It’s been a bit of a mad rush recently. After the heavy rains of March and early April and before the heat of the summer sun sets the earth rock solid, I’ve been busy making the final touches to my English Cottage Garden. If you remember last year I’d started turning what was once patchy and forlorn looking grass just outside the office into something more elegant and fragrant. Like the little hamster I am, I sped off to all my favourite garden centres returning mission accomplished bearing armfuls of plants and seeds capable of surviving our summers and, truth be told, sometimes our cold, frosty winters. Yet one plant proved elusive and which would have been for me, the ‘icing on my cottage garden cake’, a Lady’s Mantle, Alchemilla mollis. So imagine my surprise and delight when I found it this year and bought, not just one plant (which of course would have sufficed as they self-seed with total abandon) but four. Happy Days!

While creating my cottage garden it was also very important to me that I make it bee and butterfly friendly. I thus paid special attention to growing their favourite plants as well as leaving a few nettles as caterpillar food. So now I have this wonderful hotchpotch of cottage garden plants such as forget-me-nots, foxgloves, ferns, buddleia, and campanula mixed in with runner beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, peppers, lavender (of course) and snapdragons all interspersed with thyme, mint, chives, sage, rosemary and nasturtiums. Many are still young plants that will need time to grow and develop and while most are in the ground, others jostle side by side in big earthenware pots. Photographed here is a carpenter bee enjoying a restful moment on the petals of a mauve iris growing down by our pool house. These are Big Boys with Character. On more than one occasion I have found myself face to face with one of these guys and they do not give way, standing their ground or, more frightening, matching your every move so all you can do is back off slowly. Scary.

I also tend to squirrel away tubers, crowns or bulbs everywhere and then forget where I’ve put them or what they are when they finally poke through. Such was the case a couple of weeks ago when a rather smart looking plant surfaced. Wow I thought, this is great, believing it to be the peony I’d planted a year or so ago. Which of course I had but not there. In fact, much to my embarrassment (after showing off my green fingers to Nigel) this rather gorgeously leafed plant turned out to be a humble yellow buttercup. The real peony was round the front of the house lodged between my vines and honeysuckle and completely hidden from view - until it blossomed into pure pink magic.

While I truly love watching my garden grow and delight at the sight of a seedling growing purposefully, I find it is the unexpected discoveries I love the best and afford me such special moments. Like finding the elusive Lady’s Mantle or a group of bluebells hidden in some undergrowth or enjoying the sight of masses of hollyhocks, plants that once lay dormant for years and now return in abundance. Long may I hope to continue discovering these special moments!

Today has been a wonderful gift in that Maman Fleur presented us with all her kittens this morning. Already yesterday, much to our delight, two ginger ones and Fleurette followed their mum as she came out for a bite to eat. Mewing gently and with wobbly movements they approached the exit cautiously and then slid off the hessian lining onto the carpet below. This was their first encounter with solid ground after ten days bouncing around under our bed and of course with us too.

Though Maman Fleur fussed over them making encouraging sounds one little chap remained resolutely under our bed. But this morning all four popped their heads out and, one by one, the kitties slid down from the lining to explore the carpet further. Although still wobbly and uncertain on their feet they mooched around, sometimes bumping into each other, other times finding mum and crawling over her, or letting themselves be kissed and caressed (and photographed) by their human family. Now that everyone was finally outside we were able to sex them and are delighted to say that we have three ginger boys and one little girl.

Prior to the birth, Nigel and I had bought Fleur a super cat basket which we’d hoped she might use ‘on the big day’ and though she and Graham duly tested it out in the end the underneath of our bed got her vote instead. Today however, she and her babies snuggled into it for a little while (posing for a family photo in the meantime) and seemed to enjoy this new world. By now the babies were getting hungry and tired so mum gently laid on her side and the Milk Bar was open for orders. One by one the milky bar kids slowly fell asleep still attached to mum and she, bless her, not moving at all but purring all the while.

Returning later, we found that mum and babies had retired under our bed again. Nigel and I and the rest of the furries continue to sleep on the floor in the other bedroom . . .

Today was another one of those embarrassing discoveries when we again voiced our inevitable mantra Why Didn’t We Do This Years Ago? Yes folks, after seven years of living here on the French Riviera I finally made it to the Iles de Lerins. Well, Ile Ste Marguerite anyway. And what an unexpected pleasure. With me came Nigel of course and two of our dogs, Bertie and Freddy plus Jill from the English Book Centre in Valbonne and her dog Scruffy. Like us, Jill had not visited the island before and so upon hearing our plan for this Sunday, asked if she could accompany us.

Departing Cannes, a short 25 minute motor boat ride brought us to the island. Once there we decided to visit the fort first, famous for having incarcerated the Man in the Iron Mask and then make our way round the island’s perimeter to Pointe du Vengeur where we would stop for our picnic. We were all uncertain about what we would find but I’m delighted to say that the island surpassed our expectations. The May issue of AMB will have my article relating to today’s excursion plus loads of photos but suffice to say that, if you’ve never been, it really is well worth a visit if you’re like us and enjoy both walking and nature. Anyway we’d loved it, as did the dogs - for most of the time off the lead - and though we walked for about four hours (plus extra time visiting the fort and then a break for lunch) we found that we’d only covered half the island.

When we first came off the motor launch and, later, as we walked around the island it was difficult not to notice a fair number of mauve stinger jellyfish pulsating in the waters. I think they are Pelagia noctiluca which have become a bane around the Mediterranean over the past few years and seem to be on the increase with swarms arriving in summer time just when the tourist season is in full swing. From all accounts it seems their presence is due to a decrease in predators, saltier waters due to low rainfall and warmer Mediterranean waters.

Mind you, when compared to the Nomura’s jellyfish found off the coast of Japan, they are mere tiddlers. Those monsters can grow as much as 6 feet (2 meters) in diameter and weigh up to 450 pounds (220 kilogram). While I might just tolerate meeting up with one of these mauve jellies when out snorkling, there is no way I’d be a happy bunny with one of those big boys. I must hasten to also add that this is not one of my photos taken while scuba diving but one I found on the internet while researching the name of the mauve jelly chaps.