Return to blogging

I haven’t blogged for, what seems to be, an absolute age, I guess I was all blogged out there for a while. Spring turned into a glorious summer, one of the best and driest since we have been here and now, even though the temperature is still tipping 20 degrees, autumn is most definitely in full swing.


It doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy this summer, our days and evenings have been packed with all the usual summer stuff, picnics, visiting the sites to see (eternal tourists that we are) and of course many, many quite superb concerts. All of that will give me loads to write about in the coming weeks of course.

So what are we up to at the moment? With this splendid autumn weather, cool mornings and warm afternoons, we have had a great chance to get on top of some big garden jobs. Cees has been clearing brambles – he is a man with a mission at the moment and I have managed to get ahead with trimming hedges and clearing the lower reed bed which is always a huge task that normally gets left until it is too late. So for once in a long time, our garden is looking very neat indeed. But mostly we have been enjoying going out and about, photographing the tremendous colours that this season brings, taking the opportunity to practise taichi in the garden before it gets too cold to be enjoyable and just generally enjoying life the universe and everything.

The gites are wrapped up for the winter now and the campsite is closed – more on that another time – and the tourists are fewer on the roads, so we are slipping into winter mode, wood fires and mulled wine aah la vie est belle!

The Biggest Cattle Market in France

When we were at the Charolais cattle market at St Christophe-en-Brionnais recently, we got chatting to a man who sells cattle feed. It transpired that the “biggest” cattle market in France was just down the road from us in Bourg-en-Bresse and not being able to resist a day out, we went on Tuesday morning to see yet more cows.

Farmers milling around amongst the cattle

Less than an hour from home, we were outside the huge building where all the action takes place.

Nosey cows

Inside the building there are hundreds of pens with each pen containing different types, sizes and ages of cattle. The farmers mill around and chat to one another, business is done on a human scale here. Unlike St-Christophe, the selling is still done on a one to one basis between the buyer and seller for the animals in each pen. To the untrained eye, it looks like a bunch of farmers chatting with each other, but on careful observation you can see some of them writing in little notebooks and then pieces of paper are furtively exchanged.

Isn't she a cutey?

It is a far cry from the cattle markets of my youth with the incoherent shouting of the auctioneer and the market “à la cadran” in St-Christophe which seems just as frenetic. This is really chilled out and apparently just as effective as all animals seem to be sold and all the farmers we saw seemed to be content. The cattle are not marched in and out of an auctioneer’s ring and they seem to be very content.

Depending on the age and type of animal, different times are allocated for the selling and where the bidding is not going on, visitors like us can have free access to the animals. It was lovely just walking around and chatting to the calves.

Sampling the merchandise

The only bad thing about the market is that it is a way out of town, that makes access and parking easy, but you can’t leave the market and wander around the town, soaking up the market day atmosphere and enjoy a leisurely lunch in a restaurant. There is an on-site restaurant but we decided to move on and visit the monastery at Brou. We found a superb restaurant just opposite the monastery and I’ll give you three guesses what we ordered - well what else can you eat on cattle market day?

Ponies, peacocks and piglets

Duckling huddling in a crate

Bank holiday Monday and off we went to Louhans. It is been a while since we’ve been there for the market selling small animals and we couldn’t have chosen a better day if we had planned it.

It was beautiful and sunny, the first nice day in a while and the place was heaving. Thousands had come for what turned out to be one of the really big markets of the year.

Point of lay chickens, just rearing to go

Every Monday there is a market in the town, but late spring is the time to get your livestock for the coming year and so people had come from far and wide to buy their chickens and ducks for the season. There were a lot of chirping and quacking boxes that passed us as we entered the market area.

Need a cockerel to wake you up in the morning?

The fun fair was in town as well and the atmosphere was electric. We had to squeeze through the crowds to get past a rather terrifying, gravity defying, twirling ride, that was eliciting screams from the teenagers brave enough to get on it and I was worried I might lose Cees – in the crowd not on to the ride you must understand. We decided our meeting point would be by the lamas if we got separated, but fortunately we made it round the market without losing sight of each other.

What a beautiful chappy

The selection of animals was amazing as always, you can buy anything from day old chicks up to laying birds, cockerels, guineafowl, peacocks, ducks, quail and geese and then there were the rabbits, sheep, piglets, lamas and ponies - we were spoilt for choice.

