French as she is spoke

   As I said in my last blog, we have been in a French-speaking environment this last week,which has led me to consider the question of speaking this tongue. I realise you have never finished learning, more vocabulary is acquired, possibly a better or at least a different accent is picked up... I have found myself this week sounding the final mute syllables on words ending in e or ent, as the locals do but not the more Parisian French. I hope I don't pick up the local way of pronouncing words like 'pain or domain'  as paing or demaing, which to my ears sounds harsh.
   The locals also have their patois, incomprehensible to outsiders when spoken at breakneck speed. Nevertheless, when I have seen it written, I feel it often resembles mis-spelt French, although I am sure the locals would take issue with me. It seems like Devon or Tyneside dialect, a few 'new' words but really recognizable as a variant of the parent language. Not at all a separate tongue like Welsh or Breton.

 Oh, that's it, the I-Pad has warned me of low battery, I must wind up these musings...Bye for now!

The Ark is in the mountains

   Once again the Ark has moved to the Hauts Pyrrenees for our summer stay at the Colonie Vers Les  Cimes. I would refer you to my posts of last summer for further details, suffice it to say we has profited by genial company, a little Bible study and loads of walks in beautiful mountain scenery. You will have to wait til I return to my computer and load the pics I have taken this year before I can show you scenes we have visited, but we have really seen some lovely country. We have
 also spent the whole week speaking French, so much so that I almost started writing this review in that language. Perhaps I should publish some numbers in French to enlarge my audience a bit, s'il y a des français qui lit celui-ci, prière de me signaler! Thinking further, I suppose that this is perhaps unlikely.....

   In fact this blog is being written neither at the Colonie nor at La Mort Limouzin, but at Orhez, chez our good friends Arlette and Laurent, who have an old farmhouse and an enormous elevage of meat chickens, some 15000 birds who sleep in great arks but can roam about during the day. We are here



til Monday, leaving our house to our very capable house-sitter, Bruce. It always gives us pleasure to spend a few days in their company and eases the wrench in leaving our summer-camp.
   I noticed when I signed on to Blogger, that I have not written an Ark since the first of the month of June, whereas it's now the twenty-fifth, not what you could call regular! It's strange, sometimes you have the urge to blog, and sometimes there doesn't seem to be much to say... Still, I must make the resolution to be more regular, even if it is to keep in touch, as one of my readers sent a mail to enquire if everything was ok.
   We have had a vintage camp this year for the weather, fine every day, and even now the sun is blazing down and it will be a very hot afternoon. I hope all of you are equally lucky.
   Right, must finish now, dogs to walk. Everyone else has retired for a siesta!

      Til the next time, hopefully soon!