Simon's Radiotherapy Diet

Simon starts seven weeks of radiotherapy today. As part of his preparation he has to be able to retain 350 ml of urine in his bladder while the machine delivers the dose over 15 minutes. This has meant he has been diligently recording his intake and output times and quantities so he can establish a pattern and arrive at hospital in just the right state. It's much harder than it sounds as it's over an hour from home to the hospital.

 

Banned.

He is also not allowed to have intestinal gas. We've been given a diet sheet, which is a list of foods to avoid and a list of foods that are encouraged. It has meant a quite radical change in our diet and a lot of thinking on my part.

 

Banned.

Number one on the banned list is anything in the onion family, so I've made batches of chicken and vegetable stock with celery, parsley and carrots, no leeks, no onions. So far he has enjoyed my special chicken noodle soup, and there is vegetable, and tomato to come.

 

Banned.

Number two on the banned list is green vegetables, mostly anything Brassicae, but also chard and spinach, green beans and peas. Zucchini seems to be fine, and soft lettuce such as oak leaf is positively encouraged. Green asparagus is allowed too, but a) he doesn't like it, and b) it is out of season. 

 

Banned.

The only truly safe vegetables that he can eat and likes are carrots and potatoes, so long as they are peeled and cooked. I am going to be so sick of them by November, and sick of peeling them. 

 

Banned.

Other banned veggies are peppers, most root vegetables (cooked carrots and beetroot are the exceptions), cucumber and white asparagus. I'm taking the view that as tomatoes and aubergines are not mentioned they must be okay.

 

Okay.

Naturally the other big group of banned foods are pulses (leguminous veggies such as dried beans, chickpeas and lentils). This is a food group that we would normally eat several times a week!

 

Okay.

He can eat hard cheeses but needs to avoid soft cheeses and blue cheeses. Yoghurt is okay, and desserts such as rice pudding. I've been doing him stewed fruit to have with yoghurt, and he can eat all sorts of plain cakes and biscuits. Toasted white ham and cheese sandwiches are okay and now a mainstay. He's encouraged to eat honey, but he doesn't like it.

 

Okay.

The herbs and spices he can have are limited and I've been doing my best to liven some bland dishes up. He can have cumin, dill, fennel, cardamon, basil and turmeric. Saturday night I did a sort of pretend white chilli, with turkey, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and just about all of the allowed herbs and spices.

 

Banned.

Meat is restricted to chicken, turkey and white fish. I've no doubt he could have rabbit too, but he doesn't like it. Luckily we have a good new fishmonger at SuperU in la Roche Posay so I can get good fish easily.

 

Banned.

Considering that we are a household that easily reaches the recommended 30 plant species per week in our normal diet, and usually manages double that, this is going to be challenging. I've been scouring the Monash University FODMAP recipes for inspiration, but even they are not always suitable. They were designed to help people with IBS and a couple of other bowel problems though, so they are a good starting point.

 

Okay.

Further reading: the Monash University FODMAP website https://www.monashfodmap.com/about-fodmap-and-ibs/

Random Blogging

We've been a bit all over the place this week. Susan has had work, and I've had medical stuff to attend to to. There's also been lunch with friends, and a little bit of house renovation.

The whole of my week has centered around drinking litres of water every day, and measuring the "results". My radiotherapy starts next week, and for each session I need to have "a full bladder and an empty bowel". I also need to be gas free, which means that for the next 7 weeks I will be on a very plain diet. Susan has made a lot of meals which are as delicious as you can get without the use of onions, garlic, spices, beans, red meat, and most vegetables. Or fresh fruit, most dairy, and "exciting" drinks such as tea, coffee, and soft drinks.

No photos, because - you know 🥴

However...

There are photos of our front yard cleanup. First we had Rafael, our gardener, weed and remove the rubbish. There are no photos of the courtyard before that because, quite frankly, it had become embarrassing.

We then had a stonemason fix the surrounds of what should, one day, be our front door. The bricks had eroded away, leaving the back of the insulation exposed. That brickwork was corrected, then the whole lot rendered.

Now we have to start on planting, remembering that during summer the courtyard is Saharan, and during winter it can get very frosty. In order to overcome the dry we have plans to install a 300 litre water butt, but there's nothing we can really do to ameliorate the 50° heat.

