Rabies is back

Rabies is back in the Vendee.

Hot topic of conversation this morning. I thought that rabies was a thing of the past, dogs foaming at the mouth and being terrified of water.. but no, apparently not. Somehow a bat has contracted the disease. The bat then bit a cat and the cat then bit a domestic rabbit.. at this point I really wanted to say..'I don't know why she swallowed a fly, perhaps she'll die !!".. thankfully I can't think in french quickly enough !!..

So beware of bats, cats and domestic rabbits in the Vendee...

Swimming

As there is no school on Wednesdays, what better way to spend a damp and drizzly November morning than in a cold and wet swimming pool !!. Wednesday mornings at our local pool are purely for children under 8 years old. The pool has a small slide, a yellow 'rug' is placed in the centre of the pool for children to run along and then jump off the end. There are 'frites' (foam cylinders that are placed under the arms to aid buoyancy), floats, balls, watering cans, sinking fish..and the best part is..no adults are allowed in the pool !!.

So with much excitement we arrive at 10.00am and join other like minded mothers and children. Ten minutes later, a life guard appears, probably wondering why there are no children in the toy laden pool. 'Ah, the receptionist hasn't arrived' she says.., 'now I don't know what to do, never mind, just write your name on this piece of paper and you can pay next week'....

The Pig

Such a screeching sound, and it doesn't stop, it just gets louder and louder.

Finally my curiosity wins..I walk cautiously along the road and past the farm and to my horror the farm house door is open and there is a stream of blood flowing out of the door and down the road.

The screeching has stopped and there is an eerie silence.

'Bonjour', I say, a good ten feet away from the open door, in as loud a voice as I can muster.
'Bonjour' replies the short farmer as he pops out of the door grinning as he always does, squinting and nodding his head ,
'Ca va ?' I ask very nervously, looking at the still steady stream of blood flowing inches away from my feet.
'Yes, he replies, we have just killed our pig.'
'In the kitchen', I ask incredulously. Their pig was huge, the size of a small horse,
'Oh yes, the farmer replied, its the cleanest place on the farm'....

Wood smoke

Autumn is now coming to an end and winter is fast approaching. As I step outside, I inhale deeply, the magical and mystical smell of wood smoke.
The majority of houses in our part of rural Brittany are all heated by wood burning stoves and when the cloud cover is low the intensity of the glorious smell of burning oak increases. Simply wonderful.

W.I

Every year, about six or seven weeks before Christmas, the women of the village meet once a week to make small craft objects to sell at the Christmas fete which is held on the last Sunday before Christmas.

A note was put in my letter box that I should bring a pair of scissors and a paintbrush. So, I arrived with about 8 or 9 other women, at the Marie, all clutching our scissors and paintbrushes.
The President of this little group, explained the the craft for this session was to cut out a picture from a paper seviette and to glue this onto a pre-painted slate. So we set to work, cutting and sticking, and after three hours we had decorated 14 slates.

I enquired to the President, how much she would charge for each slate. I think, 2 euros, was the reply. I started to think about profitability..then stopped, this wasn't about profitability, it was about meeting, talking and exchanging gossip and if at the same time we could make a little money for the Commune, where's the harm. At least we didn't sing Jerusalem !!..

The ants have gone underground

A fabulously cold morning, minus 6 degrees and a very very hard white frost. The very impressive orange sunrise has now departed and in its place a bright blue sky. Everything looks so beautiful.

I have just returned from walking our dog, and I remarked on how breathtaking the sunrise had been to an old man who was on his way for his morning coffee. He merely shook his head, lent on his stick and replied, 'It is going to be a long cold winter, the ants have already gone underground'.

Conversations

This afternoon I was invited to have coffee with a lady in the village. I arrived at 2.30 and soon after me, her three sisters arrived and her mother and then her sister in law. We settled around the huge wooden kitchen table and my friends' mother, a women well into her seventies began to make crepes with great gusto.

We ate the hot sugared crepes and drank strong black sweet coffee and I listened to the fast banter between this closely knit family.

In this part of rural France the extended family is very important and few people socialize outside the close and usually very large family network. I felt very privileged to be part of this gathering.

Had I heard, the eldest sister asked me, of the sixty year old twin sisters who had just got married to two brothers (in their seventies) in the next village. They are all going to live together, she continued, much laughter followed, as the mother added that she hoped the brothers kept their eyesight as they might get their wives mixed up !!!...

New Moon

Over the last two or three years I have become increasingly aware of the moons' presence.

A couple of years ago, I leant over our garden fence to ask our elderly neighbour when I should plant my potatoes. Don't you have a calender showing the moon cycles, was the reply. I feared my Woolworths calender probably didn't include such information so I sheepishly replied, No, still not realizing what this had to do with my potatoes.

The elderly man put down his spade and disappeared indoors. He soon reappeared with a spare calender which clearly showed all the moon cycles. This information he told me was more important than the standard calender. We then sat down under an apple tree and he explained when I should sow and harvest my potatoes.

The moon also affects children's behaviour. They appear to be louder, excited and more uncontrollable when there is a full moon. It is also very common practice to give children a syrup, readily obtainable at all pharmacists, for 5 days after a full moon, to get rid of the 'worms'.

Grilled Pig

A french fete wouldn’t be a french fete, unless there was a pig being spit roasted.

It is very impressive to see a whole pig wrapped in branches of bay being slowly roasted, and it smells mouth wateringly fantastic. This with the live ‘pipe’ and accordian music sets the scene for a typical french fete. It is not long before toe tapping music entices two couples to start a complicated breton dance and before long there are fourteen couples dancing.

Bread is being baked in a traditional bread oven, sausages are being made in a tent, goats cheese is being sold from a very old van and a couple are teaching some children how to play some old Breton games.

Finally, it is mid day and the pig is now moved to a table, the chef puts out his cigarette and starts to carve. We enjoy the very succulant pork and a glass of cider.

Tidy Ditches

Three or four times a year special tractors arrive with a long ‘arm’ to cut the grass and weeds in the ditches.

It is with great skill that the tractor drivers not only drive the tractors but also operate the cutting arm which cuts the grass on the winding and uneven banks of the ditches.

When the great yellow tractors leave for the next commune, we are left with the lovely sweet smell of freshly cut grass wherever we drive, and children can fall quite happily from their bikes into the two foot ditches in full knowledge that the stinging nettles have gone away…. for a few weeks anyway !!

Fete of the Dead

Today is Toussaint, All Saints Day, a public holiday. It is a day when people visit cemeteries to remember their loved ones. Traditionally, heather and chrysanthemums are laid over the graves of relatives and friends.

All over France today, cemeteries will be awash with colourful flowers and people remembering those that have died.