Squirrel 0 Jennifer 12

This year I am winning. My fig tree is not beautiful, but it is productive. Every winter I wonder if it is worth the effort of dragging it into the apartment and down the stairwell to the landing which is the coolest darkest spot we have. The tree is only about 1.5 metres tall however, the pot is big and heavy and manhandling it down the stairs isn't easy. We have to walk around it all winter then drag it back outside in the spring. Yet every year the tree rewards our efforts by producing lots of figs.

Summer time and summer dreams

Yes I know it's not officially spring yet, but we have switched to summer time and the weather here is glorious. It's warm, 15 C and everyone has emerged onto the streets. Neighbours are cleaning up their gardens and we've even hauled our plants outside to give them some fresh air. The fig tree has woken up to the longer hours of sunlight and is sprouting leaves. It is still cool at night but if it stays above freezing we'll leave it, the bay trees, the olive and the lemon out on the deck. The forecast for the rest of the week is good, so all of us who are stuck in Toronto are not complaining. We're happy we didn't spend the money to fly to south for spring break.

Bientôt Paris

Tomorrow I'll be sipping a cafe au lait and munching on a delicious croissant from the Le Moulin Vert Boulangerie, just up the street from our apartment. And, as you can guess, I can hardly wait.
This week has been a mess of loose ends to tidy up and now just hours before the flight I think I'm finished. Still no reappearance of the dreaded squirrel, perhaps he's waiting until I leave town? Only 3 green figs left on the tree so he can have them. But, if I find any nuts buried in my planters he'll be history when I return.

I love the autumn and this is a photo of the Luxembourg gardens shows how beautiful it is in Paris. A good walk, or short bus ride from our place this wonderful park is always busy, but there are lots of hidden corners where you can often find yourself alone.

Jennifer 16 - Squirrel still only 3

I am feeling quite smug. The remaining figs are very green and I doubt they will ripen by Thursday.
I've taken off the plastic so far the squirrel hasn't tried to steal another fig. Perhaps it was all the talk of sautéed squirrel brains?

Jennifer 9 Squirrel - still only 3

It seems to be working. I've harvested 4 more figs, so I am way ahead of the squirrel. I've even left my tree outside overnight as the weather has warmed back up to 19 C in the evening. September is always a wacky month for weather.
Now I am just covering one or two figs at a time with the plastic bag. While this leaves the rest of the figs exposed, they are so small, green and hard, that I doubt they will ripen and I am pretty sure they won't before the end of next week when we leave for Paris. I am hoping that if the rodent with a tail does manage to harvest a green one, it will give him such a belly ache that he'll never try again.

And for those of you thinking of eating or shooting squirrels you may want to read this or this.

Jennifer v's Squirrel

Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I have a fig tree. It doesn't grow much but it repays all the care we give it with a bounty of figs. This year there are another two dozen and with the cold, rainy summer we've had, they are big but are ripening slowly. The tree sits against the concrete wall of our building facing west to get the maximum dose of sunshine and heat. And while September has been beautiful, with warm sunny days, it is cool at night, down to 10C already.
I watch the figs turn deep purple and soften, then I pluck them. Our first harvest was two figs and there was another ripening.