I call it a Chinamans hat

Be careful where you put your circumflex. I knew that ^ indicated a missing s. For example forêt = forest. But I didn't realise that in the 18th century there was a paper tax and so it was used on other words too.

Link to wikipedia.

Specifically, the letters "ugh" were replaced when they were silent in the most common words, e.g., "thô" for "though", "thorô" for "thorough", and "brôt" for "brought".

So this morning when I saw the word tache I thought oh that means stains. However it made no sense because the sentence read.

They shared out the stains!!! Then I discovered tache with a circumflex tâche.

They shared out the tasks!!

Link to tache/ tâche here.

I love taking pictures of the trees with the light playing on the leaves, so they have a dappled effect tacheté.

I called this one magical place.

Fuel a difficult subject

Bindu recently made comments about the tree stump.

My love of trees is obvious however I cannot be a hypocrite about the trees which are felled.

Trees in Fougeres town.

We use wood as our main source of heating. Many chestnut trees here need to be destroyed because there is a disease spreading through Europe. Wood is also now seen as a green fuel. It is all about thoughful management and replacement.

I often read about forest management, and experts think that old decaying trees can in fact damage the environment. So management and tree felling can be a good thing.

Healthy Chestnut tree in Fougeres town

What about nuclear power?. Thats a tricky one too, it is one of the reasons that electricity in France is a lot cheaper than in the UK, there have been problems this year, link here.

What I dont understand is why dont new Government buildings have solar panels, why dont they install solar panels on all new sports stadiums? Governments should be setting an example.

I am happy to use wood as a fuel. There is a small coppice of silver birch trees in the village which is abviously being grown as fuel for use in the future.

Its very cold here in Brittany at the moment and we only have heating downstairs in our small kitchen/ living room.

What is better wooden furniture or plastic?......Nuclear fuel or wood? Paper bags or plastic?

I think that we can all try and do our bit for the planet, maybe everyone should plant a tree before they die.

What do you think?

Treehugger has some interesting topics here.

More information here.

Julia Hailes Blog here.

I dont agree with everything in Julia Hailes blog, but most of it is a worthwile read, anyway it is food for thought.

Contrasts

Wednesday was a treat, the morning was frosty and misty and then sunny. I enjoy wandering along the hedgerows with my dog. Believe it or not there is always something new to see, I spotted a lot of funghi or mushrooms growing at the base of a tree.

I also saw a new tree stump, the colour was really light and bright and it had lovely shadows on it. The French word for tree stump here.

Today I had planned to have a wander around Fougeres after my French class and go have some fun with my camera. But the weather was so closed in it was almost raining. So I stopped briefly on the way home and took a few pictures, the weather was dire.

I start to go a bit potty if I dont have a wander around the lovely town of Fougeres, I must check the weather forecast.

Here is a great weather word to get your teeth into Brouillard

Sense

Today I stumbled across a new word, I came across abasourdi....meaning stunned or dumbfounded, it made me think about the English word absurd.

Sourd is the French word for deaf.

Do you ever stop to wonder about the joy of being able to see, or speak or hear, or even to be able to taste food.

Now that I enjoy taking photographs the joy of sight is even more special to me.

Below is a picture I took in early October, I liked the way the light plays on the leaves.

I was thinking today about how good the bread is here. When I cross the road to go to the boulangerie I must listen for the traffic coming around the bend, and so my ears become for a brief moment my eyes.

Window views

Sunday Dimanche what a day. The weather has been remarkable BAD. There is snow falling in France but here in this part of Brittany we have only had howling wind and lashing rain.

My view on the world has mainly been through the window. I did make a quick visit to our local boulangerie across the square for a loaf of bread and a carton of milk. A carton of milk here is known as a brique. I guess a small carton does look like a brick.

I am looking forward to a walk in the forest soon, the scenery is changing fast as the leaves fly off the trees. In fact a nice frosty walk would be lovely, ah well lets throw another log on the fire and page back through my Flickr photos.

Bread Shop...Boulangerie

Here is a frame on a view in the forest.

Learning a foreign language can be hard.

How to order a hamburger with a French accent.

French TV films

Last night we watched a film on France 3 called L'Oncle de Russie., the star of the film was the actor Claude Brasseur. He has one of those faces where words are not always necessary, a face full of lines and life. I like faces like that.

I like a face with character I am not into the beauty that todays world seems to be obsessed with.

The film was about a French man who gets incarcerated in Russia during the war but doesn't manage to get back to France until 1989. His eventual homecoming is full of anguish and trouble, and the inheritance that he has lost to other members of his family causes a lot of pain.

Here is a link to some pictures.

Here is another Claude Brasseur what a beauty.

I know little about roses, here is one from my garden I have no idea what it is called, but it is pink.

More left handed rubbish

It appears that the world is unhappy if you dont conform. French fancy commented on the left hand connection with sinister. Left handed link here. and the word left here.

Politically speaking the Left have been in the news the last couple of days and Sarkozys sparring partner has been getting a rough ride, here she is, Seg.

Many people think that a great amount of the problems in France today have been caused by too much left wing thinking. Personally I just sit back and watch, or go outside and take sinister or spooky photographs.

Diable (devil) is a masculine word, they got it right for once tee hee. Here is a link to the devil!

Must go to bed before I write any more diabolical links.

Spooky

Following All Saints and Hallows Eve. We are now entering winter with some gloomy cold weather. It is however a great time to try out a few spooky shots.

I recently put a picture on Flickr which I called haunted. The origins of the word haunted.

I like the word Spooky, however sinister in French is sinistre, the word sinistré with that stress at the end has been heard on the news recently. Some people in France have had terrible floods sweep through their homes. Sinistre.