I was very tempted by a peacock, who was a snip at 150 Euros (!) but Cees wasn’t so keen so we left empty handed.

Maybe one day - for now we’ll stick to just having a cat.

May Day

Brrrr.. more like 1st March!

The first day of May is a holiday in France and usually it is beautifully warm, the summer is just around the corner and the temperatures are suitably high.

Not this year though brrrrr.. As we set off in the car to go to lunch it was 3 degrees!

We were going out with some friends to sample the delights of a lunch at a goats’ cheese farm. The lunch was superb even if we did have to wrap up warm as we huddled together in black polythene covered tunnel that served as the dining room.

The menu was suitable goaty with warmed goats’ cheese on toast with salad, boeuf bourguignon with goats’ cheese oven cooked potatoes (I had hope for a goat curry, but that is not really done round here!) fresh soft goats' cheese with cream and sugar, then a non-goaty dessert and coffee.  All that for only 15 Euros each, with wine included. No bad at all I thought.

Goats' cheese waiting to go into the oven

Samples of of the different flavours

The farm was on top a hill with spectacular views, well I suppose they were, but at it was grey and drizzly it was difficult to see.

The girls themselves

After lunch we popped in for a quick visit to the goats themselves. It was nice and warm in their shed and we enjoyed watching the kids jumping around like only young animals can do and watching their mothers munch away the the hay laid out before them. We then skedaddled home to get back into the warm.

Traditional lily of the valley

When we got home we were very excited to see that at least one of our lily of the valley was starting to flower. Lily of the valley is the traditional May Day flower in France and everyone picks them or buys them to bring the lovely scent into their homes. Because of the recent cold snap, the flower growers have very few on offer, so it was a double pleasure to see this little chap smiling at us from the cold garden.

Instead of our usual May Day BBQ we’ll be tucked up in front of the fire tonight, waiting for summer to start which is promised for later this week.

Saturday

The mimosa man - wrapped up against the cold

This Saturday morning, in Cluny market, I saw my first sight of spring. The mimosa man was there. After the winter that wasn’t quite yet, we were plunged into freezing weather this week, so it was a big surprise to see this hope of spring brightening up the rather depleted market.

Beautiful flowers - hope of spring

Instead of giving a feeling of hope that the cold is going to leave us, he looked like a rather incongruous misfit. The fact that he still had so many flowers as the market was about to close, shows that not too many people were as optimistic as his display.

Right now it seems that winter is just starting. I have at last had to drain down the gites, a job I nearly always have to do early in December, but this year, the weather has stayed at such ridiculously high temperatures, it hasn’t been necessary to even consider draining out the water.  It has been so warm that in some gardens the fruit trees are starting to blossom and daffodils are starting to flower.

Snow in the forest

It does seem, however, that Mother Nature has other ideas and on returning home, she was determined to show us that winter is not over at all and put on a magical but brief display. This was the view of the forest from my front window.

Tonight’s low is predicted to be -8. So is winter coming or is the mimosa man right and spring is just around the corner?

The whole town is one great big party

Prize Limousin bull

It’s that time of year again, Cluny’s big street party, the day we celebrate the feast of St Martin. There is a competition for the best cow/bull/cart horse with and without foals, displays of all types of farm animals, pigs, chickens and sheep and an array of shiny new tractors and unfathomably complicated farming equipment.

Then there is the real reason that the good citizens of Cluny come every year, there is a street market the whole way down the high street selling tat from all four corners of the planet but, more importantly, also selling some of the best food and wine to be found on this terrestrial globe.

Carthorse and her foal taken through their paces

I was interested to read in the paper that this particular market had been going since the 12th century, one of the few markets that has stood the test of time.  I am not sure they would have been selling Peruvian hats and dream-catchers back then, but the display of animals would have been the same.

Most years, it is the last warm Saturday of the year and an opportunity for us all to get out and about after the tourists have gone home and have the town to ourselves. This year the temperatures soared to 24 degrees which is very unusual, but welcome none-the-less.  It is one last chance to charge up our vitamin D levels to carry us through the winter which will probably be with us in less than a week.

The animal market, in amongst the houses

Mushroom hunting

It’s that time of year again - wild mushroom time. The forest just outside our courtyard gate beckons.

