A Gîte in the Orchard

A month or so ago my friend Rosemary did one of her regular 'Friday's French' blog posts about the word gîte. Many people know this word in the sense of self-catering holiday accommodation in France, but there are several other distinct meanings to the word, including as a cut of beef.

Rosemary pointed out that Larousse specifically mentions the cosy little resting place in long vegetation that a hare will make for itself as being called a gîte in French. In English it is called a form.

A few days after she blogged about the word, I happened to disturb a hare in the orchard, so I photographed the hastily vacated gîte and thought it made a good follow up to Rosemary's post.

Metal Mantis and Dragonfly

 In mid-December we had a wander around the picturesque village of Chaumussay, something we haven't done for a while. I came across two extremely well executed sculptures in metal, one of a praying mantis and one of a dragonfly. I don't know how long they have been up, or who the artist is. They are just around the corner from one another and both on private houses. Any information would be received with interest.

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Amboise: Yesterday we passed a very pleasant afternoon at Les Fleurons with Tim and Carolyn. They live, and run a B&B, directly under the northern face of the chateau of Amboise, and we took the opportunity to visit the chateau before we called in on them.

Unpacking the Past

Since the episode with the mice in the pantry Simon has been concerned that our stuff that is still in boxes in the graineterie is vulnerable. So just lately we've been bringing in a box or two at a time, unpacking them and giving the contents more permanent homes, or checking and repacking so we can be sure they are safe.

 More textiles and haberdashery than you can poke a stick at.

Mostly it's my past we've been unpacking: my big heavy oilskin riding coat that came from the set of the Man From Snowy River; vases made by my friends Ricky, Elise and Gillian; raku pots from Contemporary Ceramics in London; a collection of hair accessories and brooches; three boxes of fabrics and haberdashery; as well as Simon's best dinner service.

 One of the boxes.

Fortunately, everything is in good condition and hasn't suffered by being five years in storage. It's nice to see it all again. It doesn't feel like that long since we set eyes on it.

There are many memories attached to each piece of fabric, each hand made object, but the past is a foreign country, literally and figuratively. I can still remember where I got each length of cloth and what my plans for them were but it won't be me who gets out the scissors for a new project now. Next time I have a bit of spare cash I'll take some to our local dressmaker and have her realise the outfit I have in my mind. I've seen her work and we appear to have similar taste.

The fabrics and the vases belong to the same period in my life, from my mid-twenties to my mid-thirties. Creative stitching and dressmaking was my principle leisure activity. I sewed every day, exhibited my work from time to time and had a circle of like minded friends who all had fabric and haberdashery collections to rival mine. It was something I never regained when we moved to London, despite spending many hours at Hampton Court with the Embroiderers' Guild.

 Large vase by REG.

A job in the conservation and care of historic collections at a large heritage and nature conservation organisation that absorbed my interest and the demise of my beloved Bernina finally put an end to my sewing days. I retained a sewing room, but in time my focus shifted back to my childhood passion for insects and nature. Lace and cotton shared a desk with a microscope and boxes of pinned flies.

The fabric will  get carefully checked, refolded, fondled a bit and packed away again in a more secure box, probably for another 5 years. The vases get to stay out and grace the dining room table, the raku is in the spare bedroom, my oilskin hanging in the entry hall. The hair accessories and brooches will probably just sit in a box in the wardrobe. I've got a lot less hair now and don't wear the sort of clothes you can pin a brooch to.

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A Trip to the Supermarket: Yesterday we took Claudette on a little outing to the supermarket, partly to give her a run, partly to pick up a few bits and pieces. We foolishly thought the rain had finished for the day. It mizzled all morning, but by 2 pm the sky was clear. We got over to the supermarket with no rain, but while we were inside it started to tip down. We drove home with the windscreen cracked open (you can wind a Traction's windscreen out at the bottom) to ensure the water seeping through the aged rubber seal didn't drip down into the cabin but blew out and down the sides of the car. The windscreen seal is one of the few parts for a Citroen Traction Avant that it is now impossible to obtain, but without it, Claudette will remain a fair weather vehicle.

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A la cuisine hier: Spaghetti carbonara, an old favourite which I haven't made for years.

