Habits

The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken. ~Samuel Johnson

I think we are all creatures of habit, we develop patterns and routines just like mother nature. Some of these habits are good, others are bad, but some cannot be explained.

I tried an experiment last night. I tried to sleep on the other side of the bed, its ok I do have permission. But although it might stop me lying on my dodgy hip, it all felt odd and I am not sure if I will take to my new side of the bed!

I went back to that spooky place last week, where the information boards claim that pagans sacrificed people on the huge flat topped rocks. So a church and crosses are dotted all around, I guess good versus evil. I am not convinced yet if there is any truth in the story, but it is an interesting place to take some photos, I like this one with a chain on a rock which has ivy wrapped all through the chain.

Ivy Chain

Are you chained to any of your habits, good or bad?

The French word for chain is chaine.

The French word for strong is fort.

Etymology for the word habit.

Springtime flowers for you

I have been playing tourist this week with a friend, which makes a change from doing the chores I am now ignoring. I did manage to fit in my two hours French class, but I haven't tackled my latest batch of homework!

We are out during the day wrapped up against the cold north winds and dodging showers. Evenings are spent watching movies on the DVD player, French tv is hard work for people who don't know the language.

The two films we liked best were Priceless, which stars the beautiful French actress Audrey Tautou, she barely manges to keep the dresses on! I like watching her like I like to watch Meryl Streep. "It is described as sparkling and seductive". Her co star is Gad Elmaleh.

We watched something completely different called Once, it is a kind of unplugged film, it feels very homemade, and it is about two musicians in Dublin, it comes with the F word in Irish. It is described as "A film that will warm your soul".

Here is a link to Priceless.
Here is a link to Once.

This morning the sun is shining so I should get some more photos today to play with. Have a great day, here are some flowers for you.

Funny Faces

The French word for sparkling in a jolly way is sémillant

The French word to unplug an electrical appliance is débrancher.

Yesterday

Yesterday the twig was brown and bare; To-day the glint of green is there; Tomorrow will be leaflets spare;I know no thing so wondrous fair, No miracle so strangely rare. I wonder what will next be there!~L.H. Bailey

Yesterday we stopped to look at the American Cemetery, it looked so well cared for, dressed up in its early springtime style, smart like a new suit, not a stray twig or leaf. The grass was short, the shrubs clipped, rose bushes cut right back. The huge monument party hidden under a plastic cover was being cleaned, all around was spick and span. The only thing untamed was the flag which blew in the wind.

It will always be yesterday for the men who are buried at the cemetery, they will not experience the wind which blows today, or the blossom which may bloom tomorrow.

Waiting in line

The French word for twig is brindille.

The French word for bare of leaf is dépouillé sans feuilles.

Awake, thou wintry earth.

Awake, thou wintry earth -Fling off thy sadness!Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth Your ancient gladness!~Thomas Blackburn, "An Easter Hymn"

As the weather warms up I often awake when the church bells ring at seven. I can make out that it is light out, and it looks sunny outside. The crazy wind which yesterday whipped around the garden has dropped.

Today I must do some ordinary things like food shopping. En route I do hope to take a few photographs, we will be driving past the American Cemetary just outside St James. The pretty town of St James isn't exactly on my doorstep, but makes a boring task more interesting.

Springtime is warm colours on cool days.

The Frenchword for gladness is joie

The Frenchword for doorstep is seuil.

Etymology for the word vernal.

The morning yawn

Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn. ~Quoted by Lewis Grizzard in Kathy Sue Loudermilk, I Love You

Just as the lighter mornings are helping to get me out of bed, the clocks spring forward this coming weekend. DOH..

Mushroom Yawning in the forest

I thought that it was only teenagers who found it hard to get out of bed!


The French word to awaken is réveiller

The French word to yawn is bailler...with or without a circumflex?

Etymology for the word yawn.

Lets party

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" ~Robin Williams

This week we saw the first day of spring......yippee, it has been such a marvelous week weather wise.

