Bucrania

Those of you familiar with Loches and Poitiers, amongst others, have probably noticed Renaissance era buildings with ornate friezes decorated with, of all things, beautifully carved ox skulls. Why would anyone put such a macabre motif in prime position right on the front of their expensive and luxurious house you probably wondered...Well, I did anyway, so I looked it up, and this is what I discovered:

 Bucrania on a building in Poitiers (now a private health insurance agency).

The answer is to be found in the way European culture looked back on Roman times as the good old days. Roman motifs and symbolic references to Rome appear everywhere throughout the post Roman period.

La Chancellerie in Loches, with both ox skulls and ox heads. The bucrania on this building are not as fine as the ones in Poitiers that I photographed.

Bucrania, as these ox skulls are technically termed, are just one manifestation of this nostalgia for an illustrious past. The ox skulls are generally depicted draped in garlands of fruit, flowers or tassels and probably come from the Roman habit of dressing a sacrifical ox then displaying their heads on the temple walls after the ceremony.

Ox head, Loches.

They are part of a suite of classical architectural elements used by wealthy 16th century French aristocrats and bourgeoisie to indicate how cultured and educated they were.

Ox skull, Loches.

Ox skull, Poitiers.

Au jardin hier: It's got to the stage in the season where a frost could catch me out, so I went down to the potager and lifted some Jerusalem artichokes (we have a nice smooth white variety that doesn't need peeling, which I will roast), beetroot (half a dozen little beauties), celeriac (two softball sized roots, which I will roast) and celery (short and stringy, but good flavour so will make good stock). I also picked a zucchini, chard (silver beet) and some chives and gathered some pine cones for the fire. The ground is now quite wet and sticky. I only took a hand fork down, not realising that celery and celeriac have enormous and vigorous root systems. It's the first year I've produced edible celery or celeriac and it must be due to the cool damp summer I think. 

Dining at The Ivy

A female Urban Bluebottle Blowfly Calliphora vicina sips nectar from ivy flowers.

At this time of year the Ivy Hedera helix is flowering and is clearly very attractive to many insects, particularly flies. Although ivy produces both nectar and pollen, it is the nectar that most are after. Only the Ivy Bee Colletes hederae seems to be particularly interested in the pollen. Other bees and wasps will use both, but the day I photographed the ivy at the orchard there were only a couple of parasitc wasps in view, and at least 16 species of fly, from 6 families. This is not surprising as studies show that flies make up over 50% of the visitors to ivy.

A male Stomorhina lunata slurps away on the ivy.

Only mature ivy flowers. It is identifiable because its leaves are plain rather than the five lobed type we prize in the garden. It flowers for the whole of the autumn, much later than most other nectar sources, and the flowers will top up their nectar once it has been tapped by an insect, so it is like a bottomless cup.

A female Tapered Drone Fly Eristalis pertinax (top) is joined by a male Marmalade Hover Fly (bottom) Episyrphus balteatus.

 Honey Bees Apis mellifera will happily forage on ivy, but about half the 'honey bees' you will see on the ivy will be hover fly mimics from the genus Eristalis.

A female Glass-winged Syrphus hover fly Syrphus vitripennis.

A female Graphomya maculata (centre right) is joined by a female Stomorhina lunata (lower left) and a parasitic fly Tachinidae (upper right).

A Noon Fly Mesembrina meridiana (left) and a male Stomorhina lunata (right) at lower left; a Sepsis sp (left) and a greenbottle Lucilia sp (right) at upper centre.

A group of drone flies, greenbottles and a parasitic fly.

The Striped Hover Fly Helophilus pendulus.

A Noon Fly.

Upper left, a Noon Fly and a parasitic fly, below them an Urban Bluebottle Blowfly and to the right a couple of drone flies.

The parasitic fly Pales pavida, with a gnat that maybe a minute black scavenger fly Scatopsidae, lower left.

Eglise Saint Porchaire, Poitiers

Saint Porchaire was a 7th century abbot who was buried near where the church now stands. His tomb became a place of pilgrimage. In the late 9th century, during the period of the Norman raids, his remains were gathered together and placed in a stone sarcophagus which was stored in an underground sanctuary on the site of the church. The remains of this sanctuary form the foundations for the current tower and crypt.

