Finding all sorts of jobs to do in the garden, like watering flowers in pots, but the flowers and grass all looking very dry!
Today with the help of my very kind neighbours, we have managed to put up a bird station, so that my son and I can sit in the garden and watch the visiting birds.
Hopefully we will be able to see lots of visiting birds passing through!
Je prends plaisir à lire mon livre Les 'Destins' de François Mauriac.
je suis au chapitre 5 maintenant.
Pour le moment le temps est un peu plus frais avec une brise fraîche.
Je lis tout les infos du "Monde" en ligne et regarde France24 sur mon portable.
Pendant les vacances, je prévois de regarder des vidéos en français.
(Artist unknown)
I have Just looked for my results and found I have passed my English Degree! Yes!!! but I will celebrate when the weather is cooler. I still can't believe it, I have to pinch myself!
Next term, my last term is going to be French! L332
Hope you are all doing well.
Best wishes
Gill
(Artist unknown)
Il fait très chaud dehors. Ce matin J'ai fait un petit tour dans mon village jusqu'à la poste pour payer ma note.
En ce moment Je lis mon livre et je reste cool à l' ombre. J'ai mangé des fraises avec de la crême pour ma collation. il fait de plus en plus chaud, la température est maintenant de 37° Wow!
Sitting in the shade of my garden this afternoon. It is very hot but under the trees it is quite cool. The french book that I am currently reading is 'Destins' by François Mauriac. I imagine myself to be in France!
It is a moral tale centred around 2 boys Bob and Pierre and Elisabeth as guardien looks after the children, and of the neighbouring bourgeoisie families. Set in the Gironde region on the South West of France.The story follows the life stories of the two boys and what becomes of them. This is the summary in French.
"Jean Gornac et sa belle-fille Élisabeth font prospérer un domaine viticole à Viridis en Gironde. Dans la maison voisine vit Maria Lagave, une femme âgée dont Jean aida naguère le fils Augustin à poursuivre ses études pour devenir un fonctionnaire respectable à Paris. L'action débute alors que le fils de ce dernier, Robert, est envoyé en convalescence auprès de sa grand-mère en Gironde. La vie de bohème que mène Robert Lagave (dit Bob) dans la capitale est mal acceptée par son père. Son passage à Viridis va troubler l'équilibre bourgeois du domaine et provoquer une révélation chez Élisabeth."
A lovely quiet day today, so we had a lovely picnic in the park, under the trees!
I can't believe it, I finished my latest book off in 2 days!
The book was called 'Les vacances de Maigret.' Par Georges Simenon.
I really enjoyed this story and couldn't put it down. Good thing that I had a fairly free day, as the family had left earlier today., so I had the house to myself.
This is a record for me to have read a book so quickly, especially as it is in another language.
I wonder if I really understood it all in detail? Anyway I certainly got the gist of it all.
I hardly used the dictionary at all because I didn't want to stop my flow of reading so I was just guessing and picking up clues as I went along, a bit like a detective!
I found the characters were very interesting. I didn't suspect the killer who turns out to be the doctor, who then hands himself over in the last chapter, to his friend the judge. It all turns out to be a crime of passion in the end.
The descriptions of the seaside town were very good, typical of the french sea side towns of the area where I once visite on holiday, and of the hotels to which Maigret visits.
I noticed that detective Maigret in this particular episode always asked for a glass of white- un verre de blanc- meaning a glass of white (wine) but occasionally he took an armagnac, when he was particularly stressed!
As always he enjoyed his pipe and often wore his hat which was described as a melon shape.
What I might do is to read through my whole list of books, then go back again, but this time paying much more attention to detail. I will look up any unfamiliar words in the dictionary, just in case I might be missing something important!
I finished my latest book in french it was very good! "Guingette à deux sous." (The Tavern of the two pennies) by Georges Simenon.
In the end there were three people implicated in the murder. I was a bit suspicious about one of them, but surprised that three people were involved.
I liked the fact that there were also women in the story, it was not just Male characters only.
I liked the setting by the river with fishermen, the canoeing, the dancing the party, the bridge game and Maigret who was undercover, to find out who was the suspect, following a tip off earlier on in the story. There was the occasional moving the scene to the city so this brought in some variety to the story.