Touraine Building Terminology: Facades Part II

General Terminology Part I
General Terminology Part II
General Terminology Part III

Volets persiennés et rabattable en tableau.

Folding louvered shutters.

Facades Part I

This type of window is frowned upon as it is wider than it is high.

Openings (les ouvertures)
Arranged on the facade with the best aspect they circulate air, light and heat. Openings have proportions so that they are higher than they are wide. The bay surrounds are treated in a manner that is decorative against the rendered surfaces of the walls. The materials used for the surrounds (encadrements) and lintels (linteaux) are cut stone and sometimes wood. Above the openings are monolithic (single slab) lintels or bands of voussoirs (wedge shaped cut stones with a central key stone claveau). The sills (appuis), projecting slightly, are formed by a single stone inserted under the jambs.

Note the band of voussoirs, louvered shutters, three panes of glass per casement.

Joinery (les menuiseries)
Traditional joinery was made of oak, a favoured material chosen because of its resilience and longevity. It was painted which protected against the natural effects of climate and wood boring insects. According to tradition, houses differentiated themselves from one another in the choice of colour which could be expressed freely within the limits of the local hues. Historically, the colours used on joinery got lighter over the course of the centuries. Therefore it is best to use sombre colours (dark grey-greens or grey-blues, ox-blood red) for buildings before the 19th century, preferably leaving the lighter colours (pale greys, grey-greens, grey-blues) for buildings of the 19th and first half of the 20th century. Generally it is better to use colours which are more subdued than the render. In addition, for structural wood, the traditional technique is to limewash them (badigeonner d'un lait de chaux).

Some charming windows with non-traditional elements that nevertheless I am sure would be approved of by the Fondation du Patrimoine.  

Windows  (les fenêtres)
The main windows make a dominant vertical with two casements (vantaux) composed of three or four big panes per casement. The panes are higher than they are wide.

 Volets semi-persiennés.

Secondary windows, of smaller dimensions, only have a single casement, divided into four panes or even just one pane for the smallest of them.

A secondary window of four panes. 

The shutter, with its diagonal brace and the wooden windowsill do not fit the traditional style for the Touraine.

Shutters (les volets)
Most often the windows of urban houses (maisons de bourg) are fitted with semi-louvered (semi-persienné), plain or fully louvered (persienné) shutters. These are usually flat and open to sit against the wall (volets à battants) , but you can also have hinged shutters in wood or metal that fold into the window recess when open (volets rabattables en tableau). Rural houses (maisons rurales), with more concern for protection, have plain shutters with horizontal reinforcement (volets pleins à barres) in wood or ironwork. To allow ventilation these shutters are often augmented with little openings in various decorative shapes -- hearts, squares, trefoils, lozenges. The shutters on a traditional house are wood painted in the same colour as the outer window frame.

Country style shutters, plain with heart shaped ventilation holes and ironwork hinge-cum-braces.

In Summary
For the openings as a whole it is important to respect the proportions and the colours so that the final effect is of blending into their immediate environment. Openings must always be higher than wide (windows and skylights/roof windows) and the colours chosen for the joinery as a whole, and particularly the shutters, must remain discreet. Avoid colours that are too bright and don't integrate well with a traditional building.

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Orchard News: The broad beans are up (well, the half of them that haven't been eaten by some creature). Luckily one gets a second chance with broad beans, so next month I'll be sowing again. The onions and garlic are coming along slowly but surely.

There were several Common Winter Damselfly Sympecma fusca drifting about in the sun.

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A la cuisine hier: Simon made Rock Cakes and I made Apple Turnovers (with our homegrown apples and I made my own pastry) and Almond Turnovers (the same as the apple turnovers but with frangipane in the middle).

Sydney Tram Rosettes

 These rosettes on the walls of buildings in central Sydney are one of the few visible remains of the extensive tram network that operated until 1961. The rosettes are brackets for fastening cables to. The cables crossed the street and supported the electrical wire that provided power to the trams' overhead pickup arms.

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A la cuisine hier: Mushroom Stroganoff, served with lentils.

Roasted cauliflower, one of the trendy ideas from 2013.