This week I am searching for springtime words for my French class. Prof would like us to write about springtime (printemps).

I have been making a start in the garden with the help of a friend, and we are eager to make progress before the weather cools again. It is good to have things to look forward to even if they are only veggies!!

Springtime in the forest

The French word for bloom is floraison.

The French word to develop flower buds is bourgeonner.

Etymology for the word eager.

Esmerelda

The theatre in Fougeres is named Theatre Victor Hugo. I have wondered what connection this acclaimed writer had with the town.

I found that in 1836 Victor Marie Hugo visited Fougères with his mistress Julliet Drouet.

He liked the town and said "At present I am in the Fougères area, in a town that should be visited piously by painters, in a town with an old castle, flanked by the most superb towers in the world. I have seen it in sunlight, I have seen it at dusk and I have seen it again in the moonlight. I will never grow tired of it. It is admirable"

Damn it, I wish I had said that, but I don't use the word pious, ever.

It turns out that Victor was a man who liked the ladies, although his mistress Julliet spent most of her life dedicated to this talented man. Juliet was in fact born in Fougeres but was educated in Paris and apparently was a good writer.

He spent many years in exile after speaking out against Napoleon III and lived on the Island of Jersey, in fact this is where he wrote Les Miserables, which has again become well known with many theatre goers.

He wrote many, many, poems and books, and I had no idea that he wrote what we know today as The Hunchback of Notre Dame. That poor old hunchback who loved his Esmerelda!

Victor was also a talented artist.

If you want to read a little more about Victor here is a link to Wikipedia.

A link to Victor Hugo online

A link about the love in his life.

A link about Les Mis

Here is a photograph of the Theatre Victor Hugo and the Julliet Drouet cultural centre.

Vics Place.

The French word for dusk is crépuscule.

The French word for moonlit, éclairé par la lune.

Etymology for the word pious.

Vanilla and a painful past.

Reading a blog recently made me think about smells, it may have been The Curates Egg. How could my thoughts about the smell and taste of ice cream on holiday, lead me to Nantes?

The capital town of Brittany used to be Nantes, but these days it is Rennes, which is about a 40 minutes or so drive away from here, I would like to visit Nantes sometime because I believe that it has some interesting old buildings and architecture.

I was researching Vanilla, lovely stuff isn't it I love the smell, and the taste, especially the real thing not the manufactured type. The vanilla seeds come from orchids, and vanilla was used long ago by the Aztecs, they used it in drinks with that other gorgeous thing we love chocolate.

The use of vanilla in Europe takes us to the French Departément No 974 better known as La Reunion, or The Island of Reunion situated in the Indian Ocean.

The vanilla plant was introduced into Europe, around about 1500, but they were difficult to cultivate, however in 1819, small vanilla plants were brought to Cayenne, La Réunion island.

This is where Edmond Albius enters the story he was the son of a slave on the Island of Reunion. He becomes an important name in this story because at the age of 12, he invented a technique for pollinating vanilla orchids. So after this sucess the technique was introduced to the neighboring islands of Madagascar, Comoro and Santa Maria.

I stumbled upon some interesting information explaining lots about the orchids and the history about the lovely black seeds which give us the taste and smell of vanilla.

Link here about Vanilla.

Link here about Edmond.

And so of course I wondered about Edmond's mother who was a slave and that brings me back to Nantes, which sadly like some other ports, like Liverpool, became rich because of their involvement in the slave trade.

Link here about Nantes breaking the taboo.

Like I said I haven't been to Nantes but I have ventured to Rennes, so that will have to be todays picture!.

Old Timbered buildings in Rennes Colombarge.

The French word for Pod is gousse.

The French word to be in chains or shackles is entrave.

Etymology for the word slave.

Etymology for the word vanilla.....well I never knew that!

Salt makes you fat?

