The Overloaded Ark has become the tower of Babel

How is that, I hear you ask. Or in fact no, but I will tell you anyway.  It is because our friend Kate Brown (no relative ) has asked us to help her daughter Rebecca with her French. She is staying with us for two and a half weeks to be exposed to as much French as possible. Our own daughter is also here for a week, so the Ark is more overloaded than ever. Several local boys have expressed interest in aiding her too( well she`s very pretty! ) and to immerse her in the language we have decided to talk French for as much of the time as possible. Hence the Tower reference. Luckily she`s no trouble and seems to have a good ear for French so I dont think our time will be wasted, but if you don`t see us on Facebook much you`ll know why!

   Bye for now!

Civray visit

As I have blogged before, our latest form of Sunday afternoon amusement is to visit local spots we don`t know well, and last Sunday the lot fell on Civray, a medium size town across in the Vienne. In fact I was confusing it with Charroux, a town with an interesting octagonal tower.  Perhaps next week?  However Civray didn`t lack for things to see, so the error was not serious,
  Civray`s chief attraction is the great church of St. Nicholas, which boasts three finely-carved doorways, the central one is shown to the right. It also has a handsome octagonal tower to let light into the crossing. However, we found the interior rather dim and depressing. This was largely caused by the fact that the interior of the church has been painted in a striped, spiral pattern, curiously resembling Brighton rock!  Very strange and it does cut down on the luminosity.( see photo on right).
   Still, the interior is interesting, impressive even and has some ancient frescoes. The statue of St Nicholas is identical to the one in our Catholic church of St Margaret Mary at Plymstock.  I wonder if there is a factory turning the images out?
  Round the side of the Church is a small chapel with a note saying the priest doesn`t live there but in the bungalow at the bottom of the garden..Then, further round behind the church is a very pleasant park along the banks of the Charente where we strolled for some time. Among the houses on the other side of the river was one belonging to a sculptor with a sample of his work representing, if I am not mistaken, an octopus.

Now if I were to take up sculpture the very last subject I would be inspired to adopt would surely be an octopus!  Still, there`s no accounting for tastes, I suppose...
   Wandering back to the car, we admired the large central square and an impressive hotel de Ville before turning for home. We had enjoyed our afternoon`s  exploring.

Bye for now!

A cat for all seasons

  This morning I had a pleasant surprise on coming downstairs. There was a frantic mewing at the kitchen door--- Lillou is back!! She has been missing for at least two months and as usual she strolled in, sleek and sassy and not at all thin or hungry. Obviously she has another foyer--but where?  No one in the village is harbouring her and when she`s `on vacation` I never see her while walking the dogs--
   Let me introduce you to this feline Houdini. She originally belonged, insofar as a cat can belong, to our neighbours some 50 metres away on the other street (there`s really only two in Mort Limouzin). At the time their daughter,  although fond of cats, was a bit rough with them, and Lillou took exception to this. She decided to move in with us and what Lillou wants.... Entering by our cat-flap she took her place in the food line and occupied an armchair. Several times we carried her back `home` but she tended to beat us back and eventually all concerned had to accept the new status.
    At about this time she turned out pregnant and was glimpsed rearing a sooty-black kitten all alone in a disused outhouse at the bottom of the village.  Then one morning I came downstairs and there was Lillou with THREE black kittens sitting in a row on the telephone table! She was a good and protective mum and reared the kits without much help from us. In fact, when we thought there was only one, she had stashed them under the planter opposite our front door. Two local dogs were unwise enough to have a sniff. They swiftly regretted it- Lillou attacked them with such ferocity that they fled in terror in two different directions followed by feline curses.
  We found new homes for two of the kits and kept one who we called Réglisse ( `cos she`s black of course).  Lillou usually fits in well with our household and is a faithful knee-cat. She is an odd character utterly fearless with dogs and with a mind of her own;  I have been nipped more than once for displeasing her!  In spite of her numerous faults I have to admit she`s my favourite.
 This makes her main fault all the more infuriating-- She likes to go on holiday. One day she`s a fixture , the next she`s gone and is not seen for weeks. Then, just as we have accepted she is a gonner, she strolls in, large as life and twice as noisy.  What can you do with a cat like Lillou?

