A WARM sunny afternoon and from deep within the trees the sound of the Golden Oriole can be heard.
Although not rare, they are quite secretive and often stay high in the treetops with the male’s yellow plumage blending in to the dappled sunlight.
You can hear the call of the Golden Oriole at around three seconds, then at 9, 15 and 23 seconds.
ON a warm summer’s evening the church at Besse, in the Dordogne, welcomed the choir from the neighbouring village of Villefrance du Perigord.
Besse is nestled away in the oak and chestnut woods of the area, and as the sun began to slowly set it drew a quiet, reverential audience into the church.
Walking up the stone steps to the church takes you through an archway topped with a cross, whilst around the doorway are a collection of stone carvings probably dating from the 11th century.
The archway depicts scenes of the Redemption, with Adam and Eve, St Michael slaying the dragon, and if you look to the right of the archway two small mushrooms.
These have nothing to do with the Redemption but are believed to be the stone carver’s signature, signifying the workman’s connection to the forests of the area.
Inside and as the choir of Villefrance du Perigord progressed through its programme of music, from classical pieces to favourites from popular French films, their voices rolled around the strong stone walls.
The deep history of the church in Besse resonating with the sweeping highs and lows of the choir.
WHEN writer Susie Kelly took to the road with her husband and two dogs for a tour around France, she met many a character and experienced a book-full of adventures.
Here in an extract from Travels with Tinkerbelle – 6,000 miles around France in a Mechanical Wreck we take a trip into the mountains.
An Alpine Interlude, by Susie Kelly
Seven foot high snowdrifts line the side of the road at La Casse Déserte, where baby trees and clumps of tiny purple flowers grow among sweeps of fallen shale.
Russet-coated goats graze the meagre vegetation among the snow patches, and the barren rocks flush a soft golden beige, almost apricot, in the afternoon sunlight.
IF you are stuck in the office, or just want a quick escape route to the French countryside, here is a pick of photos from around Loubejac, at the southern tip of the Dordogne.
Wooded hillsides, wild strawberries and lines of poppies have been on show over the past few weeks, so whilst out and about I try to capture some of these scenes.
To click through the images at a higher resolution they are gathered together on Flickr under Loubejac Scenes.
IF you need to end an internet contract or maybe write a letter of complaint about a service, then more than 100 letter templates are available on the Institut national de la consommation website.
The letters will help you resolve disputes and are grouped by topics such as insurance, banking, internet and money, they are free to use and come in plain text so you can copy and paste it directly into a new document.
You can narrow your search down via a simple pull down list at the top of the page, and you may need your dictionary to hand to work out a few phrases, but with a little work you can soon work things out if your French language skills are stretched.
Then for letters on your chosen subject, slide the page a little further down and you will see Format and then an option to choose Lettres Type, click this and a list of letter templates will let you click on an individual one and work from there.
The letters are written in formal French respecting the ‘vous’ format, so that your complaint is clearly explained in a polite and respectful manner, with the closing paragraph also ensuring your letter comes to an end in the correct manner.
Each letter provides an explanation of how it can be used, then you need to update name and date fields and it is usually wise to send correspondence by registered post, or lettre recommandée.
DIFFERENT points of view and experiences are the stuff of travel books, but for nature lover, Daniel Start, his collection of remote swimming places found in France offers a frog’s eye view of the country.
Daniel has written, Wild Swimming in France, that takes you darting through the waterways on a river watch like a wild pike, recording every flickering reflection and sun bathed pool.
The result offers up a complete guide to France’s remote watering places, perfect for an alternative leisure day out.
A natural sciences graduate and government science advisor, during his time off Daniel whirled around France for twenty six weeks dipping in to ten or fifteen water points daily, such is his love of swimming outdoors.
By amassing this knowledge Daniel is encouraging thousands to breathe, dive, put their head underwater and look about at the beauty of the watery environment.
SUCH joy the sounds of summer bring. The strident, strangulated squeal of the strimmer; a guttural grumble from the sit-on mower; the gentle swish of the scythe.
All right, so you don’t hear much scythe work going on these days but after spending a couple of hours chomping through the grass it is something that I’d like to learn more about.
It started when I spotted a red handled scythe hanging up in the back of the barn, and after quickly realising it was blunt, I spent five minutes or so sharpening the blade.