The interior.

The current church has an 11th century clocher-porche, that is, one enters the church via a porch under the bell tower which rises from the front. The bell itself, called Anne, came from the university and was installed in 1431. It is the oldest bell in the département of Vienne and is joined by two later bells, from 1771 and 1803. All three bells were restored in the 19th century by Amédée Bollée. Inside, the church is a double nave, in the Gothic style. The stained glass is 20th century.

A gravestone from the cemetery which once occupied the land on the south side of the church.
It is the from the 16th century and commemorates an alderman who commissioned a covered fish market in the town (hence the fish emblems).

By the end of the 15th century the church was virtually in ruins, so in February of 1509 work on a new church began, to be finished in 1520. By 1840 the church was once again in ruins and the local authority decided to demolish it. Prosper Merimée and his band of crusading antiquarians got wind of this and launched a three year campaign to save the building, and  by 1846 it was heritage listed.

 I would have thought that the temptation to ring a 15th century bell would be too much for many a visitor, but there appears to be nothing to stop you doing so if you are overcome by the urge...

In 2011-12 the clocher-porche was entirely restored, including completely removing, repairing and reinstating the internal spiral staircase, as well as cleaning the exterior.

The clocher-porche (belltower-porch).

For much of its life the church has been an ordinary parish church. Earlier this year the parishioners were saddened to lose their high profile and energetic priest, Father Gourrier. He received his calling relatively late in life, becoming a priest at the age of 40 in 2000, after having been the head of a Paris publishing company. He's a regular on the Radio Monte Carlo show Les Grandes Gueules (The Loudmouths), a daily 3 hour (!) current affairs talk show (a bit like BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze). The programme regularly courts controversy and lively exchanges are common (personally I don't listen to the programme as it is too shouty, especially when Claire O'Petit is on).

Saint Porchaire's rather mini sarcophagus and his statue above.

Father Gourrier is a trained psychologist too, and after a sudden and serious illness 18 months ago has now been tasked by his archbishop with counselling and mentoring trainee priests in Poitiers. The parish is being merged with another, and Father Gourrier is looking forward to 'fewer meetings, more meditation'.

This rather random group of carvings appealed to me. From left to right it appears to be a lemur (maybe a monkey or a squirrel -- who knows...); two men whispering in the ears of a rather bored looking young woman; a king; a Celtic motif; a woman swinging a tennis racket/frying pan/banjo (take your pick...); a crocodile; a knight.

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Fungi Exhibition: The Association de Botanique et de Mycologie de Sainte Maure de Touraine has organised an exhibition of fungi gathered from the local area. It will be in the east wing of the Halles (market halls) in Sainte Maure de Touraine on Saturday 8 November from 2 pm to 6.30 pm and Sunday 9 November from 10 am to 12 pm and 2 pm to 6 pm.

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Dental Drama: Sunday night Simon developed an agonising toothache in a tooth that broke about 6 weeks ago. So yesterday I phoned for an appointment with the dentist. The earliest appointment they could offer was on Thursday, but they promised to ring us if something earlier became available. Luckily they rang at lunchtime to say he could come in at 3 o'clock, and he spent an hour in the dentist's chair having emergency root canal work done. I sat in to do any necessary translating and it did not look pleasant. He has very deep roots and the dentist has made him four more appointments to finish the work and give him a crown. The appointment, which included two x-rays, anaesthetic and lots of poking and excavating, cost us €23. He's given us a quote for the crown -- €280 for a metal crown, €445 for a ceramic one. He says there's no advantage of the ceramic one other than aesthetic. The State health care base charge for a crown is €107.50 no matter which sort you get, so our reimbursement is the same whichever crown Simon chooses. I think we'll get about €50 back on the crown.

The Medieval Month of November

The month of November, a wall painting from a 12th century series of months of the year decorating an arch in the church of  Lignières en Touraine. November is characterised by going out to hunt wild boar with bow and arrow.

