The 'F' Word

Here in France, animals and some humans (Kate ;D) are 'à la lettre'That means that all dogs born in 2010 have names beginning with 'F'
Following the birth of Enya's puppies (that's another story!) we launched an appeal for name suggestions on Facebook and came up with Frenchie (makes sense!)Fado, Filomene and Freckles. A couple of months on and lots of kitchen paper, mopping up etc. we're delighted that all have gone to nice homes - Fado is gone to friends down the road, Freckles off to Paris for 'la vie parisienne', Filomene down to a great home on the beach and Frenchie has gone to a recently widowed man where he's being spoilt rotten. Enya is back to digging holes in a desperate, however unsuccessful,search for rabbits in the field, that is when she's not stuck to the Rayburn or trying to get into Kate's bed!
Happy days!

Julia and Julie.....

Happy days - I've finally seen it - yeah!! Life in rural France isn't always all it's cracked up to be - I mean until yesterday I still hadn't seen Julia and Julie!!
It was shown in our Mega CGR in Cherbourg ages ago, but alas... in french - version originale takes too much effort for your average Joe Frog....sooooo, I've been putting serious pressure on Mr. Orange to install our Orange TV whereby we can pay to view in .....yes......version originale!!The girls and I huddled around a roaring fire (Papa went to bed) and indulged ourselves in a couple of hours of fun....It was hilarious - Meryl Streep fantastic..
Afterwards, witty Ellen called me into my 'office' (the kitchen) and told me she'd found a touch of 'Julia' about me......








Taken during the February break by Ellen!

Toward the end of Sunday service, the Minister asked, "How many of you have forgiven your enemies?"

80% held up their hands.

The Minister then repeated his question.
All responded this time, except one small elderly lady.

"Mrs. Neely, are you not willing to forgive your enemies?"
"I don't have any," she replied, smiling sweetly.

"Mrs. Neely, that is very unusual. How old are you?"
"Ninety-eight," she replied.
"Oh, Mrs. Neely, would you please come down in front & tell us all how a person can live ninety-eight years & not have an enemy in the world?"
The little sweetheart of a lady tottered down the aisle, faced the congregation, and said: "I've outlived the bitches."

Three Legged Tom

OK OK... any of you who've been to La Blonderie will know how I feel about cats! I'm more of a dog person and that says it all, but, our Tom, I feel, is worth a mention. He's a survivor. A charmer who's been known to charm his way into the holiday apartment and B+B on many an occasion with his sorry limp (lost a leg in a trap)on his quest for food and affection.
Before the mid-term break we lost Tom....His quest for food got the better of him as he jumped into the back of a refrigerated van, parked outside the house here, much to the surprise of the owner of the same as she opened the van outside a school about 10 kms away! A confused and frightened Tom jumped out and hobbled off into the sunset! Many posters and spottings later Tom arrived home - it took him about a week but he's here now - Tom the three-legged traveller!

The Green Goose

In an effort to get the girls away from MSN, the TV and their mobile phones - I asked them to express themselves creatively with a couple of tins of paint.....and gave them carte blanche for the chicken house!!!!
Completely underestimating the effect of a tin of green paint on our Nicloas (de goose), off went Ellen and Kate with great plans for a makeover job...
Yes, you've guessed what happened next....Nicolas, on seeing the shiny green acrylic, went ape, thought all his heavens had come together and niw sprots a green beak......and the chicken house - which they decided would be a disco (!!???) for the lively chicks, has been called 'The Green Goose'...

Enya

Our latest addition to 'Animal Farm'.......Kate has been saving up all her pocket money, has sold her saddle (!!!), has worked for Papa in the surgery and emptied his pockets before loading the machine......and managed to come up with enough dough to splash out and buy her new friend - the 'handbag' arrived yesterday much to the joy of her new mistress!!

The 'Wilde' Geese....part II

Et voilà......a new addition to the 'basse-cour'
Nicolas and Carla are settling in nicely, enjoying the sunshine....Carla's the bigger of the two, by the way!!

The 'Wilde' Geese....

