no kitten pictures

I escaped the crazy life of the mountains earlier on in the week and have spent a couple of fun packed days with Vanessa and Lisa again.  Yves, a friend of Nellie’s offered me a lift to St Gaudens when he left the village on Monday, which was nearly to where I needed to be.  A short hitch and a phone call and I was collected from the centre of town.

There was much excitement when I arrived as there is a new addition to the household, a small black kitten that apparently escaped from a recently collapsed barn and took refuge with them.  Very timid and quite lost, but demanding for food and attention in a scared yet persistent sort of way.  Already named, ‘Brian’ is just about touchable and I think will soon be in complete control of everyone else on the property.  She sleeps on the seat on an ancient tractor in the open barn and mews incessantly when hungry, supposedly a farm cat for mice and snakes, she gets a rich and varied diet from the kitchen.

During my last visit, we had picked up the details of a local garden that is open to the public by appointment so we decided to give it a viewing.  Quite excellent and not that old.  It was amazing to see how mature some of the plantings have become in just 19 years.  I was trying to imagine how big things would have looked back in England and reckon that they are a good third larger here.  It was a rambling place with a variety of themed areas including a bamboo collection, medieval gardens, large potager and plenty of art, sculpture and pottery dotted through the gardens.  Some good ideas for the future for all of us and a great place to spend an afternoon.  Shame I have no idea of the name, else I would leave a link or further details.  We stopped for a drink in Aurignac and caught the sunset from  the old tower at the top of the village, I remembered being there last year for a concert, Rock and Roll covers with very french accents. Had a quiet meal back at the farmhouse and ended the day with a “treat” of some english TV.