November, especially the first half, is often wet, and always grey. Normally it is wet and grey in the first half, cold and grey in the second half. Statistically it is the wettest month of the year, with heavy rain falling. Sunrise 8:00, sunset 17.00. Average maximum temperature is about 15°, but we can expect under 100 hours of sunlight.

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Tours Station Ceramic Panels: The crowd-funding campaign has hit its target and gone over. Hurrah! The excess over the target will go towards the second panel. You can still donate if you wish, as the link will remain open until mid-November. If you understand French have a look at the video on the crowd-funding site too. It's a nice overview of the panels and their history, with a tantalising glimpse of some conservators doing some rescue repairs on one.

Silhouettes in the Sun

The shadows of my family on a walkway make silhouettes at Kings Canyon in 2006.
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What the French Know About France: Ipsos Australia has just released a report called 'The Perils of Perception'. It's a study of what people know about their country. The study covers 14 countries, including France, Australia, Britain, USA, Sweden, Belgium and Canada. It makes very interesting reading. Click on the link to see the report. The questionnaire that people answered to supply the data which the report is based on is also available. I strongly suggest you do the questionnaire first, then look at the report.

Spinifex

The grass in this picture is Spinifex Triodia sp. The tips of the leaves are like cactus spines and you really don't want to have to walk through a patch. It is a plant of the arid interior of Australia and is endemic to this area.
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A la cuisine hier: A chickpea based dip that wasn't hummus. I kind of followed this recipe and added onion (aka nigella) seeds.

Roasted crumbed pork fillet with mustard cream sauce. I marinated the pork in a 2:1 mixture of yoghurt:milk because I didn't have any buttermilk. It was really, really good.

Witch's Hats

 Witch's Hat Mushroom Hygrophorus conicus.

This Halloween themed mushroom conveniently appears in the forest just at this time of year.
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A la cuisine hier: Hoppin' John, served with baked pumpkin (well, for some of us, anyway), Ken's Aunt Chloe's corn pone and steamed spinach. I baked the corn pone in the mini oven and it rose so high I couldn't get it out. In the end I had to hold the tin in the oven whilst sliding the shelf out from under it which then allowed me to lower the corn pone and remove it from the oven. Fortunately the corn pone seems not to have suffered in any way from the slightly unorthodox treatment.

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Heritage News: The crowd-funding campaign to raise money to restore the ceramic panel 'Arcachon' in Tours station has reached 92% of their goal of €8000. The campaign has been extended until 17 November in the hopes of getting that last €635. To donate you need to register with Ulule and pay online.

A full assessment of the work required on the Chapelle de Tous les saints in Preuilly has been done and the cost estimated at around €100 000. The restoration was an item on the local council meeting agenda last night but I don't know yet what the outcome of the discussion was.

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Butterfly Survey News: I've just collated my butterfly surveying data for the year and if I had to describe the results in one word I think it would be 'dismal', both in terms of total abundance and numbers of species recorded. I didn't manage to do surveys at all in April and May due to the poor weather. The only notable record was dozens of Small White Pieris rapae recorded on agricultural rape in September.

Ladies in Waiting

This is Claudette in front and Célestine behind, waiting their turn to be seen by the Traction doctor a couple of weeks ago.
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Loire Valley Nature: A new entry has been added for Tortoise Bugs Eurygaster spp.

A Painted Church Ceiling

We've written in full about the wall paintings in the church at Lignières en Touraine before, but I liked this photo Simon took of part of the ceiling the other day and thought it would be nice to post about the church again. These two strips show Adam and Eve and the expulsion from the Garden of Eden above, and the parable of the rich man and the poor man below. They date from the 12th century.

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Fungi Foray: The Association de Botanique et de Mycologie de Sainte Maure de Touraine has organised a fungi outing to the Forest of Loches for Sunday 2 November. Meet at the Pyramide de Saint Quentin (on the D31 road to Bléré, between Saint Quentin and Loches) at 2.00 pm. The fungi gathered will be displayed and identified in the carpark after the outing.

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Loire Valley Nature: A new entry for Ceps Boletaceae has been added.

