snow snow snow snow - I dream of being snowed in

The French farmers are far too practical here, so no doubt I will be able to get to work tomorrow as normal. In the meantime I get to keep cooking all the leftovers from the chest freezer - tonight spicy meatballs.

With the chickens wandering around, wading through the snow, I also took the opportunity to take a few photos and intend to get them loaded onto flickr tonight.

Have to make the most of the internet connection while we still have it - photos uploaded to flickr and redbubble.

But I did manage to take the dog for a walk today - our tracks through the snow were the only signs of life on the lanes.

Horses for courses

From yesterday's tatties to today's gee gees.

Fantastic day out for my Canon - just another 108 photos to review.

OK - photos sorted Sunday afternoon, just enough time left to de-husk the 4 kilos of walnuts that Brendan foraged on his way back from his bike club meeting.

Yummy Christmas nut treats, and I can finally make some of those recipes that call for walnuts and not have to replace them with almonds.

He also picked another couple of kilos of chestnuts, but I am already stocked up on chestnuts from last year, looks as though another distribution amongst the neighbours is required.

Fete de la pomme de terre

Went to a local village fair today, the fete de la pomme de terre.

Had a wander around in the sun (hitting 30°C again today - a real Indian summer), and took a few photos.

No chance of a winning pumpkin this year, my measly 25 kilos is nowhere near the current first place of 42 kilos.

For the first time in a while I felt very photographically inspired so took my camera and took several shots and actually loaded them onto flickr and redbubble straight away.

Feeling smug so off to beat Thea at Monopoly now.

Counting down from 337...

...photographs taken on the day

...109 now in the full folder

...31 photos in an album on facebook for guests to visit

PHEW (wipes sweat from brow) - off to sit around and wait for my parcel to arrive from the UK now.

What I did on my holidays...

This is the absorbing view from the kitchen window during my holidays.

Being an early riser at heart and the hour difference not affecting my body clock but leaving me wide awake and in need of coffee at 6.30 am every morning I spent several hours each morning staring out at the neighbours.

Normally our neighbours are more bovine and have little entertainment value first thing, so this was quite a difference and highly educational.

Things not to do when silhouetted in a window  (all of which I observed over the course of a few days):-

1.  Choose a bad tie. This poor gentleman spent several minutes trying on various shirts and having finally decided on a puce purple to go with his blue suit, he then added a tangerine tie.  I kid you not - this is a guy with serious colour issues - GOK WAN WHERE ARE YOU?  I was almost shouting at him (mentally of course not wishing to wake the neighbours)  'choose the blue one!'.  I am sure he went off to work happy though as he seemed to have quite a spring in his step.  Maybe its just me who has unadventurous colour issues?

2.  Lose things in your handbag.  This was so hilarious I was actually looking for a video setting on the camera.  It was just like a black and white pastiche - first she rifles through the bag, then she clutches her head, then she rifles through her bag again, then she runs her fingers through her hair, then she rifles through her bag violently throwing things out, then she shakes her head, she tips the bag out onto the windowsill, items roll and scatter, she scrabbles through them desperately and backs away shaking her head even more violently - she returns to the window, peace is restored, she has her phone in hand, all the scattered items are lovingly replaced in her bag, she fixeds her ruffled hair and leaves the window.

3. Have a heated debate. I think this is a bit of a given, however this was a particularly early morning for me, about 5.30am, it was still before dawn and so they were perfectly backlit against their light voile curtains. Finger pointed and hands thrown in the air dramatically, better than any Chinese shadow play.  I don't think they were too concerned about disturbing their neighbours.

4.  Remember that frosted glass is still see through.  She had a shower, she decided to apply body lotion, she did it next to the window with the lights on behind her on a dark overcast morning.  It was clearer than the TV.  Enough said - apart from to wonder whether there was an intended audience.


'Entrances'

'Entrances 2'

~ Today's project therefore was to make a start on the photos - more still to come.

As well as a lovely lunch of homemade sausage rolls and fresh tomato salad from the greenhouse - so glad to be home and have my garden around me full of lovely healthy produce. ~

Photogenic garden flowers

Took my camera out into the garden today to take some long overdue shots.

Dill and leeks flowering taken with my Canon on a standard 18-55mm lens on a monochrome setting.

Uploaded the rest to my flickr account - and now really should upload them to redbubble if only I could remember my passwords.

Well this is a bit embarrassing....

.... I changed my status on Facebook today to say that I was celebrating 10 years of marriage......unfortunately our wedding anniversary is actually tomorrow. Not the first time I have got it wrong, but what is really embarrassing is that I went and checked the date on the certificate, and still got it wrong!


As a special treat my lovely husband took me to the scrapyard. Ostensibly to collect a table he had spotted there the other day that he wanted for his workshop, but in reality, once there he was trying to palm me off with all sorts of other rubbish, because once I spotted the table I knew I had to have it.

It has come out of a local school, Thea says they have similar ones in her science lab, it is waist high and has a laminated top, so I have commandeered it as my pattern cutting table for my studio. What did he expect with a trip to the scrappy as an anniversary gift. Still for 10 years it is supposed to be tin or coal.

While I was there I did find some other treasures, a metal bucket for my wood store in my studio, some saucepans to use in the cages for our ever expanding rabbit population, a waffle iron and a night potty bucket. All of which the scrap man gave me for free - as my anniversary present!

I am not quite sure what that says about my life here in rural France, that my local scrapman gives me an anniversary present? Nor am I sure what it says about our marriage, that my husband thinks a trip to the scrappy is appropriate? What does it say about me? Am I taking reduce, reuse, recycle a step too far?

On the other hand a bucket of bits and bobs or a bag of coal - good practical presents both of them, better than some overpriced flowers, although I wouldn't necessarily say no to chocolate.

While in the scrapyard we visited our lorry. We moved to France in winter 2006, with all of our wordly goods crammed in this 7.5 tonne lorry, bought for one trip only, then sold to the scrap man once we had cut the body off it in order to transport our 2 pig arcs, and run several trips to collect hay and straw in it while it was a flat-bed. Then eventually it died and it was time for it to move on. All that is left now is the flat bed base and the roof - still with the hole cut out from the caravan window that had been set into the roof while it was a horse box. I cut the window out to make a cold frame for the garden - waste not want not!

The big plus side of a visit to the scrap man and scrap yard are the photographic opportunities. Scrap metal and cars are one of my favourite things to capture - well they don't move around for a start.

Tomorrow's project is to collate and process the photos I took today, having installed my table under the window in the studio today, taken a couple of quick shots of the kittens - as you can see from the photo above, Fergie is happily installed on my shoulder as I type this, and a quick dinner of pork chops and dauphinoise potatoes.


Recipe - dauphinoise potatoes
Peel some potatoes - any old softening ones in the bottom of the veg basket or what's left of last year's harvest are perfect for this.
Slice about half a centimetre thick and layer in an oven proof dish - I like to add some thinly sliced onion in as well.
Sprinkle on some garlic powder and season as you build the layers.
Pour over a litre of stock and leave to cook in the oven at 180C for about 45 minutes.
By this time the stock should be pretty much gone, but the potatoes nice and soft, then pour over a carton of thick double cream (about 150 ml), sprinkle with some paprika and some parsley and leave to cook for another 20 minutes.
By cooking in two stages like this the cream won't split and you need less cream so it is slightly healthier.