Wednesday, 2 April 2025

A Coincidence

One of the best things my parents ever did for me was give me a love of reading. I have books I was given when I was three years old, and although I don't read them 5 times a day as I did back then, they are still in my possession.

When we kids were older, Mum and Dad used to give us enough money at the start of each school holiday to buy a Puffin paperback. My favourite genre was history based fiction, whether it be ancient, medieval, or even 1950's - which (with apologies to some of our readers) I also used to think of as the olden days.

Although I no longer have most of those books, I remember them fondly, particularly the books of Geoffrey Trease. One I struggled to remember the name of was "The Red Towers of Granada" which I found recently and re-read on the internet archive. 

This led me on a bit of a reading blitz, and it has to be said that the books have stood the test of time. 

However, that isn't really what this blog is about (or maybe it is, who knows). The books on the internet archive are scanned copies of ex-library books, and it's fascinating where the books come from. One of the books I read, "Escape to King Alfred" - the American title of "Mist over Athelney" (a cracking good read, btw) - had a stamp on the title page that is a fascinating and a remarkable coincidence.


Back in November 2019 we met Sally and Gary from the USA, who must have gone to the Châteauroux Dépendent School when their father was posted to the NATO Air Force base at Châteauroux.

I wonder if either of them read this book, which apparently made its way back to the US when the France withdrew from NATO and the American based closed in 1967.

Tuesday, 1 April 2025

The Sand Dwellers

Any patch of sand in a sunny spot is likely to have residents, especially if it is near a patch of willow. At this time of year, look out for solitary bees, which ironically, may form large colonies in suitable sandy habitats. You may spot these three species in particular:

Grey-backed Mining Bee Andrena vaga, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Grey-backed Mining Bee nest.

Grey-backed Mining Bee Andrena vaga -- a large shining black mining bee with lots of buffy grey 'fur' on the thorax. Abundant and specialising in willow, collecting the bright yellow pollen to store away in its nest hole to feed its larvae. 

Grey-backed Mining Bee Andrena vaga, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Female Grey-backed Mining Bees, with and without pollen loads.

Vernal Colletes bee Colletes cunicularius -- a large dark brown bee with dense tawny 'fur' on the thorax. They produce a waterproofing substance from a gland in their abdomen that they smear on the inside of the underground brood cells that they dig. Colletes can be identified by a distinctive S shaped vein on their wing.

Vernal Colletes Colletes cunicularius, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Vernal Colletes.

Lathbury's Nomad Bee Nomada lathuriana -- a parasite of Grey-backed Mining Bees. They have a three coloured abdomen and tawny hairs on the abdomen. The nomad bee lays its egg in the nest of the mining bee and its larvae hatch first. They then eat the mining bee egg and its stock of pollen.

Lathbury's Nomad Bee Nomada lathburiana, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Lathbury's Nomad Bee.

All photographed in early April 2023 in the same few metres of compacted sandy soil on the island in the Loire at Amboise.

Monday, 31 March 2025

Petit Sale aux Lentilles

This time of year is a good moment for putting petit salé aux lentilles on the table.

You will need: A piece of uncooked brine cured pork belly cut into strips, some vegetables for making stock, bay leaves, garlic and peppercorns. And lentils. We prefer the local green (or pink) Berry lentils, but any green or brown lentil will do. 


Chop the vegetables into dice and put in a saucepan with a little oil, bay leaves, peppercorns and whole garlic. Heat on medium heat to soften the veggies slightly then put in the petit salé and cover with water. As soon as the water starts to boil reduce the heat so that the water is just moving, cover and leave for a couple of hours. Once the meat is soft remove it from the stock, put on a plate and cover.

Wash your lentils, put in the pan, reduce heat to a simmer, and leave until they are almost soft, but have a little bite in them. Add the pork back to the pan for 5 minutes.

There you go - a very traditional French recipe for very little effort.

Sunday, 30 March 2025

That'll be Wattle

One of the earliest trees to flower in the spring in France is the wattle. It's a real blast of sunshine yellow in the grey days of February and March, when most of the native European trees don't have leaves. The early blossom - usually some sort of Prunus - may be out, but not much else. The plant seen in France is either Silver Wattle Acacia dealbata or Cootamundra Wattle Acacia baileyana (or a hybrid of the two, Acacia Mirandole), both natives of Australia which are widely planted in gardens, to the extent that both are considered noxious weeds in some parts of Europe. It is a seasonal favourite with florists, who sell tonnes of the stuff by its international floristry name of mimosa.

