We are now the very proud parents of three (we think) little swallows!!

So there is a lot of activity with three adults flying in and out all the time bringing the little ones food.

But we do feel quite priviledged, even though we have to have newspaper on the floor underneath all the time!!

It was a pretty exhausting day moving all those joists, so I thought I would enjoy a little sit down and time to read my book - but in no time at all I was fast asleep and then was spied on by a man with a camera!!

But, as usual, such steps forward require a big surge of time and effort!! We then had to spend the rest of the day lifting each joist (they are three inches by nine inches and vary between four and five and half metres long - pretty heavy!!) from the pile outside, up about a metre and onto the walls that Gavin has been building. The view from on top of the joists is quite different from down on the floor of the barn!! And this is where the ground floor will be.

Great excitement on Friday - sixty eight floor joists were delivered and some floor boarding. These will make the whole of the ground floor.

For those of you who have been following the story of our resident swallows, here is a picture of the nest they have built on one of the beams in our living room.

We really do feel quite priviledged to have them with us.

AND NOW we think we have three little ones!! We have evidence on the floor of three eggs shells. But as yet little ones would be very very tiny and we would not even be able to hear them cheep. But we will, of course, keep you up to date with news of our little family.

Some of the order in which things have happened have got in a bit of a muddle, but I am quite sure that this makes absolutely no difference!!

Anyway, last week, just before the Fetes des Voisines we had two very good friends come to visit for a couple of days. Alan is a fellow Scot and he and Gavin worked together in Japan for a number of years and his lovely fiancee, Yuri who was so helpful and welcoming when Gavin took me to Japan for a holiday last summer. It was lovely to be able to return a little of their hospitality.

Despite the fact that the weather was very hot we all had a great time with Christopher, Kathryn, Declan and Cameron here. Hopefully just a taste of all the lovely holidays the family will be able to enjoy.