Thursday 1 January 2015

Meilleurs voeux

The image above was painted by our friend Annie Paterson and is reproduced here with her kind permission. European Mistletoe is rather an apt motif for sending with New Year good wishes, as compounds in this common parasitic plant are showing promise as a medication that will offset some of the unpleasant effects of chemotherapy. One of most important of people's good wishes, and the one which is most often specifically referred to is the wish for the good health of friends and family in the New Year.

So we would like to take this opportunity to wish all our readers good health and much happiness in the coming year.
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A la cuisine hier: I used the last drops of my delicious homemade sour cherry liqueur yesterday in some sorbet. Sob! And roll on cherry season so I can make some more.

Fusilli pasta with a sauce made from leftover diced carrots, the last of the chorizo, frozen peas, leftover tomato sauce, garlic, the famous La Borde cream and parmesan cheese.
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French Expressions: I telephoned the radiography lab yesterday to make an appointment for my biennial mammogram. The receptionist's response to my 'je voudrais prendre rendez-vous s'il vous plait' was 'pourquoi?' Now, pourquoi is usually translated as 'why', and usually that is a perfectly reasonable translation in English. But pourquoi literally translates as 'for what', so the receptionist's response was not as odd and terse as it might appear. Not 'why on earth would you want to do that?' but 'what service do you require?'

And for your bonus piece of trivia: Anne Boleyn owned a lap dog called Pourquoy, the old French spelling of pourquoi. It was so named as it was always sticking its nose into things, incorrigibly curious.

14 comments:

Tim said...

Happy New Year to you both...
and if you come over and find us calling RonRon, Baron and Blanche "Pourquoy"...
you will understand!!

Susan said...

Tim: Pourquoy or Porkie?

Tim said...

On the Sneez-bower tools, the extra long rake and hoe handles are a distinct advantage...
apparently their Swoe is magnificent!

The 'ladies' fork is close to normal UK fork height..
but with the smaller 'ladies' head...
which actually is a good thing for most men...
we tend to be too macho...
and try and dig sods that are too big for healthy work...
I use Pauline's small fork more than a big one for that reason...
but it is a bit too short for a long session.

But really, nothing can beat the "grelly" for working over a section!!
And you can't hurt your back using a grellinette properly... and it gives arms and thighs a really good, safe workout!!

Tim said...

"Porkie" is RonRon's second name already...
followed closely by "Gannet"!!

Ken Broadhurst said...

Happy 2015, everybody (and especially S&S).

Susan said...

Tim: the grelinette was a real revelation for me. No more twisting with too much weight of soil.

Ken: Thanks, and the same to you and Walt.

Colin and Elizabeth said...

What a fitting image and how beautifully it is painted (as with all Annie's work).

Happy New Year one and all and we look forward to seeing you soon. We will raise a glass of sloe gin this evening (thanks for the sloes, Tim and Pauline!) to all our friends on the other side of the channel. Cheers!

RestlessinFrance said...


Happy New Year blessings to all ...good health to S&S this year so as to keep C&C occupied. Pourquoi pas? Life is for Living!

ladybird said...

Happy New Year to you both ... and the two CC girls. Hope they'll be busy in 2015! :)

Susan said...

C&E: Annie's terrific, isn't she. And your sloe gin isn't bad either :-)

Tim said...

Ronnz is both porkie and pourquoy

Susan said...

Tim:Quite :-)

Aussie in France said...

Happy New Year to you both! I hope that 2015 will be prosperous and healthy.

Tim said...

"Tim:Quite :-)"...
No... extremely!!

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