Taken by Enrique.

Marie, Fiona, Sheila and George

This was our family portrait to celebrate my 60th.

Fionn is the one who has changed most.

Back Row,Aonghus,Ano,Deirdre,Eileen, Phil.
Front Caitriona, Martin (with Fionn), Síle, Colm

This morning as I was pruning the vine which shades our terrace I was serenaded by a cockrel who was obviously trying to impose, verbally, some order in his hen run, he didn’t stop.Of course being a Coq, and a native French speaker his chant was”Cocorico” rather than the English “Cock-a-doodle-doo” , I listened carefully and he gave me plenty of opportunities to, but there is no doubt that he spoke his clarion call in French.There was not the slightest trace of a Doodle-doo in his crow.

This leads me to a book I bought lately called “Tingo” written by a man who rejoices in the name; Adam Jacot de Boinod. This is a compendium of the various names we give stuff from around the world. He has a special section on what the cock says in different countries. Here are some more:

Chinese: Gou gou
Italian : Chicchirichi
Portuguese; Cocoroco

But the people from Thailand obviously have a cock with an independent turn of phrase, he goes : Ake-e-ake-ake.

Once we had chopped down our tree we discovered that our aspect was dominated by a large crane right in the middle of our view.
Yesterday morning an even taller crane came and dismantled it bit by bit.
Now for the first time ever we have a completely clear view.
Feels a bit like having a cinerama screen with us on the balcony.

Last night sipped one of these on the terrace before dinner, a sure sign that summer has arrived.

Once we had decided to go to live in France and I had sold the restaurant one of the tasks I gave myself was to work on my French language skills. As a word nerd and a chanson fan I decided to work on translating some of my favourite French songs into rhyming English. And so I did, and buried them in my blog and more or less forgot about them. Just in the last few weeks these buried translations are starting to re-emerge from the ether and I have recieved a couple of interesting communications from people who have found and enjoyed them. The most interesting email arrived this morning from a gentleman who wants to use my translation of Thomas Fersen’s Croque en Bouche (google it as “Gravedigger’s Relish”) as part of a dissertation he is giving about gravediggers in literature. “Would I mind” says he. Hell, I’m chuffed to blazes!

As I passed our sideboard this morning my eye was caught by this happy juxtaposition of colours.

Aujourd’hui.

Seville Orange Blossom, our wee tree is covered in blossom this year, but, something always seems to happen before the fruit forms.
I always hope.