Bamboo , the bad boy and the poor Baron du Breuil.............

As we speak I am feeling pretty guilty! I had a phone call last week from a friend Tom who lives in the UK who mentioned he would be coming over soon to blitz his garden.  He wanted to try and thin out the huge bamboo plants that have grown at his holiday home here for many years.

That was music to my ears as I have always admired those huge wonderful 14 foot high shimmering plants and I know that they are hardy enough to withstand the wind lashing across the marsh here in the Winter.  I had read that they will even survive in Alaska so the Normandie marsh should be simple!

Tom said he was more than happy for me to take away as much as I wanted.  I really haven`t been so excited since I was 12 years old and got on the boy scouts coach by mistake at the girl scouts outing!


We arrived at Toms cottage and there was no reply at the door. We shouted but no reply again and found our way to the garden where we found him slumped on the lawn as white as a ghost with his hand bleeding profusely.

We gathered him up and took him inside the cottage to dress his hand and he explained that he had managed to cut some bamboo short leaving just the strong shards at the bottom and as the roots were so strong he had hacked down into the soil with his pick axe. His hand had slipped and two shards had pierced his palm and the back of his fingers at the same time.


We soon realised that a little home first aid wasn`t going to be enough so we wrapped his hand and then spent a long few hours at the local hospital whilst he was stitched and tidied.

I did however come home with my bamboo which is now all happily planted and Tom went back to the UK all bandaged up!!

The next problem is Charles Le Baron du Breuil. We are so remote here that he has never seen another cat and he thinks he is a dog. But a few weeks ago we saw a huge fluffy black stray cat in the garden late at night. It ran away as soon as it saw us and we haven`t seen it since. But ever since then Charles has started to rub his face frantically on the stone of the house and all around the garden. So much so that the skin in front of both his ears is becoming red raw.

 Any suggestions? A crash helmet?

Finally at the local market this morning the madame that sells the fresh veg was delighted to try out her new English words on us.

 As I handed over my euros she said " Thank you good girl" and as we made our way through the crowds she shouted after Mark at the top of her voice "Goodbye bad boy! ". Bad boy? That makes me giggle and you know I am going to use that at every opportunity!!

Its been a long, long Winter here and I am so glad the brocantes are coming back now. Frou Frou has gone into cup cake making overdrive......what is she on? Every day she is baking like a lunatic. Mostly pink icing and decorated to the hilt. Save us! No more please!!!

A demain mes belles
xx