What great weather

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Hello all - I have been back in Amberac, with Sandy and Roger, for 2 weeks now, since the end of my house sitting. The weather here has been fantastic - reaching 40 degrees in the sun yesterday. In fact, it was so hot that i had my first swim in Rogers pool, as the temp of the water was 24 degrees. You will probably have sussed that out by the lead photo!! It was lovely and refreshing, after a hard morning toiling in the fields! Roger filled it for the first time on May 1st, after tiling it whilst I was in Toulouse.

So I have been working for my keep again. Plenty of gardening last week, with mowing the orchard, weeding, hedge trimming, and general garden upkeep, which seems a never ending job. The orchard was pretty overgrown and well in need of some attention.

This week I have demolished a pigsty, and then carted the debris down to the river, to shore up the bank to help protect against potential flooding later on in the year. I have also removed and repositioned a staircase in one of the outbuildings, and today I dismantled and rebuilt a triple wradrobe, moving it from one outbuilding to another. So i have been busy. And very hot. If you could measure weight loss in terms of sweat then i would probably only weigh about 10 stone right now. But apparently you cant, so i still weigh 17 stone!!

Yesterday i was attacked by a killer grasshopper - see pics. It was a close thing, but thanks to the quick thinking of Sandy (after taking photos first) I was saved, after she beat it off with a big stick.

We have also had regular visits from a Hoopooe bird which is incredibly striking in its appearance. It could have come straight out of the Amazon. Sadly it is very shy and i have been unable to get close enough for a good photo, so i have attached a pic from google instead.

Two more weeks and I will be heading to Pau for the next house sitting gig. I am sitting the same house for the whole of June, and Allie will be joining me for nearly 3 weeks, and Jo for a couple of days. I am also hoping that Alex will make it out for a couple of days too. After that - who knows?

Au revoir

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