Lamb number 7!

Apache with her lamb 

The Pyrenees Contemporary Dance Residential is now over and everyone has returned home. The Show (Spectacle) was a great success with about 100 people attending and over 200 euros raised for the MJC in Oust who provided the dance space and kitchen for the whole event. Big thanks to Kate at the MJC, Taeko who cooked amazing food for us all, our teachers Anders, Joelle, Lewis and Matt and those who attended the show. Two days of cleaning up after the residential and Susie and I are exhausted - time for a sauna in St Girons!

Today we finished the pond in our symbiotic garden.

Pyrenees Contemporary Dance Residential

Its been a very hectic few weeks preparing and running the dance residential. 4 teachers, 18-20 dancers from France, England, Finland, Germany, Norway and New Zealand and 6 days of workshops culminating this evening with an evening performance which we hope will be well attended.

Tomorrow a walk up Joubac, before they catch their flights in the evening from Toulouse.

A few days ago another surprise arrival - a lamb for Nanouk!

Sheep pulling faces

Typical spring weather with sunshine and showers and the old hail and thunderstorm. The lambs are growing up quickly, though they don't like having their pictures taken!

The new field is now fenced and linked to the amphitheatre field through a cleared passage under the trees. Still have a bit of the amphitheatre field to finish fencing next week, then I can get the sheep in there to start nibbling the brambles that are starting to shoot. Put the camera trap in there last night and the new link between the fields has already been visited by our resident badgers and fox.

 new field

 the link

 the amphitheatre field

In the woods the flowers have started - violets, spurge, helibore, wood anenomes, cuckoo flowers, early purple and common orchids and bluebells.

pergola

The old pergola made from some tree branches (amazingly 5 years old already), gave up the ghost during the winter and started to disintegrate as the wood rotted. So time to make a new one. Easy to build but not so easy to re-thread though the kiwi and climbing rose that had wrapped themselves around the old structure! I made another picnic table too (the one I made last year was destined for the gite).

All in the nick of time, as winter seems to have ended after a long 5 months and temperatures are back in the high teens with a South wind too. 22 degress predicted for later in the week - bliss!