But I quickly learnt that it is not just a simple task of swinging the scythe from side-to-side, and so it was on to the web to find out more.
I quickly stumbled upon The Scythe Shop website, based in the UK, who not only supply various bits of kit, but also offer an online resource I quickly devoured.
For starters I was trying to scythe the grass around the house at the wrong time of day, it has to be early morning, and I also realised that the blade I had was for slicing through weeds, brambles and nettles.
If I really wanted to gain control over the grass then I had to master the Austrian scythe and its delicate make up.
Austrian scythes feature thinner, sharper blades that are extremely effective on grasses and meadows, but they quickly blunt against stones and woody branches so you have to be careful about the route you take.
Then there is the craft of peening, which involves the tapping out of the blade after repeated sharpening, because as you sharpen you get closer to the thicker part of the blade and so you eventually end up with a rounded, bull-nosed edge.
Peening is followed by honing, which involves boat-shaped stones of various grades that allow you to sharpen your blade either in the workshop, or when out in the field.
So there is much to learn, but when I think about the grumbling neighbour with his head under the bonnet of his mower trying to work out why it’s not working, I think I’d rather master the scythe over the carburettor.
And it will be pretty hard to beat the feeling of watching a deer slowly cross a nearby field as you brush the wet grass off your scythe in time for the day to start.
EXPLORE different corners of Paris through the work of selected writers who show there is more to the city than the regular tourist traps.
The recently published Best Paris Stories is available as a Kindle book and brings together the winning short stories of the 2011 Paris Short Story Contest.
The book features works by Jeannine Alter, Bob Levy, Lisa Burkitt, Nafkote Tamirat, Marie Houzelle, Jo Nguyen, Julia Mary Lichtblau, Mary Byrne, Marie Houzelle, Jane M. Handel, and Jim Archibald.
Below is a short story from the Best Paris Stories anthology entitled A Pinch of Tarragon. It was written by Lisa Burkitt, whose novel The Memory of Scent was published this month.
A Pinch of Tarragon, by Lisa Burkitt
SHE WATCHED AS George patted his moustache with a napkin, lifted his hat from the wall and heaved his way around the other customers, his large girth pressing against the backs of many of the chairs. She knew he was trying to hold his breath in a vain effort to ease his passage, and that by the time he made it outside to the fresh air at least one small object from several of the tables would have teetered and crashed to the floor. She waited with a broom.
FRENCH television and newspapers have been raising awareness of haemochromatosis, a genetic disorder that sees people absorb excessive amounts of iron from their diet.
The week long campaign aims to help people recognise the symptoms and get a check-up if necessary, as it is estimated that around 200,000 people in France are affected by the illness.
Here Helen Aurelius-Haddock, who lives in the Poitou-Charentes, writes about her experience of being diagnosed, some of the difficulties now being faced, but also the support network that has developed, especially on the internet:
“I am 52 years old, and I was diagnosed with type 1 haemochromatosis in January 2009. During the late summer of 2008 I visited the doctor with abdominal pains, along with palpitations and joint pain.
A THUNDER storm tumbled over the hills last night and as the lights flickered it made me think about the delicate threads connecting the electricity supply.
You feel very close to a storm here in the French countryside when it is rattling away outside your window and the advice is to sit tight and take plugs and telephone cables out of the wall sockets.
But I recently bought a d.light solar lamp so at least I knew I had some illumination should the house be plunged in to darkness.
The lamp features a solar panel that plugs in to the side of the lamp, and if placed in the sunshine swiftly charges up the battery offering you light as well as the chance to charge up basic mobile phones.
Within the sturdy orange casing you have a highly efficient LED bulb that offers up four different light settings from a high option that easily fills a room, to a bedroom side light for those that need a little reassurance.
D.light developed the lamp to enable people living in countries dependent on kerosene or other fuels for lighting to have a safe and renewable option, letting people cook, read and study without the fumes and risks of oil based fuels.
And the lamps have proven so successful that two other smaller versions have been developed, again featuring solar panels that enable people to take them with them to work, or for children to use when studying.
Any of the d.light lamps could prove a handy tool to get you through the next power cut should the dark clouds rumble in to view.
Amazon: d.light S250 Solar LED Lantern
