30th October 2025

Chickens… yesterday I realised why Chickens cross the road, I have told my chickens if they don’t lay soon they are going in the pot!! (I would not do that, but they don’t need to know that) So obviously they cross the road to get to carrefour to buy some eggs, and put them in the nesting box before I go and check in the morning… seriously does anyone else have chickens that don’t lay? We spend a fortune buying lovely mixed grain food for them twice a month, I actually think we also feed the whole of the wild bird population in the Charente, and the said chickens have the cheek to chase them away when they fly down to have a little snack on the seeds that Ivy, Bluebell and Fern ( That’s the chickens names) have pulled out of the feed bin and left them on the floor, because they don’t like those bits.  I mean seriously they also get rich pickings from us everyday of our leftovers, mind you they also have to fight Ignatius (the cat) for those, he is as good as gold in the house never goes on the worktops or the table and doesn’t even bother when we sit and eat anything in front of the tv, but as soon as the leftovers whatever it is, bread, pasta, rice doesn’t matter, but as soon as it touches the floor of the chicken pen, he is there, and it’s fair game, having said that Ivy, Bluebell & Fern give him a good run for his money, they chase him like they do the wild birds… he sits in the tree above the coup and waits till they are not looking and then nips down and has a snack, I will post a picture of Iggy in the tree, in camouflage of course, as much as an orange cat can be camouflaged in tree! Maybe they don’t like their names and that is why they don’t lay? Maybe they are egg bound whatever that means, maybe they are flying out and laying in Mr McGregor’s vegetable patch (story for another day) and then flying back to nest in our coup at night, whatever the reason I have no idea, I have cleaned the coup, is there and “e” on the end of coupe? Or does that turn it into a type of car? I know I could google it your right, but I feel not everything should be googled, it’s good to have a debate about things and try and work the answer out, using my brain, use it or lose it they say, so here I am having a debate with an inanimate object my computer… at least I get to win every debate, or at least leave myself wondering if I am right or wrong.

Oh just before I go thought I would give an update on the book, the one for the book club we have started, so Riders is going well, the other day I thought I had about an hour left but turns out I actually have 14 hours left, my, I need to get a wiggle on, but last night insomnia my best buddy at night, paid a visit nothing unusual there, but it was a particularly long visit, I didn’t even get to sleep until 1:30 having gone to bed at 22:00 and then back visiting again it came at 4:00 so I read a fair bit last night, but as I still had a long way to go thought I would put the audio version on whilst I was sewing this morning, well that was a mistake, not the sewing part, but as you know I have my utility in the same room as my sewing machine, well today that didn’t work out so well for me, as I decided it was the day to wash the bedding, well obviously that’s a long cycle with lots of spinning involved, so every time it was spinning I had to pause Alexa ,as it was a tad noisy which happened a fair amount, and then (don’t judge me) I put the bedding in the tumble dryer, I know, I know, it could go out on the line or on the clothes airer as I have the fire on, but it didn’t it went in the tumble dryer, which made an inordinate amount of noise, ok so some would call that kalma, I call it very annoying and meant even though the washing machine had finished I still couldn’t hear Riders over the din from the tumble dryer, so this is why you all have this war and peace blog as I can’t hear the audio book over the noise, so thought I would take a break from sewing and put a few words on paper, although it’s not really paper but kind of is, kind of on the subject, Mark and I had been talking this morning (I’m going off on a tangent) whilst having our coffee about what to buy the grandchildren for Christmas, (Sorry Lily if you are reading this I know it’s only October, and I have mentioned the “C” word but with 11 grandchildren I need to start thinking about this early)  anyway we were saying that when we were young we didn’t have computer consoles, we didn’t even have computers or phones, and I think it must of been easier to buy for that generation, a colouring book, some pens, a board game, (Team Heath my daughter and her family do play a lot of board games, will tell you about some in a future blog, some great ideas for Christmas presents) or even a kite or bike or just some chalk to draw hopscotch on the pavement outside, now it is so difficult as most of them just seem to be interested in some kind of electronic device, so what on earth do you buy them? Well… Longleat festival of lights day out! They can have my time and my undivided attention (well divided between 11) to make memories as a family, that’s what I am buying them this year…

You will be pleased to know that the washing machine and the tumble dryer have now stopped and I will let you get back to your busy lives, and I will get back to sewing and listening to my audio book…

Sending smiles and positive vibes across the internet to you all…