Welcome

This is how to keep up in touch with me when I'm on my travels. Hope you like it - please give me feedback as to what you might like to see on it - or not!



Friday 29 October 2010

Donations - thanks to Andy and Ann

Many thanks to Andy and Ann for their kind donations to Practical Action and Samata School.


We've now passed the £200 mark.  I will keep you all informed of how the money is spent at Samata.  The Practical Action contributions I shall hand over in cash in person but I doubt I shall know exactly how it is spent.

Thanks again to everyone - still time to contribute if you wish.

Tuesday 26 October 2010

Hedge laying

On Saturday we went to watch the national hedge-laying championship, which this year was at Rutland Water.  It's fascinating to see the different styles traditional to each region - Devon, Midlands, South of England, Derby, Welsh etc.

Basically each man has a 10 foot length of  young trees which he must bend to form a four foot high stock-proof hedge. The bending is done by partially cutting through the tree trunk near the ground, so that the tree can be bent over but will continue to grow through the part which is not cut.  The new growth fills in the hedge in future seasons.

After that, there is quite a diversity according to the regional style. Most have the width of the hedge to one side of the posts, but some have the posts in the centre.



A lot of details count towards the result - for example, the angle at which the saplings are bent must be matched by the angle at which the retaining posts are trimmed.

 And the final touch is the woven trim at the top.
I don't know enough about it to risk labelling any of the pictures, (I think the photo above is South of England, but may get corrected if any expert views it)

It all takes place between 9am and 2pm, followed by the judging and awards and I can thoroughly recommend it if you ever hear of it. A lovely gentle traditional day out.

Tuesday 19 October 2010

Donations

Many thanks to Jess, Pat and Margaret for their kind donations for Samata School.

Backdate to Queribus

I've just been sorting out photos and realise I haven't shared a lovely experience from France.

When we were visiting the Cathar castle of Queribus, I started singing "Belle qui tiens ma vie captive dans tes yeux", a beautiful medieval song, and one of the few French songs I know, because I couldn't resist the wonderful acoustics. As I was climbing the spiral stairs, and paused in the song, I heard a voice continue with the next line. We did this all the way up the stairs until my fellow singer emerged.  I only knew the first verse so she sang me two more. I'm so glad that Tony took this photo of us, as my camera was the last thing I was thinking of at the time, and I'm so pleased to have a record of the occasion.

Back home

Tell you what? It's good to be back.
Still can't find the potato peeler first time because it's the wrong colour, the wrong shape and in the wrong place.  And I very nearly walked into the wall when I "woke"in the night, but the feel of carpet under my feet jolted me back to England just in time. If we had a wood floor in the bedroom here I would surely have tried to walk through the wall.
The first day back was table tennis and French group and badminton, and it was great to meet all three groups of friends after 5 weeks away.
The next day was Westonbirt to see the autumn colours with friends.  The photos are Marion's - hope copyright doesn't apply.
For the record, the sign  said "look up into the tree top". Some do, some don't!



Friday 8 October 2010

Guessing game





Found on a walk. Can you tell what they are?

Meet the artist

What a lovely experience I had.

In the spring, on a walk with the local heritage group, I learned of a book of memories of a childhood in the Montagne Noire, illustrated with watercolours of the villages. I had an email address for the author so, having looked high and low for a copy without success, I emailed him telling him how it had been highly recommended to me and how hard I had tried to find it. The email bounced back.  Finally looking on-line I sent my email to a small bookshop which was said to sell it, asking them to send it on to Michel Semat. The shop contacted me to say that he wanted to deliver me a copy and yesterday he turned up on my doorstep.

The book is just gorgeous, and I know very many of the places illustrated. He was very gratified that I had gone to such trouble to track down the book, and this was the only copy left of the 1,000 printed 18 months ago. I really think it should be reprinted but he said the publishers thought it would not stand a second edition. I only thought at the last minute to ask him to sign it. I'll be bringing it back with me so, if any of you are interested, let me know and I'll lend it to you.

Seasonal fruit and veg

The seasons for various fruits and vegetables receive much more attention here in France.  When we come out in May/June it's asparagus season, followed by cherries. There are cherry fairs in lots of small villages and roadside stalls everywhere with mounds of fruit.

Right now it's the end of the wild figs, and the start of the sweet chestnuts. Driving through the Montagne Noire on Sunday it was difficult to avoid people picking up chestnuts on the verges.

The grape harvest is in but there are still a few vines with fruit hanging, so we enjoy a little scrumping on our walks. And mushrooms are appearing on the market.  Cepes are the most highly-prized, at about €25/kilo for best quality.  Our new friends, went picking yesterday but were disappointed to find very few.

 


Thursday 7 October 2010

More thanks

Many thanks to Val and Eric for their kind donation. Getting quite excited now, as I just received details of my placement.

Sunday 3 October 2010

New French friends

We were invited to Marie and Michel's house on Saturday. They promised to show us slides of their trip to Kathmandu 10 years ago. It was our turn to talk French, as our last outing had been in English, and it went remarkably well. Jon and Marie don't speak so readily as Michel and myself but it is helping them to open up too, and we understood each other quite easily. We had an amusing time comparing the difficulties faced by foreigners in our respective languages.

The slide show was incredibly professional, shown on a huge TV screen, pin sharp, with mountain peaks labelled, their heights included, great slide transitions and music and not too long. And, since photography is their hobby, really beautiful photos.

They are involved in a photographic exhibition for the next fortnight and we're going with them to see it tomorrow.

Friday 1 October 2010

Followers

I have only just learned that becoming a follower means nothing but showing that you are a "supporter" of that blog, unless you have a Google blog yourself, in which case it will show up on your dashboard.  If you actually want to know when there is any change to the blog, you need to Subscribe, at the foot of the page and you can then create a feed in your Favourites.
That's all pretty complicated so I think the simplest is to go to
http://roseonadventures.blogspot.com/ and add it to your Favourites. Then you just select it from Favourites whenever you feel like it.