It is a shame that I didn't take any photographs yesterday but I felt I needed to get out of that car park pronto pronto.

I have been trying to find out more about the history around here. Fougeres you see is really a border town. It sits on what was the border of France and Brittany and with the largest castle in Europe it has plenty of stories to tell. Well I found out about a salt tax called a Gabelle which is a Latin word for tax. Apparently Fougeres had plenty of salt smugglers selling their contraband, skulking around the castle walls.

Secret Salt

This salt tax caused lots of upset with the French folks and helped fuel their anger in the Revolution. They got angry a lot!

Just imagine food today without any salt, mashed spuds just wouldn't be the same would they. Now I have never been a person who needs to use salt at the table, since I am more of a black pepper person, but never the less food would taste a bit bland without a bit of the white stuff sprinkled in during the preparation.

The thought of what poor people may have eaten in the Revolution, makes me feel very lucky to be alive today, and not in those times. Mind you I am English so I guess they would have killed me in those days?!

How much do you pay for a container of salt? No idea I bet!..here is a link about this wretched tax.

Here is a link about the word Salt.

Painting on a Restaurant in Dinan

It wouldn't be so appealing to eat a large packet of crisps if they didn't have the demon salt on them!

The French word for smuggled goods is contrabande.

The French word for adding salt to your food is saler.

Etymology for the word salary.

It's well ard..and you don't get a tip.

I am taking a late lunch. Day didn't go as planned. I planned to go out and take some photos in Fougeres for a change, a change from all the tree pictures. I let woofer out in the forest on the way there and back. Umm well we did a couple of small walks, because I don't go far into the forest on my own and drove into Fougeres and parked the other side of the chateau (castle).

I told my dog that I was only crossing the road (ish) really only about a three minute walk because I had seen a different vantage point to shoot the castle. I don't know what happened next me honour........ because I reached in pushed button down on car and slammed the door shut. Voila........keys in car.

Virtually no credit on mobile phone.

MOH in another country.

My special friend off with boyfriend!

Oh and dog inside the car!!!!!

My other best mate, I don't have her phone number in my mobile, nor my neighbours, nor oh bugga, oops and blast.

So after I ask a young French man who is power washing his oh so new black motor, if he has a metal coathanger, I proceed to try to break into my car. At one point I am assisted by two French ladies, but they think that a garagiste is best. Ha ha open on a Sunday around here, these two Frenchies were not from around here!!!they were tourists. I persist with the coat hanger and am so close to getting the button thingummyjig to pop up it was doing my head in.

I need someone to talk to so I call MOH tell him of my stupid dilemma! Hes says that he will call back. When he calls back after another ten frustrating minutes of coathanger button fishing, he says smash the rear quarterlight windows. "OK Bye" says I since credit was diminishing on the phone, and I might need it!

At this point the driver from the car that had arrived ten minutes ago wanders over he speaks I scream because he makes me jump out of my skin. However he looked like my solution, no disrespect but he looked like he may have had a go at this car break into lark before.

Well he tried hard to get the button to jump up on my door, after he had ripped the rubber trim off the door ,and had poked around with the coat hanger inside the door, just like he knew what he was doing, but he failed too.

So I suggest the breaking of the window, and he goes for something and comes back with a crow bar. He beats the glass with the crow bar repeatedly, "it is hard" we say looking at the glass but........nothing happens.

He wanders off to find something else to beat the window with, and I start to pull back the rubber trim on the rear door, and I look down inside the wide 4 x 4 door.

Man returns and sees where I am looking inserts coathanger inside oldish 4 x 4 door.

And EEEHEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAA...we have the car open.

He looked at me I thanked him ten zillion times, however I didn't have a bean on me...I am looking sad..so all I can offer him was another ten zillion thanks and I showed him my empty money recepticle!!!.....even my reserve note in the car had been spent.....he askes me "not even a sou"..................

