An Amble in Richelieu

to reduce the layering of cake carbohydrates!

I just love this and wonder what the shop sold

Who had to hear this?

A grand giant knocker alerted the Doctor for the King. He lived in this house which became a  hotel, however, he couldn't afford to pay the (purchase?) price of 10,000 livres. Building costs were more economical to have no alleyway, therefore no gates into the courtyard. It is the only hotel which never had a grand hallway entrance onto la Grande Rue.

Whereas this one, on the second of the four ways of the crossroads does have the porch onto La Grande Rue as well as different window styles to the side of the house in the street opposite the grand knocker!

 

Different window styles

Part of La Grande Rue with Arched gate entrances for every house. Each was afforded by a person of rank. I believe.

An example of how to reduce window size!

I like the deep mulberry blue and planter on the door!

 

 Above: two interesting gardens down to the 'canal' behind the uninteresting façades below.

Well he would work in wood, wouldn't he?

This lean-to would worry me but it is held-back!

A strange surprise.

Cake Demolition

Nine cakes fed thirteen mouths and look how much they left...but it was all shared as we took
a slice of each cake home
or a slice of those we hadn't tasted
or a slice of those that we liked the most!
The wonderful thing about the idea of a CCC for me is that I can be creative and bake a cake,  share culinary success or disaster with appreciative foodies, have a laugh as well as be sensible, see new places, listen to conversation or join in, relax, and find something to learn. It sharpens my mind and allows me to get socially presentably dressed for the occasion and be in good expat sociable company.  It's a cake party! This last venue was a long drive with 100 miles recorded on the car odometer but I am not complaining.  Look at the results of CCC eating!  Thank you to everyone for the pleasure and the difference such an occasion makes to living in France... when a special 'English tea shop' style of eating is necessary for homely creature comforts!

Yumminess in Heaven - not for a waspy waistline

More yummy cakes... some bakers claimed that their cakes were 'catastrophes' and some were second attempts but they all looked magnificent full of Autumn mellow fruitfulness and and all tasted pretty moreish to me.  As there were nine cakes, it was a feat to eat, but I tackled it in three sessions, helped along with rosé wine and Earl Grey tea. Extremely civilised!

Gorgeous Caramel with Quetsches, blackberries and other fruits had an amazing contrast of textures, beautifully presented.

Cider cake with sultanas inside and apples on top was like a steamed sponge sultana pudding needing English custard! Brilliant as I'd never had this sort of cake before!

This one had a layer of cherries sticking to the base... deeeelissshous!

Full of fruits from hedgerows and garden....gluten free and healthy!

This was yummy too... although someone joked in a complimentary way about the foam mousse, I love its voluptuousness.

Oranges heightened the taste of this textured Grasmere ginger cake!

Almonds, lemon and elderflower with a lemony cheesey drizzle. Heaven!

Gosh... a sugar fruit fest!!!!!!! Black, red and mellowlelloyello!

Chocolate, Apple and Vanilla Cake

“Yummy Chocolate, Apple and Vanilla Cake”
for Teddy Bears Picnic Cake
for the Cardinal
at the Clandestine Cake Club

This recipe has been created from inspiration in my favourite cake cookery books and from recipes on the internet.  The quantity of ingredients and actual ingredients are not quite the same as any of the recipes that I studied ... I like to tweak culinary ideas! 

Cream together 225g butter and 225g light brown sugar until creamy. Then beat in 4 eggs previously whisked separately. Add and fold in 200 or 225g sieved plain flour with a large teaspoonful of sieved baking powder or bicarbonate of soda, with 50g unsweetened cocoa powder plus vanilla powder or essence according to taste.  Add 100g small pieces of dark black chocolate. I used POULAIN Noir Extra. Add one and half or two dessert apples, which have been cored, peeled and cut into small pieces. Fold in and beat to a firm batter consistency. You may need to add a little milk. Pour into two Victoria sandwich tins oiled and coated with a layer of flour. Bake in a medium to hot oven for 20 minutes but check and take longer at a cooler temperature if necessary. My oven temperatures are not indicative of others! When cool sandwich together with chocolate butter icing.

