comments from caledonia

  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 ...

  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 ...