22 today!

Happy birthday to Olivier who celebrates his 22nd birthday today – the 22nd - and he was born on a Friday. It must be a lucky day!

Unfortunately, I know that he has 4 hours Friday afternoon and 4 hours Saturday mornings with the same lecturer every other week (VIP who travels to Bordeaux from one of the financial capitals of Europe). Fingers crossed that this is one of his free weekends.

Here's a picture of him when he was three

You must see these

We hardly ever get snow here - about once every four years.  I love snow picrures...

Snowflakes caught in a spider's web

Do not feed the horse

This is a picture of Groseille (Currant) the local star in our village.  She's very friendly indeed if she thinks that you've got something for her to eat.  We used to take her an apple every time we walked by.  Someone told us that the apple should be cut up, so we cut it into four pieces.  She can count and would wait for the forth piece before continuing with the grass.

Unfortunately, everyone was feeding her tit-bits, including stale bread.  See how muddy her back looks in this picture.  One day as we were preparing to feed her an apple her owner, the mayor, came over to us and explained that she had been rolling on the ground in agony with colic.  So he's asked everyone not to feed her.  She's written a very nice notice explaining how too much food makes her ill.

Unfortunately she doesn't come over to say hello anymore, just snuffles a greeting and continues grazing.

Strange week

It has been rather strange and Rob and I have certainly been feeling a little strange coping with the flu. 

I had a new pupil this week. A farmer, who had lessons with Rob when we first came to France. I met him and his wife when I was expecting Christian. He asked me how my little boy was these days, expecting him to be 10 or eleven. Christian was 26 on Thursday! We had a lovely long phone call to celebrate. He’s now as old as Rob was when he was born.

Something else that is strange, though I don’t expect to feel the impact until next week, is that ExposeYourBlog! is closing down this weekend. I’ve just sent out my last newsletter (twice as usual – I never did get that right). Friar Don and I are sad to be letting it go, but we both have busy lives elsewhere now. Don needs to devote more time to his spiritual life and I wish him well for the future.

 Me? I’m busy with my postcards and hopefully more blogging and writing.

Careful how you comment

There was I gleefully leaving a comment on Kath’s blog about how good the flu vaccination is…and I was struck down. We’ve all heard about the dangers of viruses over the internet, but the flu virus spreading online? Hopefully Kath is now recovered from her bout of flu and mine seems to be clearing up okay-ish (very tired if I try to do too much at once).

It seems that 75% of the children in our village (ages 3-11) were absent from school last week because of flu. Someone mentioned that this year’s vaccine here wasn’t quite the right one. Rob’s next.

I apologise in advance for typos and sentences that go nowhere.

The end of the world

I dreamt that we knew that the end of the world was coming. I was in a house with children that I loved; my own children, my parents, my sisters and brother and some others (perhaps ex pupils). They were all children. I was the only adult with them.

We were on the first floor and there were stairs leading down to the front door, though it couldn’t be seen from the room we were in. There was an explosion a long way away and out of the window we could see buildings collapsing and turning to dust radiating out from the blast. I called the children to me and most of them came, although some preferred to carry on playing. I didn’t insist, as long as they weren’t afraid and happy with what they were doing.

I was expecting an explosion as the crumbling buildings became closer and closer to where we were. Some dust was coming in through the front doorway which I realized was open. The dust was coming up the stairs. I decided there wasn’t much point in closing it. Through the windows we could see dust rising to the level of the room we were in. It was a greeny yellow dust. At this point I realized that we were going to suffocate and be buried in the dust. I started to pray; at first for help, when I realized there was no use in that. I asked for peace and calm so that the children wouldn’t be afraid. I woke up when my breathing started to become really difficult, but I was still calm

More cookery?

Incredibly I dreamt about cooking last night. I was in a long narrow kitchen, there were plenty of cupboards ovens and electric and gas burners but no work surfaces. It made life very difficult – nowhere to put down hot saucepans and dishes, let alone prepare the food. I’ve not long started reading 'Last Night in Twisted River' by John Irving – hence the busy kitchen. I already knew that the loggers ate well, but the descriptions of the huge quantities of food that they eat and the conditions of preparation obviously went to my head. It’s a great read, but not if you’re on a diet.

