jeudi de paris

Before we left Sturget, I just had to take a few more photos.  Its just one of those places where you want to carry your camera with you all the time as you want to capture all these beautiful images; the vineyards, the pigeonnier, the house, the garden...

This was the foggy morning we left which put me in a melancholic mood.

When we returned to Paris, I had something to do (will tell you soon what it is...) near the famous avenue of Champs Elysees. The girls were thrilled to come with me, loving and having heard the song  by Joe Dassin a million times...

Au soleil, sous la pluie

a midi ou a minuit

Il ya tout ce que vous voulez aux Champs Elysees

One of the most familiar landmarks of Paris is the Arc de Triomphe.  Completed in 1836, it stands at the heart of Place Charles de Gaulle which was originally known as Place de l'Etoile, or Star Square, as twelve avenues converge upon it (one of them of course being Champs Elysees).  The Tour de France competition ends at the Arc de Triomphe every year.  More significantly, it honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars.  Beneath it also lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I.  

The cityscape of Paris is dramatically different from Sturget.  The trees along the Seine, all bare, brave themselves for the winter fast approaching.  

Over the weekend, we went to a watch the movie version of The Gruffalo's Child and then went walkabout in the Marais.  There is always a little playground we chance upon and always some photo opportunities...

I don't always remember to bring my camera with me when I go out.  But when I do, its always worth it.

horse mad

What, its Friday already?  Quite right.  Its been a crazy busy few days so it will just be this short little post today.  But hey, great things come in small packages.  And these drawings are GREAT.  I may be biased but I think these drawings that Tea did are amazing.  Don't you?  Don't you?

autumn continues

Its still autumn.  Could have fooled me.  The other day we woke up to the grass covered in white frost. At 8.30 in the morning I had to drive the girls to their riding club.  It was zero degrees.  Well, could have been worse.  When I was living in Toronto, zero degrees was a reason to cheer and bring out the flip flops.

We have a dovecote, or pigeonnier  as it is known in French, at the end of the garden.  Meant for pigeons to roust in, they have a special significance in France, maybe because the pigeon acquired an important place in French cuisine!  Prior to the Revolution,  only the nobility had the privilege of constrcuting pigeonniers on their property.  They were a status symbol.  So like other status symbols, the bigger and the more elaborately decorated they were, the more wealthy and powerful its owner was.  By the 19th century, keeping of pigeons became universally permitted in France.  They were then built into domestic dwellings, often at the end of a compound.  Pigeons are still eaten today, but they are bought at the market and our pigeonnier now has a stash of chopped wood.  

The living room has a new piece of furniture - our couch from Kuala Lumpur!  Two actually, count the coffee table too.

The all-time favourite activity for the girls in St Gervais is riding.  Here they are all ready and rearing to go!

Chateau Sirac is our closest neighbour.  They are practically family.  We all feel the loss of Annick, who passed away early this year. Andre continues to host friends and family with great hospitality and warmth.  We walk through the vineyards for a chat, or to pick some fruits.  Not seeing Annick in her apron standing at the door waiting to greet us takes some getting used to.

The little cabane in the garden that Andre built for his granddaughter.

We left Sturget yesterday.  Alternating between foggy and clear weather, the landscape was often beautiful with bursts of autumn colours.  I was overcome by gratitude.  For this beauty, and for the life we have and for the people we have the privilege to know, whose kindness and generosity touch our lives in countless meaningful ways.  Thank you.

This morning I am in Paris, sitting down with a cup of coffee and an almond croissant, a scrumptious treat that I really try to abstain from.  But this morning I deserve it, having walked to the supermarket and done my grocery by 9am and walked back to a dozen load of laundry waiting.  Well, it can wait a little more while I add some inches to my waist with this croissant.  Have a great week ahead and I will try to be more disciplined about my Thursday postings!

autumn in sturget

This is our first autumn in Sturget.  Well, in France in fact.  As it is the Vacances de Toussaint (the first term break following All Saints Day), we decided to head to Sturget, my father-in-law's holiday property near Bordeaux.  The weather during the 5 hour's drive (5 hours for JB, would have been 6 if I were driving) was dreary, a preview of what awaited us in St Gervais (the name of the village) for the next few days.  We had a 15 minute respite when the sun shone through the glass roof of our new car...err new company car that is. Gone were the blooming giant sunflowers we are used to seeing and upon arrival in the Bordeaux region, the vineyards were all a little more somber than in the summertime. 

Despite the rain and the cold, we are happy to be here.  The changing colours are for us a wonderful re-introduction to seasons (for the girls of course, its all totally new - they have been talking about autumn in school though, bringing autumn fruits for show and tell etc).  We are equipped with rubber boots, rain coats, warm bedding and radiators. We are making fires in the chimney, roasting chestnuts over the open fire and hearty soups are on the menu in the evenings.

Its also the season to plant.  After much debate and discussion, it was decided that a prune tree would be best seeing as it bears fruit during the time of year we are most likely to be here.  So an excursion was made and a tree was acquired.  With much ceremony, we planted our tree.

