La weekend, Savennieres and Monsieur Brunet

It's the weekend and time for fun again. Friday was a public holiday here on account of it being Assumption day. There were brocantes to explore so we got up early and discovered a beauty, north of Saumur, at a place called St George sur LoireIt wasn't the féte of the gros frites but we managed to eat some anyway...It was the most glorious day. I even got a little bit sunbunt. We managed to find a bell for the Jaques Anquetil bike and a stall selling lovely 1950's fabrics from Cholet, (famous for it's manufacture of linen handkerchiefs). I bought 5 metres of very pretty printed cotton for a dress or a quilt, (will show you later when I get round to taking a photo). I wish I'd bought more....

After the brocante Liz had told us about a lovely little village called Savenniéres. So we went to explore...it had a marvelous Belle Epoque Post office and lots of tiny winding streets.It is near Behuard where the ghost house is. It was very quiet and we only just caught the boulangerie. There wasn't anything much to eat so oh dear we had to have nougat glacé for lunch.....we sat in the park in the centre of the village with no one else around on a millstone and ate them out of their little plastic cups with the end of the nail file (the non-nail end I hasten to ad) and our fingers. It was one of those times when you notice you're completely happy. It had a wonderful ancient Church with grotesque gargoyles around the eaves. Here's a photo of one of them come down to earth...After all that we came back to La Fosse for a nap and then off to dinner next door at Christine & Simon's house. She of Grand Tiramisu fame from last year. I didn't take any photos as it seemed a bit rude but boy was it good. A continuation of the fabulous gourmet-ness (is that a word) of all La Fosse has to offer.

Moving right along....this morning after wandering down to where Liz & Laure were lounging in deckchairs recovering from last night's excesses, Liz declaired that the neighbour on the other side (Monsieur Brunet, the vigneron) was open for business. If we wanted to taste some great wines we'd better get a move on.... so off we went JUST after breakfast to a wine tasting in an amazing cellar. Mr Brunet is a Gallic stunner with a nose to die for (in both ways). Here we are looking very English & restrained in his CaveForget about bottles it's all here still in the vats
Today will also go down in history as Laure's birthday. A little special festival tart?
Avec une candle. Twenty one today.

See food diet...

Hmmm here I am with time on my hands surrounded by vines.....what can I do?
I know, pick the leaves, boil them, stuff them and eat them............. With pine nuts, & mint,
currants and rice. C'est bon.
A lot of stuffing and rolling...a little bit of cooking. (Well a lot actually, I burnt them on their bottoms).
They kind of worked but were a little bit tough. Maybe vine leaves in late summer are a little too old to use. Damn, I'll have to come back in Spring.....

More pincushions

Here's a cute little project for those southern hemisphere winter blues (Thomsey & Amy). Or Northern climes in times of holiday need (Puffster). There's a free tutorial at this link.
I found it after finding out that Kellypuffs has been reading this book. It looks gorgeous. I wish I'd brought some felt with me. Hmmmm now where CAN I get felt?

Trifles of passementerie

While I'm here with time on my hands I've had plenty of time to surf. Here are some pictures from this site I found today. Pretty good aren't they?

Random images from La Fosse

Here are a couple of pictures for you from yesterday's bike ride.....At each cross road here there is usually a cross with Jesus on it (sometimes fallen off as in the 2nd to previous post) . Every now and then you get one with the Queen of peace instead. They are my favourites. Here is a beauty that lives about 2 minutes ride from us here at La Fosse. The plants are always well looked after and the gravel always raked.
Next is an idyllic scene, once again only a few minutes away (although the way the wind has been blowing it's more like 10 or 15 minutes, even downhill I've had to pedal like mad to get anywhere). Look at those whopping Charolais cows. There was an amazing chateau just behind these trees. Maybe we could move on from the ghost house at Behuard when we win the lottery.
Here is the door to the Church in Tigne. The wind in the trees was making sighing noises and no one was about. Very peaceful. This is the tiny Chateau right next door. Known as the "Petite Ville". Imagine having your own turreted bedroom and private moat.
This is the view I wake up to every morning. The view outside our bedroom window.... I must water those plants.

