4...A week in September and a Japenese visitor

In a normal week, I will put my dungarees on mon morning, work each day from 8.30 to 4.00, and then take off my by now, very grubby dungarees, on fri afternoon. I have to have a good work routine as my sculptures are very time consuming and I cannot keep on top of the necessary work unless I keep to it. When I have finished in the studio, I usually spend an hour or so in the garden (it is a hectare so could really do with someone full time on it) and then I will chop or saw some wood if it is that time of the year. This week however I haven't been able to keep to my usual routine. I am coming back to get ready for the Palace Art fair tomorrow (link on the right) and I will then be in Brighton for a couple of weeks, so I haven't really been able to get down to any serious designing or making. Also, the garden is not just calling, it is yelling. The apple and pear trees are groaning under the weight of an unusually large crop, and I have to decide which to pick and store before I come back, and which can stay on the trees  for the time being. My ancient Quince tree has also had a very rare crop, and has  been in need of rescuing from the ivy that has crept up all over it, almost unnoticed. So I have spent most of the week up in the tree pulling off the stubborn Ivy and picking the Quinces. The house is now filled with their georgeous smell, and I've filled lots of jars with Contingnac, an old french dessert made with Quinces and Oranges.



The old Quince tree



Todays dinner

I  aim to eat something from the garden every day of the year. By january/febuary I am usually down to leeks and apples and if I'm lucky some squash, but this time of year I can fill a box every day.

At the beginning of the week, we had bibllical rain over here, mind you we often do. My french friends often remark on how much they have heard that it rains in England....but it rains much more over here!  Monday morning after a day and a night of heavy rain, the sun came out full strength and everything in the garden was steaming and sparkling, it was lovely. I suddenly noticed that the garden was full of cobwebs too. The hedges were draped in them and everywhere you looked spiders were busy spinning more.

Busy spiders

I belong to a website called Warmshowers.org. This is a place where you can ask for or offer accomodation if you are cycling around. This week I got a request from a Japenese man called Hayashi who wanted to stay for a night on his way through. Chatting with him at dinner, I asked where he had been and he said that he had started off in Alaska, been all through North and South America, up through Europe, and he had just come from Dover after cycling from Edinburgh. I asked him how long he had been on the road, and he told me three years so far!

Hayashi and his heavy bike

He is now working his way down through France, across Spain to Morroco, and then all the way down Africa. It should take him another two years. I think he is escaping from his job as a computer programmer in Japan. On the back of his bike he had a present for his cat which he is going to post back to Japan from Paris. Anyway, I sent him off after a large bowl of porridge for breakfast to get him to Rouen.

Bon Voyage Hayashi!

So, not a very typical week.....although I'm not sure these days what a typical week is.