Potter Wasps on the Canadian Fleabane

The other day I got out of the car and noticed that there was half a dozen potter wasps going crazy for the Canadian Fleabane Conyza canadensis (Fr. la Vergerette du Canada) in the front courtyard. It doesn't have very eyecatching flowers and it can definitely be called a weed here, but it must be packed with nectar that these distinctive wasps were feasting on.

Potter wasps Eumenes sp (Fr. les guêpes potières) are notoriously difficult to identify to species level, but luckily the Spanish social wasp specialist Leopoldo Castro was able to look at my photos in Facebook and offer his opinion. He says my photos are almost certainly of E. coronatus. We think there was a second species present too, because some of my photos show an individual with an almost entirely yellow posterior half of the abdomen. The photos were all taken with my phone, so most of them are quite blurry.

Potter wasps make charming little mud vases attached to twigs on bushes, which they lay an egg in and stock with a paralysed caterpillar which will become food for the larva once it hatches.

Wall Paintings in Poitiers Cathedral

 In 2012 a study was done prior to necessary restoration work after water damaged some of the vaulting.  It revealed a superb assembly of medieval paintings under the imitation stone render done in 1783 in the neoclassical style. The restoration of the south transept paintings began in 2015 and took 10 months to complete. This radiant Gothic art was probably executed in the time of Bishop Gauthier de Bruges just before 1300. A different scene is depicted in each quarter. In the north it is an offering of crowns, in the south the coronation of the Virgin, in the east the Last Judgement, and in the west the bosom of Abraham.

Another wall painting in the nave represents Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and dates from the end of the 17th century.

Packed For a Picnic

Fifteen August, Assomption, fell on a Friday this year so it was a long weekend throughout France. We enjoyed the company of Simon's brother, his wife and their friend. One of the things we did was join the annual classic car meet at Lésigny. This involves meeting at the river for breakfast, then driving a 40 km circuit through rural countryside and villages, along with hundreds of other classic cars following one after another. Once back at the riverside park it was time for a picnic, then a swim.

This is Claudette's boot packed with all the essentials for a picnic and swimming.

For the picnic we served melon and dry cured ham, followed by onion and goats cheese quiche (made by Simon), lettuce, tomatoes, homemade basil vinaigrette, and homemade pickled onions. That was followed by a cheese platter, then homemade mirabelle clafoutis. The drinks served were rose, sparkling water, ginger beer, and champagne.

Every House Has a Well

I came home from shopping the other day and as I walked round to go into the house our Irish neighbour John beckoned me over and said 'Come and look at what I've found!'

He'd been doing some gardening and discovered that behind the cast iron pump that sits decoratively in the front flower bed under a linden tree, there was evidence of a what he strongly suspected was a well cover. A bit of crowbarring later and he was proved right.

Every house in our street, which is named after a well, has its own. Nowadays I don't think any of them are in use, even to water gardens. Our own well is at the back of the house, and like John, we didn't discover it immediately. We'd owned the house for a year when one day we had an architect poking about and he lifted the manhole cover to reveal our well.

Our well is 18 metres deep, John's is 15 metres. Both have water at the bottom. We've never measured ours, but John reckons he's got nearly a metre in depth. In both cases the stone walls of the wells seem in good condition.

The Bridore Granary

While we had visitors over the long weekend I took them to the marvellous and little known 15th century Chateau de Bridoré. They've made lots of improvements since the last time I was there, several years ago.

 

The gatehouse, with the tower which houses the silo on the righthand end.

One feature I had only ever seen from the outside before is the granary, or 'silo'. Now you can get inside the tower than protects it, and there is a full explanation of how it worked.

 

The gatehouse from inside the bas cour (lower courtyard).

The actual granary itself is a 5 metre wide pit in the floor of the tower. This is already a very old idea in the 15th century. We've seen pits for storing grain at a site visit to an archaeological dig of a Gallo-Roman farm near Sublaine, dating from more than a thousand years earlier.

 

15th century fireplace inside the tower.

The way it works is that the grain is deposited in the pit and trodden down several times to compact it during the process of filling the silo. Then the opening is sealed so the grain is stored hermetically. The top layer of grain will germinate, using up all the oxygen to do so, then die once the silo is anaerobic. This means that the grain is protected from rodents and insects, and so long as it stays dry, will last for years if necessary. 

