Gardening and Food

Gardening
The recent weather (temperatures close to 30 degrees during the day and warm evenings) have convinced me it's not yet time to start on winter work like scraping the paint off those bloody beams in my bedroom. So, I've been digging more holes in the road to plant bulbs and still have about another 30 of those that I brought back from England to find somewhere to plant. Should look OK next spring.

My plumbago, in a pot under the balcony, has decided to go mad this year for some reason and has spread itself outside amongst the honeysuckle growing between Jean-Marc and Flo's house and mine and is covered in bloom. At the same time, the Dublin Bay rose has decided to climb and start blooming again so that corner is looking good. My false jasmine (trachelospermum jasmoinides) in the pot on the balcony is also doing its nut and is now within four bars of completing its trip across the balcony, as well as pushing up above the grape vine to just below my bedroom window. Near-neighbour Jean said he counted three separate groups of people stopping outside my house and taking photos and wanted to know why I didn't charge them. Maybe I should put a box out for donations for the village school. The local man who refurbishes old cars as a hobby and whose sister makes scented candles has started making ceramics with phrases on them, one of which reads “Place de l'apero”. A bit twee but I think I might get one for my balcony nonetheless (in blue, if course).

The back garden needs weeding again and it will soon be time to sort out what has survived and thrived and where the gaps are. What is already clear is that the ground there is very poor and needs lots more fertilizer; job for February/March. I've decided that when the winter pansies come around, in 4-6 weeks, I'll transplant the perennials I have in two pots out front into the back and fill the pots with pansies as I did last year.

Food
French prepared meals are generally better than their English counterparts but still not as good as the real thing generally. However, I got a flammekueche from the local supermarket which Steve and I ate this evening and it was really quite good. I'd assumed it was a Flemish dish but it in fact hails from Alsace: it's sometimes referred to as a French pizza but the base is quite different, more like an English water biscuit, and the toppings focus more on ham, cheese and onions. I think it could be good as a less usual first course to a meal.

And......more fruit. The house on one side of me that is let out to all and sundry has a damson tree that is currently full of ripe fruit with no one interested in picking it. I can't just let it go to waste and yet don't want to contemplate yet more jam. I think I may pick it (I know the owner well enough to do that) and freeze it while I decide what to do with it. Maybe a fruit tart or two......