Violets of Toulouse

Toulouse is famous for its violets - you can find them chrystalised as gifts in every tourist shop of the area (they're delicious). The Toulouse violet is a special type, with a double flower. I bought some and planted them a few years ago, but the area where I put them turned out to be on top of our water pipe, and when it sprang a leak the famous violets were sacrificed to the neighbours' mini-digger!

No matter, as I prefer the single, wild flowers, which are bursting into bloom on the trackway down to our town's clay-pit lake. I have a few in the garden, but nothing beats finding them blooming by the side of the path, unless it's finding some more unusual white ones further along:

I snapped some photos with my phone (still trying to get used to the concept of a thing I can carry in my pocket which does more than make calls). Raja and I were the only people there to appreciate them on a very windy day - but I imagine they are much appreciated by everyone who walks along there.

I found a very informative blog article, in English, on the Toulouse violet industry here - I shall be back to visit Vanessa at her La Lune blog again, now I've found her on my search for articles about violets!

Roses, enamel, lace, and a lesson in French living

I had a wonderful Sunday morning. I went to church alone (which I have to admit it, is sometimes easier than taking teenaged boys along...) and then visited the all-year Vide Grenier at Frouzins on the way home. It was as though the stall-holders had planned it all specially for my first Vide Grenier of the year!

I bought three stencilled bowls/plates for our eclectic collection - the theme of our 'set' is red, white and/or blue 1950s stencil-ware, with a bit of an emphasis on roses. I have to admit it's more to my taste than to the boys'! Ben seems to put up with it very generously... but don't you think these additions are wonderful?

Then there was yet another of the fantastic little lunch tins - this one is tiny, and I'd like to know what the working French man of the 1930s expected to fit into it! Perhaps it was for a child to take a gouter (snack) rather than for a grown man's lunch? The fabric box (to join my alarmingly large collection) has a beautiful paper lining, unfortunately rather torn, and will need a bit of a clean-up on the lid - I found some good dry-cleaning powder for doing this a while back, and will give it a go some time this week. Then I think I may re-arrange my collection - hurray for less work during the second week of the holidays!

The lace is handmade bobin lace, rather like English Honiton - I shall have to look it up in my lace bible, because it's clearly a French lace which influenced the Devon lace industry. And the beautiful picture of the fruit stand is one of many, many cards which I bought for a total of 7€ (a big spend for me).

The beautiful pictures are children's flash cards! And if you don't know what a fruit stand is in French, here's your answer:

For your next vocabulary test, what is a cooker in French?

You guessed it!

I personally always forget the word for bib. I don't have much call for it these days...

But here it is:

And here's a skimmer... I do love vintage kitchenalia.

In French it's an...

And I bet you know what this is:

And, if you've got the vintage French vibe going now, I bet you realised it was going to look like this:

The whole set is a beautiful illustration of French living in the mid, or even slightly earlier, 20th century. I really am enamoured of these cards, and I think I'm going to use them as a kind of bunting on our balcony. Watch this space...

A Pause in Lent

Phew!

Life is slowing down a little - we still don't know the cause of Son 1's Friday rash, but it doesn't seem to have been anything scary related to his operation. He's feeling pretty good now, and is currently cooking tortillas (from scratch - slowly...) ready for a Hairy Biker's Mexican feast that's planned for Son 2's return from the Pyrenees this evening.

Like Ang, I've been thinking of certain key verses from the Fast/Feast Lent poem:

• Fast from thoughts of illness; Feast on the healing power of God.
• Fast from negatives; Feast on affirmatives.
• Fast from unrelenting pressures; feast on unceasing prayer.
• Fast from discouragements; Feast on hope.

And like Elizabethd, I've found the order of the seasons really encouraging:

• Fast from worry; Feast on divine order.

Ben bought me these beautiful hanging vases for Christmas. He suspended them from our little chandelier on Saturday and put the first two daffodils from our garden into them - a wonderful sign of the changing season!

