Our mild winter has morphed into an early spring. It was grey and cool last week, but we had a lovely weekend, with temps near 20C both days, and lots of sun. Will dragged all the plants outside and I did a bit of gardening, tidying up the patch in front of the house. It’s gone a bit cooler today, but is heading back to 18 tomorrow, with sun all week.
We are considering forgoing the veggie garden this year, or may do a much smaller version. Lucien has yet to offer to turn ours over, perhaps because he knows what our main crop would be. Our rotovator isn’t powerful enough to deal with the layer of growth that’s currently covering the plot, so I would need to borrow one. Our concern is that we don’t have the time to look after a garden, especially weeding and watering. I guess it’s a good thing that we don’t have the time, since it means we’re too busy with work.
We were both busy last week dealing with our new clients. Mainly, I transferred all fifteen of their domains, plus six different sites to our server. The clients are easy to work with, and have a higher level of technical competence than we’re used to. Will is finishing off one of their two sites that the previous people started. He’s also started a new site for a French client, and has at least five others on the go. I’m now starting my big project, mainly doing research and writing up the functional spec.
We had a meeting with the clients for that project on Tuesday. It’s Lewis, the American from the choir and his French wife Pary. We discussed the project a bit, and they gave me a deposit towards the site. The whole thing is a little undefined for my liking, which is why I’m writing up a document saying what the site will contain and how it will function.
Socially, we had one event last week. On Friday, we had Jenni and Mathias, plus Benoit and Virginie over to dinner. We played at Benoit’s 50th bday party last year, and had been meaning to have them over for some time. Jenni is hard to pin down, so she made the arrangements. After apperos, we sat down to an entrée of onion tart with roquefort and lardons. The main was roast pork with spicy orange sauce, with herbed grains and green beans. This was followed by cheese, and sweet potato pie for dessert.
This was really the first time we’d socialised with Benoit and Virginie, and we had a good time. He is a concellier municipale, like Philippe, so he is full of interesting info. We talked a bit about the new path here, and of course, the wind farm. He is for, and she is against, and both of them have strong views on the subject. My understanding is that tests are being carried out for the coming year, and then a decision will be made. Apparently, there is talk of the government prohibiting wind turbines being within 1km of a residential property, so that would be the death knell of our project.
The cats are enjoying the nice weather. On Friday, we didn’t see Louis from the time we got up until early evening. We forget that in good weather, he often spends large chunks of the day away from the house. When he got home, he was extremely needy, and only wanted to sit on our laps. He’s also been sleeping with us most evenings, which is rare for him. Will thinks he got locked in somewhere, which would explain his long absence. The Smoo is on patrol most nights, defending his turf from the neighbour’s cat who is encroaching. On the same night, he came home a bit bloodied, and still has scabs on his chest and neck. Knowing the Smoo, we’re certain the other cat came off worse.