Making room...

Tomorrow we are visiting André, a senior man of some seventy odd years. He heard about our home building project and offered us a derelict wall,much of which is collapsed and buried beneath brambles. A large part of the wall is still standing but the mortar is hungry and poor through lack of pointing and maintainence. The stones are dark purple schist,well weathered and craggy, they will serve well as a retaining wall in the front of the garden by the road. the last couple of days I have spent rearranging the mixed rubble in the yard to accommodate the new arrivals. The man's garden is in need of a tidy up , I am sure that once Anne-Sophie and I have finished,several days work in all,he will be pleased and refreshed by the results.I am sure too that we will be thoroughly exhausted by the end of our labours.I am having an easy day today An hour or so was spent digging a soakaway and filling it with small stones. It is a dog tooth pattern two feet deep cut well into the schist layer. The deluge that blows off the neighbour's barn has been sweeping the surface of the ground, eroding the topsoil, washing out the nutrients. The soakaway will direct the water below the surface towards a bank of golden osier, a salix. The seasonally waterlogged ground has given a good permanent home to the osier, it thrives , first seasons leaves just appearing, it was only planted last summer as small stick cuttings, some of the plants are already six feet tall. We inted to regularly crop the branches for use as a building material and for basketry.
Today is a red letter day. For over a year Jean Gerard has steadfastly refused of give me a "Bon jour" in spite of my greeting him many times without a civil reply. Today he volunteered a "Bonjour", unprompted and most unexpected,I wished him likewise in reply, perhaps what ever has been ailing him is at long last beginning to heal,I hope so.
I'll go out and do a bit now, it is a beautiful spring day, it would be a shame to waste it staring at the screen.