Monday morning...That's it ... off to the market like the little piggy we went...(Remember, 'this litle piggy went to the market?.....')Our decision was final, we were going for geese this time..
Names..Nicolas and Carla....that way we'll have no problem eating them at Christmas.....
and guess what...?

They were all gone.. ...

we're too late for the geese from Toulouse....A bit like the Randy Travis song that ....'you've been too gone for too long...it's too late to come back now...'

Anyway, they're ordered for the Friday morning market in Les Pieux ..

Here is a song, that I learnt in secondary school,which I now sing to my girls to get them used to the idea of what we'll be eating at Christmas...




The Goslings - Frederick Bridge
===============================

She was a pretty little gosling, and a gay young gosling he:
And “I love you,” he said, “so dearly;” and “I love you too,” said she.
“But alas we must part,” he whispered, “I’m off to the world so wide;
but love, don’t fear, I’ll come next year, and make you, and make you my little bride.”

’T was Michaelmas day at morning, that he came home once more.
He met his true love’s mother, and oh!, she was weeping sore.
“Too late you’ve come,” she whispered, “They’ve taken your love away.
She never will be your bride, ah, me! For she’s going, she’s going to be cooked today!”

Then up he went to the farmhouse: “Where is my love?” he said.
But the farmer’s wife she took a knife and cut off his little head.
And she served him up with his true love, on a dish so deep and wide.
So though in life they were parted, in death they were side by side.

Happy Days !!

Merci les filles.....for being our first residential 3-day program guinea pigs.....Apart from some minor hiccups where EDF and their strike policy are concerned, things went very smoothly.....oh, and Janine's 'verrine' ......

Done and dusted!

We have now officially opened our holiday accomodation....We're exhausted and yet thrilled with the final result, and at the prospect of offering lots more here at La Blonderie....

Many thanks to our first clients who drove all the way here from Amsterdam - Andrea, Jacklyn and Glenn.....

Check it out at

http://www.wildegites.net/

A bientôt,

Sinéad

P.S More to come soon with the opening of 'La Chambre de Bonne' (what used to be the maid's quarters !!!!!!)

P.P.S We're not quite ready for the bicycle rentals as yet!!!

I was on the telly!

http://www.5050.tv/au-quotidien/lexpatriation-made-in-france

Snow sculptors à la nature...et à la Ellen.....

Bonne Année 2009

With Christmas over, it's time to look to New Year's Eve - le réveillon - the 'awakening' which is, my personal favourites as parties go!
Perhaps, the only time in Normandy, to my knowledge, where we actually put on the glad rags and party in great style! Only the closest of friends are invited... the champagne will flow, the nibbles
un délice, the meal impéccable the chat great and the craic will be mighty! We'll eat, drink and be merry, embracing all in-sundry at midnight as we'll embrace the arrival of 2009, with it's expectations, hope, plans and anticipations!


Bonne Année....Santé, bonheur!

Christmas in Normandy

An abundant variety of mouth-watering dishes and delicacies is the highlight of this important family occasion. Called le réveillon (the awakening) and celebrated on Christmas Eve, festivities continue into the early hours of Christmas day. In some homes, the meal is interrupted by the welcomed arrival of le Père Noel at midnight, when gifts are exchanged, while in others midnight Mass remains an important part of Noel.
Amuses-bouche (literally meaning ‘mouth amusers –nibbles) and apéritifs are served at the beginning of this marathon evening of food, wine and conversation. Starters may include foie gras, smoked salmon or oysters, served on their own, or as part of a seafood platter including crabs, lobsters, periwinkles,sea snails, and prawns, served with lemon wedges, crusty bread, salted butter and homemade mayonnaise.

Traditionally, chestnut-stuffed turkey features on the menu, although seafood platters, scallops, duck, goose, capon (castrated and fattened rooster) and game in all its forms are often enjoyed today... Salad and cheese follows and the ever-traditional bûche de Noel (Yule Log) brings an end to this gastronomic evening.....

Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.....?
Eh non, not here in Normandy anyway, as the next day at lunch time , the food and festivities start all over again!

Joyeux Noel!

