Chenevaux annual golf and croquet day 2017

It's been rather a busy week!  

The "Barbeque Palace" in action!

First wave of guests arrive in plenty of time to help us. 
The red object on the table is a barbeque wafter - a very thoughtful gift!

Jo ( AKA Mrs Bong ) is let loose with a knife and makes a fantastic hedgehog, or is it a baby seal?

Now for the serious stuff.

The winning shot.

The croquet was hotly contested this year.

Superbly managed by the Party Ballast lady with the clipboard!

The expert

Wow, this is/was a monster melon

Francois did us proud on the barbeque again

Mark starts the speeches

No, we're not dancing!

Doughey won the special achievement award kindly donated by Bob.  And Dave won the medal for second place. 

John with the Chenevaux Golf Trophy

Nadia being presented with the Croquet trophy

which she's not allowed to keep as she lost the last one, so she is presented with a felt strawberry tart instead.

Norma pipped Martine at the post to come second in the croquet.

Did we really allow Jason, ( AKA Mr Bong , the other member of the Party Ballast team ) to do this?

And me!

And Mark!

What fun we had, all in all a Perfect Day ( with apologies to Lou Reed ).

September at Chaumont sur Loire

Chaumont sur Loire - one of our favourite destinations for a day out.  Gardens, grounds, art exhibitions, the chateau, restuarants .....

Baking hot end to May

Phew, 34C here today!  Have disregarded the saying about casting clouts before we melt!  The pool was at 26 yesterday, very pleasant.

A few years ago we received a free gift of a lemon tree from a nursery.  It took a while to get going, and we have to put it in the potting shed over the winter but here is the first harvest.

We enjoyed some bits of RHS Clelsea last week but it didn't seem as vibrant as usual.  Mainly due to the reduced number of large show gardens.  Never do understand the judging either.  Our garden is semi cultivated, semi wild and always in need of something doing, especially at this time of the year. No time for the manicured finish.  Here are a few of this week's highlights!

Eureka ( yes, really ) given to me for my birthday this year. 

A random red rose over the arch at the end of the gite path

Buddleia alternifolia - at the moment its a mini wildlife park

Benjamin Britton

Handel, macleaya cordata, A Shropshire Lad

Self-seeded nigella in the gite path

Perfect weather for a barbeque this evening!

Spring cleaning

Those of you who know Mark will think this is an unlikely choice of garment for him to be wearing! Its actually a Japanese wedding kimono for a man.  We bought it at a charity auction years ago and its beautiful but less than useful as A) Mark is already married ( to me ), B) we don't live in Japan, and C) its not very practical in rural France as daywear.

If you had seen this picture first it wouldn't have caught your attention, unless you like pictures of rubbish.  So here's the picture of the rubbish, which is where this story starts.

Can you beleeewe it ( I know, I know ), all of this came out of the storage space behind ONE of the SIX doors in this old barn, which we rather generously call " the storage sheds ", apart from the end one which is the Cafe du Coin, oh yes and Mr Owl lives upstairs. Without any exaggeration we could hardly get in through the door, and OK it was supposed to be the recycling shed but not much recycling had been going on so time for a big clear out prior to the forthcoming brocante which we and two other couples had booked a 15metre pitch for.  At least that shows we're not the only storers.

Saturday morning and its dechetterie day ( recycling depot ).  The car and trailer are both full with the real rubbish that should have been taken there in the first place.  Will we learn, probably not, you never know what might come in handy in the future.  School bag (mine, I just had my 60th birthday, don't think I will be need ing it now! ), half a plastic barrel, washing machine hoses, vacuum cleaner bags from the last century ....

 
This is the remainder, deemed at least worth a shot at selling.  And to this was added a set of chairs, golf clubs ( somehow we have acquired around 5 sets, left and right handed and a few child size ), and various items from the gite and the house that had been on the list for clearing out but hadn't made it to the recycling shed due to it being so full.

Now look.  Or is it New Look.  Floor and walls visible.  Overnight bags, wine corker and jam jars all in easy reach, chimney sweeping brushes to hand and spare loo seat parts all in one bag. Paradise is a nearly empty shed.

Finally, here we are on the Sunday morning with our trailer and car load of sellables.  It was a really fun day, with lots of people and lots of sales for lots of small change.  As you can see, the kimono is waiting for a new home but we didn't manage to sell that.

Any offers?  I think Mark's new career as a model is going to be very short.  Opera singing ....