18th August 2026....walking up the mountain

Nice to be able to walk up the mountain in a comfortable temperature.

The boys think so too..

15th August 2026....RAIN !

The day started with mist/smoke obscuring the view.

Around 3 in the afternoon the heavens open... complete with large hailstones!

We managed to collect 3000 litres of water, and the plants all got a good watering 😁 

Last rain of any consequence was May 10th.

13th August 2026...Olives and Butterflies

Well.....with all this heat, the olives are doing very well, both trees are loaded!

A frittilary butterfly on small flowers on the budleja bush.

10th August 2026..... plastering

Sun rise... another hot day ahead 🥵

Bérengèr comes to do some more garden wall...

Just the interior of the walkway walls to do now.

At 7h he arrives and at 10h there is a shower of rain 🎉🎉🎉 unfortunately not enough to put more than 300 litres in the reservoir.....but at least no watering tonight 👍🏻 

Garden side

Walkway side 

Must strip those gates !!!

8th August 2026...dying ash trees

7th August 2026.... llama?

A new resident in the lower village....

1st-6th August 2026....Hot, Hot heat damage

Monthly pic.

Our lovely, and now dying lavender.

Temperatures soaring from 35 to 39 ish often....and a few "storms" yielded 350 litres...(one nights watering)...which we are doing every other night.

Last good rain 10th May! 😱😱

Many berries and fruits are way ahead , these are sloes... usually turning blue in September?

30th July 2026.....A trompe d'oeil and moon...

We had to go to Béziers for an opthalmologist RDV. Of course we fitted in an Indian meal at Taj Mahal.

Then walking back to the car, we found a "trompe d'oeil" which we hadn't seen before....

Not a single thing on this wall is real...its a blank wall.

The moon was a strange sight tonight.

Probably smoke?

28th July 2026...our desert.

Words fail me... everything is dying even some well established trees in the forest!

🥺

Veg garden 

Half round garden 

Orange begonia 

Rock rose

All the rainwater we have left 😭

Along the back wall

27th July 2026...Better day

Smoke seems to have thinned out...but can still be seen far away.

26th July 2026....More smoke

Today we are being told the smoke is from the Bordeaux area 350km away!

The fires in France are out of control , thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes and millions of animals, large and small have been burned alive 😭😭😭

We just have the smell and taste of smoke.....

Meanwhile.. Charlie is not bothered one bit...😁

25th July 2025.....Smell of smoke

Strange day today, seems overcast, but we can smell smoke....our mairie sent out email to say it was drifting our way from Mazamet !

Not to worry!

22nd July 2026... The Almuth lamp.

The lampshade that came with "The Almuth lamp" was a bit stark, and as Laeticia had covered the stand in string, I thought I would copy that....

So Before 

and After

Completely finished, and a lovely reminder of Almuth.

For those who I haven't told, Almuth gave this piece of chestnut wood to an electrician friend who turn it into a lamp, which I saw on a visit to a local restaurant and bought it.