I abandoned the photoshoot and drove off, happy for me but a little sad that I couldn't give this knight in his dirty old track suit bottoms a couple of coins....I waved goodbye...he smiled and probably swore under his breath.

Merci beaucoup........ I suspect he was a bit brassic skint!

This picture was taken a few weeks back just around the corner from the car park I was in today!

I love it here

The French word skint or broke is deche.

The French word to hit violently is frapper or break casser.

PS A link to swearing in French can be found on Keith's Diary.

Getting things in proportion

I take many photographs each week, but recently I have been loading less and less onto Flickr. My laptop is bursting with photographs and I think that some springtime pruning is necessary.

Often when loading onto Flickr I load a picture, make a few minor adjustments, and then delete it. I often feel the need to crop, it is like a compulsion, but then when I look again if the composition isn't right it is deleted. I am getting very picky with my piccies.

Do you think that sometimes we just try too hard? A friend has been away skiing this week, which is a expensive sport which I love, but cannot enjoy these days. Anyway I used to find that by day three I was starting to try much too hard and the result was a bad frustrating day on the slopes.

What do you think about the pictures here, would you have chopped the top of Sarkozy's head off, there are a few who would like to do that for real! The Presidents head!

Here is a picture of a tree that has been felled in the forest, they chopped an awful lot off the top of this!

Chopped and Gone

Have a nice Saturday and I hope that you dont have to try too hard.

The French word for Springtime is Printemps.

The French word for pruning and shearing is cisailler.

PS...Oh dear LadyFi read this before I had corrected various bits, cause my PC crashed..or am I worrying more than I should!

Technology changes

A public telephone.

The other week when I was on my journey through Dorset, we drove down a very steep hill called Spread Eagle hill, at the bottom there are many sharp bends, the road really cannot cope with today's large lorries. This pretty little hamlet is plastered with gizmos to get the traffic to slow down.

At the bottom of the hill I saw a phone box. A sign on this box stated Cash not taken Phonecards only! Ridiculous I said, who on earth uses phone boxes on a regular basis, let alone carry a phonecard.

I remember when I was a teenager before we had a telephone, I had to walk down the road to a phonebox and sometimes wait. It was always an uncomfortable feeling when you were on the phone and someone arrived waiting for you to finish. I am so glad that I don't have to use a public phonebox anymore to keep in touch with my friends.

Old Fashioned Now

The French word for bottom is bas

The French word for eagle is aigle

Etymology for the word remember.

PS..................When did you last use a public payphone???

There is no smell like home?

On March 9th Lady Fi, unearthed some memories for me. When you were a child which books did you like to read? And then I remembered my love of the English countryside, the fields, banks, hedges, and all that kind of stuff.

But actually now I have come to realise that it isn't the English countryside, it is "The Countryside", France or England, Greece, or...who knows where.

So in answer to where is home?

It is where I can hear birdsong, see the stars in the sky at night away from the bright city lights, view the long tailbacks behind huge farm tractors carrying more smelly stuff, smell cow poo being flung around in the fields,haaaaaaaaa, which your dog then wants to eat!!!

Hey you gotta take the rough with the smooth!!! This lovely silhouette is a field nearby.

February Fields

The French word to jest or tease is blaguer

The French word for laugh is rigoler.

Etymology for the word jest.

PS..I meant most of it!!

Birds

I can hear Birdsong, well I could until a minute ago, my dog started barking and in doing so scared the blackbirds away, and so I just called her back into the house, in fact I tempted her in with a piece of cheese.

I was reading yesterday that huge flocks of starlings are becoming a rarity in the UK. I didn't realise this, I thought that they were still very common.

Starlings make me remember when I worked in the city of Birmingham in a very big bank. In the winter when I left to take the train home, the noise in the streets was incredible. The starlings settled on the huge Victorian building opposite and also in a few trees, yes trees!. I think that many people regarded them as a pest like pigeons.

