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.

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.

Who has the disease?

When I was young I thought that the UK had a bad reputation for strikes, I remember phrases like "Its the British disease". I think the UK loves to give itself negative labels.

Now I find that in fact it is a French disease, striking is something they do a lot. They strike so often I wonder if they are taken seriously. The students and some of their lecturers have been striking, it seems that this country tries to pigeon hole young people and the system isn't flexible enough.

I am finding out more and more about the problems that face the workers in France. High unemployment, high tax, but even if you find a job wages can be very low. Many thought that Sarkozy was the man to bring about change, can he do it?

Since Sarkozy's election the world also has this new problem with the irresponsible attitude of the banks.

The local paper is following three young people seeking employment, I guess because they are in the spotlight they will all find employment soon, anyway I wish them luck.

My picture today is a clump of bluebells growing in the garden last year, ding dong.

Ring in the changes.

The French word for strike is grève.

The French word for unemployment is chômage

PS.I find it funny that many Brits who live or visit France often dont know who the French Prime Minister is, they think it is Mr Sarkozy.

Enchanted forests

Yesterday I went along to a Cathedral in a nearby town, in fact it is in Normandy. My friend was singing in the choral. The event started off with a group of children singing lovely French songs they were dressed in their red and white Santa Claus hats. The choral came on next, who sang beautifully, followed by a small orchestra who played a wide range of music including Pirates of The Caribean. The entertainment was finished off with more songs.

The Cathedral to me doesnt look that pretty outside but is lovely on the inside, a bit like some people!

My connection today is the word enchanted.

Here is my enchanted forest

Enchanté can mean delighted to meet you, although no one has said that to me yet!! ha ha

The French word to sing is chant.

Santa or Father Christmas is Pére Noel.

Connections and communications

This week in the forest when it was cold and icy I saw a puddle with strange shapes in the ice. I thought to myself,that looks like Runes, but what did I mean?. Later a friend who leaves encouraging comments on my Flickr said the same thing.

Here is the picture

Runes explained in Wikipedia. Maybe the ancients left me a message to put on my blog hee hee.

I think it says thank you for leaving a kind comment on my Blog!

Have a look on Vagabonds blog here for some smashing pictures of the moon, what the ancients must have thought about that big thing up in the sky. Bindu has some great shots here of where people lived for so very very long and she tells a great story.

Finally because it is very windy and wet outside, here is another puddle picture. The French word for puddle is flaque. The French word for vagabond is vagabond.

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.

Chestnut and Memories of a Capital City.

So unable to go to the forest I donned by welly boots and walked around the village taking the wide tracks which run in between the fields champs. I picked up a leaflet the other day in the supermarket, and I read that there is a bad contagious disease in some of the chestnut trees. The banks around the fields are called Bocage. These banks full of trees caused many problems for the American tanks during the war when they tried to move through Normandy. The word for chestnut tree. The disease is some sort of fungus and is red and orange in colour, it is boursouflure. The only cure is to BURN the tree and then burn the remaining stump, and use some fungicidal spray afterwards.

Oddly enough roast chestnuts always remind me of London. Roasted in big black contraptions by the side of the street. I can smell them now the vendors put them into paper bags and they are black and sooty and soooo sweet..(that is the chestnuts and not the vendors!!!!)

I bet the politically correct mob have banned small boys from playing conkers in Great Britain, in case the little darlings hurt themselves.

Misty mornings in the Forest

I really like this time of year, the weather is so pleasant. Recently we have woken up to misty weather. I really prefer walking in the forest but now the hunting season has started the forest is out of bounds on Monday mornings. I have been enjoying taking pictures of the forest in the mist when the sunshine is streaming through.

The French word for Mist

Sunday Dimanche 7th September Pockets

I awoke at about 3.30am. So today I have been a bit Zombie like! When I cannot get on the PC I love to look at words in a dictionary with a notepad and jot down notes, then I wonder how the words came about. The French word for pocket is poche. So it is not difficult to see how the word poacher may have come into use I can imagine poachers stuffing things in their pockets? Well I think it makes some sense.

It makes me wonder how hard it must have been to live around here in the past when the forest covered the area here and there were no shops as we know them today.

The farming around here is mainly cows and maize with some other arable sowings like winter wheat. Some people don't like the maize because it totally changes the landscape or in fact obliterates it! I am on the fence because I understand that people have to make a living., but I do not approve of GM crops.

Working the fields must have been hard, I believe my Mom worked with horses in the Land Army in England.

The weather is turning

There is a spate of bad weather across the world, so what we are getting isn't so bad I guess. The summer has been a bit of a non starter and so as we await an "Indian Summer" we are disappointed. The storms have killed five people across the Manche in England.

The French call "The English Channel" La Manche, which is also the name of the Department that is home to Cherbourg a busy ferry port. Makes me think why should the English call it the English channel anyway?
Here is a picture taken this summer at about 6.30am at Cherbourg.

Indian Summer.

Manche also means sleeve.

Here is a picture approaching Poole in Dorset England.

Stopped in my tracks

Reading a French book, well trying to read a French book I stopped and puzzled. The book was about enclosed gardens. And then I saw the word Fils.......which means son...pronounced like feece. I looked up the word Fils and it means other things too!

I look this picture in the spring it amused me I called it Eds bar.

Here is a picture of some local cows behind a barbed wire fence.

Words go around and so did the pig

The party on Saturday night will be outside and a pig has been put on the spit it will take all day to cook.

A light wind blows, and as we drink coffee, we watch some dandelion clocks fly past the pig. The French word for Dandelion is Pissenlit. Now this is strange to me because the English call the flower Dandelion which has its origins in French. Here is a link in French.

And so now I understand that it is the leaf shape that gives the flower its name. A lovely French lady tells me that the name for Dandelion clock is Etoile Vivante, however later MOH tells me that she said Etoile de vent. Well I prefer the first. In the French dictionary the fluffy dandelion clock is aigrettes which is a plume.

Lazy Sunday

Rather wet this morning but we managed a walk about 11am. I remembered to take a bag to collect some blackberries.......the french word for blackberry is mure, which sounds just like the word for wall mur. Le Mur also happens to be a favorite programme of mine, which I hope will return to teatime television after the summer holidays.

Decided to start another blog and so spent time fiddling around on the pc, which drove me up the wall!!

Fric and a pea in the garden.

Today because it is Monday Lundi the bread shop in our village is closed and I dont think we have enough. Of course the word for bread is pain.

My friend who is staying needs some dosh or dough so we will need to find a bank or cash dispenser. The French slang word for money is Fric, not to be confused with Flic which is slang for the police!

To save a little money we are growing some vegetables in the garden, I wish I had known how tall the mange tout would grow because they have flopped all over the place. The picture is called a pea in the garden, anyone who lives here for any length of time know that many French men do just that!