We inherited a huge pile of newspapers and magazines, dating back to the 1860s, when we bought our farm, Les Fragnes. The journals were stacked in the attic of what is now the gite. A lot had been ruined by the weather and an obviously abundant population of rats at one time! But plenty were in a good state. These included two years’ worth of La Prosperité a la Campagne, a very practical, hands-on monthly magazine for country dwellers. Every issue opens with ‘dictons’ or sayings for that month. Here are the ones for May from 1932 and 1933.

May has more jours fériés (bank holidays) than any other month in France. There are two fêtes civiles - the Fête du Travail (Labour Day, 1^st May) and Victoire des Alliés (VE Day, 8^th May). Then come two fêtes religieuses, namely Ascension and Lundi de Pentecote (Whit Monday). Disappointlingly for the children, the first two bank holidays fall on Saturdays this year. No compensatory Monday off over here – if a jour férié falls at a weekend, tant pis! (The last two fêtes are movable ones and will actually fall in June in 2011.)

Now that the good weather’s here and everyone has crawled out of hibernation, there are lots of fêtes, competitions and open days going on. The French know how to enjoy themselves! Today we’ve been to two events. This morning we cycled down to Nouzerines to see the Trec Attelage – horse and carriage trials. We haven’t ever actually seen them underway. Last time we rode down, it was dinner time and everyone’s barbecues were smoking cheerily beneath the cold drizzle. This year it was hot and sunny, even at 9.30am when we called by. Things hadn’t started but most of the horses were tacked up and some were harnessed to the carriages. There were some truly beautiful animals there. Perhaps next time we’ll get to see them tackle the course.

It’s time for a llama and alpaca update. I haven’t mentioned them for ages. At the moment we are very impatiently waiting for Katrina and Gabby to have their cria. (That’s what baby llamas and alpacas are called – it’s a Spanish word.) Gabby is near to exploding point, but determinedly hanging on for as long as she can. Katrina isn’t as vast as her mum, but she has an impressive girth. Bernard is father of both the bairns, so we have no idea what they’ll look like. Bernard is black (although with a quite a lot of grey now that he’s fifteen), Gabby is white and mottled apricot while Katrina is white with dark brown markings. They’re bound to be pretty.

Caitlin and I have had a great weekend learning to spin. Our teacher was Marion Gauvin who runs a chambre d'hote and spinning studio at Le Masmont, close to St Gervais d'Auvergne. She's a wonderful teacher – and also a fabulous cook. We had two lovely lunches while we were there.

A week-long dose of something truly awful has left me weak and wobbly. Creative blogging is beyond me, but I’ve had a quick trawl on the internet and found some quotations about France and some French proverbs that you might enjoy. Hope you do!