The theme of the event was: Picnic Cakes... so the fun parent-teacher part of my past thought that A Picnic Cake has to be for teddies!  So.. what kind of cake shall I make? A brown as the earth cake. A green as the grass cake without colourants! Rummaging in my cake decoration collection there is a green ribbon with clover, and look, here are the teddies - mummy, daddy, older teddy with his dog and younger teddy with his book.  A French fêve from an Epiphany cake models Pain du Miel (honeycake) and three bees amongst the daisies with a couple of fir trees in te background could tell the story! The idea of a tartan ribbon blanket disintegrated, so French squared paper and a red felt pen created the perfect picnic rug... but as it was sticking to the squidgey sponge I found the correct size of laminated card... perfect as the models stood or sat in place. They behaved impeccably whilst Great Granpa Bear removed himself from the piano to oversee the event and to present two chocolate liqueurs to 'a happy couple' who will be wed in two weeks time!

 And it wasn't all eaten!!!

I'm wondering...

whether to find a copy of Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan in French.  I tried to read a French version of an Agatha Christie a few years ago but it was too hard!  Inspired, when opening my friend's Orange Penguin collection where there were some French titles...this was on my 'to read' bucket list! I enjoyed the book immensely... an easy read of artful teenager's interference with adults which causes tragedy and heartbreak!

Waiting to be Here

A Red Ferrari parked at least overnight outside LaBelleVue.
An English registered Black MX5 parked for at least a week along my street.

A push to stretch muscles and walk gentle slopes of almost vehicle free lanes,
to the crucifix, to crossroads.
For 50 minutes goodness abounds observing the change of Season.
Enjoy the peace and calm that Autumn brings.
Passing my land I note that it is two weeks since it has been mown,
the longest period of all the year!
Earlier this year, it needed to be mown every five days,
usually every seven at the most!
Dreading the mowing but then a feeling of joy will transcend.
It will be worth it for that!
Knowing that this is the time for other work as well as gardening.
For tidying and clearing, for turning over.
Ploughed fields reveal clean brown terrain.
Ploughed fields bring hope and promise.
In the distance it must be a deer or more running field on field as a result of farm vehicle movement.
In the distance rabbits race like the speed of lightning, bobbing their cotton-tails.
Stamp on recently fallen walnuts revealing mooshiness, fruit blackened rotten.
Stamp.
Wait for solutions.
Waiting.
When one doesn't know what to do one waits.
A friend said that.
I know what to do as well as wait.
Keep occupied.
Much there is accumulated from all the yesterdays.
So for all the tomorrows I'd better sort it.
Let the day unfold.

Cycles turn in the mind.
Dreams wheel and turn.
What would it be like to just walk and walk?
To get there.
Where?
Anywhere.
And then one would be Here.
Here in Peace.
Calm.
Until...

It's hard to tell

... if energies and synergies are being sapped by others OR if I am sapping their positive energy levels.
It's hard to tell...
I am waiting for a recently pulled, central-back muscle to repair, in addition to muscular and nerve tissue problems that have existed for over a year.  Perhaps incapacity has affected this week's lack of energy and is the result of being sapped and sapping energies!
Shattered, drained, confronting cleaning, clearing of chaos that I and others created.
Shattered, drained, unable to consider all that needs to be done. But slowly, do the dishes... Do one thing at a time. I again am aware that I abandoned Self.
Shattered, drained, trying to do less, but one has to keep working for the next event and excitement that is waiting on the forest path!
Fatigue is gradually being repaired.
Exhaustion has a cyclical pattern in Fibromyalgia where people overdo things, become exhausted, rest, feel less tired, again overdo things.  It's a pattern which requires control.
It's a form of behaviour which has boundless energies with certain people, and none with others,  or none when an unpleasant episode happens in a chapter of my life. Then I am forced to retreat and therefore to collapse!
When physical, mental and emotional energies abound, I think I can do everything in my dreams, yet without being like a child, shouting, screaming "I WANT IT NOW!"
LIVING isn't like that. The Reality is that my DREAMS will probably never be achieved. Even so, balance must be regained! I need to rest before energies can resurface.

It's inevitable for 'burn out' when too many tasks, too many interpersonal relationships are being dealt with all at once, when too many dreams for perfection become negated.  One has to pick oneself up, start again, look to see how 'it' could be improved  by being mindful of small things.
Maybe these thoughts are because I live alone or are the result of past trauma. It is true that losing 'purpose in my career' as a result of many issues gained me early retirement and a different kind of work.  I have never looked back on that crisis that caused success!

Where is the Eagle that soars?
For several days I haven't been able to gather energy in my small, frail wings to rise into the sky to look down on Reality.
Where is my Little Bird, my Free Bird?