AWA Tower, Sydney

 The tower atop the building was apparently based on one in Berlin, which had taken its inspiration from the Eiffel Tower.

The AWA logo above the entrance stands for Amalgamated Wireless Australasia. The company both broadcast for and manufactured radios, and later televisions.

The creature at the top of the building is supposedly a Pegasus chosen by the owner as a symbol of communication. I think some wires must have crossed somewhere, as the beast is lion-headed. Pegasus is said to have created 'inspiring springs' whenever he struck his hoof on the ground, and has been widely used by businesses wishing to refer to the wonders of modern mass communication or speedy transportation.

For more information about the AWA Tower go to the entry in the Dictionary of Sydney.

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Preuilly News: At the Cérémonie des voeux yesterday evening the mayor and the president of the Communauté des communes both made speeches. Bertu, the mayor talked about how Preuilly's water quality is so good that it does not need chemical treatment. On a less positive note, it appears that no new businesses were welcomed to Preuilly this year. Gérard Hérault, the president of the Communauté des communes said that OPAH has money available this year for those wanting to make modifications to their homes to assist the disabled. He also said that three communes from the communauté have been chosen for special focus this year. One is Preuilly, because of its historical importance in the area. The other two are Yzeures and Saint Flovier.

Firewood Delivery

When I came back from an afternoon of working in the orchard on 10 January last year, I discovered the end of the street had been blocked by someone's firewood delivery. Most of the houses here are right on the street, and many don't have a back entry for deliveries. The only thing to be done is to dump the wood on the street. Drivers in these old villages take this in their stride and are rarely very put out by having to back up and go round another way. This house has a garage opening on to the street, so within minutes there was a swarm of teenagers taking logs and stacking them safely away at the back of the garage. An hour later, when Simon and I went out to the mayor's New Year ceremony, you would never have known there had been a pile of wood there at all. The street had been so thoroughly cleared they must have finished by sweeping up the chips.

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Mayor's New Year Ceremony: Preuilly will be having the annual New Year drinks in the salle de fêtes at 6pm. The mayor will deliver his good wishes and an overview of the outgoing year. New businesses will be welcomed and various awards given.

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A la cuisine hier: Lasagne, with extra servings made in foil trays to go in the freezer as ready meals. The recipe is from Jack Monroe, and is part of her challenge to reproduce supermarket ready meals, only cheaper and better, at home from scratch.

Jerusalem Artichokes and Leeks

If your aged neighbour gives you (f)artichokes and leeks, my advice is to make fartichoke boulangere. If you are not familiar with dishes cooked à la boulangère, this link gives you a recipe.

Any leftovers should be mashed or puréed and mixed with some creamy blue cheese, such as fourme d'Ambert, then more stock added until you have the consistency of a soup. Heat and ladle into bowls. Yum!

Yum

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A la cuisine hier: Simon made a fougasse topped with olives, onion, bacon and cheese and we served it with my carottes rapées and lettuce.

Roast baby onions, cooked in their skins and super easy to prepare.

The Bridge at Chaumussay

Three views of the bridge over the Claise at Chaumussay, all taken on the same day in mid-December last year. Chaumussay is the next village downstream from us.

This is one of our favourite spots in the area, and we have posted pictures of the bridge before, here and here.

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Bat Count: La Ligue de la Protection des Oiseaux (LPO, the League for the Protection of Birds) and le Groupe Chiroptères d'Indre et Loire (the Indre et Loire Bat Group) are doing an inventory of bat hibernation and breeding sites in the south Touraine. Anyone who knows of sites which could be visited by some specialists are asked to contact Jean Claude Jacques. (Contact me by email through my profile link on the right side bar and I will give you Jean Claude's details.)

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Local News: The controversial comedian Dieudonné has been told he is not allowed to perform in Tours on 10 January. Good. Apparently tickets are just about sold out. Not good. To read more about Dieudonné and how the authorities are trying to deal with his unwelcome contributions to racial tensions in France go to French News Online.

Touraine Building Terminology: Facades Part I

General Terminology Part I
General Terminology Part II
General Terminology Part III

Walls (les murs)
The walls are very largely made of stone. Without question, tuffeau is the most characteristic construction material in the Touraine Loire Valley. Tuffeau stone is a soft friable limestone, coloured off-white or yellowish. The tuffeau was formed over the course of the geological period known as the Turonien.

