Sophie watches me get out the hosepipe and fill up the pool. The water level is a couple of inches lower than it should be. Do we have a leak ? Or has the water level fallen due to evaporation ?
Bob is not keen on getting up close and personal with water so he opts to stay on the stoop and manage affairs from there.
The Old Farmer was right to warn us that a hot spell is on the way. The PONs will be limited to early morning walks and confined to the shade of the garden from Wednesday 'til Sunday. There will be complaints.
Angus is sometimes tempted to think what's the point of spending a quarter of an hour every morning writing a blog . Can anything new and interesting ever happen in a community of 67 souls ? True to form serendipity provides an answer. The village newsletter hints at dark goings on. The new plants around the car park have all died. Mysteriously stricken with weed killer. I stop the mayor and ask him what the back story to this is. Seems we have a villager who grows wild beetroots of a variety that have never cross fertilized with modern varieties. To ensure they remain pristine he goes around in the small hours of the morning and kills off any pollinating plants with weedkiller ( I may have lost some of the technical beetrooty details in translation ). No proof, only supposition. This is truly weird. The dead plants cost E2,000. The mayor shrugs his shoulders as if having a manic plant killer in the village is the most natural thing in the world.
Happy mothers and calves in the field at the crossroads.
A woman out jogging with a pony overtakes us. This is unusual in a '' I'll just take the pony for a run '' type way. After she's safely passed Bob barks . His '' No need to worry. I'm on top of things '' bark.
So starts another summer Sunday in deepest, deepest France profonde.
Stumbled, by accident, across this. Where dogs and finance meet : https://www.albertbridgecapital.com/drew-views/2019/6/17/stay-in-the-game?mc_cid=6e547f160b&mc_eid=395cb94e18
And one of my favourite twitter feeds ( and a must read fo those interested in Brexit ) which today has a canine touch : https://twitter.com/Sime0nStylites/status/1142501839088304128
17 comments:
The pony is scarcely more than a huge dog, too small for the lady to ride, do why not a run?
I won't be the only reader who panicked for a moment on reading the words "tempted to think what's the point of spending a quarter of an hour a day writing a blog". Please don't stop!
Cheers, Gail.
With a weedkiller wielding maniac on the loose now is not the time to consider stopping !
How could you doubt the value of the blog - in just one day, you have brought us a plant assassin, a lady jogging with a pony and a story that brought me to tears! (not to mention the cows) By the way, I have just learned that I can hire a herd of goats and sheep to "mow" the high grasses on a property we own in Northern California for "just" $1000/day - substantially more than the cost of our trusty gardener and his weed whacker. I asked whether they could include a novice sheepdog in the price, but alas . . . I have heard that it is not unusual in the US for border collie owners to hire a herd (e.g. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704681804576017731348653642) and I am always curious to know how Cherry would react.
If Cherry is anything like Sophie then $1000 a day on a herd would be money well spent - for the amusement factor alone. There would be a lot of sturm und drang but little achieved. ( Her interest in herding would almost certainly lag around meal times ).
Your blog is the first thing I read every day, before emails, before the New York Times. DO NOT STOP!!!
The rogue gardener/plant assassin is so typical of the French village. Everybody knows who the culprit is, but since he hasn't been caught red-handed no more can be done.
Carcassonne has a flock of goats trimming the grass along the banks of the Aude river. Very funny to see them, under the towering medieval city. I would think the goat or sheep owners would pay to have their troops fed, not vice versa.
I've followed your blog for years way back to the Wilf and Digby days. It's my first read of the day as there's a comfort and ease you provide us all with your description of small French village life. And the frequent addition of links to amuse and illuminate are icing on the cake. Please don't stop.
As is obviously the case with your followers, the thought of your even considering not writing your blog every day is cause for panic, as Gail said.
Bob looks particularly regal today. I love his freckled feet.
Wonderful story of Max, Chica and Kenny.
Your 15 minutes provide us with all we need to make it thru the day. It's a tiny peek into someone else's normalcy. When you consider the perilous conditions out here in Non- France where nothing is normal, be assured that you and your blog are needed.
Blog is fantastic EVERY day. Thank you Angus. (Can you send cake?)
Hari OM
..."This is unusual in a '' I'll just take the pony for a run '' type way. After she's safely passed Bob barks . His '' No need to worry. I'm on top of things '' bark."
That, Angus is the reason your readers return again and again! Add in potential dark forces and always interesting links and the scene is complete! YAM xx
The mayor should find/purchase a "trail camera" to catch the nutter who kills the village's beautiful plantings. Try Ebay. That's where mine came from. Works by snapping a pic when something moves and in the dark. Also good for thieves in village buildings. They date stamp the pics.
Also handy to see who is eating my garden, just saying :-) I love my little problem solver. Happy hunting Mayor! Kisses to the PONS!
Don’t forget we are supporting your challenge to get pictures of the coots, moorehens, and heron family. And will an endangered bat find his new home that was lovingly made for him on the side of a tree? Will there be more morning jogs from the dog sized pony? How would we know what Bob and Sophie are doing? You are right! You can not give up the blog in the middle of innocent flowering plants being killed! I honestly think our friend, ‘The Font’ would tell you these same things!
What they all said, and I was in tears reading Max's story, even before I got to the part about Kenny. The good tears kind.
Plus, I'm still laughing about that amazing green cake.
You should have the men in dark suits read your blog and make all their associates read it. The world would likely be a saner place--although letting them know about weed killer perhaps not the best idea.
What a wonderful story about Max, Chica and Kenny. Thanks.
Ohh that is Australia hot - too hot for me.
Love the story of Max, Chica and Kenny. And the lady with the pony reminds me of the lady I saw a couple of weeks ago walking a dog and a baby goat, I wish I'd thought to use the camera on my phone. Sorry about the plants dying. The doctor I work for has beehives, and weed killer sprayed near/around his property (in McLean) is thought to have killed his 2 hives, something the mysterious sprayer may not have thought of.
Angus, please don't stop writing. I love your stories and wish I could see all the delightful characters you write about,
Angus, please keep writing this blog. I love the people you describe and Sophie and Bobs relationship to the characters in the village..
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