Chestnuts are falling on my head!

Ouch, it's raining sweet chestnuts at the moment. I can't walk anywhere around the garden without running the gauntlet of these little green spikey objects that drop from the trees like round bullets and do they hurt if they happen to bounce off my head!
They are indeed delicious roasted, but by the time I have collected them, prised them from their barbed casings, made a cut in each one so that they don't explode in the heat, roasted them & then burned almost all of my fingertips prising off the shell, well, I'm done for and the taste of a freshly roasted chestnut has suddenly lost its appeal.
I actually buy them in a jar at the supermarket. I know it's not really the thing, living in the French countryside as I do, but to preserve my sanity not to mention my hands, it's what I do.

The worst part of having chestnuts in the garden, is the lawn mowing.
There are hundreds of the things on the ground when I come to do the last cut of the season and as they coincide with the leaf fall, they combine in a prickly hedgehog like ball and conspire to choke and clog the mower chute, making it impossible to do the mowing.
Still, it's better to live in this lovely part of France and have small annoyances than to be banged up in the prison that is a city.

South West France & Limousin in July

Hello & welcome to the July blog about French Country Life & living in  the Limousin area of South West France.
It's been a strange few weeks weather wise. In this part of France, the Haute Vienne, at this time of year, we normally experience some very hot weather. When I say hot, I mean temperatures of up to 40°c which sends the French and expat population running for the shade of the house or garden trees.
However, after a very long, hot Spring, June was considerably cooler with showers and now July has followed suit.
I am very happy about this, not being a lover of the very hot weather, but my little French cherry tomatoes and green beans are not liking it quite as much!
So, this week, I've been indoors a fair bit, making green bean relish and my greetings cards that I sell online.
It can be hard to get just the card you want in France, and the French aren't big into greeting cards, so I decided to set up an online store & make my own. 

There are greeting cards depicting French Country Life, but also many other themes.
Once ordered, they are dispatched either to the recipient or to the buyer. I also offer a customization service, so if there is a card that someone really likes, but it's for a different occasion, I can easily adapt it for the customer at no extra charge.
If you are an English speaking expat & would love to get decent cards, check out my store , Chez Inkflo. 
English Greeting Cards For Expats Everywhere
On the plus side, the weather is doing my potatoes the world of good, so there is a silver lining to even the heaviest of clouds!
Have a good July wherever you are.