Closest to us, a smooth rendered wall with just the quoins (chaînage d'angle) and surrounds (encadrements) showing in cut stone. Further along the render allows the rubble stones (moellons) to be visible through it.

• the tuffeau deposited in the Lower Turonien gives a soft chalk which sometimes contains nodules of flint. There is a lot of this stone around Saumur.
• the tuffeau formed during the Upper Turonien made a yellowish limestone which is found particularly in the Vienne valley.
• the best tuffeau for building is that which was deposited in the Middle Turonien. It is a 'noble stone' par excellence, a white rock enriched with micas and quartz crystals. It is this tuffeau which made the quarries of Bourré in the Cher valley reknowned. 

 A fine cut stone (pierres de taille) town house, showing the effect of weathering on the stone on the left.

Other quarries were dug all along the Loire, the Vienne, the Indre and the Cisse. In the Touraine, cut tuffeau stone was not just used for the construction of grand royal residences and merchants' town houses, but also for farm and village houses, barns, enclosures and vine huts.

Walls of rubble stone visible through the render, with cut stone quoins and surrounds.

As well as the cut stone (pierres de taille) walls, many buildings, especially in the countryside, are constructed from field or rubble stones (moellons) composed of limestone, sandstone and flint. Field stones are covered with a render (enduit) which was based on sand (sable), mixed with a binding agent (either quicklime chaux grasse/chaux aérienne or hydraulic lime chaux hydraulique).

The render forms a protective sleeve for the walls, also allowing the exchange of humidity between interior and exterior. Sometimes the field stones are visible through the render.

Rubble stone wall with cut stone window surround.

Whatever basic type of masonry is used, the quoins (chaînage d'angle), surrounds (encadrements), jambs (jambages), sills (appuis) and lintels (linteaux) of openings (baies) and cornices (corniches) are done in bonded cut stone.

Cut stone village house (formerly a hostel).

Terracotta (terre cuite), practically absent in the construction of walls in the Touraine, is reserved for chimneys, roofs and floors. All the same, it is not uncommon to see brick clearly visible in the rendered walls. You see it tracing the path of the chimney through the wall, as the infill on timber frame (colombages) buildings or used on window surrounds. Numerous tile and brick factories existed in the Touraine Loire Valley in the 19th century.

Two different rendering styles, one with just the surface of some rubble stones appearing, one with all stones visible. The building closest is made of a much more mixed batch of stones.

For all restoration of render it is recommended to use a traditional render of natural lime which allows the stone to 'breath' and as a result, discourages the appearance of damp spots or moulds on the surface of the walls. With respect to the local tradition, the colour given to the render by Loire river sand is favoured.

UPDATE: In response to the question about render from Carolyn in the comments.

Render is a paste that is applied to walls with a trowel and more or less smoothed, as a protective and aesthetic layer. It can be cement, stucco, plaster or lime based. In the case of the buildings above it should always be lime based (a mixture of nothing more than lime, sand and water). It is intended to be sacrificial, that is, it takes the brunt of the weather and protects the structural fabric of the building underneath. The expectation is that it is replaced periodically. It can be used on both interior and exterior surfaces. We have written about using lime render on our own house here and here if you want to know more or see pictures of the process.

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A la boulangerie hier: I was amused to see fêves in the shape of little painted boomerangs for sale. (Fêves are ceramic tokens, quite collectable, that one puts in the galette des rois, the traditional cake eaten on Epiphany, which was yesterday.) The bakery is also offering a bottle of cider for €2 with every galette purchased.

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In need of a laugh?: Check out this short 'nature documentary'. It's only a couple of minutes long and called 'if animals were fat'. I chuckled the whole way through.