In the summer, I love how the quince trees in the garden hang heavy with an abundance of fruits.  Totally organic, they often have internal inhabitants (of the wormy kind), so we don't get to appreciate them much.  And they are quite inedible raw; it is tart and has an astringent flavour, often dry and gritty as well.  They are difficult to peel and cut, but once cooked, is seriously yummy.  I made a quince crumble the other day with the pickings that my father-in-law saved for me.  Cooked in a sugar syrup with some sliced fresh ginger and mandarin skin thrown in, it took about an hour for the quince to become tender.  I then topped it with the usual butter-sugar-flour crumble topping (with some chocolate chips scattered over) and baked it in the oven. The kitchen smelled like heaven.    In fact, the fragrance of quince is so strong that it was used as a deodoriser.  The Romans used it as a perfume.  Leave them to ripen in a room, and the smell that pervades is just like, wow nature attack.  I didn't even have time to take a picture of the crumble, it got eaten that fast. 

Here in Sturget, our activities are often weather-dictated.  But our friends remain steadfast, come rain or shine.  Even when we see them once in a year (now that we are in France, perhaps a little more often).  

I am getting rather chilly sitting still for such a long time, so am off to make some hot soup for lunch!  Hoping you have better weather where you are!

champagne fairs and provins

A series of 6 fairs, each lasting about 6 weeks, were spaced through the year.  Merchants arrived in caravans of pack mules, converging from all over medieval Europe and the Orient.  The journeys were long and hazardous and eventually professional freight handlers and a courier service came to be.  

Furs and skins, wools, linen and silk, pepper and other spices, agricultural products like cattle and grain, and different kinds of avoirdupois (literal translation: having a weight meaning anything sold by weight like spices, metals, dyes and such) were traded.  New concepts of credit and book-keeping were constantly evolving.  Currency exchange and loans to princes and lords was all part and parcel of the international commerce of the Champagne fairs in the 12th and 13th centuries.  This is not your farmer's market.  This was an international trade fair (not your typically imagined scenario of the middle ages maybe) where merchants bought from and sold to each other.

Believed to have existed since the 5th century, it was not until under the management of the Counts of Champagne in the 12th and 13th centuries that these fairs earned their fame.  Organised welcome (Club Med obviously not the first to have thought of this), protection on Champagne grounds and roads leading to it, availability of attics, warehouses and housing, were all created to accommodate this event and attract merchants.  

The town of Provins was one of the towns in which the six fairs of the annual circuit was held. 

Anais and Tea travelled back in time to Provins with their school recently.  I was invited to come along (there is an adult/student ration here which is quite strictly adhered to).  Its a good hour and a half drive out of Paris.  In the pre-trip notes from the teachers, we were advised to take necessary preventive measures for our children who easily succumbed to motion sickness.  If they did, I can tell you they didn't work.  I myself am a chronic motion sickness sufferer.  When I was little, my parents always travelled with a big Milo tin in the car.  I found that if I wound the windows down and sang, it helped.  This was perfectly fine if we were making a trip from Bukit Mertajam to Sungai Petani, where we regularly went to visit cousins.  It got a bit difficult for longer distances (my repertoire of songs were a bit limited, and for some reason, mainly by John Denver) and then a lot more complicated when I started taking airplanes.  I would not be exaggerating if I said that at least 1/3 of the 46 children on the bus on this trip were sick.  Do your maths, that's a lot of sick bags.  But you know, motion sickness is contagious. Lucky for me, I had a little jar of Tiger Balm with me.  I breathed deeply and willed myself to retain my dignity.

The Counts of Champagne were a powerful lot who lorded over politics and commerce.  They made the fortified city of Provins their capital in the 12th century.  The various merchant activities, bankers, spice trades, cloth fairs made it a very wealthy city. Marriages were made to expand territories.  The earliest documents relating to Provins date back to 802.  Today a Unesco world heritage site, the city is amazingly well preserved, with its ramparts, Romanesque Gothic church and part-timbered houses.

Anais' class did a 'construction workshop' where they learnt about the style of medieval architecture found in Provins.  Together with her classmates, they tried to construct round arches with wooden blocks.  I took some great pictures of the kids in action, in all their concentration, their faces lit up with hope or cringing with nervousness that their arch was going to fall apart.  I won't use those photos here though, as I really don't want to get into trouble with the parents for using images of their children.

As the children sat down to make some drawings of the 12th century ramparts, Anais' teached pulled out a sheet of paper with my name on it.  I was being put to the test.  The drawing part I could do, but then she said write down all the words associated with this medieval city and about medieval architecture...I hadn't been paying that much attention, I was busy taking photos.  I wished for my knight in shining armour to come along and carry me off.  Obviously my knowledge of the middle ages  in France is a bit limited.

As our visit ended and we trailed back into the bus, the kids were as excited as they were upon departure in the morning; the grown ups a little less as they whisked out some plastic bags in anticipation.  Motion sickness sufferers are repeat offenders. This little kid, having thrown up probably for the 8th time that day, made no complaints as I swiped some tiger balm under his nose.  A little later, he asked if he could have "a little bit more honey".  I laughed, not caring to correct him, as long as the 'honey' worked.  It did.  He didn't throw up a 9th time.

ps.  I know I am extremely late on this post as it is already Saturday evening here in France.  My excuse?  It was a public holiday here in France on Thursday.