Now my favorite birdsong is probably the Skylark, which I used to hear occasionally in Dorset, where I lived for many years. My favorite piece of classical music is the Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams. Well Skylarks are very rare too. Link here about the music, and here.

When we lived in Dorset we spent several years living in a cottage, and the chimney pots along this lane were very popular with Jackdaws, I love em they are so funny and get up to all sorts of nonsense. In fact the garden was always full of different types of birds, and we often heard woodpeckers.

It would seem that even the humble sparrow has declined in numbers, that I find very hard to understand because I would have thought that they didn't need a special habitat, just shows what I know.

I love to see the big birds of prey here in Brittany, they swoop the fields, and annoy the crows.

Yes I even like crows, am I the only person who does? The garden here has wrens, blackbirds, finches, the odd thrush and the territorial robin. I will keep a look out for any sparrows.

Here is a picture that I took last year, one evening, it is a grey heron in a tree down yonder, the heron is a symbol for this village along with three golden tree stumps.

Grey Heron takes a rest

Let me know if you see any sparrows today!

The French word to settle somewhere to live is s'installer.

The French word for nonsense (well one of them) is billevesée

Etymology for the word common.

Butterfly Brains

French Fancy wrote about loppers, uum I thought I made a brief start on my gardening last week maybe I should try and do some more today. I had been expecting rain all day and was surprised. A new Blogger (Lust in France) was off to spread muck on her other garden and so I was motivated.

Because I am a butterfly after about 15 minutes I often return to the house to work on my French. I have been choosing small articles from the newspaper and translating them, and then analysing the grammar in the articles too. Interesting to note that the articles always have a picture with them too, funny eh.

So far I have chosen an article about an up and coming local writer, from Fougeres, a restored Lavoir near Antrain, and the latest is about the THT lignes or tres haute tension. (Great big electricity Pylons). These Pylons will stretch all the way from Cherbourg up through Calvados and through the Ille et Vilaine and onwards through Mayenne. The local mayors who oppose these new lines have used their right to be heard in court.

I am such a blog hog that I use a small kitchen timer and when it goes off after 10 minutes I go back to my other chores..

Back in fifteen minutes...more strawberries to move!

Here is a picture of a butterfly taken last summer on our laurel hedge, its a fairly long hedge and shows signs of growing this years new coat.

Garden Visitor.

Oh and back to the newspaper articles, one of the reasons that I am analysing the French text is because I think that my brain may have been fluttering elsewhere when they taught English grammar!!..oops...or maybe I didn't go that day, I cant remember.

The French word for onwards is continuer.

The French word for passes through is traverser

Etymology for the word oppose

Gordon, they do not exist!

What goes buzz in my head in the middle of the night? Well I am often trying to remember a French word for such and such. However last night I thought about the "Credit munch" phrase borrowed from Henry the dogs Mum. Many people berate the Prime Minster in the UK, they think that he has done a bad job, many call him a plonker and far worse.

My problem is that I just don't get any of what is happening with the Munch at the moment. Do you remember that great big piece of kit under the ground near Switzerland costing BILLIONS. Some big bang machine if you have forgotten what I am thinking about here is a link Large Hadron Collider, and here some amazing pictures. I wonder what is happening with that project?

I recently read about some big white horse that will be costing 2 million some sort of Angel of the South, link here.

So whilst I appreciate art and find science interesting, this kind of spending bonanza puts my head in a spin. After all we know that there are no pots of gold at the rainbows end! If many people are having to change their lifestyles, why is it that some individuals received huge payouts.

My picture today is one of my words this week, sauterelle, grasshopper.

Where are the Golden Grasshoppers.

Here is a link to a facinating science blog.

The French word for jump is saute.

The French word for unfair is injuste

Etymology for the word moment.

Cheap and Cheerful

I am back at my French class and I am enjoying the poems, poetry can be hard to understand at the best of times but at least it gets you thinking. I have attempted to translate a French poem, I hope it makes some sense!