When the grain was to be used the silo was opened and the grain transferred into sacks. A pulley hung from the beam above for hauling them out. I'm guessing that the silo was small enough that hopping in to shovel grain into sacks was not hazardous in the way it would be in a big modern silo (where the grain acts like quicksand).

 

Display showing how hams, sausages and fish were cured by hanging them from the beams and smoking them in the tower.

In addition to the silo there is a fireplace on the ground floor of the tower. A smoky fire would be used to cure meat and fish hanging from the beams, out of reach of all but the most determined rodents. 

The tower which contains the silo would have been used to station guards above what was the main entrance to the chateau in the 15th century.

 

A pulley used to haul sacks of grain (reconstruction).

In the 1970s the owner of the chateau discovered a human skeleton buried under the dirt floor of the tower, and a 15th century Spanish soldier's metal helmet.

Further Reading: 

My post on the Chateau de Bridoré  https://daysontheclaise.blogspot.com/2015/03/chateau-de-bridore.html

My post about visiting the archaeological site near Sublaine https://daysontheclaise.blogspot.com/2021/07/visiting-archaeological-dig.html

 

Hornet Blockade

We have a colony of feral honey bees living in the void between our attic floor and bedroom ceiling. They installed themselves back in April and really have been no trouble at all apart from me having to call Bernard the Beek to see if he could entice them into a 'proper' hive, and if not, ask his advice about how to manage them. The answer to the latter question is simple: there is no need to do anything at all.

The other day I noticed that there was a large number of bees huddled around the entrance to their hive, and hanging in the air in a thoroughly menacing way was a group of Asian Yellow-legged Hornets Vespa velutina (Fr. Frelon asiatique). These are notorious for raiding honey bee hives and beekeepers get very agitated about them.

Watching the action (or, to be honest, the lack of action) it seemed to me that the problem for the bees was not so much getting captured and eaten, but being trapped so they couldn't fly out and forage. It was a very hot day, and they could not fly off to find water for a drink either, and neither could they effectively fan the interior of the hive to keep it cool. The hornets dared not approach too closely as they would have got overwhelmed by guard bees who would envelope them in a mass of hot honey bees, thus killing the hornet. So it was a standoff, with the hornets presumably hoping that if they waited long enough the honey bees would fly in desperation. 

I don't know how long the situation endured. After lunch I looked again, and there were only a few guard bees at the hive entrance, and no hornets in sight. The next day I did see a hornet bearing off a honey bee.

The hornets will be wanting to catch bees to feed their own larvae. Hornet and wasp larvae are 'carnivores' and will eat the soft parts of other insects, which the adults either catch or scavenge for their young. It could also include bits of dead animals, ham and such from your picnic, and fish from the fishmongers at the market. The adult hornets and wasps themselves feed on sugary substances such as nectar that they forage from flowers, and soft drinks and jam at your picnic.

At the back door, the Asian Hornets are staking out the German wasps too, but here they are themselves having to fight off European Hornets Vespa crabro (Fr. Frelon), who also fancy a waspy snack.

European Hornet dismembering a European Wasp Vespula germanica on our door mat. The hornet has stung the wasp in the head and has already removed the abdomen.

The Choir Stalls in Poitiers Cathedral

The Zodiac character Sagitarius.

The choir stalls were put in place during the time of Bishop Jean de Melun in the mid-13th century. They are amongst the oldest still extant in France and are a beautiful example of Parisian Gothic.

 

 Bat.

A misericord.

Entrance to the upper tier of stalls on one side.

One of the misericords.

One end of one side of the choir stalls.

The back of the choir stalls.

Looking down the full length of one side of the choir stalls, towards the altar.

One end of one side of the choir stalls.

Cat and kitten.

 

Originally there were about a hundred seats but nowadays 37 each side remain. Even reduced to 74 seats they remind one of the importance of the Cathedral Chapter here.

 

Virgin and Child, with angels either side holding crowns.

The spandrels of the arcade above the high backs are adorned with angels holding two crowns, alternating with a multitude of varied subjects -- familiar animals, scenes from everyday life, allegorical decpictions of vices, an architect and his instruments, and a Virgin and Child with a slightly mannered grace.

