The friend of my friend...

...may be my enemy!
I am hardly going to trust responding to suggestions on Facebook to add as friend. What's to stop any of the named strangers from making contact directly via email or via comment on my blog toward a personal introduction. there's only one name out of twentyseven that has actually chanced their arm in a personal meeting. I have a face, a voice and an attitude that according to a serving magistrate in xenophobic U.K. plc., was grounds for a criminal conviction regardless of conduct or rights. I don't live in U.K. I have a safe haven in France, marrying my loyal friend and companion of twelve years standing, she being the only person I would dare to trust to calling "friend", easily counted on the finger of one hand.
I have been told I am difficult to live with. Harder still to live with would be the moral philosophical principles which have supported and nourished me for the greater part of my life.Youth takes a big risk fishing for friendship in the Oblivion Zone. I might bite, be warned.I can be a highly critical old giffer at times. Needs be,sez I.
I am English speaking but begin to doubt that I share a common definition. What do you mean by friend?Dont expect that I will be soliciting any contact with suggested names on the list. Whoever you all are , would be welcome to venture forward, nearer at least to my preferred traditional definition of friendship. Real time real life,loyalty and permanent commitment to common cause is a prerequisite.

Good news and better to come...

Iz well on the road to recovery! I am told that the main barrier to my recovery will be repelled within ten days, from there I can concentrate on rebuilding my wasted body with a degree of confidence. Overcoming the anemia next. Plenty of interesting physical work stacked up, with my groceries growing all around moral support, and encouraging noises from many directions. My stamina strength and energy should stabilise . I have been peaking and troughing quite badly for years. I will get back to more regular postings when I have buzz to spare from my work in hand. the real life is the priority.
Year Three looks good from here.

Art o' yer box...

Mike Rodino,aka Questingguitar13 put a link on the side bar of a Utube posting.Toby Godden,are you in?I would rather not imagine what significance that may have. Your deluded game playing , well meant perhaps, has had a most destructive effect on my life so far.I searched around for something akin to a clue as to your present circumstance. I found the picture of the hand, I found the monochrome video posting. I found a waste of space re:13 islingtons 13books, Read some of the exchanges between you and you and others and you. Perhaps between other yous and you or so it might seem. I found a pile of servers not found,I guess you had abandoned through lack of cash. Guessing is only that who's to say what's true. I have written miles of stuff relating to my perception of your activity.It will surface eventually.I am not secretive, nor do I attempt to be mysterious. My feeble efforts to build a home may be the object of amusement, an entertainment to some, I am making material progress. I will have my workshop eventually.It will evolve slowly with each turn of the seasons. Anne -Sophie and I will be constructing the inner circle of the round house in about a week's time, she has a holiday from her caring work. I haven't been in the best of physical health for a solo heroic performance, I'm most grateful for her dedicated assistance.She is busy preparing a batch of cherry jam at the moment.
My attempt to improve my health in Ireland and later in U.K. were most disappointing, the result of shortfalls in the health services of both respective countries. A window of opportunity was broken open to fix whatever is curable, before it is too late. The suspected tumour was investigated Crone's disease was diagnosed that theory has now been abandoned as evidence of amoeba has been found . I am grateful for the efficiency and speed of service here.I wont need surgery thank god, waterborne parasites probably picked up in India appear to be the cause of my immediate debility.It is reassuring to know that my strength and energy will return with the recovery of my damaged liver. Much heavy work to do before I go. I look forward with enthusiasm. There is still an uphill climb ahead,the plateau of our sustainable existence however is in sight we can then concentrate with a will on projects further afield.The jam is set in jars now and we have already devoured some of the cherry clafouti , Delicious.
The onions are swelling nicely. This week we will be shelling more broad beans for the freezer, sowing carrots and planting more leeks. Boring aren't I?
Happy Birthday if I don't see you.
P.S.Was it your intention to project the image that you are anorexic?The message of your medium is of doubtful worth if it is seen to be coming from an unhealthy source.
Get a grip scribbler, you are failing in your duty of care to yourself.
I will post more soon.Wash your feet,get some sleep.

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.

The sun shines on the Izdom of Iz...

Stone mulched cassis...

Small cobbles of stone protect a reservoir of permanent moisture , when air squeezes between the unmortared gaps between the stones water condenses on the cool underside.The concave cup of the little chalice is the place to put a small handful of good compost. A straw mulch will cover the rest of the bed in which the years crop of garlic is just beginning to show. The gulley will be covered with small pea sized pebblesmixed with a little sand to make the weeding easy and to give the worms some shade. Within a year or two a good fruiting hedge will emerge.
Blackcurrant jam is my personal favourite

The Stones...