The Palace of Poitiers

The Palace of Poitiers has its origins in a 3rd century Gallo-Roman building, but after the fall of the Roman Empire it became the seat of the Counts of Poitiers and the Dukes of Aquitaine. The original building was destroyed and a new one built in the 11th century. In 1104 the Maubergeon Tower was added.

However, the complex was badly damaged by Henry Earl of Lancaster (John of Gaunt's father-in-law) in 1348, during the Hundred Years War. What you now see from the outside is a late 14th - early 15th century building, dating from Jean I Duc de Berry's restoration in the Flamboyant Gothic style, with additional chimneys and huge glazed ogival windows.

The statues which adorn the unfinished Maubegeon Tower represent 16 of Jean de Berry's courtiers. Sadly they are in extremely poor condition and are encased in nets to prevent bits falling on passers by.

Today, this is the back of the complex. The front is masked by a monumental 19th century Doric portico and steps up to the entrance. The building now serves as the courthouse, so it has gone from being the palace of the Dukes of Aquitaine to the palais de justice.

We've never managed to get inside, even though it is theoretically open to the public. We never seem to be there during the hours they allow visitors in, and the public can also be excluded depending on what is happening in the law courts.

Behind the 15th century facade above lies a 13th century hall known as the salle des pas perdus ('the room of the lost footsteps') on account of its great size, which meant that the sound of footsteps disappeared into the vast space. Originally it was a dining room, built by Eleanor of Aquitaine when she ruled here.

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Loire Valley Nature: A new entry for Tar Spot Rhytisma acerinum fungi has been added.

The Forest in the Autumn

An étang in the Forest of Preuilly, taken last Friday.

For more about our walk in the forest, see Colin and Elizabeth's blog The Story of Our Life In and Around Braye sous Faye.
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Loire Valley Nature: A new entry has been added for Soapwort Saponaria officinalis.
A new entry has been added for Spindle Euonymus europaeus.
A photo has been added to the entry for the flower longhorn beetle Stictoleptura cordigera.

Living in the Desert

Looking out from the escarpment of Kings Canyon towards a small isolated Aboriginal community on the vast desert plain below.
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Loire Valley Nature: A new entry has been added for European Stag Beetle Lucanus cervus.
A new entry has been added for Snakeshead Fritillary Fritillaria meleagris.
A new Habitat entry has been added for Frost and Snow.

Dragons Past and Present

Above a Ring-tailed Dragon Ctenophorus caudicinctus, blending in to its surroundings.
Below, lizard footprints in the sand.

Fossilised lizard tracks on the escarpment of Kings Canyon, not far from where I took the previous photo.

Me, my brother in law John and sister Kathy, gazing in wonder at the fossilised lizard tracks.

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Gough is Gone: Gough Whitlam died on Tuesday. For Australians he is a household name, but I'm not sure how many people outside the country would recall him. For someone my age he is easily the most charismatic and memorable Australian Prime Minister. Enormously tall and patrician, educated in the old style as a classicist, he enlivened the political scene during my teenage years. He is one of a very small number of politicians who had a reforming zeal and actually succeeding in changing things for the better. His judgement and timing sometimes let him down, economics was his weak point, but mostly he was inspiringly energetic, liberal minded, enlightened and forward thinking. 

We are all diminished as citizens when any of us are poor. Poverty is a national waste as well as individual waste. We are all diminished when any of us are denied proper education. The nation is the poorer – a poorer economy, a poorer civilisation, because of this human and national waste. Gough Whitlam, 1969.

 His legacy includes:

• Medibank, the national health insurance scheme.
• abolition of university fees.
• independent and specialist schools eligible for state funding.
• Aboriginal land rights.
• the first western national leader to visit China and re-establish diplomatic relations with that country.
• withdrawal from the Vietnam War.
• the end of conscription.
• abolition of the death penalty.
• no fault divorce.
• the Racial Discrimination Act.
• protection of the Great Barrier Reef against oil interests.
• environmental protection legislation.
• the appointment of women to senior and influential government posts.
• voting age of 18.
• legal aid.
• the Trade Practices Act.
• unemployment benefit and sole parent pension.
• contact with South African sports banned due to Apartheid. 

As far as I can tell the current Prime Minister is trying to undo all of these things.

