Roses, boutique and a picnic

Hello summer...well mostly. It's not exactly sweltering over here but the roses are definitely in bloom both on the terrace and in the garden. This year the trellis is effulgent with three rose varieties all in their glory at this moment.

Last year we discovered these lovely little purple geraniums for our terrace pot.The great thing about them is that besides blooming all season long, they come back. We were quite surprised to see them emerge again out of the frozen earth early in the spring. Once the sun came out, they grew like gang busters.

I finally felt sure enough of the weather this week to set up the boutique for the season. This part of our garage/press room gets moist in the rain, so for me to put out my prints, I have to have some assurance that the sky is going to be mostly clear and the air mostly warm before I can open the shop. To dress the place up a bit I painted some wallpaper for the blank walls. I like the whimsy.

When Emily and family came for a brief visit recently, we took a day trip to our old stomping ground in Les Alpes Mancelles to see our neighbors the Tireaus, who remain our good friends.

When we first moved to France we lived in a little mill on a small river in the middle of a forest. It is an utterly charming location and in the summer Emily produced a theater festival in our local town. We have so many warm memories from this period of our lives.

We sold the moulin in 2007 in order to purchase the Maison Conti but we go back from time to time. Currently, the moulin is changing hands again but at the moment is empty, so we were given permission to have our picnic there and do a little walking down memory lane. In truth an actual walk was a little difficult. One thing which has been neglected is the pruning. The place is like the jungle anyway, and if you don't keep up with cutting down the undergrowth, you are soon overwhelmed. This was once a trail.

The Tireaus who live on the hill above the property brought a big table and we spread out our potluck luncheon, cooked hotdogs on the grill and picnicked on the terrace that were both fashioned by Rick eight years ago for Emily and Jos' wedding, which was held here.

After lunch we took a walk around, bushwhacking all the way.

The kids enjoyed the great outdoors including the river and forest.

What was once a relatively manicured vegetable garden and orchard has become a wild place.

Rick brought along our game of Mölkky, made for us by our friend Arnault. It is like bowling but involves some tricky rules when it comes to scoring points. It's a bit of a math puzzle meets hand/eye coordination skill. I am particularly bad at it on both counts but in three games played, men against women, the women won two. We were proud.

Before heading back home we stopped by the Tireau's house to see the animals. Quinn visited the hen house and collected eggs and met Zouk the donkey

Emily and Anita collected some rhubarb and lettuce.

Old Friends, Happy Memories

Our original house in France, the Moulin de la Ribotière in Les Alpes Mancelles

Last weekend Emily and family came to visit and we decided to take a drive north to where our first house in France was located. We especially wanted to visit our dear old friends the Tireaus. We planned a lovely picnic along the river, inviting them to join us. Since the day turned out to be gray, drizzly and cold we ended up bringing our picnic basket to their house instead.

We have known the Tireau family since we first bought our little moulin in 2002. They lived up the hill from us and we became very good friends. They hold a special place in our hearts.

Left to right: Rick, Aurore, Maxime, Philippine, Anita, Daniel, Jos, Zinnie, Emily, Quinn

They own a large piece of land with a huge garden, fruit trees of every description and lots of animals. They served us a piece of their lamb for lunch. They certainly can and do feed themselves from what they raise. Quinn was very excited to meet all the various creatures. I think this was the first real rabbit he'd ever seen.

He was very gentle and respectful with the animals. Being mostly a city boy, these encounters are quite magical for him.

Zook the mule is a beast we've known for as long as we've known the Tireaus. He's at least 12 now and mules can live 20 years, so he's just middle aged. He has a most distinctive and loud hee-haw, which we're quite familiar with. We have watched Anita chase him down the road as he likes to escape and have his own adventures!

We were very lucky to meet this wonderful family. They welcomed us and helped us so many times when we were first learning about life in France.

Anita gave us French lessons and often invited us to share meals with her family. This was the first time she had met Zinnie.

This little river, the Ornette, ran right past our house. It is a favorite with trout fishermen.

When we first met the Tireaus, Maxime was 9 and Philippine was 5. They spent a lot of time catching little fish in our steam and playing with our dog Morgan.

Our little hide-away was a Hansel and Gretel cottage, surrounded by forest and completely removed from the rest of civilization.

 

It had a big garden where we spent a lot of time working and entertaining.

Emily and Jos were married at the Ribotière and Anita and Daniel were their witnesses.

Emily produced a theater festival in the nearest village for three years in a row. We have so many wonderful memories from those summer days and all her talented friends eating and partying at our house.

Actors, clowns and musicians came from Spain, Holland, England, Belgium and Italy to participate in the festival.

We painted scenery, made posters, constructed sets, created props. It was an extremely creative time of our lives.

Emily's wedding reception and dinner took place in our big garden. It was 100% handmade with Emily, her friends and ourselves doing everything. We created a meal with as much fresh food from the garden as we could.

Even the wedding cake was made in our kitchen. It was really beautiful.

The mood was very rustic and romantic. People came from all over Europe and the U.S. to participate.

The theme was an elegant picnic and it came off very well indeed.

All these special moments and people rest in this pretty part of France from which we've moved away. It is a real pleasure to revisit the area from time to time to refresh these happy memories.

Celebrating Summer

Fireworks over the castle of Montmirail

This week brought many happy meetings and celebrations. Our old neighbors the Tireaus from Les Alpes Mancelles invited us to lunch. 

 La Moulin de la Ribotière, our first house in France

We had been very close to this wonderful family when we first moved to France and lived in a little moulin, but we'd let far too much time flow past without being in touch. It had been well over a year since seeing them. They are among the sweetest most generous people we know. They made our transition to this country a real pleasure. Their youngest daughter Phillippine was just eight when we first met. She is now fifteen. Aurore, who I always felt very close to was a young teenager.  

 

 

She is now a grown woman, working as a professional pâtissière. She lives in Caen and works at a chic pastry shop. Happily for us, she was home visiting and for lunch made us a special chocolate raspberry tart.

It was not only exceptionally pretty, but absolutely delicious as well.

After lunch we walked with them down our old driveway and visited our first French home in the middle of the forest. It really is like Hansel and Gretel's place.

***

Later in the week Leyla came by for a day of etching. She was keen to develop and reprint her dragon image, which she made here last year. It was George's, (her father's) birthday and she wanted to surprise him with the image.

Leyla and her mother Sophie

***

At the weekend Montmirail had its annual fête médiévale. In anticipation, I got our shop cleaned up and presentable, adding a bit of decoration.

The village becomes very lively for two days with dozens of activities, demonstrations and vendors selling everything from medieval costumes to bubble gum... not a product I associate with that moment in history. But there's no doubt that the village itself is the real McCoy. Many thousands of people pour into town to enjoy it all.

Within an hour of its closing, all the stands had been taken down. This morning the flags and signs were removed, all the stray garbage collected, and every trace that it ever happened completely erased. It's as if everyone else in town were just as anxious as we to have life back to its quiet simplicity. Still, the festival really supports the community finacially.

Our guests this weekend were vendors and all entertaining characters. Here in France on summer days and nights in small villages there are events of every kind put on by local communities to entertain the vacationing public.

***

Summer has appeared again, with pretty blue skies, warm temperatures and twittering birds.