Artichoke blossom
New ducks
We've come to the end of our WWOOFing days this time around and with some wistfulness and some anticipation for home we've prepared to leave the countryside and head to Paris for a few days of fun before our flight back to the U.S. I feel glad to have been here at XXX long enough to see Ella the goat recover and turn into a good little milker (with delicious milk!), to have gotten most of the garden weeded although I didn't make it to the beans, to have helped with some projects like getting the new patio area finished, and to have made some new friends, which was easy with K&K's wonderfully friendly friends (thanks everyone!) who kept inviting us all over for meals and feeding us copious amounts of delicious food washed down with equally copious wine. Last night we ate dinner at D and P's and were gratified to understand and participate in the French conversation, which all the English spoke since Jean-Francois, former mayor of XX, and his wife Christine were there as well. Jean-Francois is to mow the hay in the field we de-thistled, but unfortunately we'll just have to hear from K&K when the hay is finally cut. Despite dreaming about seeing it green and fresh Jean-Francois had other things to do first.
We've seen 10 young ducks graduate from the lawn to the pasture and have welcomed 5 new ducks and 2 chicks into the world, said goodbye to a sheep and a lamb and two chicks (Reed's favorite little black one that always was getting lost was taken by a fox or a crow earlier last week while we were celebrating Bastille Day in the village).
My hands are strong from milking (a bit stiff in the mornings) and roughened and dirty from weeding, my skin is brown from days in the garden and field, my hair has been somewhat bleached although I wore a hat on the hottest days, and I feel infinitely more capable of handling projects around my own little house and tiny yard, a miniscule space, really, compared to the places we've been working. If I can stay in the WWOOFing mindset - that is, I need to do manual labor every day in order to earn my bed and my bread - I might actually get some real work done!