 

And another really positive thing that happened to me this week reminds me of the power of random acts of kindness:

 

I was hurrying home to give the boys lunch (it's the holidays!), and really didn't have time between lessons to manage this and also eat myself. I popped into Intermarché to pick up some simple lunch supplies and rushed to the checkout. The woman in the queue ahead of me (in her early 60s) looked at my smart clothes and said: 'Are you working? If you need to get back to work, please go ahead of me. I don't work now but I remember what it was like...' Phew! One little act of kindness and thoughtfulness saved my day and has been on my mind ever since.

An update and a dotty bowl!

Thanks for your kind thoughts and prayers - Son 1's rash and fever are still a bit of a mystery, but both have reduced under the onslaught of medication that our doctor prescribed last night.

The very good news is that the blood test passed this morning with only mimimal panic and teenaged-grumbling, which given his state last night is a real relief! And the even better news is that the results indicate that his operation wounds, which a just a little infected, are not causing any trouble to his general health, so that there is no fear that the rash indicates something serious related to the operation. Therefore the mystery remains, but we have antibiotics now to add the the medical attack if his temperature goes up again, and there's no real fear for his health.

In fact, Son 1 was cynical about the whole 'being ill' thing, and spent some time in the hen run observing the spring-crazy hens. We decided to take Raja the cocker spaniel to our local safari park, where she is allowed to watch the animals from the enclosed car - Son 1 talks to her as though she is a small child, and she whines and barks. It's an odd way to spend an afternoon, but it seems to satisfy the invalid! We had a quick drive-past the troc shop on the way home, eyed up some interesting possiblilties, discussed Son 1's tastes (he likes glass and dark wood, so I told him to start buying while it's still unfashionable!) and I just happened to buy this cute dotty chocolate bowl for my collection...

Have a great weekend, friends!

Friday

Hmm, it's been a nice week, and the magnolia is coming into furry little bud!

The boys have been on holiday - now Son 2 is off skiing with friends thanks to the town youth club. He tells me that one of the organisers is rather fed up with his questioning everything... hmm, English children are just different, and I've warned him to behave 'French' for the duration! Son 1 has had a rather horrid afternoon. Possibly related to his operation wounds, possibly not, he has a fever and a huge rash over parts of his body. Four hours' wait at the doctor's got us very good medical attention, and we have medication and are awaiting a blood test and swabs to be taken tomorrow morning. Son 1 dreads needles, and with the fever to make things worse, got rather anxious about the whole business. Two paracetamol later he's calmer, but your prayers for a quiet night and a quick resolution to the problem would most appreciated.

A Pause in Lent

It's not a very spiritual Pause, but I've had an enforced pause today, which is probably quite a good thing!

It snowed hard (by southern French standards) today, and my morning and lunch time lessons were cancelled. After a weekend getting sorted after the operation etc, it was odd and not entirely welcome to have next to nothing to do! The boys are on holiday but Son 2 has gone to play in the snow with his friends (and is now staying over night) and Son 1 is quite independent around the house except when he needs a pain killer! I tried adding a Pause in Lent Bloggers list to my sidebar (I really do want your contributions shared and recognised, folks) but Blogger isn't playing. So, hmm... pause..!

I did visit some Pause in Lent bloggers and Fiona, who has her own busy life at the moment, suggested praying. Yes - I'm tired, I'm drifting, I felt tearful when I saw Son 1's operation wounds when the nurse dressed them tonight - prayer it is. Thank you, Fiona. Thank you, Pause in Lent. Thank you, Jesus!

Reflection at the end of a busy week...

The rose I was given in Intermarché on Valentine's day is still looking wonderful on our table.

The new-to-us stove (once belonging to Ange) is warming the back of the house (including the room where I teach),

and the big fire at the front is necessary too - it's -1.6° outside!

The hellebores don't like the sudden cold snap.

And the violets aren't too convinced, either.

Rosie, Holly and Annabeth are just fine in the cold,

but next door to them Valkrie is sulking, mainly because her friend China the silky bantam

 

has been broody all week! Pook, pook, pook, she says...