Ratatouille

Organic heritage tomatoes at the Jardins Vergers de la Petite Rabaudière, where I buy my veggies.

It's ratatouille season in France, so here is a recipe to use up your tomatoes, aubergines, peppers and zucchini.

 

Organic homegrown zucchini (photo from our archive).

 

Ingredients

A big aubergine, cut into 2cm chunks

Olive oil

2 medium zucchini, cut into 2cm chunks

1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped

1 red and 1 yellow sweet pepper, cut into 2cm chunks

3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

4 medium tomatoes, cut into 2cm chunks

Pinch red pepper flakes

Pinch of sugar

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

½ tsp dried thyme leaves

Ground pepper

 ¼ cup torn basil leaves

Method

1. Salt the aubergine and allow to drain for 20 minutes. Dry with paper towel.
2. Heat olive oil in a pan and cook the zucchini for a few minutes.
3. Add more olive oil and the aubergine to the pan, cook for a few minutes.
4. Add more olive oil, the onion and the peppers to the pan, cook for a few minutes.
5. Add more olive oil, the tomatoes, red pepper flakes and sugar to the pan and cook for 10 minutes.
6. Add the vinegar, thyme and pepper to the pan and cook for 15 minutes.
7. Stir the basil into the pan contents and serve.

 

Garlic drying in a shed on one of our walks.

 

Tomatoes.

 

Organic heritage tomatoes.

 

Organic tomatoes at the market in Preuilly.

 

Onions drying in a shed on a farm near le Petit Pressigny.

 

Chillies drying at a specialist herbalist.

 

Ingredients for ratatouille.

 

A serving of ratatouille.

Organic green and yellow peppers at the gardens of the Chateau de Villandry. Visitors can take these for free (you are encouraged to leave a tip for the gardeners if you do so).

Australians in the Touraine

If we post at the weekend, it's usually about Australia. This time, something different.

Last weekend we were visited by my brother Jon, his wife Rosy, and mate Jan. We were doing a scenic drive through la Guerche, parked to take in the view and saw a friend out front of his house. He offered to take a photo of us all, so here it is.

We had an excellent weekend of sitting around in the heat, and having far too many picnics. It was great having family here, and we can't wait for the next time.

Jersey Grasshopper

 

This Jersey Grasshopper Euchorthippus declivus (Fr. Criquet du brome) joined me at the swimming pool the other day and posed obligingly on my towel. Thanks to Luxembourg based entomologist Raoul Gerend for identifying the species for me. I knew it was a grasshopper, but beyond that I was baffled. That's partly because it isn't in my go to general insect guide (Michael Chinery's Insects of Britain and Western Europe) and partly because it turns out to be a long-winged variant. These are apparently not uncommon, but not the norm, so most pictures online show a grasshopper with wings that are shorter than the abdomen.

This is a species of tall dry calcareous grassland. Raoul says that the white stripe was the indicator for him to be able to suggest an identification.

The adults are at their peak in August, and can be found throughout France. This one, with its long wings and white submarginal strip on the elytrae, is female. The colour can vary between individuals, from brown and grey to yellowish and greenish.

The House at the Sign of the Rose

In rue de la Cathédrale in Poitiers there is a rather grand looking student residence at Number 49. It is popularly known as the Hôtel de l'enseigne de la Rose (the House at the Sign of the Rose). It has a plaque on one side of its grand gateway saying Joan of Arc stayed there in 1429. But in fact, it turns out that not only did she not stay there, as the building is not old enough, it is not even actually on the site of the building she did stay in. That's two doors up, and has a different plaque. 

 

Student residence, known as the  Hôtel de l'enseigne de la Rose, but not the building by that name, nor on the site, of where Joan of Arc stayed.

Joan had come to Poitiers to see the King, Charles VII. She was interrogated by a group of theologians, who established that her divine mission was legitimate. 

 

The building on the site of the original Hôtel de l'enseigne de la Rose, where Joan stayed.

The English and their Burgundian allies had taken control of Paris, so Poitiers had become one of the the capitals of the 'Kingdom of Bourges'. The Royal Parliament was operating from the current Courthouse. Joan (Fr. Jeanne d'Arc) stayed in the home of Jean Rabateau, President of the Parliament, for a month in March and April of 1429, before she went off to break the seige of Orléans.