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Gascony Diary
Mar 05
The last few days
have seen the long awaited rain. At last, after
a dry Autumn, so dry that Jean-Claude decided
not to bother bringing his cows onto our fields
for lack of grass, we are seeing some beautiful
Spring rain. The countryside is a richer green
than you could imagine given our position so far
south, and the wildflowers are all in full
bloom. The roadside ditches and fields are full
with dandelion and lady's smock and the
woodlands with lungwort and celandine. The wild
cherries and hawthorn are losing their blossom
as they come into leaf and the local garden
centres are hurriedly reducing the prices of
their fruit trees and shrubs as the sun gets
stronger and people turn to planting lettuce and
courgettes in the vegetable gardens and even
geraniums in pots outside their doors.
It's an
unusual thing to relish the rain so much after
living in England where we seemed for ever to
wish for it to stop. But the sound of the rain
in the night-time, with the bedroom windows open
as the air is so warm, is curiously comforting
and apart from the patter of the large drops
hitting the water in the well beneath the window
it brings out the little bright green frogs with
suckers on their feet who, despite their fragile
and exotic appearance, can croak as long and
loud as the largest bullfrog as they call their
mates to come out and enjoy the warm wet rain
with them.
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05] [Jan
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