The First of May

Yesterday evening walked with Vita up the chemin rural from our house.

We tend to think of the narrow road as "our drive" because it only comes to us. In fact it's public and the local commune maintains it, which involves a tractor coming down twice a year to cut the verges and the banks of the ditches that border the fields on either side. The tractor came down about two weeks ago but we've had so much rain since the grass and buttercups are shooting back up and the first red field poppies are beginning to unfurl.

I heard the cluck of quail hidden in Monsieur F's field and Vita got muddy paws nosing after their smell in the long grass in the ditch.

We turned left out of "our drive" and walked along the road towards the horse field. It's up above a bank, so while we were on the road we could not see the horses. I thought they might be in their stable for the night, but one was still out, silhouetted against the pale blue of the evening sky, her tail flicking while she fed.

We stood on the bank at the corner of Monsieur F's field. Vita had her tail between her legs at the sight of her first horse and tried to dive into the long grass, but I persuaded her to stay and finally she sat and in the fading light we just watched.

The clear sky and touch of warmth in the air promised fine weather. About time, there have been too many days of cold rain in April.