Jane Aston, painter.

We have had a mixed month so far. May is normally very warm  with continued blue skies. This year it's been quite cool we've had a lot more wind and it's rained most days. We were surprised last week by a very late lamb, he isn't managing to take milk from his mother so I am bottle feeding him. It's more usual to have lambs in March. He's very greedy and looks like he going to be very robust. Most of our sheep are black, we have one white ewe who is quite old and that was our only white. It seems like magic to suddenly get a white one. The new lamb has speckled brown legs and ears.

This is the lambs mother, she is 4, our new lamb is her 3rd.  We don't sheer our sheep because of the very cold winters.  There are very few sheep around so we are pretty safe from disease. I like our shaggy sheep this one has been bleached by the sun.

I bought a packet of seeds 3 years ago in France. Here they grow wild in the hedgerows and the native variety is violet/blue colour. The one above is one from the packet.

I have been wanting some old bicycles for sometime now. They are often advertised around here on the internet but  they are  always a bit expensive or too far away. I found 2 in an old dump, very rusty one has a split frame and the other has rusted through wheel rims. I think I shall try and make a viable bike one day but until I find some wheels they are propped up in my garden looking poetic.

My seedlings are slowly trickling out of the verandah, some come back after I realise  I have been a bit optimistic. I have been enlarging my Potager as I was running out of room. It's filling up as fast as I can dig. I now have a plot in the orchard along a stone wall. It's a very sunny spot. This morning I was digging and I managed to snap my fork in 2, the metal part! This is why I am updating my blog. I am wondering what to do next.

Red Basil.

Found these boots in the secondhand shop, perfect fit, 3 euros. I was  in need of new boots too.