Everyone we meet at this time of year talks about all the lovely mushrooms they collect from our forest, we have seen friends leaving the forest with baskets full, but we’ve never found any and to be honest as we don’t know an Agaricus bisporus from a Champignon de Paris we would be in danger of picking the wrong ones and poisoning ourselves - so we leave it to the natives.

The other day we saw our friend Francette collecting specimens at the entry to our forest so we stopped for a chat. She is a member of the Cluny mycological association and she was collecting things to be displayed in Cluny that weekend. On Friday we went to see the exhibition and asked specifically to see “our” mushrooms. So here is proof that our forest contains some very delicious specimens indeed.

"Our" Cèpes and "our" Girolles

So what edible mushrooms do we have?

Telling the difference between the right ones and
the wrong ones is not always obvious

Boletus edulis - Porcino – the French Cèpe; Cantharellus cibarius - chanterelle – the French Girolle; Hydnum repandum - Hedgehog mushroom – the French Pied-de-mouton and Craterellus cornucopioides - Horn of plenty – the French Trompette de la mort. Those are just the ones I saw at the exhibition - there may be others as well.

Having said that, telling the difference between the poisonous ones that look just like the edible ones is not something I  and willing to risk doing.

Safe Girolles

So when I went mushroom picking with Hélène yesterday, I let her have all the goodies we found. I actually found her a lovely cèpe which of course I didn’t think to take a photo of – my first wild mushroom find!

As she left in her car she gave a cheery wave and said that she hoped she would see me again, but you never know what might happen as she was going to eat the “cèpe” for her tea - I hope she’s OK, I haven't heard from her today.

I myself will be sticking to what the supermarket has on offer.






For holiday accommodation just to or three meters from a forest full of wild mushrooms click here.

Sunday afternoon amongst the vines

Mile after mile of vines

Autumn is certainly here now, the nights are chilly (but still not freezing) and the leaves are beginning to turn. We have to light the fire every evening to keep warm, but during the day it is mostly off. The last giters of the season have just gone home and so we are settling into a different season, a different rhythm, a different lifestyle.

Being an autumn baby, I like this season with its vibrant colours. I have often thought I would like to go back to Canada at this time of year and relive the colours I saw as a small child, but I have never got round to it and now I live here I don’t have to go that far to see autumn in all its glory.

Still on the vine, beautiful and sweet

Whilst driving home from a meeting in Buxy on Tuesday, I passed through the vineyards and saw that such a show of colour is not exclusive to the Canadian maple, we have our own version here. The extensive vineyards between us and Buxy do a pretty good attempt at a stunning autumn colour display. The vine leaves were starting to turn yellow and some were turning red, as far as the eye could see, neat rows of red, green and yellow.

This lonely chap was discarded on a pile of
uprooted vine stocks

So this afternoon I decided to get out and see what display of colour I could capture.

As we drove along the main road towards Buxy it seemed that the vines were not going to cooperate with me. There was lots of yellow, but the reds I had seen on Tuesday were hiding. I managed to capture a few images, but I will be trying again next week to see if I can find a more photogenic display.

It doesn’t really matter about the lack of photos though, it was a lovely, sunny afternoon to be out and about enjoying autumn.

For information of our holidays homes to rent near some beautiful vineyards click here.

Missed 100th birthday party and Cluny in Flames

Frere Roger in the 1960s

Late last year I heard that Taizé was organising something for the “locals” to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Frère Roger’s birth. The 10th May has been in my diary ever since. Yesterday (Saturday the 9th) I went to find out the details and came away with a leaflet telling me to be there to register and choose a workshop in tent R at 15.00. I was there. Tent R on the other hand was dedicated to volunteers organising a day out for under privileged kids in June. On searching the premises I found a notice saying that registration was at 09.00, the Eucharist was at 10.00, discussions with the Bishop of Autun, some brothers from Taizé and some sisters of the St Andrew order in Ameugny were all held before lunch.

The workshops were arranged for 15.30, but that was the only thing that actually agreed with the information I had picked up the day before. The service at 17.300 was not mentioned and neither were the original activities after the service and before dinner.

The "locals" waiting for the workshops to begin - not in tent R though

I was miffed to say the least and as the workshops were the least interesting part of the day, we decided to abort mission and go to Cluny instead to see the pony games.

Roof gone and firemen dousing down the flames

Arriving in Cluny and the towers of the abbey were hidden behind a screen of smoke. As we got closer we saw that the vast building that contained the hay and the carriages for the National Stud was well ablaze - the roof mostly gone.