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Magazine Back Issues Offer: If you would like any back issues of The Garden (one of the journals published by the Royal Horticultural Society) or British Wildlife and can pick them up from our place, you would be very welcome to have them. Both are highly regarded publications, suitable for reasonably serious amateurs and professionals alike. If no one wants to give them a new home I will take The Garden to the recycling, although I will keep the BW. The index for The Garden is here, if you want to cherry pick (pun intended) and just search for magazines with articles of interest to you. I can't guarantee to have every issue. The index for BW is here. I have 1997, 2009-11 of The Garden and 1999 - the present of BW. I also have Butterfly, the magazine of Butterfly Conservation UK from 2009 - the present which anyone interested in is welcome to. This last is much more of a membership magazine, for the concerned and interested amateur, but does have one or two short but interesting articles per issue. They don't produce an index for it. Email me (via my profile on the right sidebar) if you would like me to put any of these aside for you.

Weather and Wildlife in the Touraine Loire Valley 2013

"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather." John Ruskin.


Personally I think he's overly enthusiastic about wind, but minor quibbles aside, his point is well made. Below are my notes about the weather and some wildlife highlights for 2013, made every couple of weeks and accumulated over the course of the year.

Jan -- early - fairly mild (not much frost, no snow) misty and overcast. Not much rain. Mild enough that hedgehogs emerged from hibernation, as evidenced by the occasional squashed one on the roadside. Likewise, badgers remained very active, with the same roadkill result. Marmalade Hover Fly Eristalis balteatus active. Mid - frost and snow, very cold windless days, a little rain. Late - back to mild, overcast weather (no frost, some rain). A few insects active. Small mammals appeared to be in somewhat short supply (burrows waterlogged), although I did witness a fox hunting in a field. Black Redstart in garden. White-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lucorum queen in orchard. Overall remarkably mild, but one of the 3 least sunny Januarys since 1950.

The scene at Veigne in February 2013.

February -- early - mild, very wet, very windy. Mid - a short lived dusting of snow, more rain, cold, but very little frost. Late -- cold, frosty, often a strong cold north-east wind, no rain, several clear sunny days, several days with a light dusting of snow. Overall - a cold snap, but still relatively mild.

Winter overall: about average temperatures, with notably less sunshine and about 40% more rain than average. The overall temperature average is a bit misleading though -- in fact temperatures flucuated wildly, and whilst there were cold snaps there were also mild spells. Temperatures ranged between about -2 and +12 mostly, with many days never going below 0. Because of high autumn rain the ground was saturated and the rivers full, so the steadily wet conditions throughout the winter caused significant flooding of water meadows, and a lot of standing water, but no serious flooding.

 March -- a couple of warm sunny days, but the heaviest frost we've had all year on several days. Cold days, some bright, some damp and overcast. Typical giboulées with squally rain, snow and hail all at once. Late -- mild (no frost), overcast (very little rain), with a brief cold snap the last few days. Apparently the least sunny March for a decade. The jetstream has been looped particularly low, over both northern Europe and north America. We've been on the fringes of the very cold weather this phenomena brings, whilst the Arctic ice began to break up at record speed and Greenland was 15 degrees warmer than us.

April -- early -- extremely variable, with some sunny but windy days and some miserably cold and drizzly days. Mid -- still variable, with much more sun, sometimes warm, but still often cold days. Deer in the fields seem quite numerous, attracted by the canola flowers, and a glimpse of a herd of wild boar with several really big pigs in the wheat one dusk. Squirrels have been very active all spring. This month finally the insects really got going, with many species of hoverfly and bee. Martins already nesting, swallows have arrived and the first swifts. A few bats flying in the evening. Overall a very variable month, with warm sunny days alternating with cold rainy days. My impression was of a fairly normal April, and the statistics bear this out. It was a couple of degrees cooler here than on average, and we had 50% more rain than the average, but levels of sunshine were exactly average. A light frost near the end of the month which damaged vegetable seedlings and newly emerging vine leaves. Since September last year we have received 25-50% more rain each month than average. The soil is saturated.

Bee Orchid Ophrys apifera.

