OH went to park the car in our garage and returned ābearing giftsāā¦ a chocolate box full of strawberries. OK it was an empty chocolate box, but the strawberries smell delicious and weāll be eating them later today and possibly nibbling a tiny square of chocolate too (itās currently dozing in the fridge due to the heat)ā¦
They are such a lovely crowd around here and when someone has a glut (of whatever)ā¦ we all profit.
Hurrah.
A neighbour grows cherry-tomatoes in a potā¦ and when she visits family in Paris, Iām left to ālook after thingsāā¦ yummyā¦ 
At the moment Iām wondering just that actually 
I can imagine my veggie plot will be thriving when I go away for a few days oh well, itāll give others opportunity to also enjoy 
Thatās the thingā¦ sometimes itās just watering and checking-overā¦ sometimes tomatoes, salad, eggs, whatever need collectingāharvesting regularly.
It is a very good way to form good relations with neighbours. One lot are never here for their figsā¦ so I freeze some (whole) and the following summer they defrost some and eat them ājust like thatā or caramelize themā¦ either way is yummy.
When the bulk of the figs are ripening, I hand bowls of them around the villageā¦ OH has forbidden me to eat more than 6 fresh figs a dayā¦ 
We have our own strawberries too and the first mangetouts.
First guests of season arrived yesterday and (bless them) they are very relaxed about a couple of things not working - dishwasher (of course) chosen this morning to pack in and front door shutter lock needs replacing. They reassure me they are fine so I donāt have to rush into our brico which is painful on a Saturday (one till open and a queue round the store). So it can wait until Monday when Iāll go and talk to the repair/replace man about the dishwasher and right here, right now, I can breathe and relax and enjoy the fact that I have nothing that I MUST do for the first time in what feels like weeks.
We had that once , found out during a changeover. Rushed out to Leclerc or castorama (100 k round trip) and bought another, went to fit it and found that the departing guests had turned the bloody isolating tap offā¦
I wish it were that simple - smoke and smell of burning coming from ours apparently. I didnāt test it - just took their word for it.
Came back from spending 3 nights in the mountains. On our return, discovered that our neighbor (who was looking after our cat) had left us 3Kg of cherries in the house. Then went outside to look at our strawberries and picked 2.8Kg in one go. So, we were able to share the strawberries with our neighbours. They say they have a bumper crop this year and will probably have more for us once they have made as much jam as they can and preserved lots in jars. Cherry wine is lovely !
And finally the courgettes are kicking off 
plus just had to share the rose as itās a beauty!
Exciting as the first flower is, itās often better to remove the first couple to focus the plant on really getting established and get its roots down. It will pay off later as it will flourish better in hot conditions.
I would also mound the earth a bit so its sits in a sort of 50-75cm basin. That way you can water it copiously, but less often. Again better for root development and drought tolerance. .
Thanks for the input - always appreciated learning something new everyday
And you can eat them 
I agree totally best not water to much to encourage root groth for stronger plant, first flowers are usually males so no real use for the plant.
This week 30 years ago (1992) we took a ferry to France for a 3 day property search having been told renovation projects were ācheap as chipsā. We looked at 5 properties and on the 3rd day signed a compromis to buy a farmhouse and outbuidings on 5000m2 land for 20k.
Our budget was 10k but the agent assured us that getting a french mortgage would be easy. He was right as by August we were the proud owners of what was to become a 6 bedroom stone built farmhouse in rural Suisse Normande and the start of our French adventure.
Much the same here, same time too, but not such a large property or price. Our budget was whatever credit we had on Access (Lloydās Bank card) and we signed up for Ā£7,000, with the deposit paid after a visit to the hole in the wall.
A much visited holiday home for 6 years we moved permanently and extended to twice the size for Ā£20,000 in '99, this time financed by the immediate sale of our flat in Nottingham and my voluntary redundancy payment. Only ever had one mortgage in my life, when we bought the flat off the council with a 100% advance from Halifax. 
Some interesting antics by the pond in the last couple of days. Normally the air temp is around 4 degrees above the water, around 18 to 22c, but in the last 2 days including this morning the air temp is down to 15c while the pond temp taken shortly afterwards is 17 or 18c. I can only suppose that the water takes longer to cool down overnight if there is no drastic drop in general temperature. Nice for swimming though, either way.
Todayās 3 lots of cheerful news:
The house smells wonderfully of oranges. The 3rd Orange Cake in as many weeks is now āon the goā (by special request of the locals).
There are 25 Grantham Gingerbreads cooling on the rackā¦ (there were 26 but OH had to test one 
)
and I successfully wheeled a very, very old wheelbarrow from one end of the village to the other, without it falling apart. (itās a gift from a friend who canāt believe I love itā¦)
The neighbours are now arguing amongst themselves whether OH should paint it blue (traces of which are vaguely visible) or leave it ādans son jusā.
Just been for a walk and seen my first juvenile golden eagle. We usually see a few adults around every year, but this is the first juvenile.