Flags and Flowers

I got up early this morning and noticed that the big curtain across the door had not been pulled across. I think I am right in thinking that in America the word drapes is used for curtains. Which Is how I came to think about the Breton flag......The French word for flag is drapeau.

The National flower of France as far as I can find out is the Iris/Lily, which brings be straight back to the word flag. Flag is also used as a name for the Iris.

Dont just burn it

I recently saw a magazine showing pictures of people in the forest who were clog makers.

Lower classes often wore clogs, in France the name for clogs is sabots....this is also linked to the word sabotage. I have read that the lower classes threw their clogs into the machinery in factories ie sabotage, also that people associated the wearing of clogs to people who were not very productive.

Years back I wore wooden clogs but stopped when I had a puppy in the house, they get under your feet and little paws get squashed. She still gets under my feet but is a whole lot bigger.

This year I spent the summer wearing a pair of imitation crocs..sabots with holes in the top, very comfy they are too.

Which countries are beech trees native to?

Which countrues are oak trees native to?

On our doorstep

Wood there is oodles of the stuff here, but it isnt free or cheap. Wood is sold by the corde and when it is stacked in the forest it is normally stacked as a corde. We dont have central heating and so wood is our main source of fuel.

We live right near the wonderful forest, which is being transformed over the next fifteen years, the beech trees are to be replaced by oak trees. This is a relief I was afraid that it would all be turned into pine forest.

Did you know that some of the trees felled in France are shipped to China sliced up and turned into parquet flooring and then shipped back to France. I have even seen the Chinese lorries here in the forest of Fougeres.............Carbon footprints???

Madness.

My favorite word is oiseau.

French class

I simply cannot believe that it is time for my serious French class in the morning. I have been asked to talk about my new Hobby = Passe temps, photography.

My French is very poor, but it goes something like this

Je suis un membre de trois groupes Francais de photographie sur l'internet sur Flickr.

So yes I have been invited by French people who use Flickr to join their photo groups on the Internet. It means that I get to see some lovely photographs of Brittany /Bretagne too. If I had the time and money I would just travel around Brittany and take photographs. The French word for dream is reve. I am going to show a few of my pictures including this one.

Which is to appear on a CD cover..wow, The English Symphony Orchestra playing Haydn, get out there and buy the CD and support them. Oh and send me a blank cheque.

If you don't have a French keyboard (yes they are different) then you may find the software that I use free of charge http://www.avisoft.co.uk/, which enables me to type..àâçèêœëî ......etc.

Armistice Day

Today is a public holiday in France so although the children only went back to school on Thursday they have another day off to day.

I guess you have noticed that whenever a new road is ripped through an embankment, poppies spring up. I believe that is why the poppy was chosen as a symbol. Shells tore through the ground in the battles of the First World War, later fields of poppies grew.

Ne pas oublier........don't forget. Oublier Jamais........Never Forget.

A First World War Film. If you haven't watched this film, and if you love the star of the film Amelie (Audrey Tatou), then try watching this and enjoy this one............ A very long Engagement. That link takes you to a fairly harsh critique but I loved it, Audrey is as enchanting as ever!

The poem that doesnt go away

Chanson de la Seine.

Guess what we still have to remember the poem, only one person in our group really managed to recite it.

One of the lines is Et sans se faire de mousse

......mousse has a few different meanings.
Chocolate mousse, bubbles in beer or champagne, and we are told it also means worries, and so this river has no worries, sans se faire de mousse. The river may flow but this poem doesn't. I have also been asked to stand up and talk about my photographs. AGH......

Green Mousse.......Moss

Bubbles on the water, mousse, after heavy rain and they open the sluice gates to let the water gush through.

Fougeres castle.

I have no photographs of chocolate mousse, because I would have eaten it!

Ive been tagged

By French fancy.....I think that I am suposed to tag six bloggers.

Some blogs I comment on and others I never ever do.

Here are six blogs that I read often............Not including French fancy who I now read and coment on too.

Bindu TransientLives

Woolly Shepherds.......Smallholding in Somerset

Art Propelled

Cariad in Crete

One familys attempt at going greenish

ChrisnCarol only in Thailand

I am suposed to tell you six random things about me.

1. When camping with the school I was bitten by a mole and it swing from my finger! ouch

2. When camping with a boyfriend a mole decided to burrow and then create mole hills under our tent, and I was not amused and made a fuss. The next day I apologised to the people at the next tent but they were Danish..what is a mole they asked?

3. When camping once with my brother I was stung by a bee and discovered that I am allergic to bee stings.

4. When Youth Hostelling as a teenager I discovered I can jump over a barbed wire fence when chased by a cow.

5. When sailing in a strong wind goosewinging.....I discovered that you can land a boat on the shore without having to get into the water.

6. In my first job I believed a cashier was called Mr Fondle and shouted out his name across the banking hall only to discover his name was Mr Sullivan.

Talking about bees Here is a picture of a bee beetle.

Back to School

The children here go back to school today. I guess that they are now on the home run towards Christmas. Well I am going to my French class this morning and I am not really looking forward to it. I am still stumbling over that poem.

Chanson de la Seine.

Here is a picture of the river in Fougeres next to the castle, I suppose I should have been slaving over my French homework and not out enjoying the sunshine.

Papillion Nuit

I still have to memorise this poem about the River Seine. I have been distracted and havent done any homework yet today.

A line from the darned poem.

Avec sa belle robe verte.......With her beautiful green dress.

(referring to the banks not the water I hope)

Here is a tree in a beautiful green robe or dress, but wait what have I done, a tree arbre is masculine so is this tree in drag,??........Oh no.

Et ses lumierères dorées.......which I think means And its gilded lights.

I think I may have been a moth in a previous life, because I am attracted to it.

Robe