It had been a long while since I’d gotten out to explore our own little town.
Isn’t that always the way? We travel the world in search of new, and big, and unfamiliar, and exotic, all while driving right by some lovely things in our day-to-day.
Covid19 has certainly honed that down quite a bit, but if I went exploring Châtellerault one early morning, two weeks ago, it wasn’t so much covid-related as it was car-related…
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On one hand, I’m at a bit of a loss as to what to tell you this week. It seems like, between Covid-curfew and distance education, each week feels very much like the others… everything runs together to some extent.
Still, it seems like there are habits that are good to maintain even though we don’t necessarily feel great difference. Isn’t that what we emphasize in the church after all? Not every day, nor every service, are ‘blow-out’ days/services… but there is value in consistency: continuing to maintain the daily habits that nourish our faith in the good days, in preparation for the not-so-good days when we’ll need all that’s been put aside.
(hmmm… seems like I’m getting to the point of the sermon before even giving the illustration.) 🙂
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Yesterday was a strange, long & kind of surreal day.
It was a teaching day in Angers that was actually in Angers (first time since late October / early November). After only 3-hours sleep the night before, it started out not so pretty, but when I look back, at least #3GoodThings helped redeem the day (more really, but I’ll quickly highlight 3)…
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As I sit here to write you, this Saturday morning, Soph has already walked the dog, Dominic is finishing breakfast, Liz is having a quick cat-nap (after waking with a nasty headache) and Timo is working day 5 at the Optician (more on that later).
Since the dog is also lying peacefully, it means that the only sound I hear is the clickety-clack of the keyboard and the odd muffled noise from outside. It’s peaceful now, after the driving rain & hail earlier.
Care to spend a few minutes, while I finish up the morning hot chocolate?
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Are you familiar with ‘tatting’?
Tatted lace is made with one or two finger-held shuttles and very fine cotton, a bit thicker than sewing thread. I was visiting a friend in Quebec nearly 30 years ago and his (at the time) 92 year-old grandmother lived with he and his family. She saw me crocheting and asked if I was tatting. I’d never even heard of tatting before.
She showed me the basics and gave me a tatting shuttle. There’s a trick to it, which took me a couple of weeks to get, but I finally did, and the rest is history… I’ve been tatting off & on ever since.
The last couple of years it’s been more ‘off’ than ‘on’ but I picked it up again over the Christmas break and have been glad to get back into it when time allows. There’s a life lesson in there that I was reminded of, but first, let me bring you up to speed…
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Back in October, I took the long road home from a teaching day in Angers.
The day was beautiful, the onset of evening was slow coming, and no one needed to be picked up at the station in Châtellerault. Overall, the opportunity was too good to pass up.
I’d intended to document it long before this, but whatever the reason (there were likely a number of them) it didn’t happen until now.
Care to join me on an open-top drive down the Loire River Valley?
Gentle Warning:
This is my longest-ever blog post (3,500 words – about a 22 minute read). If you only have a few minutes, I’d recommend saving it for a time when you can enjoy it over a big steaming mug of coffee, not a small. 🙂
Ready? Let’s go…
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Christmas more or less snuck up on us this year.
Besides the fact that we’re not getting any younger, I really chalk it up to the fact that Covid19 made it such that the school year was pushed back, beginning in September, meaning that classes (and the related marking, evaluations & such) were also pushed back. So it seems like we were all working right up to the Friday before Christmas.
Is it just me or did it sneak up on you as well?
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Well… our little Cheesy Christmas adventure is coming to a close today.
It’s our last advent cheese of 2020 and we went out with a bang!
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Today’s cheese was another from France’s southwest corner… the Basque / Aquitaine region and included not just a special cheese, but also a special ingredient that has it’s own DPO (Designation of Protected Origin)... the Espelette Pepper…
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Back on Day 19, we had a Spanish cheese (queso Manchego) and I mentioned, at the time, that it was the first non-French cheese to make it into our Cheesy Christmas menu. I also mentioned that there would be one more in the days to come.
Technically, that’s not true. This cheese was produced in France, but it’s roots are much farther east… in Austria…
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