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Not thinking, just doing as instructed - recipe for disaster?

  So, one evening I decide to order myself some more hold up stockings from my favourite supplier, FALKE in Germany. (I am in France.)  I confess to getting a little confused on the web-site as it has been some time since my last order and web-sites are not my favourite wandering places....However, I managed - found what I wanted despite seductive offers of other things - and duly ordered four pairs of hold-ups.  As always I paid using Pay-Pal...so far, so good. Proud of myself for I had even remembered to have one of my mobile phones next to my laptop in order to receive the necessary code..My French address was clearly stated on the order - and was recognised. But then a very long silence, no delivery via La Poste, no news from any local delivery companies.    I look again at my order and its confirmation - there I spot the initials of a delivery service unknown to me.  Then I remember that favourite place for deliveries of online orders which are then collected by clients is my loca
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mould in the butter dish

  Imagine my surprise, nay disgust, when I spotted that there was a smidge of mould in the bottom left corner of the - usually spotless - white china butter dish. A few days ago I spotted mould in my butter dish. It is a standard butter dish,  white porcelain with a lid, it can house a 250 gr block of butter with room to spare above - fits nicely from side to side, though. Yes, I was alarmed and - naturally - started to blame myself.   Had I used a dirty knife to cut into the butter?   I do have 'butter knives' but they are made for the small, silver individual portion butter dishes - of which I have one.   And, of course, I do not distinguish between the butter that is on the breakfast table and the butter I use for cooking...though the utensils to cut the butter obviously differ....And yes, I use the knife with butter on it to spread the butter on my piece of bread - and re-use it if I have not taken enough butter first go... We shall quickly pass over the use of the 'but
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Dead Heart...

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  This is the heart of our dead oak..... there were many tears as it came down..
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Two Fishes Saved!

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The lack of rain this summer has had one extreme result:   the pond down at the Farmhouse became just one large mud-puddle.   But in that puddle were two carp which I had put in many years ago as weed-eaters - carp are vegetarian - to try and keep the water clear.  Clear waters in a pond ringed by flowering plants and grasses were supposed to attractive flying insects, not least the dragonfly.  The original carp were perhaps about 20 cms long.. To keep the water aerated I also installed a small, electric power fountain. The frogs loved it, in the evenings one could hear the mid-wife toad bosting about the load of eggs on his back. So yes, this worked.   The dragon flies duly appeared in their season, butterflies came also, the odd bird would take a flying scoop across the surface of the pond. A cherry tree flourished on its bank. But the pond did not have its own source of water. Situated at the bottom of the road to the Farmhouse, - it was mostly filled by rain infiltration percolatin
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Manage the heat - don't just react !!

  After many weeks of rushing around, dealing with the sun-driven heat here at La Chaise and so being driven dotty - and a little bit to drink - it has just occurred to me that I was doing this All Wrong!   As some much quoted public figure (whose name temporarily escapes me) said: Take Back Control!! The building at La Chaise is a long rectangle, with the long sides facing east and west - i.e. where the sun rises and then where it sets - and the short sides facing north and south.    The sun circles round this construction at ever different levels - I have been watching and have just started react accordingly. The first thing I do, after dragging myself out of bed fairly early in the morning, is to open all doors and/or windows on the East side, then the West side, in order to encourage a cool draught through the house before the sun is sufficiently high to make a direct impact on windows and shutters...A change of air is very necessary. Then I gradually close the wooden shutters on t
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Dead Tree Standing...

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  This splendid tree is probably the oldest oak at La Chaise.....and there is quite some competition for that title.  It stands at the far end of the lawn, dominates the view of the valley below.   We have grown used to its presence, take it for granted - it has always been there, and always will.  But two weeks ago a Queen Asian hornet decided her offspring should nest at La Chaise - two nests were found on a Friday afternoon, one hanging free from a tree on the path to the fields, the other in a hollow in this great tree.   In an exchange for an immediate cash payment our local pest controller said he would come on Monday. We spent a cautious few days, not venturing far from the house and terrace. Julian the Brave, as we named him, dealt quickly with the hanging nest without an audience, naturally....then he located the second nest some two thirds up the trunk of the oak.  His double ladder unfolded, armed only with an aerosol - I foget whether he was wearing any face covering - he w
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Washing up is so very hard to do....

  Washing up is so very hard to do....especially in kitchens that started life with an inbuilt dishwasher...and so with little space for wet crockery.... I do remember 'washing up'....it involved rubber gloves, aprons, plastic basins and squirty liquids, brushes with long handles and sponges, some with one rough side.. and it involved many, many stages. 1/ remove any stuck on stuff from plates, this requires a compost bin and a flat spatula which will need washing later. 2/ glasses and cutlery first - if you have a rack or a recipient to let them dry naturally you are in luck, otherwise immediate drying with a cloth is necessary, glasses tend to get streaky - this usually means being two persons at the sink, one to wash, one to dry..and a good supply of extra fine cotton dish drying cloths... 3/ plates - and any other china items - come next.  With luck you might somewhere have stored a plastic, or wooden (rather unhygenic) folding drying rack and with even more luck it might j
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