The Secret

On the country lane close to the wood,
I found a treasure,
A nut shell,
A golden grasshopper,
A rainbow had died.

Noone said anything,
In my hand encased
I keep it closed,
Closed like a strangler,
From Monday to Saturday.

On Sunday I reopened it,
But there was nothing there anymore,
And I talked with a dog,
Laying in his green kennel,
That I had sorrow,

He said without barking,
This night you are going to dream,
Of the night that was so black,
I believed in the story,
And all was lost.

But in an instance I saw well,
A ship in the sky,
Trailed by a grasshopper
On the waves of a rainbow.

Le Secret

Sur le chemin près du bois
Jai trouvé un trésor
Une coquille de noix
Une sauterelle en or
Un arc-en-ciel qu'était mort

À personne je n'ai rien dit
Dans ma main je les ai pris
Et je l'ai tenue fermée
Fermée jusqu'à l'ètrangler
Du lundi au samedi

Le dimanche l'ai rouverte
Mais il n'y avait plus rien!
Et j'ai raconté au chien
Couché dans sa niche verte
Comme j'avais du chagrin

Il m'dit sans aboyer,
Cette nuit, tu vas rêver.
La nuit, il faisait si noir,
Que j'ai cru à une histoire
Et que tout était perdu.

Mais d'un seul coup j'ai bien vu,
Un navire dans le ciel
Traîné par une sauterelle
Sur des vagues d'arc-en-ciel!

So are there golden grasshoppers at the end of the rainbows in France, no I dont think so, but then who ever found a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow in England? I dont have a pot of gold but here are some golden sunflowers, at the wheelbarrow race last year. Hope your pots are not empty, if they are find something nice to put in them. Maybe some Daffodils, cheap and cheerful.

Golden Brouette

The French word for golden colour is doré.

The French word for empty is vide.

Sunshine foods

Making light of the Diet

Mediterranean Diet, it makes you live longer?

In France they don't seem to force home "the eat foods from warmer climates" so much, although they are obsessed with the contradictions of eating cheese and chocolate and being thin.

It is hard in Brittany in the three grey months post Christmas to keep cheery, we feel flat and deflated, weary and worn out.

Sunny Winters Day

Sunny Backdrop

So here is to warmer days when you leap out of bed pull back the curtains... and see a sunny morning, BTW it is raining here today!

The French word for brighten up is ensoleillé

The French word for a bed warmer is a chaufferette...(no that isn't a small female driver)!

Knickerless ??

When I was very young we were dressed in such things as ankle socks and kilts, little boys wore short trousers. Anyway young boys must have really looked forward to when they could wear long trousers and feel more grown up.

When I was in my teenage years I had a dress, but it was actually a pair of culottes too, so it was ideal for a girl who hated to wear dresses.

This morning on my way back from the bread shop I took note of a plaque on a wall for the umpteenth million time, and said to myself I will look up that name on the Internet. Well one lead, leads to another, and my research takes me deep into civil war and revolution. I find that many battles and skirmishes were fought right here between the Chouans and the Republicans.

The next thing I read about is how there were people called Sans culottes. The poor working classes wore long trousers pantalons!. The posh didnt wear long trousers but wore fashionable knee britches known as culottes, of course many of these chaps lost their heads in the guillotine!

Seems to me that wearing the long trousers was a lot safer than the culottes!

On my walk towards the bread shop (verylong way round)

And so there was this term Sanculottism for the patriotic French working classes. Click on the link if you want to read more.

Our Boulangerie.

Blinds down on Monday, day of rest.

You can have your bread sliced for a little extra money, oh and the guillotine was last used in 1977!!! not that long ago eh!

These days if you are shopping for culottes you would be buying underwear or as the Anglais call them knickers! So sansculottes nowadays could mean no knickers.

The French word for without or absent is sans.
The French word for skirmish is échauffourée.

Etymology for the word skirmish.