May -- cold (temperatures rarely reaching the 20s) and overcast. Like March, it was not that the minimum temperatures were particularly cold, but the maximum temperatures remained determinedly under par. Many days with a little rain. Butterflies were extremely 'thin on the wing'. Fortunately no frost. Still lighting the fire every evening though. The rivers continue to run high and in places overrun their banks, but no serious flooding here (some roads blocked, riverside carparks inundated). Average temperatures about 2 degrees lower than normal, rainfall about 50% higher, and it rained more than an average number of days, with sunshine at only about 80% of normal. The mammal roadkill seemed quite high this month, with more sad glimpses than usual of squashed badgers, martens, hedgehogs and squirrels. The deer population was clearly very high, as there were several local culls organised. The orchids, on the other hand, were magnificent, enjoying the cool (frost free) and moist conditions after a decade of dry springs. The second coldest May since 1950 and the wettest since 1959.

Overall, spring was very changeable, cold and rather lacking in sunshine. It was the coldest spring since 1987 and one of the wettest since 1959.

June - early - hot sunny days in high 20s (at last!), occasional storms or showers. Dragonflies emerging in earnest -- lots of Broad Bodied Chasers Libellula depressa, some Skimmers Orthetrum spp and quite a few Clubtails Gomphus spp. Lots of Banded Demoiselles Calopteryx splendens and Blue Featherlegs Platycnemis pennipes. Hymenoptera (Bees, Wasps, Ants and Sawflies) and Diptera (Flies) doing well, with good numbers. Butterflies very, very low in both total numbers and numbers of species. All the hivernales (overwintering species) have died. Only Adonis Blue Polyommatus bellargus in any numbers (and they are limited to the limestone ridges and chalk grasslands). Mid - cool (for summer) to warm, with rain most days, ranging from torrential downpours to light mist. Vouvray and Tours hit by a severe hailstorm. Late -- back to warm sunshine. Overall up to this point in the year we have had nearly twice as much rain as normal.

Mating Gatekeepers Pyronia tithonus.

July -- early and mid - hot sunny days in high 20s interspersed with a rainy day about once a week. Butterflies finally more abundant, but some groups still woefully absent or meagre. The Tabanids (horse flies and their relatives) have emerged in earnest, with deer fly Chrysops spp and the beautiful, huge Tabanus eggerii much in evidence. Late -- hot, in low 30s, with some tremendous thunderstorms which were fortunately not all sound and light but gave quite a lot of rain too. One of the storms was noteable for the strength of the winds and there was a lot of leafy debris afterwards. Dragonflies in good numbers. Overall temperatures were about 2 degrees higher than average and this was the third warmest July since 1900 and the sunniest since 2006.

August -- early - warm (temperatures back down into the 20s) with frequent thunderstorms and some rain. Mid -- unusually warm, with temperatures reaching the low 30s some days, and dry. Large dragonflies in good numbers, including the generally less abundant species such as Goldenring Cordulegaster boltoni and Western Spectre Boyeria irene. Overall a hot dry month, with average temperatures but well below average rain and slightly above average sunshine hours.

September -- mostly warm and dry, but with a few extremely wet days. By the end of the month foggy mornings and drizzly days, much to the chagrin of the winemakers, who had mostly delayed the harvest on the basis of the earlier warm dry days, hoping to catch a little more ripeness after such a late start this year, but only to find themselves risking fungal disease instead. Lots of roe deer in the fields in the early mornings and evenings. Overall warm, with average rainfall, but a bit low on sunshine in the end.

October --  early -- mild and humid with some real downpours. Mid - a cold spell but continuing damp and warming up again. Late -- wet and windy, getting a bit colder. Large numbers of Common Winter Damselfly Sympecma fusca in the orchard, taking advantage of all the long dead seedheads that I have not been able to mow off due to the weather. They can drift about in safety, barely visible in the waving brown long vegetation. Overall October was unusually warm and wet. The 6th warmest October since 1900, with temperatures 2° above average and 50% more rain for the year than average up to the end of October. The mildness was mainly due to the unusually high minimum temperatures, but sunshine hours only just managed to reach average.

November -- early -- mild and wet. Barely any frost and remained relatively mild throughout, although got colder towards the end. A remarkable number of Clouded Yellow butterflies Colias croceus still on the wing. Overall average temperatures, very wet and somewhat low sunshine hours.

