simon's Secret Project.

Regular readers will know I occasionally look at cars: old Renaults, Citroens and sometimes more exotic fare. I am not the most mechanically minded of blokes so I admire them as much for form as function - something I suspect even the most hardened engineer does. Of course, we all laugh at 2CVs (well - we do if we have any sense of humour), and we all ooh and ahh when we see a vintage Bentley, Hispano Suiza or Bugatti. Some of us are even attracted to some modern cars; the Aston Martin DB9 manages to quicken my pulse, and a Maserati Quattroporte is a thing of beauty.

There is one car, however, that appeals to me on a completely different level. It isn't the most luxurious of cars (although it's not bad on that front) nor the most advanced (although it its day it was revolutionary). Nor is it the prettiest (even though is it attractive) or rarest (over 3/4 of a million were built over a period of more than 20 years).

I just like it, and I want one.

Last Week we have drove over 1000km* to look at Citroen Traction Avants. We have seen some really nice ones but none have been THE car for me. Last Tuesday we drove a pretty black one, but I wasn't convinced by the way the doors fitted. We saw a very nice example on Friday, but it isn't black, it's grey (most post war French Traction Avants were black, but they were made in grey and blue for the Algerian export market) and I want black: baddies and spies drive black Traction Avants.

The showroom it was in is magnificent:

A row of Tractions

A TR3, Model A Ford and a smatterings of Goddesses

So if anyone has a Citroen Traction 11B, left hand drive, black, in good condition with normal French registration (Carte Grise Normale), drop me a line. Post war malle plate preferably, but a big boot model wouldn't be a problem. (For those not in the know, the difference is shown here).

Simon

*All this was achieved on not a lot of gazole. Our last tank of fuel got us 1020km, at 4.7235l/100km, 59.8 mpg (UK) or 49.79mpg(US). Not bad for a 10 year old 1.9 diesel.

More Staircase News

We went up to M.Chaboisson's atelier yesterday morning because Susan and I had a misunderstanding. I thought M.Chaboisson had said the staircase would be finished by the end of July, Susan thought he had said he was off on holidays on the 25th.

When we arrived the Maitre himself was there, and he showed us the way work was progressing, and assured us his holidays start the end of July, but he wouldn't be going until he had finished our job. He than said we should return on Monday, when they will be pre-assembling the staircase in the workshop, with the plan of installing it in our house on Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Probably Wednesday, but maybe Tuesday. Probably on Tuesday they will take away the upper section of our old staircase and install on Wednesday. Unless they do both demolishing the old one and installing the new one on Tuesday.

Or Wednesday.

Whichever way it goes, it looks like we will be able to climb stairs and use the upstairs rooms by the end of next week.

The workshop was really busy yesterday morning - lots of people working hard, lots of staircases waiting to be assembled, with one already having its balustrade attached to the stringer.

We are still excited

Simon

Posh Plants

It has rained a couple of times in the past few days - good, constant rain with not much in the way of destructive heavy stuff.

Up until this point we have been watering the plants by hand. Because we want our plants to succeed, we have been giving them only the best of treatment. Pampered them, even...

We planted late this year because of when the garden became ours to use. The beans are flowering and about to produce, and we have been picking courgettes for a couple of days. (The expected flood of courgette has not started - yet.) We are starting to pick tomatoes, and the chillies are looking promising. We even have flowers on our aubergine. The seeds we sowed have been a disappointment though: 3 chard, 1 beetroot and about 6 carrots is all we have despite putting in a row of each. Last week I filled in the gaps with more seeds, and still nothing. Obviously something is eating the seeds.

To try counter this I am sowing more seeds this week, this time in pots. Because they are root vegetables I am planting (and the fact they are going in at the end of the recommended planting window) I wish to disturb them as little as possible. I am planting one seed per pot, and lining the pots with paper so that when the time comes to plant out I can (hopefully) slide out the paper cup complete with plant and stick it straight into the ground.

I will be planting beetroot, carrot and chard in youghurt pots and hopefully bypass whatever it is that makes our hoped for plants fail to materialise.

The Staircase Progresses: Part two

We called in on M. Chaboisson yesterday afternoon to check progress. After handshakes all round Jean-Louis showed us the stringers, which have now been routed to take the steps (marchés)* and risers (contra-marchés)*, and pointed out that the apprentice was cutting the handrail blanks. All of our steps have been shaped, (with a natty litle curve and rebate on the underside) which we would have taken photos of except the batteries in the camera went dead.

M. Chaboisson has an informal little museum in his atelier, including old doors he has made replacements for, and a collection of old tools. He also made a replica cell for the donjon in Loches, pictures of which are here and here.



Simon

p.s. Someone we know is having bacon and eggs for breakfast today.

*See Ken's comments below: Marches and contre-marches

1000 Years and Going Strong

I mentioned last month that our church is 1000 years old this year.

Well - here is the proof, although I am not sure that many archeologists would find it a completely convincing argument.

Simon