Back again

The Fox has beaten me to it! It, being the announcement of our return.

While we've been away the countryside seems to have burgeoned into greenness. The trees are now well clad with leaves. And so many luscious broad-leaved deciduous trees at that, quite a contrast with the darks of the Provencal pines & the grey-green of the olives we've grown used to it.

As we turned the final corner home, it was easy to see our garden too has bloomed. The herbs have bushed out. The chives have their pinky purple pompoms on. The garlic chives their white ones. The tarragon has grown so much it took me a while to realise it was the tarragon & not just a big weed! And down low, the violas show their cheery faces. We planted them last autumn & I thought they were goners after the ice & snow of this winter, but no, they are in full bloom now. The only casualty seems to be Basil Bush, but he may just revive with some water. The soil in that bed is very dry & sandy.

As soon as possible I checked out the bog garden, now rather dry. There too everything has bushed out. The dogwood is now well leaved, some variegated, some just green. The globe flowers have bloomed, but have yet more buds. The only worry is the hydrangea. It still has few leaves. However, those leaves it does have look very healthy, & there's even the first sign of a flower-head, so maybe it's just a case of being too young to cope well with the harsh winter, & it will recover over the summer months.

We're a little worried about the length of the lawn. Al, our gardener, was supposed to be coming around to mow it while we were away. There's no sign of him having been. I just hope he's not been ill or something.

Yesterday, after finishing the unpacking & sorting out the washing, we popped out to our village pub. The Fox misses his English bitter when we go to foreign parts. His first pint is part of the ritual of coming home.

Home to dinner of oh so non-French fish fingers, sat outside in the warm sun. As we ate we were deafened by all the bird sound. The tweeting & coos drowned the sound of the lawnmower in the next door garden. Maybe it's just we're more conscious of them at the moment, as so few birds frequented the garden of the villa we stayed in. Admittedly by the time we left, (& we'd put out some bread etc for them) some were turning up regular, much to the surprise, & pleasure, of the villa owner. Our birds seem to be rejoicing in our return, welcoming us back. The more sober side of me says most of the racket is "Feed me. Feed me" from young birds still hiding in the hedges.

Yes it's good to be back.

Now we're catching up. Most of the post has been looked at. We're catching up on news. We were sorry to hear that Lin, PD's wife, had to be rushed into hospital while we were away. She ended up having an op to remove a hernia the size of a melon. She's home now, but still unable to lift anything or drive. She's itching to get back to her beloved garden. We've yet to hear how our other friends are doing.

I've just been disturbed by the arrival of Al. All's well with him. He just forgot to do us. He even came to the house, had his lunch in his vehicle, chatted to our neighbour, & then forgot to actually come in do the gardening. Still, at least, there's been nothing amiss with him.

I gather there have been changes at the Pub. New toilets have been installed. About time. They needed doing. Apart from that he has no further news to impart, though he is pleased to see the Fox has got around to planting some potatoes - he did that yesterday.

All in all, this is to say we're back. And we had a great time despite bad weather most of the first week with thunderstorms, winds & cold. But at the end of the day, it's good to be home.