There are daffodil buds and a muck heap in the garden - lots of work to do!

Non-essential things (like housework) have been put to one side this busy week, which started with Son 1 and me spending three days in hospital, and has continued  with normal working hours, nurses' visits and new brace-care for Son 2, who has had his own medical intervention to deal with! Ben had a migraine yesterday - everyone has taken the strain in their own way...

But we're beginning to put it back together! The boys are on holiday now, Ben is taking some muck to a friend before starting to spread it on our own garden, and I'm off to keep on with the housework catch-up! Tomorrow or Monday - my first Pause in Lent. The catch-up continues!

I'll be writing my Pause in Lent ASAP, but Son 1 has just got out of hospital following his (hopefully) final knee operation, so I'm catching up slowly... for details of the other bloggers who are writing for a Pause please see the comments on the post below.

Sign up for A Pause in Lent 2013!

Phew, thanks to Ang for reminding me - Lent starts tomorrow!

And thanks to Jane, who posted this wonderful Lenten reflection last year, which I suggested could be a theme for this year! Let's post as usual (on Sundays or Mondays in Lent, starting this week), and take the meditation Jane posted as a rough theme:

Fast from - Feast on

• Fast from judging others; Feast on the Christ dwelling within them.
• Fast from emphasis on differences; Feast on the unity of life.
• Fast from apparent darkness; Feast on the reality of light.
• Fast from thoughts of illness; Feast on the healing power of God.
• Fast from words that pollute; Feast on phrases that glorify.
• Fast from discontent; Feast on gratitude.
• Fast from anger; Feast on patience.
• Fast from pessimism; Feast on optimism.
• Fast from worry; Feast on divine order.
• Fast from complaining; Feast on appreciation.
• Fast from negatives; Feast on affirmatives.
• Fast from unrelenting pressures; feast on unceasing prayer.
• Fast on hostility; Feast on non-resistance.
• Fast from bitterness; Feast on forgiveness.
• Fast from self-concern; Feast on compassion for others.
• Fast from personal anxiety; Feast on eternal truth.
• Fast from discouragements; Feast on hope.
• Fast from facts that depress; Feast on verities that lift.
• Fast from lethargy; Feast on enthusiasm.
• Fast from thoughts that weaken; Feast on promises that inspire.
• Fast from shadows of sorrow; Feast on the sunlight of serenity.
• Fast from idle gossip; Feast on purposeful silence.
• Fast from problems that overwhelm; Feast on prayer that strengthens.

William Arthur Ward (American author, teacher and pastor, 1921 -1994.)

Decorating with light

In the UK it's hard to imagine that someone would build a house with deliberately shaded windows, but in the south of France that's a traditional building style which still makes a lot of sense - our house is a haven of cool on a hot summer's day...

... but seldom light and bright, especially in January and February. It was Ben's idea to start dealing with this by building up a collection of mirrors, but I think my collecting drive has kind of overtaken his... he bought me the carved bone one on the left, which is a great shape, and I carried the middle two back from Edinburgh trips (the left middle mirror is a secondhand Ikea find, while the right middle is genuinely vintage, blogged about here). I found the final, 'feminine' mirror in a Vide Grenier - it's French and dates from 1964.

In front of the mirrors are an earthenware chipmunk, one of a pair my sister and I bought our mum in the '70s, a miniature portrait which I've always loved, also inherited from my mum, a silver gravy boat which was a wedding present from an antique dealer uncle and another wedding present, a modern decanter which reflects the light most beautifully.





It's what's UNDERNEATH the mirrors that's a bit surprising... I was in the utility room looking for anything reflective, when the gleam of a coffee tin caught my eye! We save all the coffee tins (our Fair Trade decaf comes in tins, there's no alternative) and we use them for all sorts of useful things, particularly seed storage, but I'd never thought of decorating with them before. But one of them gleamed at me, and, well, why not? The light is bouncing around the dark entrance area like it's never done before, and the coffee tins will stay there a while...