In the last few days there have been various suggestions but...
I don't wish to pick up a broom and sweep dust under the carpet! That's not my style!
I don't wish to tread on eggshells anymore.  I shall say it like it is or not say it at all!
I do think when I really didn't think before ten years ago...I was always reacting! - and this thinking thinks about what is right and wrong.
"Does it really matter?" I ask myself before or after asking "What is the point?"
WAIT.  Keep still.
Waiting... that is what we do.... wait for the next thing in life, whatever our age.
My dearest grand daughter waited for the first wobbly tooth to come out and when it did....oh my, the blood and the need to find something to staunch the gap, the excitement and angst for all of us!  
Then she shall wait for faeries... and monetary reward and the next and the next until one day she will realise that she does not wish to wait for any teeth to fall out!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank goodness she kept her first teeth for most of her first six and half years!  It bodes well if she looks after the adult teeth when she has waited for them to appear!
Waiting... 
Today the sun is shining.  It beckons.
I walked a short distance into the heart of the village but my friend was not there.
I don't feel 'Lost in France' but do feel positive that all is meant to be!

Staircase

The staircase created a dark corner in the 40m2 Grand Salon. Workawayer iii started to sand it by hand. This was extremely difficult for him or anyone even though we had the correct sandpaper to remove varnish.  Four years ago when the beams were sandblasted it was thought it would be too harsh for the staircase but I now wish we had tried.  Nevertheless, I asked the Workawayer to paint the underneath; it is surprising how much reflected light has been brought into that corner.  All the paint cans stored below have been removed and the 'cave' (pronounced 'carve') beneath the staircase has a cherry wood lid. That has been treated for woodworm as have the stair treads.  So I am hoping this little niche will become a place to sit and read! The hanging electrical wire is because I need safe electricity upstairs and for some reason the electrician didn't update the wiring or plugs and I need two lights in the attic space. Hence, a trail of wiring!

Before

After

On the Road

Whilst out cycling we saw an old vehicle still in use...

 and a little chateau (pigeonnier) built up high!

River Mirror

A favourite meal

Salmon on a bed of Lentils

Crops

The basket of LONGOR shallots was full at harvest time in early June... and jolly good they were too! The Annabelle potatoes gave a small yield of small but tasty size.... a little pockmarked.  The Roseval gave a slightly better crop but with a few rotten ones within the crop of mixed sizes.  Moving onto a mixed row of 2013 and 2014 soon but the plants above the soil look good and healthy as do the English potato main crop...at least above ground which I hope not to dig up until the plants have died back completely. With all the blight about I must dig a new patch for potatoes for next year's crop and grow fewer plants!
Lettuces look frail and delicate. The cabbage romanesco and another variety look strong so have kept the net over them to prevent butterflies settling... need to raise the net! Courgettes flower and yield not... although I have had two large courgettes and two smaller... Leeks planted in the Spring again don't seem to be doing very well.  Might need to get a soil test kit ... unless someone knows how I can do it without!

Early August accomplishments for Workawayers and their host!

Last Thursday was a push as was This Thursday!
I started to find it difficult to wake before eight so 'twas eight thirty after breakfast, before work commenced. Then they started yawning...  but "onwards... keep up"... the hard-task-mistress said!
Wii painted back of staircase risers a choice of colours and eventually 'first thoughts' won - to use F&B 'Elephant's Breath'... which turned out to be more mushroom than grey!  BUT done it is!
Wiii and I made a start on sorting music and books that were mine and not mine.
The piano music was easy to do.. I shed a tear hear and there! But boxes of recorder music etc remain unopened with a label of what I must do with them.
We started on the books that were mainly fiction. I'm tempted to count how many but that would be OCD!  I sorted information books last September but a few more were discovered.  Some books were assigned to the pile to be read or read again as supplies have run out! ... and some are being kept because they hold sentiment and define who I am...  Some were designated to 'charity shop' boxes for anyone with a vehicle to take to uk! Others were 'bundled' by author or style and are ready for Day One of the 'Book Festival'. Others are designated for ebay sales, but initially will try to be sold at 'book festival'. Others are worthy of ebay sales!  That is PLAN A.
We continued on Monday and Tuesday as more books were found in the car boot sale STUFF spewing over the attic floor, all of which was sorted item by item, designating some for Emmaus, some for 'the hole in the ground'.  The surplus was organised not by price as I had done before but labelled as DIY/Renovation or HOUSEHOLD or CHILDREN's or CRAFTS or CLOTHES...It was one way to do it and made sense to me!