My next book is "Les vacances de Maigret " also in french and is set in Les Sables d 'Olonne situated on the west coast of France in the department of Vendee.
Maigret is supposed to be on vacation but he then becomes involved in a crime scene. I have only began reading the first chapter, but it seems quite engaging. I am so glad I bought all these books from Oxfam bookshop in the city just before the Covid19 pandemic hit !
While walking this morning I noticed a small piece of land near the park. This piece of land that has been hit by the sunshine for many days now and It has been a long time since we had rain. Hopefully there will soon be a shower. Today It felt a little bit cooler. We don't have a lot of rain here, but when we do it rains quite a lot!
It made me think that it is so important to have rain as well as sunshine in order for the crops and the grass to grow. Everything is so finely balanced in nature. However global warming hasn't gone away and it will continue to effect the earth!
What a hot day it was today! but fortunately there was a nice cool breeze blowing, so this made it a little more bearable.
After doing my daily tasks, I opted for sitting in my 'Hideaway' which is beneath the trees at the side of my house, because study requires peace and quiet. I am still reading my e- book in french. It is slow plodding through this book, I am also still reading La Guinguette à deux sous by Georges Simenon, I have to use my dictionary whenever I need to.
I have also been watching France24 the french news channel, which is a french speaking news channel on my mobile phone, so I try to watch this at least once every day day, this is very helpful for getting used to listening to the french language on a regular basis as well as beginning learning to speak the french language.
It is a long process learning a language! I can write and read in french now, yet I still struggle to pronouce some of the words correctly in french.
Just been hearing on the news about the fires in France, this has been caused by the heat and the global warming. That's a great pity because there are some very beautiful trees and woodlands in France. Climate change will soon be affecting all of us!
We must fight against the spirit of unconscious cruelty with which we treat the animals. Animals suffer as much as we do. True humanity does not allow us to impose such sufferings on them. It is our duty to make the whole world recognize it. Until we extend our circle of compassion to all living things, humanity will not find peace.
Albert Schweitzer
I am reading another book by George Simenon, in the 'Maigret series', this one is called " La Guinguette à deux sous." Translated I think it means the Tavern of the two pennies? .It is a story set near a river in beautiful surroundings.The detective is on vaccation but is also undercover because a body has been discovered and he becomes involved in solving the crime. It may be someone from the circle of people he was playing cards with, at the cottage of his friend, or someone he was drinking with at the "Guingette à deux sous"
I seem to be able to understand the language better, because it is very everyday common language, but it is also in good french too, so I am learning some new words. I like the fact that there is conversations going on, between the characters and when the detective asks questions. The storyline is quite interesting, so I can follow it and can almost guess what is going to happen next. As always I have my dictionary to hand.
Shed behind fence where my hideaway is, with bench and paddling pool.
I cannot really afford a holiday abroad or anywhere else for that matter, so this year I just spend time walking in the countryside, near to where we live. There is a beautiful wood that is a nature reserve, so we visit there sometimes.
At home we have a large paddling pool in the back garden, where I sometimes go in for a dip when it gets too hot !
I placed the pool in a sheltered spot behind the shed and the fence so it is very secluded. It is my hideaway! Behind another fence is a wooded area, with lovely overhanging trees from the old peoples residential home, so this keeps my garden cool and shaded.
This is a quiet area behind the home, so is not used by many as they mostly use the front door, this part is partitioned off. This spot in my garden is quiet here so perfect for reading in peace.
With this lovely hot weather I can sit outside in my garden, feet in the paddling pool with a cold drink in my hand, read my book and just make believe I am on holiday in France!
Source wikipedia
Today while out walking close to the field near my village, I spotted this lovely blue dragonfly./ damselfly They look so fragile and have a blue iridescent body with transparent wings. It just hovered there in front of me, very beautiful, it's wings beating really fast, then it darted away. Amazing! Not quite sure which is head or tail on my photo!
Today I had a great day volunteering, weeding a car park!
It was behind the town hall.
It took us (four people) about 1 hour to take away all the weeds, taking it steady,. The car park was full of litter and had a lot of nettles and thorns. It was quite a big car park too with a border of weeds around, I really enjoyed clearing it up.
