Joyas

Google Translate tells me that the Spanish for 'jewels' is 'joyas' - I sure hope it's right, as I spend all day telling students not to trust that programme... but here are some beautiful, jewel-like Spanish treasures for you:

They almost seem like a beautiful children's craft project to me, made of thousands of tiny pieces of sticky paper, or maybe wine gums...

They're actually tins, imported into France containing sweets, something like the vintage Huntley and Palmers tins I sometimes find on Vide Greniers stalls. I've never seen anything else as spectacular as these jewelled Spanish tins, though. The first time I saw one I enquired the price and the antique stall holder said to me: 'People are always asking about the tin, but it's not for sale, only the contents!' After that I seemed to see the same dratted tin with the same stubborn brocante dealer about once a year, but never any others, until...

...I bought the lozenge-patterened one with the pale roses earlier this year. It was lovely but a little lonely, and slightly lost amongst less textured tins I own. Until...

Our wonderful housesitters spotted this black-centred tin, FULL OF BUTTONS, at the brocante market in Toulouse and decided that it had 'Floss' written all over it. The wonder of generous, blog-reading housesitters!

They saw it and they knew I'd love it and they wonderfully bought it for me, all without knowing I had another one just looking for company.

Late in the summer I bought the frankly inferior (untextured) tin at the top of the frame, with the idea that two's OK but three's a display. And it seems I was right!

You may remember the frame - it's a complete fake, made of solid foam, but it does mean you can play around with it like this!



Some of my favourite tins are in this stack, but I think they look ordinary compared to the glamorous Spanish tins to their left.

It's hard to snap a photo of the whole thing - the mantelpiece is never in natural light, but here's my best effort. Marie-Antoinette is tucked onto the gold rim of the mirror - can you spot her?

Thanks for all your comments - it's now the holidays and my timetable has reduced just a little bit, so I'm trying to take the time to reply when I can - it's ALWAYS lovely to hear from you!

Marie-Antoinette and the Midden

In the middle of our town there is a church. Next to the church there is an old school. Next to the old school there is a play centre. Next to the play centre there is a car park. And in the car park there is a hole.

 

Holes in the ground may be a nuisance to some, but to an archaeology-lover they are a magnet! I know that before the old school (1900s) and play centre (1920s) were built, this area was the livestock market. Son 2 studied photos of it in school, looking at how life has changed since the days when farmers drove their cattle and geese into our town for sale down the hill from the church.

Ben and I were passing the other weekend and decided that the ‘stuff’ piled up next to the hole was just too interesting to ignore. We spotted a huge ox shoulder-blade and many other bones, indicating that meat as well as livestock was sold around here.

 

There’s so much ‘stuff’ in the hole – in layers as you can see – that it’s clear that the area was covered with rubbish at some point, probably to form a base before the car park surface was laid.

It’s hard to pin down exactly when the layers were formed, but we seem to have a ‘pre-school’ market layer, and a ‘post-school’ layer of 1950s and 1960s bits and bobs which probably just pre-date the car park.

You might feel that rubbish from within living memory is, well, just, rubbish, but it’s from a very desirably ‘retro’ period and tells more about life in our town in those days than finding the same things on a Vide Grenier stall, so I rather enjoyed peering through the fences and picking out a few things from the spoil heap.

Well-washed, they look rather special around the house.

Four little bottles, glittering, iridescent and impossible to capture in a photo.

 

And Marie-Antoinette, a Limoges ‘cameo’ – a very popular and inexpensive form of jewellery from the 1950s and ’60s - although I can’t find a photo of this specific cameo on the net, there are many, many others for sale, some of them in the little bronze setting which has corroded around this fragment. I bet someone was upset when this broke – maybe she still lives in our town! Wouldn’t she be amazed that her treasure has resurfaced after all these years?

Mapping the past

Son 1 (he’s 16 now – perhaps I could actually name him???) bought his Dad a really fantastic birthday present last month. Admittedly, I helped, but the present was so ‘him’ that we decided he should be the one to give it.

 

It’s a huge early 20^th century school map of France. Son 1 stunned the seller by telling her he could date the map by the presence or absence of various French border regions – see what I mean about it being his kind of thing? The combination of maps and history really suits his interests. And you can see that I liked it, too…

 

Ben is also very pleased with it. Of course he’s interested in this kind of thing too, and he’s also been looking for large hangings to fill the empty space on our ‘barn-style’ walls. Everyone’s a winner!

Single-portion Puddings

I mentioned the individual portion desserts that Ben was making when I talked about our Rentrée Resolutions. The idea is to reduce costs (a little) and processed food (more than a little) in my packed lunches and the boys’ snacks/evening meals.