Simpler Times

The previous post of the Lavoirs made Bindu sigh. She wrote of a life when we were not isolated and busy.

I look at the Lavoirs and see hard times, cold water and sore hands. Many of us don't live in our home towns and many now live in different countries. Now I wouldn't change that, I am glad that I have lived in a few different places. In days gone by and especially before we all had cars life would have been totally different, maybe never leave your village and see the sea!

Compared to many I haven't travelled extensively, but I have eaten Spaghetti in Venice, drank Guinness in Ireland, eaten burgers in America, drank Ouzo in the Greek Islands, skied in Switzerland etc. and I am glad to have done that.

Bindu recently showed us on her blog some amazing unspoilt scenery in Patagonia, huge glaciers and breathtaking views of mountains, so maybe all the work is worth it if you get to balance things out with an amazing travel experience.

However I also understand how hard it is living in the rat race, not knowing or seeing your neighbours, and feeling isolated. I think it is all about getting the balance right, or doing things for a few years and then making a change. I know that it is not always easy to get the right mix of work and quality of life. Been there got the t shirt and made all the mistakes.

The photograph shows some Breton horses doing some demonstration ploughing at the Comice Agricole, farming today in many Western countries is a very lonely occupation, no team work.

Sociable or Harder Times

Beautiful Lead horse takes a rest

It is an interesting topic to muse over! Take a trip over to Transient Lives, Bindu's blog she takes fantastic photographs, and writes so beautifully too!

The French word for balance is équilibre.

The French word for mix is mélange.

Mondays wash day

I remember way back when there was a song and the first line was "Today's Monday, today's Monday, Mondays washing day is everybody happy".

It got me thinking how many people don't live that kind of life anymore. Women have so much to do these days that everyday might be wash day. I know that we have routines especially if you have to commute into work, but the thought that Monday is wash day!

Yesterday I had hoped to visit Fougeres, but alas it was so misty here it was raining. Must go soon.

Today's pictures are linked with water, and the first one is the Lavoir in Fougeres, I wouldn't want to drop MOH's chemise in the river because the water runs fast. I bet they were a place where people would have a bit of a gossip!

Mondays Wash Day

A stones throw from these Lavoirs are the gates to the Park which lead up to the Jardin Public. Even in December when the flowers had all been cleared away it was a lovely place to visit, at the middle level there is a fountain. I never imagined that I would enjoy formal parks but I do now.

Peaceful Park

I was inspired to search out my watery pictures, when I was reading another blog and the writer mentioned the word mangle, for wringing out your washing. I think my Mum had one when I was very little. Here is a link to Gordon's blog. I hope he posts again soon.

The French word for washing is laver.

The French word for giving your clothes a good scrub is décrasser.

Etymology for the word rub.

Around the wrong way

On Thursday my French class resumed, the classes break for the children's school holidays. I had hoped to walk the woofer en route but the chasse (the hunt) has resumed in the forest on Thursdays.

So I arrived far too early.

My teacher gave me a huge book to look through about impressionist artists. I do love all those types of paintings although the only one that I have is on my umbrella!!

The first hour, the beginners class, there were only three of us there and it was tough for me, grammar, grammar, grammar. Hour two the more advanced class more people arrived. We then spent a lot of time learning the words for bark, meow, neigh, oink, baa, etc. Seems to me the brainier ones have got it easy! I knew most of the words because I watch French tv.

Anyway back to the artists, there was one name in the book that I was not so familiar with Gustave Caillebotte, I fell for this street painting in the rain in Paris. Link here and here.

Today's first picture is a horse in a field up the hill, I think that he had been rolling in the mud a bit, he is very friendly, but tosses his head around a lot.

Sepia Cheval

My favorite picture of two horses together is this one that I took at the Comice Agricole last summer where many Breton horses were on show. Mum with her foal.

Cute

The French word for rain is pluie.

The French word for although is quoique.

Etymology for the word sepia.