Ceiling progress

Slow but steady
In France they tape between the boards and the boards are slightly tapered towards the edges so this is not raised. You then fill over the tape and sand it down. Much of the filling is done but it will need sanding and then filling then sanding again. So it is a big job

The chickenpox like dots are where the screw holes have been filled too.

In action in the toilet. The plasterboard in here is sound proof because the toilet is in the living/dining area. It helps a bit but won't make it actually sound proof unfortunately. But this won't be the toilet forever - hopefully!

Lamb slaughter time

That time of year has come round again when the lambs have to go off to the abattoir.
We ear tagged the parents finally at the same time. We have been meaning to do that for years, but have not had enough tags. We finally ordered,plenty this year.

We got them back from the abattoir today and had roast leg of lamb, with home grown potato and kale and sweetcorn. Delicious!

Here is mum and dad

The very small leg

Perfect size for two with enough leftovers for me to make Doug some kind of lamb stew to have one day next week

Second time AI for Bluebell

Bluebell was AIed a couple of months ago but it obviously didn't take because she was in heat again. We called the Artificial Insemination guy again and he came and confirmed she was in heat and has tried again. Fingers crossed.
Here she is with Lismore when Lismore was new. Lismore is half Highland. This time we are going for pure Jersey.

New ceiling

Not finished because it needs taping and filling, but all the plasterboard is up...

... except where some needs to go up to fill these changes in height which had to happen by the door in because of the height of the door, and above the heating to allow room for some pipes.

Tomato harvest - duck and tomato pizza

Our tomato crop this year has been not great, but much better than previous years. I think the difference was that I thinned out the leaves by pinching out all the suckers then towards the end some of the big leaves. On the ones in the potager I didn't do it as thoroughly as the ones by the house, but it is good to know that with a bit of care we can maybe avoid the dreaded blight. We are thinking of making a clear cover to go over them one year as well as it is meant to be better if they don't get rain on their leaves. 

I put oil on the base, then cheese then the sliced mushrooms rather than cooking them to mush first like I normally do. I thought we would get the flavour better - which we did. The yellow bits are quail eggs and there are olives too.

We also had duck and tomato on toast - was yummy too (there was cream cheese on the toast too which was home made)

Mushroom season

There are some at other times of the year, but most in autumn.

This one we were not sure exactly what is was, but one of the French neighbours popped in today, and they all know what is good and what is not. He identified it as one called Trémoulet in french, not sure what it is in English. Some kind of bolete (porcini)

Here it is before it was picked. We had it in risotto. Yummy!

Doug found some other bolete he recognised and we get a lot of parasol mushrooms.

This is a parasol mushroom, it is big, but the tomatoes are cherry ones, so maybe not as big as it looks. This is the under side of it. Thay are not as tasty as the bolete perhaps, but pretty nice, and safe too as there is nothing similar.

Christmas things! In September!

Lots of the shops have started having Christmas things. It is only September! All wrong. Althought I do like mince pies.