This could be Acacia dealbata, although it might also be Acacia baileyana. Shepherd's Lookout, November 2024.



Wattle is a really ancient plant, at least 23 million years old and which pre-dates Australia's separation from Antarctica. Each of their fluffy spherical pollen rich flowers are actually a group of dozens of tiny individual flowers and they have hard seeds which can survive and germinate after bushfires. Some of the species are frost tolerant to -5 Celsius or lower, why is why they also survive in France. Surprisingly, the genus Acacia has been discovered to belong to the pea family Fabaceae. Nevertheless they are not all that closely related to the plant called Acacia in France, which is also in Fabaceae, and should more properly be called Robinia pseudoacacia.

Silver Wattle was first introduced to France in 1864 and planted in a garden in Cannes la Bocca. Soon after, demand from the wealthy winter residents of Cannes meant that hundreds of plants were imported and planted in the area. In 1880 Antibes and Cannes planted Silver Wattle as boulevard trees. By 1930 there was extensive cultivation of Silver Wattle in the Alpes-Maritime, at first for the perfume trade, but from the Second World War most growers concentrated on the floristry trade. Since the 1980s the area of cultivation has halved from its peak of 800 hectares. There is currently much talk about declaring Acacia dealbata and Acacia baileyana as invasive species in France.

Wattle Day in Australia is 1 September, the first day of the Australian spring. Golden Wattle Acacia pycnantha is Australia's floral emblem.

Saturday, 29 March 2025

A Long Way From Home

Back in summer 2019 we visited the Domaine de la Garrelière, near Richelieu. We wrote about it here. When we were in Australia last year we had lunch at Sunny's Kiosk, which we wrote about here

Those two incidents are linked by something in this photo. Can you see it? I am amazed that I spotted it and identified the style from across the room.


Of course we had to take it down just to be sure, and no, we didn't buy it.



********************************

Edit: after writing this I checked, and we still have 5 bottles in our cellar. It's an older vintage, though.




Friday, 28 March 2025

How Are 'Our' Ukrainians Getting On?

The Association d'Accueil et Accompagnement ddes Réfugiés en Sud Touraine, of which I'm a committee member, has been working with displaced Ukrainians since the beginning of the full scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

 

Nataliya and Anna, both of whom have moved to bigger cities where there are more opportunities.

displaced Ukrainian women in France.

So it is three years already since the sad exodus from Ukraine and the arrival in Preuilly sur Claise and surrounding villages of 'our' Ukrainian families.

Since April 2022 AARST has striven to accompany the Ukrainians in the different aspects of their lives here -- housing, health, administration, learning the French language, education, employment, transport and leisure.

 

Franco-Ukrainian Christmas party.

Christmas party for displaced Ukrainians in France.

Today there are 24 Ukrainians in Preuilly, 6 in Yzeures sur Creuse, and 10 in la Roche Posay. So 40 people in all, of which 14 are children.

The children speak better and better French, and receive a mostly normal education. All of the women work -- at the retirement home, home help, local businesses, restaurants, school cantines, the town hall, and some have their own businesses (eg as couturiers). They have become independent. One family has left for Tours so their older children can continue their education. Another family has emigrated to the United States.

 

Our beautiful Ukrainian women.

Displaced Ukrainian women in France.

Some families have had their share of bad news from Ukraine or have had to face serious illness. They all hold their heads high, despite the war that goes on and on. AARST entered 2025 knowing that the uncertainties are likely to persist. But there is always some hope that the war will end this year.

'Our' families still have numerous needs to be met by us, but our team of volunteers is wonderful, always ready to help, and we have the support of the town halls of Preuilly and Yzeures, other charitable associations and donors.

 

Ukrainian children playing at a picnic I organised.

Displaced Ukrainian children in France.

Thank you everyone.

 

Mainly translated from Christiane Beau's annual report for AARST. She is the president and founder of AARST.