After the deluge - back to the garden / Après le déluge - le retour au jardin

The series of bizarre weather events continues ... this time with four days of heavy rain and flooding in the Midi, while Wales and England came to a standstill under a covering of snow.

La série d'événements météo bizarres continuent ... cette fois quatre jours de pluie forte et d'inondation dans le Midi pendant que le Pays de Galles et l'Angleterre se sont arretés sous une couche de neige.

The stream which runs from the spring and past the gardens was full of rushing water - if only we could save it all for the summer!

Le ruisseau qui coule de la source était pleine d'eau babillarde - si on peut la garder pour l'été!

Today the clouds were coming from the north-east - a direction which rarely brings rain here.  It's the 'marin' from the sea which brings rain / Aujourd'hui les nuages sont venus du nord-est - une direction qui apporte très rarement la pluie. C'est le marin qui apporte la pluie.

We're hoping to plant our potatoes at the full moon this weekend, so Lo Jardinièr has been preparing the ground for them.

On éspère de planter les pommes de terre à la pleine lune ce weekend, donc Lo Jardinièr a preparé la terre.

For the first time for several weeks it was warm enough to have lunch in the garden - tapas of picholine olives and cured sausage followed by a delicious chickpea, chorizo, cabbage and carrot stew which Lo Jardinièr had made.

C'était la première fois pour quelques semaines qu'il a fait assez beau pour manger au jardin - des tapas d'olives picholines et de saucisson sec, et puis un ragout delicieux de pois chiches, chorizo, choux et carrottes que Lo Jardinièr avait preparé.

The spring flowers are beginning to come out. The garden is covered in speedwell - a weed, but a pretty one:

Les fleurs de printemps commencent à éclore.  Le jardin est couvert de véronique - une mauvaise herbe, mais c'est jolie.

And the crocuses: / Et les crocus:

Spring is on its way at last!  Le printemps arrive enfin!

Ecological footprint / empreinte écologique

There's a link to a quiz you can do to find out your ecological footprint - expressed in terms of the number of planets we would need if everyone lived like you - on Jardim com gatos.  Like all these quizzes, it has its critics but I think it's quite a useful way of finding out what improvements one can make in one's lifestyle.  Try it and see how large or small your footprint is!