 

The cheapest, probably most ‘natural’ and certainly most popular desert chez nous is the individual rice pudding, which Ben makes in these little earthenware yoghurt pots which are easy to pick up from Vide Greniers in France. I was chuffed to find a set of seven with plastic lids, which make them perfect for my packed lunches! Ben also uses little individual pudding tins (surely from Lakeland Plastics decades ago…) to make crème caramel – this photo doesn’t show his best version, as he’s still experimenting to get the temperatures right, and these ones went into the oven in their bain mairie at too high a temperature…

You can also get yummy ‘entrement’ powder in the supermarket, which you stir into warm milk, to create chocolate, vanilla or speculos (yum) puddings! This isn’t really additive-free, of course, but is a little bit more economical than buying the cheapest ‘pot puddings’, so is probably worth doing. At UK prices jelly with cake pieces or fruit would also be a good option, but we have to pay import prices here, so that only works when someone’s been visiting!

Ben is having enormous fun producing all these puddings for us at the weekends – I think he likes to feel (just like his mum) that he isn’t leaving us without sustenance when he heads off to Lyon for his studies.

My contribution is the home-made yoghurt. Ang showed her excellent yoghurt maker on her related post the other day. Mine is different – it plugs in and you put seven individual pots (with lids again, hurrah!) into it overnight. My recipe is very like Ang’s – 1200ml of UHT milk, a little skimmed milk powder and an Actimel drink, whisked together, fills the pots and produce a week’s worth of yoghurt for very little cost. Ben, as a biologist, is generally sceptical of ‘health-foods’, but he is convinced of the superior nature of the lactobacilli they put into Actimel, and thinks that it’s worth buying that brand rather than supermarket’s own live yoghurt.  And now we’re on the lookout for a second yoghurt maker (they’re very easy to find second hand here) so that he can add yoghurts to his own, equivalent selection of individual puddings in Lyon. Ah, an excuse to visit some Troc shops… sigh…

Giveaway results and a little garden produce...

I’m coming to the conclusion that full-time working mums don’t blog – how can anyone find the time?  Work is fun but really busy, and taking the time to relax with the boys in the evenings, with Ben and the boys at the weekend, and to keep the house tidy-ish (lol, lol, lol) means that blogging is sadly very secondary at the moment.

 

I did manage to meet, and even work with, a blogger a few weeks ago – Dormouse came to our area for a weekend course, and spent the Sunday night (and Monday morning, in class) with me! It was a flying visit but it was lovely to meet her in person and to be able to help out with accommodation and transport, and, in return, be helped with some interesting role plays in class!

So now I’m really happy to take some time to announce the winner of my magazine giveaway – chosen randomly by Son 1, the winner is Healing Woman, who left a really positive message of encouragement (not the only one of course - it's so nice to find your comments and even to read your posts inspired by my own). So, Healing Woman, congratulations and please send me your address by email ASAP, so that I can post it to you while it’s still in date!

I’ve prepared several other posts in a spare moment (waiting for hours with Son 2 at the doctor’s, unfortunately…) and I’m going to schedule them for you, because I have so much to share, even though there’s little time to share it. So please do keep reading, and if you have time and thoughts, please do leave a comment. I read your blogs on my phone, which doesn’t allow me to comment, but I am keeping up to date with you in my limited kind of way…

C'est la Rentrée - Resolutions and a Giveaway!

Well, actually, it was the Rentrée, rather than is, but better late than never! We've been busy but I finally have the delightful chance to offer one of my readers this beautiful French magazine in a giveaway:

It's up for grabs because my kind local friend picked up a copy of Country Living for me when she was in the UK, so now I don't need to offer Campagne Décoration as an exchange (see post below). Therefore it's my now traditional C'est la Rentrée gift for one of you.

To enter, you don't have to be a follower or anything, although you are welcome to follow if you don't already! Just leave me a comment here to have a chance to win. - I'll post anywhere in the world. If you'd like to share any of your Rentrée Resolutions with us in the comment, feel free, but it's not essential.

Rentrée Resolutions are traditional in France, where Back to School means a really positive New Start for adults too - resolutions made in the sunshine and after a good rest tend to be a lot more active than the ones we make in the New Year! Ben and I have particular resolutions this year based on the fact that he's living away during the week while he studies for an MBA in Lyon.

So my Rentrée Resolutions this year are to keep up the good work on the exercise front but to add some further healthy penny-pinchers to our already wholesome, thrifty ways. (Lol- I can't say the word 'wholesome' seriously, you understand. It's just too, well, wholesome!) Here goes:

We have resolved to buy one bottle of wine for the weekend to share between the two of us - no alcohol to be consumed alone when the other one isn't there! When Ben announced his side of this resolution I felt miserable, and that worried me. I should be able to cope with evenings without a glass of wine. And indeed I can...

Take a packed lunch every day, instead of giving in to the occasional panic trip to a boulangerie - if you had access to lovely French bakers I bet you'd be happy to pop into them at lunch time too, so this is a harder one!

