Well after our guest left for parts south I began the Herculean task of weeding the courtyard. At first I had thought I'd hire a person but our kindly, talented and beautiful (as well as hard working) guest had done such a wonderful job that I began to think that I could do myself...given enough time and energy. So after we cleaned up the largess of the house following the Great Electrical Repair of 2014 I strode to the barn, gathered a pair of gloves, a rake and a pair of clippers and started in. The main heap of weeds became taller with the addition of 5 small trees, miles of bramble, blackberry bushes and similar areas of overgrown climbing roses. Awful sticky stuff that tore at ones arms and clothing and yielded uneasily from the mass. The weather was cool between rains and I accomplished quite a lot on the first round of this long fight. A bit of heat came the next day and my energy sapped and though I was able to find the missing walkway it still lay there covered with a thousand or so clippings I had made. I've skipped a few days since but progress is happening and last night at our 5pm "tea" Kelly and I clipped loose brambles, roses and tree limbs. We delicately placed the stuff into two new reinforced garden sacks (designed for the purpose) that we bought yesterday morning at the moveable hardware store in the Champ Du Foire. Oh and here is an explanation of Half-Timber framing: Timber_framing
On Sunday we ventured north of Bourges to a Scottish/French Festival in the town of Aubigny sur Nere with Liz. It was a cool, dark and drizzly day as we drove, windshield wipers running, through the fields and forests between here and there, very ethereal it was. Liz had a map and I had turned on the TomTom earlier and though they disagreed often, between Liz and IT we found the place in about 1.5 hours. We joined the festival in due time with a parade of kilts and bagpipes and a good sized well wetted throng. We wandered the ancient streets marveling at the half-timbered houses and ogling at the goods offered by vendors from all over France set up under tents along the streets. We ate baguette sandwiches at a nearby café and had Grande glasses of Stella Artois beer to wash it down with. A great, friendly, noisy crowd highlighted by passing bagpipe bands made for great people watching.
On Sunday we ventured north of Bourges to a Scottish/French Festival in the town of Aubigny sur Nere with Liz. It was a cool, dark and drizzly day as we drove, windshield wipers running, through the fields and forests between here and there, very ethereal it was. Liz had a map and I had turned on the TomTom earlier and though they disagreed often, between Liz and IT we found the place in about 1.5 hours. We joined the festival in due time with a parade of kilts and bagpipes and a good sized well wetted throng. We wandered the ancient streets marveling at the half-timbered houses and ogling at the goods offered by vendors from all over France set up under tents along the streets. We ate baguette sandwiches at a nearby café and had Grande glasses of Stella Artois beer to wash it down with. A great, friendly, noisy crowd highlighted by passing bagpipe bands made for great people watching.
