Guardian squirrel

Spotted from our kitchen window on a very wet and misty morning last week, our resident red squirrels have been busy gathering as many walnuts as they can find and hiding them all over the place.
One of them, seen above on the Roque Terrace gite roof, was observing for over 5 minutes it's partner on the ground almost looking as though he or she was overseeing the work in progress!
Below, yet another spectacular sunset as the nights really are getting on cold side now, well it is nearly Christmas!

My favourite question!

One of the questions I ask most if not all of our guests after their arrival is "have you ever seen the I.S.S?" the International Space Station, in the majority of cases the answer is "no".
With there being very little light pollution here the viewings, cloud permitting, are usually very clear.
So here it is, the I.S.S, spectacular pictures from the NASA website of the station and the reason it is so clear is because the reflection of the sun from it's solar panels which are a total area of just above one acre, that's over 4046 square meters (4840 square yards), staggering when you think about it!!

Up up and away!

The last couple of mornings have been perfect for a balloon trip over the Dordogne and Vezere valleys, clear blue sky and very little breeze must have meant it really was a pleasure flight to who knows where!
The weather here is still amazing, over 30 degrees in the afternoon and still no break in the conditions for the foreseeable future, it's been an amazing few months for our customers and is looking good for the next few weeks for those who are still to join us.

A stroll in the park!

Thought I'd share these couple of pictures sent to me by returning guests (and very good friends) Val & Stuart from Scotland who during this week went once again to the gardens at Marqueyssac which are situated on the side of the Dordogne valley, the unusual hedges above are at the entrance to the park land and after a good walk you get to the view point (below) where this spectacular view of La Roque Gageac is made even better by showing how busy it is at this time of year with the canoe traffic!

What now?!

Yes once again I can't resist taking the annual baby swallows picture! These four (if you can spot all four!) had just launched themselves out of the nest and ended up a couple of meters away above the work bench wondering what to do next, not moving even when I was within touching distance away, needless to say they are now flying around happy and free!

Early morning dip!

Checked the house pool very early this morning and found this not so small toad having an early morning swim, after another very hot night it made it an obvious thing to do to freshen up for the day!

Time for a break!

We've got 4 or 5 nests in the barn all with young swallows in so you can imagine how busy the adults are feeding the little ones from dawn 'till dusk, so with temperatures now in the 30's, by mid afternoon yesterday the swallow above decided enough was enough for a while and took shelter from the heat under one of the house parasols for a short while just to cool off, I don't blame it really!!