Hedge problem

We have two hedges at the top pf our garden that separates  us from our two neighbours. 

This one which is thriving with Lilac, Elderflower, Forsythia bushes et cetera and trees

And this one that I hate and is turning brown and dying all of a sudden, hence the gap in the hedge.

I will like to cut the whole thing down, but our privacy would be comprised, this neighbour has hens and the fence behind the hedge is about a metre high. This is a problem too, especially as we are getting some hens from a friend soon...just need to finish the hen coop...

A solution needs to be found soon, perhaps planting a couple of new bushes each year and cutting back the Thuyas as we go. This hedge is quite long though so it could take ages.

Sewing with MK

Busy weekend before Christmas, still last minute presents to buy, and lots of cooking ahead. We managed to get the sewing machine out and this afternoon MK is going to make some clothes for her doll that's sitting read and waiting.

This is our first floor landing, we kept Mr H's table (was in kitchen at the beginning)  It is a good space for sewing and other activities with a nice view of the garden.

Welcome to Bug Land

 Back again.  Alexis and Marie-Kate broke up for the school holidays last Thursday, long after Charlotte, who finished in the second week in June and Gaby the 26th of the same month (mental reminder, I have some great footage from end of school Abba musical she starred in)
whilst, Oliver, of course, sat his exams.   
The first week is already halfway through, the weather is dismal, I've even got a thick fleece on today.  No plans for this week, just cool and relaxed, it that's not too much to ask.
Alexis has been busy as you know with his pyrography and Marie-Kate has been drilling.
She screwed this entire bug hotel together,I cut the wood and she did the rest.  MK chose Bug and Alexis, Land, for the name of this insect residence.  

They are hoping that some bugs will move in soon.  Our garden is full of earwigs, so I bet there'll be some in there soon.  There's even a pile of leaves for a hedgehog or two. In Sanary we had a family of these prickly things that took up home in our enormous  compost.


Next up, we are going to make a refuge for ladybirds, but not today.  Today, I have to help a rather disorganized sixteen year old pack her bag for three weeks, I've even blocked her internet until she gets something done...things one has to done to get results these days.

Marie Kate's Charlotte and some sun at last

27°c outside in the shade, can you believe it,  it's so good to be able to fling open all of the windows and make the most of the garden and eating outside.

 Marie Kate made a Strawberry Charlotte yesterday all by herself (or nearly), she searched Charlotte aux fraises rapide and ended up with this Charlotte pictured above.

Thirty sponge fingers and five hundred grams of strawberries and a pot of creme fraiche and some sugar, eaten in minutes by five.

Gaby took this shot of Oliver, he won't know I put it on the blog as he never looks....he has had a couple of busy weeks with entrance exams  and so far so good, he has passed them all, just got the orals to contend with and he's future will be mapped out, at least for the next five years.

Monet's Garden...and the children loved it

What started out as a bad day, you know the sort,  a pre-teenager who stamped her feet and moaned and groaned about going to a "stupid" garden, a ten year old who'd rather read Harry Potter 5 and also tried the silent treatment to get his own way. And there was Marie-Kate, well she wanted to go and along with her positive attitude we managed to get the other two in the car.

One hour later (30 minutes drive and 30 minute queue) here they are, and look Gaby is smiling. Ok Alexis looks grumpy, but Alexis is a very serious boy so this look is typical for him.

The garden was spectacular and the children found many plants that they loved.

 We never visited the house, we live fairly close and will be visited again for sure this September. 

I just love this bamboo fence and the plants too, not sure what plant it is though...

There were lots of people, but the atmosphere was calm, no pushing like at Versailles, just no stress.  The village was pretty too, there were lots of places to eat and not all were the tourist trap cafés you tend to get in popular places (like in the south of France in Moustiers Sainte Marie for example)  There was even a place to buy plants and once again, really good value.  Oh yes, and the ice-creams were yummy, especially the melon flavour.

Gaby even bought a plant, not such a stupid garden after all.

Ugly Wall...still ugly for now

We have a horrible concrete wall that separates our garden from that of our next door neighbours Edith and René.  Paint has been flaking off it, along with bits of wall, exposing the metal rods that hold the whole thing together.
Something had to be done.  Two choices, knock the whole awful thing down or repair it!  We decided to do the latter, mainly because we didn't want to worry E & R who are old (the wall is ours) and it would have been a big upheaval for them as they have many plants growing at the foot of the wall and a few climbing roses attached too, they were probably planted about thirty years ago and well, it's the only bit of garden they use and it's pretty, so guess what? I've been working on repairing it.

 Pretty horrid, yes I know.  All the grey bits are where I've already filled in holes or covered over bare concrete.  To the far left hand side where you can see even more cement and a bit of red, this was originally open and led to our house's stables, where the neighbours live now...in fact the our horrible wall wasn't there once upon a time.

 This bit of wall stuck out like a sore thumb, brick breeze blocks!  So I'm screeding over them and when finished I'll paint it the same colour as the other wall.

Just above the breeze brick wall there's a lovely old brick wall, I love this bit.

