Family visitors

We had my sister and her husband over to stay for a few days.   It was great to see them again and put the world to rights.   They enjoyed the pool, we played table tennis, did a bit of sightseeing and shopping.  All very friendly and laid back.

Anita prepared her usual excellent cuisine, and we discovered a new recipie that works especially well, comprising asparagus (home-grown by me) on a bed of mild goats' cheese, on pastry.   They appreciated the relaxation of a few slow days, and went back stacked with goodies, wine, a plant for Mum (the long-awaited Patty's Plum perennial poppy) and some light fittings that we don't need any more, for Julian's Mum.

The sightseeing we did was at Jublains, site of an old Roman town, complete with amphitheatre, thermic baths and temple, as well as a nicely laid out museum of archaeology.   This was showing a special display of the digs they are doing along the track of the new TGV line out to Rennes, but to be honest it didn't look like they found much.   The hailstorms and intense showers promised to us by the forecasters arrived right on time, complete with lightning.

And so, here's some pics:

Tucked up

We had guests in the gîte this last Easter weekend, grandad and grandma were celebrating their golden wedding anniversary with their family.  We did a special celebration meal on the Sunday evening, apéros, plus four courses, all the trimmings, and, as part of the decor, smart napkins folded into holders.   Being Easter there were little bunnies on the table of course, and one of the kids did this with hers. Well, it made me laugh.

Hard work

It's finally sunny again today, and I'm sitting out under the Wisteria, in the countryside quiet, pricking out seedlings into little trays so they can get bigger.   Meanwhile, here's a few pictures of the garden.

A pear tree

There's an old pear tree in a forgotten corner of the garden.  It didn't do much in the first few years we were here, but I pulled away the brambles and clematis that were smothering it, and gave it a bit of light.  It produced a few pears last year, and this blossom is covering it this Spring.    Even the bark is attractive in its strange way.

Vega

Vega is a hotel supply company.    We bought some new chairs from them, to go around the tables beside the pool, in July last year.  They're red to (more or less) match the painted doors and windows.  The chairs were described as being sun-proof, so we were disappointed to see that on some of them (4 out of the 12) the arms had faded to a pale orange colour.  It looks like they got a bad batch of the coloured plastic binding.

Anita phoned up the Vega and complained.   They said "send us a photo", so she sent them the one below. They said "OK fine we'll send you 4 new chairs."  They arrived this morning.

Good.

Painting the pool

The swimming pool here, like all pools, requires a certain amount of maintenance to keep the water clear and sanitary.   This means that I have to pop into the local pool supplies shop from time to time, to buy the necessary chemicals.

I spotted this curious accessory for pools in my latest visit - different colour dyes (based on food dyes I guess) to colour the pool water.   There are various shades of blue, which means that you could perhaps reproduce the ambiance of a Caribbean holiday.  But there are other jolly colour options too:  the bright red would allow you to evoke a traditional dolphin slaughter perhaps, and the lurid green could helpfully mask a horrid algal bloom should one occur.  Best of all, the yellow ink could allow water aerobic sessions of Incontinents Anonymous to be held in complete discretion.   I can't decide if the lack of a brown option is a relief or disappointment.

Apparently the colour fades after a couple of days, and the dye costs a mere 35 euros or so per bottle.  A must for any pool owner.

Jasmine

There is a conservatory attached to the house here.  Actually, conservatory is a rather grand name for it: it is more like a lean-to shed with glass walls.  Its best feature is a bottomless planter in its sunny south-west corner.  The soil in the planter is contiguous with the earth beneath and so there is little need for watering: the moisture wicks up from the ground.

In it is a Jasmine plant that grows very successfully there.  At the moment it is in full bloom and its perfume pervades the house.