We were reassured by the spectators of the pony games, that the final would still go ahead, so despite the presence of the firebrigade we managed to take a few pony photos. They moved a bit quicker that I was expecting, hence this terrific shot of a pony’s rear end!

And there it was - gone..

Now home and writing my blog it’s 17.20 and the bells of Taizé are ringing out to announce the start of the service that I thought had been cancelled as it didn’t appear on the poster I had seen on the wall, earlier this afternoon.

So it has been a double miss for the birthday party and a photo miss for the pony, but at least I captured the firemen in action!




For information on holiday accommodation just around the corner from Taizé and Cluny click here.

Free accommodation for the right couple.

Empty

Most people will know that we started renting out our two gîtes in 2007, but most people won’t know that also since 2007 we have had another little house available for the right couple at no charge at all. This one has been rather more difficult to market, how do you really get to your target market? How do you find the right couple who will love this little house, settle down and start a family, because that is what this one is - a family home.

This looks like a nice place to live

We have had several couples visit to look at the property, but none of them have wanted to stay there, why? I have no idea. Cees’ daughter had put in a lot of effort to make this the ideal house for a little family and it is in a lovely location, peace and quite on the edge of the woods, lots to do and see in the area. 

It seems a crime that it has been empty for so long.

Moving in the furniture

Just last week, it seemed that the right couple had come along. I was so excited and thrilled when I spotted them moving in their furniture.  In and out they went, all day long, busy little creatures, excited to have their first home, dashing back and forth, hectically preparing their little house in time for the arrival of their offspring.  We watched them for hours, keeping safely out of their flight path so as not to disturb them.

Not guilty...

Our angelic cat, Fifi, has been ill and locked up for the last 4 weeks and maybe that has helped, it has kept us distracted and her out of the way giving the new residents a sense of security. However, Fifi is finally back on the prowl and since then we haven’t seen our new lodgers, have they moved out? Was that bundle of feathers Cees found a couple of days ago the remains of one or both of them?

We haven’t seen any movement in and out of the property for the last few days - let’s hope our worst fears are not founded.

Christmas nears

Cormatin decorations

Almost everywhere you go at the moment the build up to Christmas is evident. Every village and town has a Christmas market of local food goodies and handicrafts, all vying for your Christmas Euros. The supermarkets are stocking up on huge quantities of chocolate, foie gras, exotic fruit and vegetables along with the apparently unmissable shell fish and salmon.  Decorations are going up and the nativity scene in Taizé is working its way to the big day.

Rose in our front garden

But somehow it doesn’t feel at all like almost the end of the year. The weather is warmer than it should be. Last night the thermometer only dropped down to 8 degrees (Celsius for those Americans who might actually think that 8 degrees is cold!) and we would normally expect to be having frost at this time of year. I could not believe it when I saw some buds on the roses in our front garden the other day and even more so when one of them opened up this morning - in mid-December?

Our post box is filling up with cards from around the world - it is always nice to hear from friends far and near. All our cards are now in the post, there just remains the last one or two presents to sort. That’s this week’s job, along with preparing food for parties we are going to as well as making sure we are adequately stocked ourselves for the holiday season. So we are sort of on schedule.

Shepherds arrive

We took some time off from Christmas preparations to visit the Nativity scene in Taizé this afternoon and despite the donkey, it lacks something this year. It is all very static and the only change since last week is that some bland cut-out shepherds have arrived, but that is about it. I really liked the live chickens last year, they stayed all through Advent and kept the stable scene looking like a stable all week and the somewhat amateurish models of the main characters, really added some life to the whole scene.

Advent wreath

Sadly this year there are also no bible verses to contemplate and no changing scenes to mark the Christmas journey which is a real pity, as it is the only set of decorations that really mark the meaning of Christmas for miles around. Don’t get me wrong I love our village Smurfs and Snow White is always a welcome addition to the cold damp streets of Cormatin, but Christmas should be more than Walt Disney and other cartoons.

I think I should take a little contemplative pause in preparations as the pink candles of Joy are lit around the world.

Cows

Cows everywhere

This Saturday, ie the Saturday nearest to the 11th of November, Cluny becomes one great big party zone. It is the feast of Saint Martin. Quite why there are a lot of cows involved is a mystery to me, but there are.

