Noisette

Oh it's lush green here too...it should be, never been so well watered 🤣 It's frustrating though, only being able to do jobs in between showers and then only things that don't require a dry spell afterwards 🙄

Yes, it's hardly stopped raining here in Lot et Garonne since last October. Some winters/springs are like that, some winters we have quite a bit of frost and some are pussycats. We never know what we're going to get. It's a great shame for all the Associations that try to organise events as they're usually relying on the success of them to keep their heads above water. Ditto artisans and not to mention agriculteurs! A freak hailstorm a couple of Sundays ago wiped out most of the crops round here. Not too drastic for the tournesol, though, because that seed drowned soon after it was sown. What makes me really spit is that the weather in central and SE UK is often better than it is here, at least for gardening 🤐

The first blooms are soooo exciting, before blackspot, rain and burning sun take their toll 😁

Flushed with success over the kite photo, I'm just going to try my luck again, to see whether it still works........ Curiouser and curiouser.....they're only the right way up if I drag and drop.....🤔

There you go, menthe 🙂 It swoops and sways a lot better when it's streamers aren't wrapped around the pole! Amazingly, the photo loaded the right way up 😁

When they get used to the DVDs, how about a miniature version of the raptor kites used in the fields to deter pigeons? They're kites on the end of a bendy stick which swoop and sway in the breeze.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_de_glace I always understood from neighbours that it's just three days in May? Can't remember it ever happening here, though. I've always gambled on dismantling the temporary 'conservatory' in March and never had a problem until this year 🙄

I think it's the extremes that do for most plants here. There are very few that will withstand soggy soil all winter and then the heat and drought of most summers.

Now be fair, Harnser! There were at least three days in early April when we got all excited and braved the pool. The water was 20C. So there you have it....the planet's totally doomed 😁

I tried Dave's suggestion of saving a photo upside down, then posting it, but it stayed upside down 🤨 I've found an (old) explanation of why it happens on Google, but no solution yet...

Have pity....it's a bit early in the morning for looking at upside-down photos 😁 Perhaps after a coffee.....😂

Could some kind person explain why the photos I attempted to post all appear upside down? Uploaded from 'Images' on an Asus laptop running Win11....I've had problems with them uploading on their sides, elsewhere, but this is a new variant 😂 No option for whizzing them around in a drop-down menu, either....TIA

Is it me or is this the coldest, wettest spring for at least 15 years? How are your gardens doing? From what I can see of mine from the windows, the early flowers are certainly lasting longer due to the low temperatures, and the paper wasps are getting knocked back a bit, but that's it for the silver linings 😁

My chickens certainly are and I go with the flow. We base our days on sunrise and sunset 🙂

Um..could a mod 'improve' the title? 🙂

Ooooh...double bluff? 🤔

Are you declining to take part in the 'mea culpa', 'we're all doomed', ecolo hysteria, Harnser? 😁 How refreshing! I wish I had your ability to come up with trenchant counter-arguments backed up by facts. Seriously.

Pfffff....they won't be stripping off when the AMOC switches off 🤣

It's normal for here. There are days even in January when the sun shines, the temps rise, it feels like spring and then everything evens out again. What is guaranteed is that when the tulips are flowering, we have a spell of hot sunshine and the show is quickly over 😁 Don't worry, ALBF, it's going to cool down again over the weekend and next week....

Thing is.....most people who end up in their 'right place' don't then spend much (if any) time on expat forums or expat FB groups. I've yet to figure out why I do 🤣 There must be an infinitesimal part of the psyche that just can't let go..... Originally the forums were a marvellous resource for finding one's way around, avoiding pitfalls and sharing experiences with like-minded souls in the same situation. Norman (bless him) is carrying on that tradition 🙂

Yes I know what you mean, Yes I believe you, Haven't the faintest idea why and No, you're not the only one 😁 It certainly didn't come from my family as grandparents were mildly hostile and parents didn't care one way or the other. It was simply the case that from the first time we set foot in France, it was right. Luckily it still is 🙂

Yes, judging by the colouring it was a male. It had a beautiful deep red throat but couldn't capture that on a photo 🙂

Thanks, menthe. That's why it took me two weeks to get a halfway decent photo....they're soo quick!

Behave yourself! 🤣 On the birdie theme, after two weeks I finally managed to capture a colibri (hummingbird) in the gîte garden.

I found a big bumblebee on my snowdrops yesterday and the Winter honeysuckle Lonicera fragrantissima, Witch Hazel, Sarcoccoca and Hellebores are providing some flowers 🙂