The electronic silence
Two whole days. That was the extent of my internet and telephonic silence. And golly it was painful. It is a very salutory experience to realise that living on an isolated mountain top in rural France is really, really far from the world when you cannot have the internet.
Naturally it wasn’t just routine maintenance. It was a flood.
Yes, those of you who lived through last year’s Episode Cevenol will be surprised (as we were) to have another once in fifty year flood for the second autumn in a row.
We had a three day storm with seven inches of rain falling on Thursday night and almost two on Friday night. Add to that thunder and lightning most of the day and night you will understand that Sleep Deprived was my phrase of the day.
Plus anxiety about Artur. And will the defences hold. 
The good news on both fronts is that Artur just stayed in the potting shed hidden under layers of security blankets. And our huge culverts up in the forest worked brilliantly.
They were all flowing with rushing flood waters. As were the trenches along the sides of the roads and the drains.
A bit of the courtyard went down the road. But when you think about last year, it’s a gnat’s amount of annoyance.
All I need to do now is try and find some time to fill you in on all the days of silence. But first I’m out the door to visit Artur who is almost friends again. It took a biblical flood for him to realise that humans of the lap and head scratching variety aren’t all bad.
22nd September 2014 @ 3:33 pm
Hi Lindy,
I’ve just now got caught up on your recent posts! I enjoy reading them even more now that I know your in-person “voice.” I saw Sarah yesterday at our Oktoberfest celebration, and I couldn’t believe it when she said you experienced another flood. It instantly made my stomach clench, but then she said that all of your flood protection measures worked well. Thank goodness – really couldn’t go through all of that again!
I love having the garden map on your site. When you talked about where that wall was that you’re rebuilding I could just click on the map and see where you were working. Sweet.
I feel more inspired to plant more flowers (rather than just medicinal/herbal/peach tree supporting plants) next year. Even just a few of my favorite cosmos, cleomes and zinnias will be nice bright spots. I looked up germander, and I think it will grow here. I’ll have Dan start them from seed this winter, and we’ll plant them in the Peach Guild. I’d also like to plant some of the large, pink-flowering sedum in there too for the fall colors – plus the bees enjoy their blooms.
22nd September 2014 @ 6:46 pm
Thank you so much for your lovely comment. Yes, the stomach clenching word ‘flood’. So much rain. But our defenses held brilliantly and I won’t have to go through that six months of rebuilding and moaning again! I love the idea of the germander. I have it in my potager and the bees love it as it comes out so early. But it is a spreader. So you won’t want it near your fabulous peach. Corralled by the stones would be perfect. Another plant I love (and the bees love) is hyssop. that does well for me here. But you will be in seed catalogue heaven if you plan lots more flowers next year. Happy days. Send me updates! xxx
24th September 2014 @ 3:38 am
Yes, we reminisced over your visit, and fretted over your flood on your remote mountain in France all over a tall glass of Oktoberfest beer in a lovely backyard garden in St. Paul, making the big world smaller all the while…