                       Bye for now
 

Lusignan--town of the mermaid!

 Readers of my recent blogs will have found that one of our favourite occupations on a Sunday afternoon is to explore some of the local and not so local sights. Last Sunday I suggested trying Lusignan a town briefly visited by me some time ago but to which Kim had never been.
  We found it to be a very pleasant town. The centte is very picturesque, a medieval town of narrow alleys clustered round a very interesting ancient church. The is also a covered market with fine timber roof. Signs to the `vestiges` of a castle led us to explore further and we found substancial ruins of a very large castle constructed on the edge of a cliff. I was particularly struck by the rear entrance from the base of the cliff. If you entered a low doorway into a creepy passage you found a guardroom on the right and then the well of a spiral staircase leading to the top of the wall.
  A leaflet found in the church gave us some fascinating details of the town`s history. The lords of Lusignan dating from the Ninth Century built the enormous castle and later added the great church nearby. They later became even more rich and famous, and were Kings of Jerusalem and Cyprus during the Crusades. But what struck me most of their history was that they claim to be descended from the fairy mermaid Melusine, of King Arthur fame! the town name of Lussignan is derived from Melusignan, and the town and church have several statues and references to a rather scaly mermaid, not very attractive as a mate to my eyes!
 After a pleasant walk by the castle ruins we descended to the lower level at the base of the cliff and walked along the River Vonne which borders the town and which has a nice camp site on the river banks. On the way back to the car we met a pretty and friendly cat and had a job to dissaude her from coming with us. Altogether a most successful visit. We will be back!

     Bye for now

Costa?

 Here do you think these pictures were taken? No, it`s not on the Rivièra, despite the topless model!  Not even on the coast at all or on one of the lakes for which France is famous, but at a little village 15 minutes from here. A few years ago the village did not even have a lake , but the inhabitants decided to dam a little stream in a mashy area, and to landscape the resulting lake to form a fishing spot and a swimming pool. The lake is divided by a floating rope barrier so that on one side the local anglers can hunt the stocked trout and carp, and on the other they have tipped sand to form a beach for all the world as if you were at the seaside. The only things missing are the tides and the salt and personally I can well do without these. There is even a lifeguard.
   We discovered this idyllic spot soon after we bought our house here.  We had been going to the indoor swimming pool at Ruffec, which cost dear and was very crowded in the school hols. Someone told us about the lake at Les Gours and we drove about till we found it. Naturally we asked the lifeguard how much to come in and swim and were dumbfounded to be told it was free. Since then we have always used the lake (or plan d`eau as they call it here) All our visitors have been as charmed as we were to use this lovely spot.  A thousand thanks to the hospitable villagers of Les Gours!

 

It`s not always summer here!  The lake frozen over in winter.


     Off to bed soon!   Bye for now

Of Presidents and Kings

A cat may look at a king, the saying goes and perhaps sleep in the royal presence unconcerned with worldly pomp. There was no king to be seen in the great parade this morning on the Champs Elysée this morning to celebrate the 14th of July, France`s national day, the most important of the year. President Sarkozy took the salute of a selection of France`s formidable armed forces in an impressive demonstration of precision marching by soldiers, armoured vehiclesin close array, horses and a fly-by of aircraft. Most French men and women were bursting with pride and patriotism, despite sad news of the deaths of six young soldiers killed keeping the peace in afghanistan.
   The Quatorze marks the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, the very start of France`s change from a monarchy to a republic. Despite some temporary restorations and empires, it so remains to this day, and proud of it.
   Is a republic the best system of government, you ask? Darned if I know! Basically there are three systems you can choose, a hereditary monarchy, where the King succeeds by birth from his father, the similar dictatorship, often passing on by the same system, or a democracy ,where the population choose their government. This is said to be the fairest, but it does have its disadvantages. To be in government or to be president, you have to convince the electorate that you will be better than the last lot, and the sight of politicians promising improvements they have little hope in keeping and denigrating the efforts of their opponents is not an edifying spectacle.As the voters are basically selfish, the promises are of the `bread and circuses` type already known to the Romans.
  Would it not be better and cheaper to have a wise and benign Leader to lead his nation to better things? But there`s the rub, who would choose this patriarch ( or matriarch, sorry, feminists!) and even more important how to get rid of him|her if unsatisfactory?  Gaddafi is a case in point!
   Perhaps a democracy, either a republic or a constitutional monarchy to water down presidential self-importance, is the least unsatisfactory of the available systems! What do you think? Suggestions would be welcome...

