Count your blessings

It’s a beautiful and sunny autumn day. Just perfect for being outdoors and being busy.

I am babysitting this week for Jean Daniel.   He is attending a one week meeting in Stuttgart for all the national parks in Europe.   He is now vice president of the Parc Naturels des Monts d’Ardeche, a very prestigious honour, but one that comes with many more responsibilities.

So I leapt at the chance to return the favour he did for us in watering the garden while I was in Australia, and generally being an attentive neighbour when storms break and the power goes out.

So I get to take charge of one elderly snooty cat (he is ignoring me this week), and one tonne of frisky young stallion, Ulysse.   Each day I am to trek up onto the terraces behind Jean Daniel’s house and see that the horse hasn’t escaped.

It’s disconcerting because as soon as the horse catches sight of you way up on the mountain he whinnies with joy and thunders down to greet you.   He skids and skitters on the steep slopes and doesn’t look like he’s going to stop in time.   I brought one apple with me to give him. But tomorrow I’m definitely going to take up a bucket.

That way he will be distracted while I pick my way carefully back down the terraces.   He’s too big a horse and way too energetic to be close to when you are trying to get out of his way.   Arab stallions, full of beans.

Once that was done I attended to a much safer job. I have checked all the strawberries in the vegetable garden and potted up the runners that seem to have grown since I last looked.

Most of the older runners are well rooted in the earth, so I was able to snip away the umblical chords that are attached to the parent plant.

And now I am summonsed up to the forest. I need to be the chain saw buddy, and start collecting sticks.   It’s time for chipping. A major autumn task.