It actually felt like a really good work out, where my whole body was exercised with pulling, bending, digging and stretching. Now when the people go there to park their car, it will look so clean and tidy also when pedestrians pass by they will notice the difference too.
This weekend I will be doing a litter picking with some others, around the woodland in the park area, so that should be good. I feel like I have lost a little bit of weight, also I feel a lot stronger for it. I am happy to help to make my village look clean and tidy.
The gardening team!
La Banque centrale européenne (BCE) a annoncé, lundi 4 juillet, le début d’un important tournant environnemental, en introduisant des critères verts dans une partie de ses opérations. Si la mise en place complète des mesures prendra des années, celles-ci devraient se répercuter dans l’ensemble du système financier. Christine Lagarde, la présidente de la BCE, avait lancé le chantier peu après sa prise de fonction, fin 2019. A l’époque, le sujet était encore largement tabou dans le monde très conservateur des banquiers centraux. Une partie d’entre eux s’inquiétaient de voir la banque centrale sortir de son mandat officiel, à savoir assurer la stabilité des prix.
En juillet 2021, la présidente a néanmoins acquis gain de cause sur le principe : dans le cadre de sa grande révision stratégique, l’institut de Francfort promettait « d’intégrer les considérations de changement climatique dans [sa] politique monétaire ». L’annonce de ce lundi est la première traduction concrète de cette promesse. « Avec ces décisions, nous transformons notre engagement à lutter contre le changement climatique en actions réelles », assure Mme Lagarde. « Ça avance ! Le rôle de la BCE pour la transition écologique est essentiel ! », a réagi sur Twitter la députée européenne Aurore Lalucq, du parti Place Publique. « C’est positif, mais c’est très lent », relativise Stanislas Jourdan, de l’association Positive Money.
Lire aussi Article réservé à nos abonnés La BCE alerte : ne pas agir pour le climat pourrait laminer l’économie européenne
L’action de la BCE va se faire en trois étapes. Dès octobre, elle va modifier ses critères pour les achats des obligations d’entreprises. Car l’institution monétaire est très active sur les marchés financiers : depuis 2015, elle y rachète des titres pour soutenir l’économie. Au total, elle en a acquis pour près de 5 000 milliards d’euros, dans leur immense majorité des dettes d’Etat. Une petite partie, pour 344 milliards d’euros, est constituée de dettes d’entreprises. Le problème est que la composition de ces achats reflète le panorama des entreprises présentes sur les marchés, et qu’une bonne partie d’entre elles sont très polluantes.
Une étude de 2019, publiée par l’institut Veblen, estime que 63 % des obligations d’entreprises achetées par la BCE venaient des secteurs économiques les plus émetteurs des gaz à effet de serre : production et distribution d’énergies fossiles, secteur automobile, production d’électricité… Désormais, la BCE annonce qu’elle va « faire basculer » son portefeuille d’obligations vers des entreprises ayant « une meilleure performance climatique ». Elle les jugera selon trois critères : le niveau d’émissions de CO2, les objectifs de réduction des émissions et la transparence avec laquelle la société dévoile son empreinte carbone.
Source Le monde
(Artist unknown)
I am struggling to read my latest book 'Germinal' by Emile Zola because the language is quite difficult.
Some words are old fashioned and not in general use anymore. Other words are more to do with mining terms. Although I did like the story very much the language is quite hard going.
I know I should persist with it but I will just put it aside for now, perhaps when I feel more confident in the language later on, I will pick it up again. Anyway I got about halfway through it but found it frustrating, to have to keep stopping to look up words all the time!
Instead of reading the book I will watch it on DVD first for the time being, which I also happen to have in my collection.
The next book I have decided to read from my collection, is not too long or too difficult to read. It is a paperback called 'L'enchanteur' by Vladimir Nabokov.
Vladimir Nabokov is a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Russia, he wrote his first nine novels in Russian (1926–1938) while living in Berlin.
This book is the french translation from the Russian.
I am finding the french language a lot easier to understand in this book, and I don't have to stop so often, to look up words in the dictionary.
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