                Bye for now (it`s bedtime....)
                  

Storm 2

Some of you may have been surprised to find a title`Storm!!` on the blog with no content... Well there is,of course a perfectly good explanation.  I was in course of writing a gripping account of the storm we had here yesterday morning when the internet went down and to re-establish it I had to quit the Blogspot programme. Although I tried to make a copy of my effort,and did in fact create a document, this was not sufficient and all my efforts to recreate the blog were in vain. All that was left was the title! If you want to read the magnum opus you will have to call round, we will give you a cup of tea..

  We did in fact have quite a storm. I was awoken at about 5 am by torrential rain and a lightning flash. I hurried down to pull out the computers and found Laika in a state, she hates thunder. I had to let her out of her sleeping-cage and comfort her as best I could. She does not like to get on knees normally and you can tell she is frightened when she climbs on.
  We had about 2 inches of rain, sorely needed.  I measure rain by the depth I have to tip out of the sheep`s dishes, a rough and ready yardstick which nevertheless gives a good indication. Our out-buildings were a bit damp but nothing to worry about and at least the house is waterproof. It`s back to normal weather tonight, a beautiful evening. Vive la France!!


                      Bye for now!
  

Storm!!!

Surbiton-sur-Charente

One of our favorite pastimes on a sunny afternoon is to do a bit of local exploring. We have a look in the Michelin, choose a likely looking area in the region , link up the GPS (or Satnav to anglophones)  and set off to see what is to be seen. In this way we have found lots of charming places and some that were not what the map suggested!  I often choose villages on the Charente, our local big river and one of my absolute favorite watercourses.
   Yesterday our choice fell upon Vouleme, a small town which seemed to be in a meander of the river and we set out to drive there, via Taizé Aizé, a town whose name proved more picturesque than the reality, though it was pretty in a small way. continuing on, we arrived at Vouleme.
   The little town did impress us with a certain charm. It is built in a steep valley of the Charente with rocky cliffs on one side and a many-arched bridge crossing the river. The other side is more at river level with a grassy car park next to the water and a chinese-looking footbridge over the flow. We parked in the car-park, where some sort of event was taking place, or rather had taken place as the stalls were closing down. But what struck us both forcibly was that all the participants were English. We could have been in Surrey at a town fete!  Totally surreal..  On investigating I saw several posters in the English-registered cars scattered about advertising a summer fair. The poster was totally in English and made no mention of the organisation`s name.  Very odd.

  The final piece of the puzzle was found when we walked into the little town. The large local restaurant was called EDNA`S and was advertising `Sunday Lunch`.
  I really don`t know if this little town has been taken over by the English aliens, or whether we happened to call when the local WI branch was holding its annual fete. If anyone knows, please tell me.

     Bye for now

Artistic Farmers

I love living in France and perhaps more than that, I love living in the countryside. Of course, most of the charm of the countryside lies in  the fields and the crops growing in them. Who can resist the sight of a field of wheat all tender green as the new crop sprouts in the Spring?  Or the sight of the same crop, fully ripened by the sun and waving in the breeze ready for the combine? Or the field after `all has been safely gathered in` when the golden stubble is cut as evenly as a blonde crew-cut with just the bales of straw scattered haphazardly here and there?
  Or more exotic crops like the rows of vines lined up ready for trimming of the over-exuberant leaves   and the eventual harvest of the green or purple bunches often seen in our region. The farmers seem to take a delight in doing everything so regularly and precisely. I was even told the other day when looking at a newly-planted field of vines that the rows are positioned by GPS !
  And surely the French farmer has some exceptionally pretty crops! What could be more beautiful than a field of sunflowers? Or the paler yellow of the unfortunately-named oil-seed rape? In the spring we can see fields of bright blue which are the Alfalfa fodder crop or a duller mauve of hemp or flax. I am really coming to believe that the French farmer is a repressed artist, using his fields to paint an acres-wide canvas.