Make 'portion' desserts at home instead of buying yoghurts and cakes. I think this should be the subject of my next blog post!

So, please enter my giveaway and do tell if you have any resolutions - best of luck it all!

A very mini magazine swap...

Oops! My dad gave me some birthday money to update my Country Living subscription, and I did it too late! I am now having withdrawal symptoms thinking about that lovely October issue which will NOT be landing in my post box... Would anyone in the UK be prepared to post me that edition, in exchange for this?

Lululiz and I think that it's one of the nicest country decor magazines in France. Please form an orderly queue if you would like it!

Ben's Rentrée

Ben's lectures in Lyon start today! He's taking a break from work (partly funded by them) to do an MBA. He's really fallen on his feet for accommodation, as a new colleague owns a flat near the university which he can't currently live in - so Ben is his paying guest! It's a whole lot nicer than a student flat, I can tell you... He's coming home every weekend, but the boys and I do hope to pop up there every now and then, to get to know another part of France. We will keep you posted!

Countryside images

Our mantelpiece is rather calm at the moment (for me) but it seems to draw people to study the various images...

I asked Son 2 the other day: "Are you OK? Are you LISTENING to me?" (classic mother question...) He replied vaguely: "Yes, but I'm just looking at those badgers..."

Well yes, I think they are worth gazing at too! They're from an English book of nature through the months.

This French dressing-table mirror is my latest find, from the charity shop. It's sitting with a few other favourite French discoveries.

The little jug is also a September find - it has cows in a field on it. I guess I've grouped together various countryside scenes, French and English, and am rather pleased with the results. The large feather in the jug comes from a Spanish bird - Son 1 picked it up in the Picos de Europa last month.

Hmm, a peaceful, countryside display. Just what we need for la rentrée!

Rentrée Roll-call

As it's la Rentrée (back to school), I thought I'd just give you the run-down of the current residents of our home!

Youngest first: Wilson the kitten arrived approximately four hours before we left on our Spanish holiday. He mewed and mewed in our neighbours' empty garden (they were already on holiday) until we took pity on him and presented him to our house/garden/animal sitters, who took the adoption of an untrained kitten in their stride! He must have been over 2 months when this photo was taken by them, but we all thought he was younger - he must have been rather malnourished. Lots of kittens get abandoned around here, but young Wilson has landed on his feet - we've already had him vaccinated and chipped, and Raja has adopted him as a playmate! We are all in love with him...

So next up for age must be Son 2's guinea pigs - if I get more time, I will add more photos. His piggies are called Lysandra, Catrina and Hester (well, what else do you call guinea pigs?) and he loves them very much.

The three big hens are next in age - we are getting three eggs a day from them at the moment! Wilson is wary of them...

Then come the two ornamental hens, who were adopted when a friend returned to the USA. One is just a smaller version of our big ones, but China, the white silky bantam, is a sight to behold... they also lay fairly well, but less than the biggies. We eat a lot of omlettes, here!

Chanel the adult cat comes next. He is at least 9 years old and is theoretically an invalid, as he has broken his hip twice. He has calmed down a bit, and we keep him inside a lot, but he still slopes off to visit neighbours, and, I am sure, gets fed by them... Six Dinner Sid! He was most unimpressed when Wilson arrived, particularly as Wilson was missing his mum and tried to get some milk from Chanel!

Raja is a few years older than Chanel. She is Son 1's adopted cocker spaniel, and has changed his life for the better in so many ways. I mentioned 'hen therapy' to Lola Nova a while ago (she agreed it exists) but dog therapy is wonderful, too...

Then comes Son 2 - at 14 he is two years older than Raja! He is in his exam year, the final year of collège. It's all a bit much for a kid who is juggling an enthusiasm for Pokemon with spots and adolescence, but we're confident he'll get through it.

Son 1 is 16 now, and in his second year of lycée. It's a better place than collège. He's specialising in science, with as much history as he can do on the side, but sadly, from his point of view, he still has to read French literature!

There's a really big gap now until you get to the adults in the household. Probably the youngest adult is Achilles the tortoise. I've roughly counted the rings on his shell and he seems to be in his 30s. He's got the wisdom of age, certainly - he gets out of his enclosure and goes for wanders, so now we've written my mobile number on his shell, and we get the occasional phone call from an excited family who've found him chomping through their garden...

And now we come to me, vintage-loving English teacher. You know me!

And finally Ben, who has an adventure of his own starting next week. His work is funding him to do further studies - he'll be off in Lyon during the week for the next nine months, coming home at the weekend to see how his family and other animals are getting on! We're all very pleased that he's got this opportunity (it's to do an MBA) and hope to be reporting on a little bit of life in Lyon, as well as in the Toulouse area, over the coming year.