Plums, storms, nightlights and Elian

Just a very quick note before breakfast. We have been in the village since I have last posted and life just pootles on in its inevitable rustic way. We had Juci come and do some cleaning on Friday: she did the Farmhouse and all but the kitchen in the Kottage. The Kottage kitchen is still awaiting my attention, but since then the weather has been so atrocious that I hardly stirred outdoors.

After long weeks of high, tropical heat stormy weather (as seen on photo) had arrived all over the country. We thankfully didn't have hail stones, like some areas, but it chucked it down intermittently for the last three days. Last night's storm was the most impressive - I heard some people mention on the radio that water was coming through their walls and all round their window frames. Frightening!

The plum season is in its full swing and this picture is just a small bowlful of what we are having in large quantities. Interestingly, the dark blue plums suffered from the drought and shrivelled up before getting to any size, but these yellow ones are plentiful. Having said that, they are not enough to fill 4 barrels for the palinka, so we asked around just in case somebody had fruit they didn't want in the village. And we found one!! Our plumber's grandparents have passed on 3 years ago and they still haven't managed to sell their house and garden. To cut a long story short, we have spent 2 exhausting hours yesterday picking up tons of their plums (mostly blue ones), so we now have 1 and half barrels full. Hopefully, from the rest of ours and theirs we should fill our 4 barrels.

Now, is there anybody out there who has some inkling what this picture is of? Well, Lyle might! It is one of his lovely, practical presents that he gave Roy on our last visit to Canada. Every single one is a gem, very useful and we are using them as and when we need them. The only one that is permanently fixed is this clever LED night light, which is now, as you can see is installed just above the approach to the front door and is excellent. Thanks Lyle! The reason why I thought of photographing it is because it came to my attention last night while we were securing the house prior to the storm arriving, to be followed by no computers, no TV and prepared candles just in case the power goes. Amazingly, it didn't. I say amazingly, because this village is prone to electricity outages at monotonously regular intervals for no good or discernible reason. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised if then at the one occasion it could be explained it functions perfectly. Mind you, it did have a few little wobbles, but survived the storm thankfully.

Finally, the latest picture of new grandson and heir, copied from Facebook. Previously I had a chat with Emily, Lucy's sister, on the topic of Elian's habit of sleeping most of the time. She commented that when she was on baby watch (like the other night) he seemed awake most of the time. One of the reasons, one supposes, must have been what is written on this bib. Ahhhhhh!!