December -- early -- a mixture of fog and clear sunny days, quite heavy frosts and cold days with temperatures from below zero and to maximums in single figures. Mid -- a wonderful dry cold snap with hoar frost and brilliant sunny days. Late -- a couple of very windy days, rather mild temperatures, some  grey days with rain, a few quite sunny days. The year ended remarkably mild and rather wet.

Overall for the Year: Temperature wise it was a cool year, but with July to October warm, bringing the average overall temperature back up to the normal annual average. Rainfall wise it was a rather wet year, with about 10% more rain than normal. Sunshine hours were slightly lower than average.

March and May were particularly grim, being cold, very wet and worst of all, very low on sunshine. There was a particularly wet spell in June, with a tremendous hailstorm. July was hot, but by October it was back to wet and windy.

UPDATE: For other local overviews of the weather in 2013, see Tim's report on Aigronne Valley Wildlife (he's in the next valley across from us) and Walt's report for a hamlet about an hour to our north near the Cher.

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Lunch Yesterday: We went over to Angles sur l'Anglin yesterday for lunch with our friend who writes Restless in France. She did us proud with a spread that included lumpfish roe on oat biscuits, mushroom roulade, moussaka, some interesting cheeses we'd never encountered before and a buche de noel. We were so busy eating, drinking and talking it was 5 pm in no time and we hadn't been out for the planned walk around this most picturesque of villages. We hurried out into the gloaming and did a quick twirl down to the bridge and back up la tranchée des anglais (not something I coped terribly well with doing at Simon's speed and after a serious meal).

Railway House, Sydney

 

As you have no doubt guessed, Railway House was built in the 1930s. I could regurgitate a load of stuff about it that I found on the internet, but instead I'm going to suggest you read Mark Dunn's entry about the building in the Dictionary of Sydney .

The building sits on top of Wynyard station and an enormous rabbit warren of a shopping centre. I thought I was never going to find my way out after I ventured in looking for a few groceries when we stayed just round the corner in December 2012. The building is directly opposite the best known luxury hotel in Sydney, known to its friends and fans as the Ming (sadly, not where we stayed...).

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Preuilly News: The Auberge Saint Nicolas in the Grande rue has closed. After 51 years, first with his parents and then with his wife, the owner wants to retire. They have been unable to find anyone to take over, so they have simply closed and retired.

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Ouch!: Yesterday I hit my head on the bottom of the second floor newel post while I was vacuuming the stairs. I now have an interesting lump on my left brow ridge.

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A la cuisine hier: Aloo Gobi Saag, one of the nicest ways to eat cauliflower. I love this dish. It would probably make it on to my top ten list. The version I make has a tin of chopped tomatoes in it.

Veggie burgers and salad. The burgers were based on this recipe, but I used parsnip instead of sweet potato. I recommend the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen blog if you fancy making a veggie burger. The recipes work (I've made a couple of different burgers from the site) and don't generally include weird processed  ingredients.

Letting the Train Take the Strain

When we left Canberra after our December 2012 visit to our families we decided to take the train to Sydney for the final part of our holiday. The train is more expensive than the bus and takes more than twice as long, but neither of us had done it before so we wanted to try the experience. The train was clean and pleasant, and the on-board catering looked excellent. We didn't try the railway meals though, as we had brought our own. Overall we enjoyed not being on the road and the usual advantages of being on the train ie  you can get up and walk around, good views of the countryside, you can eat and drink reasonably comfortably and so on. Accustomed as we are these days to fast European trains, that get you from A to B far more efficiently than driving yourself, the one thing we did find tedious was the extreme length of time the journey took relative to the distance covered.

Here are some photos taken while we were on the train:

 Holy Annunciation - Assumption Russian Orthodox Church, Lidcombe, a western suburb of Sydney.

A medieval murder mystery novel loaned by Niall and Antoinette and a shiny red apple worthy of the Wicked Queen. The apple looked amazing -- and was almost totally tasteless, except for its bitter skin. Lots of juice, lots of crunch, but a complete disappointment. I think the variety was Jonalicious, but I could be wrong.

 Goulburn War Memorial. Simon has a nostalgic attachment to this monument. It can be seen from the highway too, and on trips between Sydney and Canberra was a welcome sign that he was nearly home.

