A little visitor on the wall.....

 

A little bat has taken up residence in the hallway,

not sure why it is there,

but it must be comfy because this photo was taken a couple of days,

the intent being to put it into a box for the rest of the day,

and then release it outside when it got dark.

 

However, things got in the way,

like the shearer man arriving to shear the sheep,

and then it was off to a local bar to cool down,

shearing being quite a hot and sweaty task

and all I was doing was sorting out the fleeces,

for Lester and the shearer man it was much harder work,

especially because the sheep were spooky and uncooperative,

which is not like them at all.

I think it was because the weather has been so unseasonably cool,

so they have not been tired out by the usual heat

and therefore see no reason to be manhandled by a man wanting to take their fleece off them.

 

Anyway, the shearer man went on to other local smallholdings,

we went off to the bar,

and the bat was forgotten about.

So this morning I went to see how it was doing.

Yesterday it was about a metre up from the floor,

but today it was half way up the wall.

Maybe it had been flying last night,

perhaps that is why the dogs were restless,

because the bat is near their sleeping quarters.

And just to get an idea of how small the bat is,

that blurry piece of 'rope' on the right is a piece of spun wool,

so the little creature is indeed very small.

 

We have had a 'let's go on strike' day,

well it is Sunday after all,

so we shall probably leave the bat alone until tomorrow.

 

Meanwhile,

we did manage to get some cherries off our trees,

not many,

but enough to get a few jars canned up ready for winter use.

 

At least we got a harvest, even if a small one.

 

 

Fed up with buying in supermarket jam I have got round to making our own marmalade.

Wow, that is all I can say!

A friend blitzes the orange peel in a food processor,

but I cut the peel into small slices by hand.

It took ages,

but  was well worth it.

This was the first time I have made marmalade,



made six pots,

now left with three.

It is addictively yummy,

and easy to do,

although there was a panicky moment when I was slopping the hot jam into the jam jars

and not using the special funnel to steer the jam where it was meant to go,

when meant the jam went everywhere.

Not to worry, the mess was scooped up,

went into the jars,

the funnel was found and then used,

and everything turned out alright.

 

 

I have also been canning some pork,

two large legs in fact,

so our larder is starting to fill up again,

which is a relief.

 

Otherwise, I have been doing this and that,

like dehydrating some mallow flowers,

not many, just a few,

because I have kept running out of puff lately and seem to want to sleep a lot.

I still think that we are catching up with ourselves after our first hectic eight years here,

because Lester is feeling the same.

Our mojo seems to have run out of energy.

Not to worry, hopefully it will return soon.

 

Meanwhile, hope you had a good Sunday,

and saying

bye for now.

Vx

 

As for the vote in the UK to leave the EU.

It is as it is.

I wait with interest to see how the UK gets out of this hole it has dug for itself.

For myself,

I like being European, but did not vote 'in' or 'out',

because I did not think I had the right to seeing as how I have no intentions of living in the UK ever again.

Moving forward, that is what we are doing,

and I hope that the UK will find its way,

despite the cat fights which are going on in the political parties.

Loving France,

and being glad that we had the courage to move here when the opportunity arose,

despite the hard work, the uncertainty, the ups and downs,

France is our home now,

which is why we did not vote in the UK referendum.

 

Vx