Rural Life

Mellow fruitfulness!

Well, there is mellow and then there is run ragged by it all!

I really should not complain, and I'm not, but how can I get "paid for" work done when there is all this fruit and stuff to be dealt with?  Once this is posted I must go downstairs and make quince juice from the 5 quince we got on our little tree - 5 quince weighing a total of 7lbs!  They are huge and gorgeous and ripe and I will photograph them before chopping them up, adding water and simmering them for a good 2 hours - the house will smell fabulous!

But that is not all!  There are still pears knocking around, plus a few peaches, tomatoes (green and red) and aubergines, which tends to imply there will need to be more chutney making going on - I have already made 10 jars of chutney of various types, plus a few bottles of plum sauce, vast quantities of jam of all sorts, while the freezer groans with all the fruit that is frozen in there for more jam and jelly making (mostly tayberries and black currants).

The chillies - two types this year, hot, and flavoursome - are ripening up and need to be strung up for drying before the deadly combination of frost and the mason starting work get them - I am always terrified of getting chilli finger and then poking myself in the eye or something similarly stupid.  But I must be brave, or my chilli con carne will be tame during the winter.

There is a giant marrow lurking in the undergrowth and three "potimarrons" - a small and sweet variety of pumpkin - that all need to be dealt with too.  The potimarrons should store if I take advantage of the fine weather currently to dry them off.  The marrow will probably end up as chicken food.

At least the medlars aren't clamouring for attention - they have another month or so to go before they will be anywhere near ready, but the nut trees are starting to do their thing.  We are rigging up nets under two walnut trees and have also invested in a nut harvester (something for a separate blog I think), while yesterday we found our first sweet chestnuts of the season and ate them roasted on the portable cooker - yummy.  That does mean that we will have to seek out chestnuts however, as the stock in the freezer is sadly depleted, and I have this brilliant crumble recipe...

We are up to 4 litres of sloe gin set off and I have another good pound of sloes to prick and put into gin, so that is good, and we can probably do with more of that.

Last year we got a good dollop of apple juice made, this year we were in a giant consortium, and came away with 24 bottles of apple and grape juice and a further 46 bottles of pure grape juice.  As the wine round here is good and cheap, why bother making something fairly nasty yourself?  Instead this rich, dark brew is ideal for lunches and cocktails, if a bit strong for breakfast.

I will tart this post up with some images, but I am also being called to pick figs which are ripening and need to be dealt with - more chutney perhaps?

By the way, if the Mossy Gnome is reading this at any stage - how are things?  Are you OK?

French Comic Films

The theme for the Comice at Pontigne was Comic Films, and this was reflected in the grand procession of floats on the Sunday afternoon.  How many of these great works have you heard of, let alone seen?  And let's be clear - some of these are the biggest grossing films in France of all time!

The procession always starts with what they call the Ambassadrices - we would say carnival queens - and the Cadets de Baugeois - be glad there is no sound.

Next came le Vieil Bauge as we will be hosting the Comice next year.  Our chosen film was Les Bronzes font du Ski - about a bunch of middle aged swingers who go on Club Med holidays together, this time skiing.  I think there are four or five in the series, most of which were huge at the box office.

Vaulandry were next, and I never really got to see anywhere on their float the name of the film, but from the float I would imagine it was Les Enfants du Marais with Jacques Villeret - actually a very nice little film, but the frog fishing scenes were the best.  In some ways this procession was an hommage to Jacques Villeret and Louis de Funes, of whom more later.

Fougere decided to look more to Hollywood and Walt Disney and did a fine representation of Herbie - although they don't actually call him Herbie over here.

Following them, were Bauge with the first of the Louis de Funes films - le Gendarme de St Tropez.  Louis was kind of the French Norman Wisdom, but funny.

Next up, Le Guedeniau with another Louis de Funes film that is currently also doing the rounds as a musical - so they very bravely stopped every 50 metres and did a dance - Rabbi Jakob - and yes, they are all dressed up as Jews.

Next two pictures of the two floats of Chevire le Rouge, which we were fairly convinced were depicting the Frank Dubosc film Camping (top of the summer box office here 3 years ago - Frank is French Canadian and deeply worrying).

Then Boce - one of the smaller communes - who put on a fine display with another Louis de Funes film, La Grande Vadrouille.  I gather it was hugely popular in its time and is often shown on French TV.  The bloke who seems to be holding a pumpkin in his hand, is actually holding a water bomb made to look like a pumpkin - he was a very good shot, but it was so hot, no one minded.

Clefs came next with the biggest grossing French film of all time, and indeed the film that had the most ever cinema entrances in France of any film.  It is called Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, starred Danny Boon and came out in 2008.

If you have ever taken the fast road between Saumur and La Fleche, you will have passed through Cuon.  This year they came up with a film Le Petit Baigneur - another Louis de Funes film from 1968 and not one I have heard of at all, but a rather sweet float.

St Martin d'Arce was next in line.  They did Asterix and Obelix in fine style - but personally I prefer the books to the films.  We all cheered until we realised we were about to get "magic potion" thrown at us, which seemed to be dirty dish water (I hope it wasn't).

Then St Quentin les Beaurepaires - a tiny village off the main road - which did what I am told is a great French classic - Le Pere Noel est un Ordure.  I never think it wise to mock Father Christmas - you never know, as I saw him finishing his rounds one Christmas morning at Fontain Guerin!

Montpollin had several outriders before the main float turned up as they portrayed the film Mais ou est donc passe la 7eme Compagnie?  The French do a fine line in comedy films about the war.

Chartrene is the smallest commune in the Department - only about 50 registered voters and a few more people than that (mostly British).  They did another Louis de Funes film, but by this stage, my knowledge of these is totally exhausted (though no one did the Fantomas sequence - happily).

Echimire decided to take on the Jean Reno films - Les Visiteurs - about a rather tetchy medieval knight who gets sent forward in time, and doesn't much enjoy it.  I believe his catch phrase in the films was C'est dingue! - it's crazy!

Finally Pontigne brought up the rear, in place of honour with the finest and most highly regarded of all French Comic Films - even more than M Hulot's Holiday - La Soupe au Chou - about a couple of old peasants who make a wicked cabbage soup.  The disturbed digestion they get from this makes them fart a lot, which turns out to be an inter-galactic greeting and brings them Denree, who comes in search of cabbage soup, and brings gifts in return.  Denree is played by Jacques Villeret in an early role.  It cannot be called high art, but does epitomise French films - Truffaut was an abberation.

More from the Comice at Pontigne 2009

I couldn't leave it with just the photo from the dress rehearsal, so here are the Vieil Bauge Transylvanians doing the Time Warp, and at that moment we were keeping our knees in tight!

Once we had done all that fun stuff, the competitive inter-villages games were a pretty serious bout of tug-of-war.  We were outsized by most villages, and puffed from doing the dancing and quick changes behind a caravan.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

After all that fun on the Saturday, we were tired on the Sunday so went over to the Comice and sat in the shade and admired the scenery - Pontigne has a fine twisted spire as well!

However when the time came we had to go to the field entrance and greet the Vieil Bauge float.  The theme was comic films - I'm sure every British viewer of this blog will know Les Bronzes font du Ski intimately!  I will do another post on real comic French films shortly, once I am back from the UK.

The Vieil Bauge website has more photos if you are interested - follow this link here!