Another lovely day in Paradise

How do I get to be so lucky? After a few murky looking days, today looks like being a stunner. Although there is an early morning nip in the air it is just wonderful being in the vineyards with the dogs at 6.30am. I have the best of starts to the day. I bundle the dogs silently into the van then drive a few hundred metres into the village. A quick nip into the baker's and the grocer's sees me with a basket laden with melons, apricots and pears, two baguettes, a pain de seigle, two noix de pecan, an almond croissant and five butter croissants for the guests' breakfast.

Back into the van and a 500m drive into the vineyards on top of a hill where I park under a huge old fig tree. A vineyard worker's van is already there - they start work early here. I put luminous collars on the dogs (so I can see them more easily in the vines) and let them out to run. I haul my bike from the van, pump up the tyres for the umpteenth time this week and head off for a twenty minute pedal through the vines. I have a 360 degree view and this morning it was so clear I could see the Pyrenees which are a good two hour drive from here. For once the dogs were perfectly behaved - Flynn the husky didn't go walkabout. Dogs back in the van, a quick drive home and then to lay out the breakfast and wait for guests to lift their refreshed heads from dented pillows. Lucky me eh?

Blue Damson & Armagnac Jam Day

Well of course I hadn't used up the plums (which I now realise are damsons) but I had run out of jam jars. This morning I took a quick trip into Pezenas for Le Parfait jars. As is often the case, everyone wants to know what you are going to do when you buy 18 bottling jars, so when I said I was making jam I had an uninvited, but welcome, lesson in bottling from a random french woman in the shop, then I was on my way again. Even as I left the store someone wished me bonne confiture. This afternoon's batch seemed to go pretty well again. The guests were complimentary about yesterday's efforts, pronouncing it excellent with this morning's pain de seigle - rye bread.

And plum jam too

Yesterday I picked half the plums from the trees in the top garden. I guess there are about 12 kilos on the two young trees that we've been trying to revive for the past three years. Now this is a slight problem, since here in France at this time of year there is always a jam-sugar crisis. Hence Ali coming back from Champion-the-wonder-store this morning beaming because she'd managed to get the last 5 kilos in the shop. Now we have to find a source for the rest. I think I'll leave the remaining plums on the tree until we've found more sugar.

Nice plums though.



And the result - 16 perfect jars of tart plummy jam - unless it sets like glue as the strawberry jam did earlier in the year.

Here's what's cooking

Veg from the garden, which becomes lovely ratatouille like this......

Le Couvent harvest

Today we picked kilos of tomatoes, aubergines, courgettes, plums and blackberries. Tomorrow we'll make jam and ratatouille. The latter for the freezer and winter and the plums for jam for the guests' breakfasts. Three eggs from our hens today. One hen is broody and the others just can't be bothered.

It rained this evening for the first time in three months - lovely for us but rotten for the tourists and wine-makers. Our friend Hans who makes wonderful wines at Domaine Bourdic says any rain now will be too late and could just burst all the grapes - which would be a disaster for them and the region. Let's hope not.