The highlight of Thursday was the hot, hot weather and a four hour canoe event with me sitting as the Queen guarding the picnic and valuables whilst my dutiful servants rowed up stream and down! They wanted to! We all loved it!
Friday
It took Wii five hours to paint all of back staircase two coats of top coat whilst we were in the attic ...and then an hour to clear the site! I had to 'be behind' so to speak, to clean to my satisfaction as there were drips of paint on woodwork and tiling... done it is.
Wiii negotiated cancellation of extra hours to cover travel costs. I accepted a small financial payment.
I discussed the same subject with Wii who was unwilling to pay for that service in any kind!!  To Wii I gave four hours travel and two distances of petrol costs without an exchange!
Friday evening, I reluctantly drove to a music gig for 'Les Heures Vagabonds'... and once I got there, I enjoyed wandering around town, feeling the ambiance, listening to not good singing but ok piano, observing those who watched the performers without a beer in their hands and Brits around the bar!!!!!! and felt that I was being a good host.
Saturday
We were invited for morning coffee but declined to accompany them to a chateau... we had planned to cycle a circular route which took us two hours. This was our second spree on wheels. I'd doubled the distance because it suited me!  It has been wonderful to see my village and surrounding area as if I was a guest!  It was also a baking day, teaching them how to make savoury bread, pear tarte tatin, make jam and cook Lasagne! Whirling dervishes in the kitchen!
Sunday 
After a sort of lie-in and Lasagne leftovers for lunch, we cycled to the premiere of a medieval fete outside of my village.   However, we arrived in the French lunch hour when nothing was happening!  It seems silly to me that punters cannot purchase at unmanned stalls!  Still, harmonious and tranquil besides! We rested with aperos before wandering and cycling home where we all had an afternoon nap! We were invited to an evening meal for six pm start... then proceeded to another friend's garden down by the river for the spectacular fireworks event... (must learn how to take photos instead of clicking happily!)  I was disinclined to go to the fairground with little kiddies and those who were taller than me, but rallied enthusiasm... THEN, quel horreur,  they were invited back to the friends' for drinks and although I didn't wish to, I decided it would be better if I went so I could get them home not too late! (HELP!!! I don't need to be acting like a parent or someone in authority but this developed following the similar experience two weeks ago!) "TIME", I called several times. I left at three in the morning... arrived home less than ten minutes later and started wringing my hands...and phoned twice to see if they had left. At 3h20 I was cross! Understatement! I couldn't turn off lights nor secure gates to potential intruders which would be a most unlikely event... but anxiety won and I was certainly displeased when I noted the winding action as they arrived at my gates. Unusually, street lights were left on past 23h!  I need my sleep at my age, knowing that I had to travel at 8 am to get Wii to his train! A bear with a sore head springs to mind!  Maybe I over-grumbled that morning! Eventually, there were apologies all round and from myself too!
I must learn to let go!
Monday and Tuesday
Displaced hours and energy levels collided but Wiii achieved conquering my belongings into an order that I know now I can continue with.  Looking at it won't strangulate me!  Of course, it will take time over time but I feel that I will be able to chip at the mountain of boxes! It has to be my business to get it done! I am grounded with the cat and my stuff!  Wiii demonstrated how to cook an excellent goat curry and the host demonstrated how to cook duck breast in the French manner...the latter was supposed to be for three, but hey ho two ate it all! On the last day of shared Workawaying Three ladies, C, L, E, newly formed friends, indulged in an English cream tea at The English Tea Shop in the shade of parasols sheltered from hot sunshine.  Thereafter followed wistful farewells.
Wednesday
After another journey to Poitiers train station I did domestics and dishes to make the house look presentable for visitors who wished to admire progress. Then I slept like a baby ... and the next day too! and so did Baby Big Feet!
I know when I am tired because I begin to binge eat, drink copious quantities of tea, my legs ache, the body aches.  I know fibromyalgia, old age and physical tiredness have won!  I have been 'going at it' for what seems to be since February,  helping others and helping myself.  It has been a fantastic, progressive, productive year so far!
Never underestimate WORK! It has to be the Way of Life and what on earth would anyone do if there was none?  I have no intention of being lazy or bored but sleep I must have!

Heading into the depths of August, whilst still feeling the heat of Summer, one is confronted with cold mornings and evenings with moisture on the grass. It feels Autumnal but sunflowers are still aglow in the fields. Yesterday and today rain prevented bedlinen reaching the great outdoors!

Onwards indeed, I have so much to do after sleeping, before the next WORK and the next GUESTS and the next HOLIDAY!   Change is as good as a rest! Meanwhile, that lawn is growing greener!