The fete of the giant croissant

On Sunday we set off quite early to explore what's known here as 'brocantes', kind of like a boot sale in the UK or a garage sale in Oz. There were lots on but they were all a long way away. Mostly north of and over the Loire from where we are. The first one we went to at Le Guédeniau had a theme, it was the "La féte de la gros croissant"

Stalls ran in every direction along the winding village streets. Every person in the village was getting in on the act with all their crappiest DVD's and grubby soft toys but nevertheless there was quite a carnival atmosphere.

Occasionally there would be something slightly more interesting but at a hugely inflated price. The best thing we saw was an old sword with rags of cord hanging off it. We didn't buy anything except a couple of huge croissants. (Lucky we did as it was the only thing we ate all day). I got Ricardo to stand in front of these two typically French ladies so it looked like I was taking his photo. They looked amazed at all the people who'd suddenly turned up in their village. Here's a close up...
Sorry to tell you about photos I didn't take but there was one I wish I'd had the guts to ... the most amazing looking man of about 55, smoking a huge cigar, tanned & handsome with a nose so sharp you could cut your finger on it and dark hair longer than Richard's, sitting cross legged on the bonnet of his ancient Mercedes, eating wild strawberries and selling stuff it looked like he'd stolen out of wrecked buildings. Archetypal. He reminded me of my first crush when I must have been about 11 which was on a dark & handsome circus worker.

We also went to a beautiful place that our neighbour Patrick had told us about.

Béhuard is a small, peaceful, green island in the Loire. It's a place of pilgrimage and has a beautiful statue of the 'Queen of Peace' or 'La Reine de la Paix' as she is known here. It's high up on a rock because the river floods here and rose some 10 metres in 1910

We found our dream house here.....needs a little attention but fancy the address 'Ghost house, Behuard, La petite isle sur la Loire'

A French seaside jaunt

I know it looks like I have a marvelous existence here and yes, I do, but sometimes it can get very lonely with not a soul to talk to all day when Richard's at work.
Yesterday I thought I'd go for yet another bike ride & show you what I saw, but I was so down in the dumps that all I saw were a herd of cows with their backs turned to me, a crossroads where Jesus had fallen off his cross, and a sad and lonely house at that same crossroads with all its shutters broken, there was a stiff wind blowing and the whole ride was a struggle.
Luckily (just in the nick of time) it was the weekend, Richard had some time off and we decided to go to the beach. It was a long old drive though to a place called Noirmoutier and a bit like suburban Rosebud when we got there but it did have BOATS
and a wonderful road through the marshes or Marais that closes at high tide. We crawled along in the car with a whole lot of other tourists doing the same thing, marveling at the crazy holiday makers donning rubber boots to wade out onto the stinky marshes to gather cockles. Anything for a free feed. I can't imagine this happening in Rosebud.
There was also this beauty in the town square which reminded me of the one in Collioure (Thomsey)
And this classic seaside do-it-yourself ice cream dispenser.

We wandered about the town and had a really good lunch at a small café with musicians playing jazz, then stopped in a shop to buy a very French top, I'll show you tomorrow when I'm recovered from the gigantic drive.
xxxx

Just a wee bit of music to keep you happy while you surf. Feist on Sesame street....tres cute

Morning bike ride and fabulous dinner

Most mornings, I have a lovely sleep in until 9am then I go for a short ride to the Pattiserie for cakes for Ricardo the Magnificent for morning tea. This is what I pass on my way. Hardly any cars & no bike riders today. Just miles and miles of vineyards, sunflowers and huge Charolais cows. Come & walk down the aisles of vines with me...


