..... morning ramblings.

The house is quiet and the sun is shining; the neighbour's dog is still here, she visits with Pat most mornings.

What are the rose hips we’ve found which are red fuzz balls? They are very large, round, bristly crimson and the hips are fuzzy.

The peaches here are absolutely mouth watering; the white ones are scrumptious! I spoke to a vendor at the market and apparently they come from Spain.

I never realized that figs were so fragile and that’s because the ones I buy at home are dried. But here, they’re delicious and so plentiful. I’ve seen not only black figs but green ones too; the green ones are somewhat larger than the others but both are sweet and tender.

The duvet on my bed is warm and cozy; I have one that I use at home but my covers all have closures. This one doesn’t … which end goes to the foot of the bed? I’ve tried the open end there but it often looks a bit untidy … now the open end is at the top.

If you like your toilet tissue soft and thick, this pink stuff just isn’t for you! Has it been recycled? The new pack that we’ve just bought has in large letters ‘ feel the difference’ but I’m still searching for ‘la difference’.

There are chestnuts everywhere and Judy picked some last night; she headed off to talk to the lady who was the chef at Chez Esme’s Restaurant or anyone else who could share some information about these nuts. ! Judy doesn’t speak French so it must have been with the help of body language, various noises and lots of smiles as she returned to the car with a small piece of paper … in French the lady had written that the chataigne are ‘sweet chestnuts’ and are good to eat however the marron are ‘chestnuts’ and not edible. Guess what she’d picked?

Honey is so plentiful and at every market we can find more than a handful of vendors selling their own product. Shortly after we had arrived I bought a jar to take home; it had hazelnuts floating on top of acacia honey. Guess what? The honey won’t be traveling back to Canada as there's little left. This is surely nectar of the gods. We use it on some of the best Greek style plain yogurt I’ve had in a very long time - a great way to start our mornings.

I’ll not mention any names but someone here has recently bought a small tin of ‘pate du lapin’ and for those of you who don’t parlez le francais its rabbit pate and according to the vendor very, very lean. Another pate that was available was ‘boudin’ however all we could think of was blood sausage pate and that didn’t sit well with anyone other than the vendor.

Tomorrow I’ll be making a ratatouille and right now the kitchen bay window looks so colourful; red peppers, purple and also white eggplant, zucchini, onions, various tomatoes, garlic, etc. The kitchen is on the lower level and since it’s a bit on the cool side, we can leave produce on the widow sill for a few days without spoiling.

This afternoon I had a lovely visit from a lady who lives in a house in the back of us … a lovely lady. She asked that I excuse her dirty hands; they were stained from picking walnuts and I understand that it’s a tannin stain. By now the stain on my left thumb has started to fade away; I can only imagine how long it’ll take for her hands to return to normal. What’s interesting about walnuts is that once they’ve shed their husk they must age for about a year otherwise they have a bitter taste.

When I go for a walk it’s most interesting to note that many of the wildflowers which are indigenous to Eastern Canada tend to grow wild here too; fireweed, chicory, campion,purple vetch, tassle grass, sweet honesty, cat tails, butterfly bush, black bramble berries, thistle, Queen Ann’s lace and the list goes on and on. I’d love to return earlier in the season when the wisteria and clematis are in full bloom; it’s everywhere. Today when I was in the backyard I realized that a light yellow clematis is blooming in a protected area; it’s pretty but invasive!

I've just piled some wood on the fire and will cuddle down with some good books.

Winn