Monday 30th March
The weekend was chaotic; Mrs Druid reckoned she could sneak her sheep onto the new grazing without my noticing - Saturday morning I arrived back from shopping to discover the house surrounded by a bleating herd of the woolly bastards. Mrs Druid relies on her blind and nervous old dog to help her control the sheep which is a touching but losing battle. In the midst of all this a carload of house guests pulled in to the drive behind me. The electric fence didn’t work very well and during the course of the weekend there were many escaped sheep alerts.
On Saturday evening we turned the main room into a grand banqueting hall for The Director's birthday party, I planted lots of big candles round the room in mounds of clay (we spent quite a long time trying to make them not look like dog turds but had to give that up as it was too time-consuming) the overall effect struck me as quite gothic.
Obviously there was loads of food but I’m beyond going into all that, I will say that if you had some raspberries and cream but had run out of time to do anything fancy, especially if a large man had just sat on the bag of macaroons, the day can be saved - just with whip the cream, mix in the raspberries and the bits of macaroons - it’s terrific.
Over the weekend our guests got fed up with rounding up sheep and went off on a walk. Somewhere along the way someone tripped over an ants nest – a great big one right on a path in the wood (easy camera access - hurrah!). This is great because it makes our captive ant catastrophe less of a catastrophe.
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You may as well have invited Mrs Druid and her sheep to the party rather than worrying what they were doing behind your back. Does she have any rams?
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised that Mrs Druid's dog is blind and nervous with her as an owner.
ReplyDeleteThe French countryside is clearly a dangerous place, for sheep, people, ants and macaroons. I'm surprised to hear from you at all, what will all that peril.
Reminds me of a good movie I once saw,starring Jane Fonda, "They Shoot Sheep, Don't They?"
ReplyDeleteAny chance you could tie LEDs onto the sheep? No?
ReplyDeleteHow about the ants?
Well, the local ants are a pleasant surprise! I hope they aren't to quirky or difficult for the job at hand.
ReplyDeletePS: Happy (belated) Birthday to The Director!
gorilla - Mrs D doesn't have a ram - the ladies have to go out to tup
ReplyDeleteMme D - very perilous indeed round here - if you only knew the lengths I go to getting my dispatches out you'd faint
Bill - I might consider sheep shooting - mmmm mint sauce.
Kelly - Would the LEDS be to brighten up the field?
Haven't had a chance to put the new ants through their paces et.
xl - bit worried that these French ants won't take direction.
I'll pass your birthday wishes on - thank you
*Mrs Druid relies on her blind and nervous old dog to help her control the sheep *
ReplyDeleteoh dear, I wish I didn't have the thought of this poor dog in my mind now - can't someone get her to retire the dog - it must be terrible for him. Don't get me started on the way that so many dogs our here seem to be so mistreated - it is one thing that makes me want to head back home.
hurrah for new ants.
I'll have you know that I employ a very nice man just to sit on my macaroons... he's a bit of a whizz with the custard creams as well...
ReplyDeleteSx
A close by supply of ants in the wild...how serendipidous.
ReplyDeleteI think you may have hit on the explanation for the pudding "Eton Mess". Obviously someone sat on the meringues.
ReplyDeleteFrenchie - I get angry with a lot of animal owners. To be honest Mrs D's dog just slinks off and finds a barn to sleep in, it's not a case of cruelty so much as she should just leave her at home.
ReplyDeletehe's a bit of a whizz with the custard creams as well...
ReplyDeleteScarlet - He sounds like a jammy dodger, what does he do with your cream puffs?
bb - to find such a lrage species is amazing, there are loads of ants around but they are all very small and impossible to film. These Wood Ants make a lovely big mound of pine needles so their activities are much easier to film.
Autolycus - Naughty schoolboys sitting on the meringues - I'm sure that was it, I'm wondering what to call the raspberry version.
Have you tried speaking to the ants in French?
ReplyDeleteOh Hai XL!
(not willing to let it drop)
ReplyDeleteBut don't the sheep bump into the dog and doesn't it fall over stones and things? How could anyone send a blind dog out like that?
(I must tell you that there are certain journeys we do out here where we take a route twice as long as necessary just so I don't have to see a poor chained up cocker spaniel.)
Crikey, I haven't had a cream puff in ages... sob...
ReplyDeleteSx
MJ - I speak to the ants in Gaellic as I've heard it's the only language they understand
ReplyDeleteFrenchie - The sheep do have a laugh at Mrs D but the dog just gets out of the way - really don't worry
Scarls - you might not be missing as much as you think - nostalgia is a lying devil
i am sorry to say that some men sit on bags of macaroons for their own pleasure. It is a niche interest, and probably catered for on some vile site. In Waitrose, pre-squashed macaroons are available from the cake counter. They also stock Durex Silky Menthol Lube. I learnt this tonight on Channel Four.
ReplyDeletei just wanted to say THANK YOU.
ReplyDeletei always learn so much when i visit.
first it was about insects
and now it is things like menthol flavoured lube (i'm certain that information will come in handy sometime) and the whole gamut of human behavior.
I do love coming over here Lulu- I never fail to be amused and amazed! And inspired - that raspberry macaroon crush sounds delicious.
ReplyDeleteHurrah! And the thing about ants is that you wait for ages for one and then 3000 of them turn up all at once.
ReplyDeletethe macaroon pudding sounds very like a take on eton mess, but I think that is with strawbs and meringues. Anyway- sounds fab and will try
ReplyDeleteMrs Pouncer - some men sit on bags of macaroons for their own pleasure
ReplyDeleteYou have prior experience of this?
Thanks for the lube tip
TP - glad to be of service, obviously the value of contributors like Mme Pouncer is beyond price.
Daisy - Raspberry Macaroon Crush that's the title, now to write the cookery book ...
Gadj - Ants, who'd guess they would cause so much angst? We've been back to this lot and they are perfect
Lakeland Jo - The raspberry thing is a take on Eton Mess and is extra delicious if served with raspberry sorbet