We had a truly fabulous dinner last night with Patrick & Helene, Liz's neighbours over the road.
I was terribly nervous as Liz had told us that Clement (their son) would be there with his girlfriend who works in PR for Christain Dior!!!! Oh MY GOD what on earth to wear, would I just sit there struck dumb trying to scrabble through my tiny french vocabulary?
I needn't have worried though, it was really nice. Patrick is a giant with a mane of grey hair like a lion, but a very gentle giant, and Clement's girlfriend was lovely and spoke immaculate English as you would expect.
Richard got his guitar out after a fabulous meal and wowed them all with his singing.

The meal was amazing, you would have loved it, we started with bread and two kinds of weird sausage, one of which was Andouillete!!!If you click on that link you will get an inkling of what it was, it looks kind of like spagetti squashed into a circle, It tasted OK but I tried not to think about what was inside it..... We had champagne with Framboise in it as an apperitif. Next came a duck terrine that Patrick had made last year in the Dordognne and kept 'a la confit', it looked a bit like cat food but tasted yummy, we had it with melon & cornichon. Next came the main course which was delicious roast pork that had been cooking for 5 hours!!! It was served with the yummiest fluffiest mashed potato I have ever eaten. We had local rosé with that. By this stage my head was swimming. Next came the cheese course with 3 different kinds of cheese, 2 of which came from the mountains with Clement & his girlfiend. I couldn't tell you what they were but they were seriously yummy. Then a marvelous cake, like a large flat brioche filled with creme patissiere. Even though I was stuffed to the gills I ate every crumb. Patrick gave us a tiny glass of Angelique to have with it, a liqueur that he made from Angelica. It was truly delicious. Wow. How on earth are we going to reciprocate? Will our signature Navarin of lamb be good enough?
A bientot for now. I'll try & go for a little French adventure to show you all what else is happening here. Any requests?

I rode into Tigne (10 minutes ride away) to buy a stamp today, just as well I rode Richard's new Jaques Anquetil bike . Usually there is not a single soul out on the streets but the sleepy town near La Fosse had come to life, there was a whopping big bike ride taking place. I can't find anything about it on Google but if Liz reads this she may be able to elighten us.... the lady who runs the shop had brought out trestle tables to hold drinks and wine and she was doing a roaring trade.

There was also plenty going on here at La Fosse when I returned, with a whopping truck delivering planks of wood for the floor that Richard is putting in for Liz. Patrick & his son who live next door practicly ran over to flex their muscles and help the petite Aussie get the boards off the truck.

Here are a couple of photos of what La Fosse is usually like, just to bring your blood pressure down.

Isn't this staircase beautiful inside the house? It's so cool in here on a hot day. An evening glass of rosé before a quick game of Yarnuff?
The evening light on the backyard.

Looking back toward the house and up to the Church.

It's incredibly beautiful here. As my friend Sally says, one mustn't take it for granted.

Bonjour mes amis

At last after a mammoth drive and very little sleep, we arrived here at La Fosse de Tigne, a tiny village in the Loire valley. Thank God Richard is such a gentleman because I sent us in the wrong direction a couple of times and he patiently got us back on the right track.

Here we are giving a toast to Kelly who tried her darndest to get here but couldn't quite make it.

We are here staying with Richard's friend Liz who he knows from yonks ago in Frankston (Colloquially, Frankston is referred to as 'Franga', 'Frangers' or 'Funkytown' in Australia). Liz is the Red Adair of the film world in Paris now and if you ever want someone to sort something out (like an Internet connection on a PC in a small village in France) then Liz is your girl.

It's great to be here. Already we have eaten ten times more than we normally do. You know you're in good company when everyone starts talking about what we're going to have for dinner even before you've finished lunch.

We went to a boot sale and fete today and Richard fell in love...we had to purchase this fabulous vehicle.
A bike named after the infamous Jaques Anquetil who won five Tours de France and was the first French rider to wear the yellow jersey from the first day to the last in 1961. Doesn't he look the part? Maybe he needs a beret?The fetes theme was 'Perigord' and they had dancers from that area dancing to weird bagpipes and a hurdy-gurdy.