     To emphasize my theory, what do you think of this? Surely nobody could plant such a crop just to turn a mundane profit!
`Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty`. The farmers should be praised to the skies for the visual treats they give us!!


     Bye for now

 

Playing Chicken

  Those of you who follow closely the breathless saga of our trip to the mountains, will recall that I left you with a cliff-hanger--we didn`t go straight back to Deux Sèvres.  In fact, we had been invited by Arlette, one of our fellow campers to spend a couple of days visiting her and meeting her husband Laurent. They and their family run a farm on the outskirts of Orthez, a town we have never visited. We had previously cleared with our heroic caretakers of the Ark`s passengers for us to take a further three days leave of absence!

   The farm is charming with a distant view of the Pyrenees, and Arlette and Laurent made us very welcome indeed. Besides the normal field crops, the farm keeps a few chickens, some 17000 of them in fact!  They are housed in special arks and the fowls are free-range and sold for eating. There must be money in chickens, as not many farmers have a lamborghini parked outside! I would add in case this is taken too seriously, that the vehicle in question is a tractor!  Isn`t it odd that the same firm makes luxury cars and tractors?
  We had a very pleasant few days eating outside often and also visiting,(and eating) with other campers on their own ground. Now we`re home again and getting used to a lighter diet!

   Well, bedtime calls... meet up with you again soon!

Interim...

 There`s a story attached to my message of yesterday... Hope you found it interesting as you nearly didn`t read it!  I had nearly finished writing it, photos and all when clack, the screen went dark, the lights went out for a second and the house phone let out a squark....micro power cut!! The computer booted up again when turned on but the screen-saver had reverted to a previous setting and my hard-worked blog had disappeared into the Black Hole.  I was so disappointed that I didn`t have the heart to recompose it and was going to substitute a cry from the heart about the trials of poor bloggers.
    Luckily, there`s a happy ending...yesterday I found the `nouveau message` header missing which requires one to sign on again to Google. When I did so,  I stumbled across the amendment facility and guess what?  I came across the missing blog, which the clever machine had backed up for me!
  All`s well which ends well and I know I really should have a temporary power supply but it`s never happened to me before so I`m hoping it won`t again. At least I now know what to do!

         Bye for now!

The sermon on the mont...

I thought I`d try to give you some idea of a day at `Vers les Cimes` the building and setting you can see in the photo on the left. As I said in my previous blog, it is a `colonie de vacances` owned by the Evangelical church at Orthez, dedicated mainly to giving adventure holidays to children  .  Each season a `Camp des Ainés` is run the week before the childrens` season commences.

   I usually woke up at about seven and dressed quietly so as not to wake Kim. I would then walk down the corridor and out onto the stairhead and would stop to admire the Gabizos mountain right in front of me. I never fail to wonder at its magnificence! Then, down the steps to see how the dogs have survived the night in the car under the trees.I give them their breakfast, lead them up and off for a walk in the nearby forest track the Route de Then.
   Back to camp about eight, stash the dogs then go to wake up Kim. Spruced up a bit, we go down to breakfast with the other Ainés . Everybody is encouraged to bring local produce so there is an amazing assortment of home-made jams to sample. Plenty of coffee to wake up Kim, too.

  After a brief interval we have a little talk an a hymn led by one of us, then the Pasteur takes over for a reflection on his biblical theme with another song added. This year`s theme was forgiveness and reconciliation. The Pasteur, Emile Nichole, also played keyboard, most convenient. After that we were usually free until lunch,which was prepared for us from local produce and was copious and tasty, and even more...I DIDN`T HAVE TO COOK IT!
   After lunch had been digested with a short sieste, the expedition of the day was on the agenda. We would drive in convoy with the colo`s bus to a col somewhere and leaving the less energetic we`d walk further `uppards` Some fantastic walks, some strenuous some more leisurely.
  On our return to camp, time for apero`s, then dinner (see notes on lunch!)
  The evening was variously spent, sometimes silly games, sometimes free. One evening we took part in a local music festival with a hastily rehearsed choral contribution which seemed well received.
  The week passed all too quickly and it was time to leave. But we did not go straight back to Deux Sèvres!  What we did I`ll keep for my next blog....

         Bye for now!!