Summer is over.
That is to say: from the time we moved here, we have mainly had good weather.
Okay, also a lot of rainy days where it didn't seem to stop.
But despite that, we have already had a wonderful year: being outside a lot, a lot of sun, nice temperatures (sometimes even very high).
Either way, summer is really over now.
The clouds have come, just like the rain.The temperature has dropped so the shorts can be put away again.
For now the last time the fields are mowed. (Although the grass grows on for a while)
We look back on a great season with great guests.
Despite everything around corona, we cannot grumble. We have had good bookings so far and for us it was a good learning experience with sometimes some breathing space.
Learned from the guests that we don't have to worry about the accommodation and how we go about it.
Learned from ourselves that a few things can be changed and will be adjusted.
Ideas for the new season are bubbling up again and we can start implementing.
Every season has its surprises, especially if you experience them here for the first time.
In the morning a mist rises from our valley at our house.
The warm soil and moisture cause fog to form due to the temperature differences.
It gives our valley something mystical.
You see the dragonflies and in combination with the fog, it could be that there are also little fairies somewhere.
I like to think that.
Now that the guests no longer come and go all month, there is the opportunity to enjoy the fields and nature around the gite again.
All summer while mowing, I always discover all kinds of creatures of nature.
The paths the deer walk through the tall grass of the islets in the fields, the holes the mice make, or the torn ground by the badgers.
Birds that skim the freshly cut grass to pick up worms, crickets or flies that have been released.
While mowing, I try to enjoy it as much as possible, because when the guests are back in the gite, we take some distance again and 'give' nature back to them, so that they can enjoy it in peace.
But now I have a little more time to wander the fields.
As a result, you will see that one special thing that you want to see up close all summer.
I find the large green sable grasshopper very special, especially when it flies away.
When the saber grasshopper jumps, it uses large double wings. In this way he maneuvers across the fields, like a little dragon.
Who knows, if you look closely, you will see a little fairy sitting on it.
This little dragon happened to be sitting on a tree that I passed.
He kept a close eye on me and walked up the trunk as I walked around it.
Still I managed to take a picture of it.
The fairy was probably hidden ...
The days are getting shorter, you notice that in everything.
Leaves fall from trees, mushrooms pop up everywhere.
How funny: behind our forest in the fields and between the woods, signs have now been placed that it is forbidden to pick mushrooms in the forest.
Not just mushrooms, no, REAL mushrooms!
Which you can buy in a container and grown in a musty cellar in the dark.
Growing here just like that in the wild.
We also see them in our fields.
But to be honest, I don't dare to use and eat them. Even though they look very mushroom-like, I stick to the version that you can buy at the grocer.
Seems a lot safer to me.
I always look at the trees on a journey of discovery.
Here in this region (and maybe in the whole of France I don't know) in winter, when the trees are bare, you see huge green balls hanging in certain trees.
These turn out to be huge balls of mistletoe.
Strange but true: in the Netherlands, huge amounts are asked in December for a measly sprig of mistletoe with a ribbon around it, as a Christmas decoration.
And here they grow like weeds in the wild on their host the tree.
You could say that mistletoe is a plague here, because you really find it hanging everywhere.
Only it is very high because the trees are also huge, and therefore not easy to pick.
I always look a little jealous at those huge balls because during Christmas I think mistletoe is part of it.
I thought it was a shame that I didn't see those balls of mistletoe in our trees.
But, apparently it was a good 'mistletoe growth year' because I can now see them in some trees on our property too!
Maybe not so good for the trees themselves (because mistletoe is actually a parasite for that tree) but I think it's beautiful.
No, I'm not going to pick. I leave them in the tree.
Or, if something has fallen off by itself, I will use it at Christmas.
Always good for kisses under the mistletoe.