This year we decided to visit a different cow before heading into Cluny. We have found an electronic cow, or mechanical cow, I am not sure quite how I should describe it, but in any case, it is a brilliant invention.

Electronic cow

A few weeks ago, we spotted a machine outside a supermarket in Prissé (not far from Macon) which dispenses milk. Not just any milk, but local, fresh, non-pasteurised, non-sterilised milk - real milk straight from the cow. Being a huge milk drinker and being very particular about the type of milk he drinks, Cees was very excited and so we decided to take a bottle and try it out. Here is the video to prove it. The sound effects were a delightful bonus…

Just what you need on a cold winter's evening

According to our aficionado, the milk is absolutely delicious, not tampered with, the way mother nature intended us to have it. Me, I am more excited about the price, at 1 Euro a litre it is by far the cheapest milk for miles around. A win/win in our household!

Following all that excitement we headed back to Cluny where the town was one great big chaotic party. All the tourists are gone, the holiday season is over and the party is just for the locals. The weather usually turns on about the 15th of November, so everyone comes out to celebrate what is normally the last weekend before the winter sets in. At least I know now where to get some good milk to make that late night cocoa to keep me warm in the months to come.

For information on holiday accommodation near a real milk machine click here.

A cat’s life can be tough

Trying to get some shut-eye

I often envy our cat, all she does all day is snooze when the mood takes her, go for a little walk if she fancies, run around chasing things and generally doing things she thinks are fun. She eats when she likes, from the food that is always available and she get cuddles on demand.

But the last couple of weeks I have really felt sorry for her. We have redstarts nesting in our vide.

Safe in their nest

Now what could be yummier for a little cat than fresh chicks from a nest? Fortunately for the chicks, the nests are well out of Fifi’s reach, but this is where my empathy with my poor cat comes in.

Anyone who has had any dealings with redstarts will know what a heck of a noise they make. Tick, tick, tick, tick loudly and endlessly, on and on they go. The noise is to divert your attention away from the chicks, but what these stupid birds don’t realise is that all this constant ticking alerts everyone else to the fact that there is a redstart nest nearby.

Poor little Fifi is being driven potty. She has found the nest but can’t get at them and is constantly reminded of that fact. The blasted zooming backward and forward and loud ticks drive me insane when I am just carrying plants or garden tools in and out of the vide, what it must be like for a little cat who is trying to snooze in her basket and ignore the fact that a nice snack is just out of her reach.

Daddy keeps watch while....

.....Mummy brings home the dinner

So here are some photos of the offenders and the quiet little chicks. Hopefully they will fly the nest soon and our garden will go back to the quiet place it once was where people and cats can snooze undisturbed.

Birthday in a bird park

Birthday picnic

My birthday started grey and rainy, but we went out any way. After all we are Northern Europeans, we can cope with cold, wet and windy!

No sooner had we entered the Beaujolais than the sun came out. So a picnic by a lake was called for. Then it was onwards to the bird park we had tried to visit back in August. Back then it was just too busy and quite frankly I wasn't so keen on waiting nearly an hour to get in, then to pay almost 30 Euros just to see a couple of parrots.

Cacophony of  colours

But it is now September and the park was bound to be quieter without all those families. Besides we did have that card from the bank offering us a reduced price entry - so what more of a push do you need? We were not disappointed.

Forget just a couple of parrots, this is chock a block full of all the birds you could ever imagine and many, many that you could not.

The park itself was laid out very well, lots of space to see the birds and (almost) all of them were close enough to touch. We went from one area to another, just wondering at the amazing specimens they had on show. Including an aviary with lorikeets that you could feed with nectar and they would land on your hands and arms. Not being so brave, I just went into the non-feeding section and took photos!

Mid-afternoon we made it to the highlight of the park - the flying show. And wow, was that a show. The birds flew so low over your head you could almost feel their wings brushing your hair.

Serene swimmer

Fantasitc flyer

I have taken so many photos, it was impossible to choose the ones I wanted to put in this post, so these ones here are just a taster and if you want to see more, here is a link to a photo album with my top 40 piccies.

The day culminated with our friends from Guitares en Cormatinois, the local guitar festival we help organise. They even sang happy birthday to me! What more can you ask of your birthday?

Panorama of flamingos

For information on holiday accommodation not so far from the bird park in Villars les Dombes click here.