Showers, visitors and chutney

St Géraud

We are having a wonderful Indian summer. 26 degrees and a lovely warm southerly breeze. The trees and hedgerows get more colourful day by day and every excursion out is 'worth a wow' (family joke).

And what have we been up to in the last week or so? Well, the fig crop has been marvellous again this year and was supplemented by some friends crop (they don't like figs at all and end up with sacks of them), so the freezer has a plentiful supply and the other day I made 14 jars of chutney with the others - plus a few desserts of baked or stewed figs.

Jon had to remove the shower to repair the leaks, and has since relayed the floor and is currently revarnishing it.

We are currently enjoying the company of friends who have suffered a damp, cool summer in northern England and are delighted to find sunshine here so late in the year. They have been enthusiastic about the area, views, countryside, quiet, sun, wine, wine, cheese and wine, and we are delighted that they are so excited about everything. Our visitors do make us take another look at life here and, although every day we love the life we are living and the area we are living in sometimes, when we might just be starting to take it all for granted, along comes a new visitor to stir up our own enthusiasm and it is just like seeing the whole area through new eyes again.