Busy Time...One tree less

I've been meaning to blog for ages, but just never managed to find enough time.
Alain has been and still is very busy at work. Last week he was in Holland and this week Oslo.
I went to see my mum for a couple of days just over a week ago, she's getting stronger and back to a usual self.

While I was away, Alain cut Mr H's favourite tree down (hope he doesn't come to see his old garden some day soon)

Photo taken during an hail storm

The tree in question wasn't supposed to grow so big and was rare for this to happen, so Mr H told us when we bought the house.  It suffered in the 1999 storm and had to be lifted and held in place ever since.   I didn't like it, mainly because of the endless falling red berries and leaves and not to mention the bird poo (yes we had our table under here because it was the old flat part of the garden which was also near the house.  Luckily for me, Alain didn't care for the tree either and this is what the area looked like after being cut.

Boring and empty yes, but flat and perfect for our new wooden patio, which incidentally is almost finished and I don't regret cutting the tree down one bit (photos to come later this week).

Daisy Chains

There's a big difference between the garden we had in the south of France for eight years and this one here, here we have grass, in Sanary we had Olive trees and mimosa's. Grass does grow in the south but you have to water it, something I was unprepared to do.

I like having a lawn and even though I have to charge our lawnmower's battery three times to actually finish  cutting it! However, Marie-Kate doesn't want me to cut the grass because there's thousands of daisies and primroses flowering all over it (fine by me).

Yesterday afternoon, the sun shone and for a 14th of March the temperature rose to a lovely 20°c.  While I started to mark out new flower beds, Marie-Kate planted some more Primroses (bought from plant sale at school to raise funds for schools trips, equipment et cetera) and made herself a daisy chain.  We like no school Wednesday's, especially when we can get outside.

Today is going to be even warmer, I'm going back outside, lots to do. And this afternoon Alexis has invited J for play and he wants me to buy ice cream and lemonade...sounds like he's going to be making some ice-cream sodas....cool.

Annual Turn Off Week Blog challenge...How it went here

Kapla Tower

What a great turn off week we had, ok, we were lucky, as we went to London from Thursday onwards, so that helped us turn off ...

Tower Bridge in sight!

Marie Kate, who celebrated her 5th birthday the 22nd did really well, never watched television nor did she play on the Wii. She played heaps outside, and she helped tidy up our garden ( note: she hasn't watched tv since coming back Monday lunch-time..yippee) I'd give her a straight A.

Marie-Kate opening some presents

Alexis watched a little tv in London, but it was in English and we need as much English input as possible, in really enjoyed "Horrible Histories". He probably watched in all, abot 1 hour over the whole week of tv. Before leaving for London he helped more in the kitchen, read more and had more imaginative fun. Alexis has started to read books all on his own which is a great leap forward.
Shelling peas, this is more fun than the TV!

Gabrielle watched the same amount of tv as Alexis and thats all... no wii, no dvd's. Gaby drew a lot and read A Picture of Dorian Gray and a couple of J. Wilson's books (her favourite author).

I didn't do as well as them, I didn't manage to keep to 15 minutes per day of internet, but for a good reason, I had to surf a little to organise our visit to London. I probably used the computer 1 hour per day from Monday till Wednesday. No tv, no videos. I have started to prepare our vegatable garden and I read lots of books with the children. The children have helped me cook a lot more.

A glimpse of a bit of our garden from kitchen window


Alain hasn't used the computer (work not included) and he watched on program on the tv (45 minutes). Bravo Alain. He used to be quite a tv add

Unfortunately our teenagers sucummed to temptation, Oliver couldn't stop playing with his toys (psp, ipod) and the tv, too! He deserves the worse mark of the class. he did play chess once and beat me, argghhh..

Charlotte, watched less tv, but listened to lots of music and hung out with her friends ( which is great).

Charlotte peddling hard at the Sciene Museum

It's Thursday, today, and the children and their friends have been playing outside most of the day, the weather's glorious at long last.

I'm really happy to have participated in this years Annual Turn Off Week and I think we are ready to give up the tv completely.

Unplugged Project: Words

The children aren't usually short of words, but they are this week. The weather is unpredictable which elicits their hot tempers and irritability.... We're counting down the days until school breaks up for two weeks. Tomorrow is Wednesday, hence no school, so just 5 days to go ( Easter Monday, no school and no work).

Gabrielle decided like Alexis to do an Easter themed unplugged "word" project. Gabrielle, wrote a poem around her chocolate egg. Sorry, it's written in French, if you can't read it well on the photo, she wrote:

Les oeufs de Pâques?

Les cloches les emmenent.

Mais pas qu'eux!

Des poules, des lapins et bien plus sont bien cachés dans le jardin.

Alexis made a flyer to remind everyone (hmm, no need here) that we will holding our annual Easter Egg Hunt in our garden, Sunday. He thought of some different words that make him think of Easter and wrote them around and inside his egg (I said they were short of words...) .

(Weather permitting)

Six little words that Alexis loves

I bought some pastels for the children today, it was the first time they've tried them out, their pictures smudged a bit.