Irish Love Story

An elderly man lay dying in his bed. While suffering
the agonies of impending death, he suddenly smelled the aroma
of his favourite scones wafting up the stairs.


He gathered his remaining strength, and lifted himself
from the bed. Leaning on the wall, he slowly made his way
out of the bedroom, and with even greater effort, gripping the railing with both hands, he crawled downstairs.


With laboured breath, he leaned against the
door-frame, gazing into the kitchen. Were it not for death's agony, he would have thought himself already in heaven, for there, spread out upon the kitchen table were literally hundreds of his favourite scones.


Was it heaven? Or was it one final act of love from his
devoted Irish wife of sixty years, seeing to it that he left
this world a happy man?



Mustering one great final effort, he threw himself
towards the table, landing on his knees in rumpled posture.
His aged and withered hand trembled towards a scone at the edge of the table, when it was suddenly smacked by his wife with a wooden spoon ........................

"Feck off", says she...."they're for the funeral!"

The 'hearth of the home'

It's done - it's in - and we're all very happy.....We've recently installed our Rayburn wood-burning stove and I can safely say that we just love it!!
My kitchen is, however, no longer a place I can escape to - himself and the kids being too afraid to enter should I request that the dishwasher be emptied or anything else along those lines.....He's even bought himself an armchair...and is talking of putting a TV in here too... Doesn't he understand the 'gendarmerie' sign on the kitchen wall anymore?
Not to worry, we do Darby and Joan quite well in fact!!
The food is great, the temptation to cook enormous (as the oven is always warm)but best of all is that warm feeling in the morning....as two sleepy-eyed, little girls make their toast on the hot plate....
the simple pleasures in life.....
A bientôt!

Getting to grips with the past!

Hello there .....long time ...no news ....we've been busy!
I've been learning the art of mastering a real, 18th century, wood-burning oven - you know the kind the French built in their gardens after 1789 - the French Revolution !! Any other nation would have managed to bake bread in their kitchen - over the fire or whatever - but here, food is all-important, bread, a daily feature and in the past, beautiful outhouses with refractorty bricks were built 'dans le jardin'!
Take the word for bread - pain - I've learnt that the word for 'friend' comes from bread....i.e he, with whom one shares one's bread - copain!
But, the bread ovens weren't only for bread - everything can be cooked in an oven - the taste, second to none...
Whole pigs were cooked, rice puddings, roasts, terrines and much more...
Fascinating stuff...great food.....great fun!

Don't count your chickens...

before they've hatched......
Gloria is once again the proud Mum of 6 little chicks....

At first I was afraid..I was petrified!

Thought that I could never hatch without you by my side....


Thank you Tom, our three-legged cat, and Kate, for guiding us to Gloria....

This morning,9 year-old Kate was on animal duty..... she'd to feed the dogs, the cat, check that the horses had water, collect the eggs in the straw ( our hens lay in the straw, always in the same place, and take it in turns to do so !) and feed the chickens...They were starving and chicken run wasn't in it as they appeared from nowhere around the grub. And yes, there she was...Gloria, out for a morning stroll.
We watched her cautiously from the kitchen window and found her hiding spot....amongst the flowers! Tom has been hanging around there for awhile now so, I reckon that when we come back from our holidays, the place will be like something out of Hitchcock's 'Birds'!!!

Gloria's gone again!

For those of you who've visited La Blonderie (the Wilde Kitchen) over the last few months you may be interested to know that our 'Titi' Cotentine chicken, Gloria, has gone missing! Last time we were certain that Mr.Fox had been to visit until one morning, as I fed the other animals, I came across, what I believed to be, one very lifeless chicken in the old hay cart...that was, until she blinked!!! Gloria was hatching!!!
Being from a housing estate in the suburbs of the Big Smoke (Dublin), I'm still learning a little every day about country living, and, believe you me, it's amazing.
Gloria had befriended Tom, the cat,who surveyed her cautiously during her hatching period, while Stevie, her rooster, flirted with Dubh and Dearg, our egg-laying chicks!
Three weeks later Gloria became the proud Mum of 9 little beauties...
and I fully understood the expression 'Mother Hen'...