Fragrant Bracket

Yesterday in Loches we parked right in front of this attractive fungus in its prime. I've identified it as the widespread but uncommon Fragrant Bracket fungus Trametes suaveolens (Fr. Tramètes parfumée) but have not had expert confirmation.

It was growing on a weeping birch, which is not an unknown host for it, but apparently it is much more likely to be found on willow. The real telltale determining character is that it smells of aniseed. Unfortunately, because I didn't know that at the time, I didn't check.

It is one of the fungi that causes white rot in old living or already dead wood.

There haven't been any blog posts the past few days. You might think that it's because we've been busy (our usual excuse), but the real reason is exactly the opposite.

I suspect I've had some sort of virussy thing, which has really wiped me out. I went for a little walk on Sunday, but that's been it. I think that my system has been weakened by my treatment and even the slightest thing really knocks me on my heels.

It has given me time to think about projects, of which I gave many in mind. Two of them are (spoiler alert) a visit to Germany in June, and buying a new (preferably electric) car. These have involved many hours of reading. As long as I can retain some of the information gained I should be ok.

In the meantime, I've been trying to decode this:

I spend so long trying to work out what it means, I forget to wash myself.

Turnips versus Rutabagas

Turnips are very popular in France. They come in tempting pink and white, less tempting green and yellow, and the big globular variety known as 'golden'. Rutabagas are a bit less popular, but widely available. They also come in pink and white, and green and yellow. So how do you tell a turnip from a rutabaga? I asked Charlotte at the local organic market garden les Jardins Vergers de la Petite Rabaudière and she told me that turnips have fine tap roots that emerge abruptly from the swollen part of the root that you eat. Rutabagas taper into their tap root, which is much thicker. Easy peasy once you know how.

Rutabagas are known as swedes in England and Australia, and neeps in Scotland. I like rutabagas, which are yellow fleshed and a bit sweet. I am not so fond of turnips, which can be white or yellow fleshed, and are usually somewhat bitter. Rutabagas mash well, turnips do not.

 

Organic turnips in my local farm shop.

Organic rutabagas in the farm shop.

You're Lucky to Even be Getting This

It was very windy last night. We had a couple of light flickers, the wind was loud in the telegraph wires, and stuff (I imagine out rubbish, which we put out last night) was blowing up the street.

I'm writing this last night in case the situation changes. Brittany and Normandy have had rolling blackouts, and we're on a warning for 90km/h winds.

Meanwhile, in Australia it's very hot and there are bushfires.

I'm not complaining about the cold.

*********Update*********

The wind didn't really happen, it's not particularly cold, and as yet it hasn't rained. Not that I blame the weather bureau: this weather forecasting thing is complicated.

We Have Had White

It's been cold recently. After Christmas it got a little bit less bitter, but the past few days - phew!

Here's a couple of pics and some numbers: we had somewhere between 3 and 5cm of snow yesterday, and the lowest temperature for this week was -7°c. The highest temperature was 3 °c. We've had Hoar frost, freezing fog, sleet, and snow. The gusty winds/blizzards never eventuated.

Soldes, Hiver 2026

The official bi-annual sales start at 09:00 today.

We've written about the soldes before, when we were looking for a kitchen mixer, and once when we were looking for an oven. Both times we ended up making purchases not connected to the soldes, because other stuff happened that nade so-called official bargains irrelevant.

Our current TV. When I took the pic I was watching a program about Leonardo, and the image is Clos Lucé.

This year, for the first time in over 10 years, I'm paying attention to the soldes. Our television is over 13 years old, and although there's nothing wrong with it once it's working, it takes about 5 minutes after turning it on before any picture arrives. I think it's a problem with the power supply, but the only way to find out will invariably cost more than a new TV. Sooner or later it won't run at all.

My dilemma is that to get French TV I will need to get a smart TV, and I don't particularly want one of them. We don't have any subscriptions and don't intend buying any, I don't talk to electronics, and I don't sufficiently trust the purveyors of such stuff. We could get our satellite system changed, but that would mean we lose our UK satellite. I could maybe get some sort of stick or WiFi box for a dumb TV, but I'm not sure I can be bothered. You might think I could use the mini PC to watch French TV online, but it's a Windows 7 machine and neither of the official French TV sites will work.

Whichever way we go it will be a bigger TV than the one we have now. These days it's almost impossible to buy a TV as small as our current one.