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Medical News: I seem to have developed Achenbach Syndrome. I've self diagnosed, as one does these days, on the internet, and I won't be bothering the doctor with it. I emailed my family to see if they had experienced anything like my symptoms and they've all had it for years apparently (Dad, aunt, sister). 

Basically, small veins in my joints (usually the fingers) burst occasionally, causing a burning pain for about half an hour, a bit of swelling and a bruise which reabsorbs within a day or two. Usually it happens when you are not doing anything which might logically provoke it (my lastest episode was when I was opening the microwave). My reading suggests it is a trivial condition which doesn't indicate anything serious (although my aunt complains it's a nuisance when you are playing golf...). It's not connected to wider cardio-vascular diseases for instance. It is often referred to as rare, but rarely reported is closer to the mark is my impression.

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From Forest to Frying Pan: Yesterday we went on a long walk in the Forest of Preuilly with friends Tim and Gaynor, Colin and Elizabeth. Along the way we encountered many mushrooms. I took four home, giving me a kilo of ceps which I cooked up that night. We didn't want to eat them last night as I had something else prepared, but I figured it was best to cook them. Wild ceps are notorious for being maggot ridden and leaving them overnight can result in a mass hatching. As it turned out only one of the mushrooms was fly blown and discarded. We'll eat them in omelette and I'll add some to the leftover blanquette de veau.

Célestine in the Autumn

Célestine parked at Chenonceau on Tuesday.
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A la cuisine hier: Yesterday was our first time attending the Loire Valley Cake Club, set up by Jean and for this meeting hosted by her in her new home. The theme was autumn cakes and Simon made Jamaican Ginger Cake while I made Medieval Pear and Walnut Cake (using our own pears and walnuts). I particularly liked Liz's Jewish Apple Cake and will be making that myself sometime (just search for recipes on the internet -- there are dozens). Simon's gingerbread was much admired and I notice he has sent the recipe to Nick.

Earlier in the day I made blanquette de veau (slow cooked veal casserole). I bought the veal on special at Auchan. It was €10.95/kg with a 20% discount, so I paid $11.97 for 1.37 kg. It was Label Rouge certified, which tells you it was from calves suckled by their mothers in humane non-industrial surroundings. It also had a geographic protection certificate, and came from beef cattle herds in Aveyron and Ségala.

Villandry in the Autumn

Planting spring bulbs ready for next year.

Multi-coloured chillies.

Pulling out spent annuals.

Preparing for a new planting scheme.

The pumpkin vines have died but the pumpkin fruit is placed on terracotta tiles to continue the display.

All photos taken on Monday of this week.
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Does Anyone Know?: We would like to know if any of our readers know anything about stove cement caulk. Simon is thinking it might be something we could use on our stove to seal the joins and stop it sucking too much air.

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A la cuisine hier: Salmon cakes, made with the last of our homegrown potatoes and a mixture of canned and smoked salmon.

The House at the Sign of the Field of the Cloth of Gold

 La Maison à l'enseigne du Camp du Drap d'Or (the House at the Sign of the Field of the Cloth of Gold).

This house in Poitiers, as you see it today, is the product of successive transformations. Its unusual character is particularly obvious in its recessed facade and cornice in the Louis XVI style. The sculpted sign above the front door is older though. It represents a splendid canvas marquee, which evokes the meeting on the Field of the Cloth of Gold (near Calais) between François I and Henry VIII in 1520.

The purpose of the sign is above all to indicate the nature of the business within. Undoubtedly, this was once a wealthy cloth merchant's premises, with shop below and residence above.

The building, at 27 rue du Marché Notre Dame, in the bustling heart of the pedestrianised centre of Poitiers, is now occupied by the telecoms company Free. Just like the cloth merchant all those centuries ago, they couldn't have chosen a better spot to do business.

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Fungi Foray: The Association de Botanique et de Mycologie de Sainte Maure de Touraine has organised a fungi outing to the Forest of Chinon for Sunday 26 October. Meet at the carpark by the church in Saint Benoît la Forêt at 2.00 pm. The fungi gathered will be displayed and identified in the carpark after the outing.