 Sheep on the skyline, no doubt the Merino breed that this area is famous for.

 Goulburn Station. All the country stations were beautifully maintained and spotlessly clean and tidy.

Gum trees on a hillside.
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A la cuisine hier: Simon did a stir-fry with pork marinated in his homemade cherry 'plum' sauce, soy, ginger and chilli, with cabbage, carrot and onion, served with rice. Dessert was mini fruit cobblers from the freezer, made with pears from the orchard and blackberries from one of my butterfly transects.

The Nature of January in the Touraine Loire Valley

If it snows, take a walk and see what else is around, leaving clues to their visit. 

These tracks belong to a hare.

Statistically January is the month which has the most rainy days (although not the wettest month on average). Expect the low temperatures to be around 2°C and the highs to be under 10°C. It is usually one of the least sunny months, with well under 100 hours of sunshine.

 Winter Heliotrope Petasites fragrans is a common winter flowering plant. Look for it on waste ground, banks, roadsides and beside streams. This one was photographed on the chateau ramparts near the town water storage tank in Preuilly. As its scientific name suggests, it is scented.

Carolyn and Tim, and Pauline and Tim have alerted me to the France wide Garden Bird (Oiseaux des Jardins) Count which is happening this month. This is a great citizen science project that anyone who is in France on the weekend of 25-26 January can participate in. The website for entering your data is in French of course, but you will find it easy to understand. You need to register your garden, choose a day to do your survey and away you go. Use the internet to get the names in French for bird species if you aren't already familiar with them. It won't take up much time, but each contribution of data is valuable for the number crunching scientists behind the survey. If you have any questions, contact Carolyn or Pauline via their websites. I am sure they will be delighted to help you get involved.

Lapwing gather in winter feeding flocks on arable land. They are the farmer's friend, eating many invertebrates living in the crops and pasture and helping to control pest species.

The native ferns here are all entirely hardy. This patch of Rustyback Ceterach officinarum on an old wall had been exposed to temperatures below -20°C only a few days earlier. At this time of year ferns are often the botanical highlight of a walk along country lanes or forest tracks.

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A la cuisine hier: Garbure and mini clafoutis, both from the freezer. Simon baked potatoes in the wood stove for lunch.

Galette des rois, à peu près

 Ready to make quick flaky pastry.

Now, I know that this is stepping dangerously into Walt's territory, but since we are approaching Epiphany, I'm going to talk about making galette des rois.

 Baking in Big Berta.

Well, sort of. I'm going to tell you how to make a quick and easy version, that, although it won't be in the same league as Walt's and your local pâtissière's, is still a very acceptable addition to the post-Christmas table -- and the real thing is getting very expensive, so homemade is an economical option!

Just out of the oven.

First, make a batch of Delia's quick flaky pastry. Then make a batch of Clotilde Dusoulier's crème d'amandes.

 Cut so you can see the filling.

Cut the lump of pastry in half and roll each half out until you can cut out a 25 cm circle from each. Spread one pastry circle with the almond filling up to a few centimetres from the edge. If you have a ceramic fêve, now is the moment to drop it in. Brush the bare pastry edge with egg wash, then lower the second pastry circle on top and seal well. Brush the top with more egg and bake for 25 minutes at 220°C.

Bonne santé surtout

It's very important in France to wish all your friends and neighbours Happy New Year, usually expressed as meilleurs voeux (best wishes) or bonne année (literally 'good year'). Very often this is followed up with et bonne santé surtout ! If you get in first with the bonne santé they will agree vigorously -- oui, oui, surtout la santé ! -- and comment that good health is everything, the most important thing -- 'good health above all'.

So -- we wish all our readers, friends and family a very happy new year, with good health and much happiness!

(The picture is from last January, by the way.)

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Loire Valley Nature: A section for Peleteria varia has been added to the Parasitic Flies Tachinidae entry.
A new entry for House Flies Muscidae has been added.
A new entry for Helophilus spp hover flies Syrphidae has been added.

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A la cuisine hier: Adobo chicken. I made a paste from délice de tomate (dried tomato paste), yoghurt and home made adobo seasoning mix, spread it over chicken legs and marinated them for a couple of hours then baked in the oven.