Moi, giving cookery advice?

I don’t think I’ve ever blogged about cooking before*. I came across a very interesting tip the other day which I thought I’d share: When you are cake making, substitute the butter with pureed avocado pear. Yes, you did read it right. Apparently cookies that were made with avocado were less crumbly and it doesn’t change the taste.

 At Christmas I made a mustard cake which was very dry, it sounds like the ideal way to solve the problem. (Mustard cake makes a nice nibble to go with drinks before a meal)

Don’t forget to let me know how you get on.

Check out the comments in my previous post. Keith has left a link which could be useful if you are aspiring to make the perfect omlette.

*I tell a lie, if you click on the cookery label below,  I posted something about 7 years ago.

About those New Year resolutions

I’ve actually written some down.

I wonder how many people like me have decided to lose some weight this year. Millions, judging by all of the advice that is cluttering up my email box. I’ve  read  a few (100 or so) ideas and surprise, surprise, I already carry out a lot of them. I drink water, don’t take sugar in tea or coffee, eat breakfast, eat plenty of fibre, don’t snack between meals, dessert at lunch time is always fruit and so on. I know what my problem is – portion size. That’s another resolution for the list, reduce portion size.

One useful tip I did pick up: Just aim for a 5% weight loss and then take it from there. A lot of health websites tell you to aim for 10 %.  5% seems more obtainable to me.

 I’ve also decided to exercise for at least 10 minutes 3 times a week (as well as the normal walking I do). I accidently discovered something to help. Just now, I thought I’d start off with 5 minutes to music. I put on Boz Scaggs; an old friend of mine for exercising to. 6 minutes passed without any effort at all! I hadn’t realized how important a good tune was to get me moving.

 I’m also aiming for more blogging. I’ve been rather slack over the past year. I’m also going to try to make my posts more interesting. While I’m at the keyboard I need to write more fiction and poetry. Hopefully I should have slimmer fingers at least from all of the typing.

The Wedding post

The weather yesterday morning was perfect for a wedding, sunny without a cloud in the sky. By the time our train arrived in Poitiers it was raining. Dom and JM met us at the station and drove us round to their apartment. It was our first visit to out apartment so JM showed us around. I’m pleased to report that their corridor is wide enough to accept bookcases. They’ve got a lovely flat with room for an office.

The wedding meal was before the ceremony and we all went to an organic restaurant. ‘We all’ consisted of families and witnesses. Dom and JM’s friends made an effort to speak English from time to time – though they were all so good I don’t think they needed to struggle. I sat next to JM’s brother who is a younger version of JM and I was pleased to discover that he really is interested in vintage postcards, especially from WWI. The meal was surprisingly filling considering I chose a salad. The cake was delicious, chocolate pear!

 After we finished our meal the happy couple and witnesses went back to change, so we wondered around the Christmas market and shopping center and then to the town hall to wait for a few minutes. There we got to know Nadia – Dom’s colleague and witness – who was in charge of the flowers. She’s researching reading problems and dyslexia.

A civil wedding in France is really short; basically reading the law and declaring the happy couple man and wife. After which we went into a magnificent room at the side for photographs. We walked back to their flat in the rain and had just time for speeches and a glass of champagne before the train home. The youngsters were off out once the oldies were out of the way.

It was lovely to see that they have such good friends. And JM’s family is very fond of Dom we know, as we are fond of him. So now I am Officially a Mother-in-law.

The official bride with her official mother

An embarrassing moment
Dom and JM took us to the station in their Twingo which is a small car. I’ve always had trouble getting out of the back of the car and my foot slipped as I got out of the car so my weight went down onto my left knee. I was stuck half in and half out as I couldn’t push myself up. Dom and JM had to lift me up out of the car. I did feel such a fool; it was painful at the time, but once I was on my feet I was okay. No swelling today fortunately

Stained glass window in the town hall, Poitiers

 *Photos by Rob