Le printemps chez nous

Here's what things are looking like around our house these days. Spring has sprung here with a bang, with beautiful warm sunny days that made us feel like it was May rather than March. I got out in the garden as soon as I could to start scoping out the situation and to see what needed to be done before we could plant anything. Florent helped me turn the dirt over in the vegetable garden and cut down a dying plum tree, so that we could plant a fig tree in its place.

Happy Forsythias

Nyah, tightrope walker extraordinaire!

I love this border, it reminds me of something you'd see in an old graveyard.

Strawberries popping up in the garden.

Lettuce too...

Pansies to decorate the chicken coop

Sage, dill and a strange little shovel I found buried in the veggie garden last year, all planted in a farmhouse sink the old owners left in the yard.

The rhubarb is coming up...

and so are the chives

lovely green grass which needs mowing

a good place to sit at the end of the day

We loved our vegetable garden last year. We basically didn't have to buy any veggies during the summer, and ate well into the fall from things we canned. So I decided this year that if last year's was good, this year's would be better. And being American, I obviously believe that bigger is better right? So we decided to double the size of our garden. We walked it off with Florent, measured the area we thought we'd need. He sunk posts and we borrowed a little cultivator from a friend and Florent turned over the grass and dirt to get it ready, before putting up the fencing.
We had a lot of help from Gladys, Ethel and Mabel. We locked them in after Florent turned everything over, and they spent an afternoon digging thru the dirt in search of worms and larvae. I love my earthworms, but I figure they can have the ones on the surface since they need protein, and we get it back in the form of eggs. The best thing is that they leave the surface wonderfully flat and raked thru, perfect for sowing.
I'll put my potatoes in this Friday, in honor of my Grandpa Claude, who always planted his potatoes on Good Friday. I have lots of good memories of his potato patch...Grandpa used to get us grandkids out there and he'd turn over the dirt with his pitchfork, then we'd dig around and pull out the worms. We'd stick them in a Folger's coffee can with some good Illinois dirt, then head off to bed. The next morning, Grandpa would load the grandkids into the car, coffee can and fishing poles in the trunk. We spent many fun hours on Sandy Creek, and I'm not sure how many fish we caught, but those memories with my brothers and sisters and cousins will always warm my heart.













Farm Man and Farm Baby putting in fenceposts.

Hmmmm looks like a lot of space to fill, but I think we can do it!

For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones...Ps 37:28



















Romans 13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Ephesians 4:2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

1 Peter 1:22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,

1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.




Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

Ephesians 4:2-3 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace

Philippians 2:2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Winter around here

P.U. it smells good in here!

Florent just got home after a week of teaching at the Bible Institute in Geneva, Switzerland, which came on the heels of a week in Haiti. So, needless to say, we haven't seen each other much lately. He was supposed to grade papers this afternoon. I was supposed to prepare an English lesson and a Bible study for next Tuesday. So what did we do? We got in the car and went galivanting off into the countryside to see where we could spend some money!

It's been way below freezing here this week and it's supposed to continue on like that for at least another 10 days. With this cold, we've really been going thru the pellets for our 2 stoves, and since the supply was running low, we decided to go stock up. The first 2 stores we went to were out of pellets (like I said, it's been cold!), but the shopkeeper gave us the home phone number of the people who make the brand of pellets that we buy. I called the lady and she said to come on over, as she had some left in the garage. It was a beautiful drive, out in Beaujolais country, and we enjoyed just having time to catch up in the car. On the way, we saw a sign for a cheese maker who sold his products on Thursday and Friday afternoons. "We're stopping there on the way back!"

As we walked in, the yummy-yet-stinky cheese smell filled our nostrils. I can't quite describe that smell, and I don't think I should try. As the French say, "Il ne faut pas le sentir, il faut le manger!" or "You don't smell it, you just eat it!"

When you buy cheese in France, you can go to the supermarket and buy the stuff that's wrapped in cellophane. And it's not bad...convenient, inexpensive. But it's just cheese...

But if you want real cheese, I mean if you're French or just an honorary Frenchwoman like me and love the stuff, you need to go to a real

"marché". Then you are faced with hundreds of choices, cheese made from cow's milk, ewe's milk, goat milk, even donkey sometimes. You can find anything from very mild white cheese, to little round cheeses rolled in oregano, pepper, garlic, etc. Famous cheese like camembert, brie, emmental, swiss. Cheese that's so hard you have to stand up to cut it (and sometimes, if your name is Florent, you break the knife, the plate and almost the table. But that's another story....), and cheese that's so runny, you have to eat it with a spoon.

Florent decided he wanted a tomme"and so he asked for it. The vendor said, "Well now, here's the question. Do you want half cow/half goat, all cow milk, tomme from this region or that region, aged or young?" "Ummm, we'll take half cow/half goat", (goat cheese is easier on the cholesterol!)

Then it was my turn to pick. I looked around and saw a selection of round, semi-dry goat cheese, just like I like 'em. I looked at the name, and it said "petits Charnays". That's funny, I thought, Charnay is the name of the village where Florent grew up. And the best goat cheese I've ever tasted comes from a farm just down the road from his parents. We used to take walks with the kids past Mr. Nem's farm, and sometimes we'd stop in to see the goats. Florent always liked going there as a boy especially because Mr. Nem laughed just like a goat. We asked the vendor where he got this particular cheese, and sure enough, it's from "the ferme de Rontay", home of the famous Mr. Nem. Six of those babies wrapped up in paper, our Tomme and a slice of ripe, runny Brie and we were on our way.

Runny Brie, Tomme and the best goat cheese you'll ever eat

Happy Anniversary aux petits amours

Well I'm a couple of days late, but HAPPY 1 month ANNIVERSARY JORDAN AND HOLLY!!!

These two cuties were united in marriage one month ago, December 29th. I didn't say anything about it on here at the time because....I don't know.... jet lag from a 27 hour flight and a 10 hour time difference... too much laundry... Christmas decorations to take down... or just the enormity of realizing that my first-born is a husband, the head of a new family, that I am now a mother-in-law and that I'm already so spoiled with the two beautiful, fun, loving daughters that I have and I get to have another one!! What???

So, here are just a few pics of the wonderful time we had in Alaska and the wedding. And Jordan and Holly, we are with you, praying for you, proud of you and so excited about how God is already using you together to bring glory to HIS name!! Hugs from France!!!

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

Proud papa with his D.R. cigar

Little snow princess

What a privilege for Florent to marry these two!

In the bleak midwinter frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone

-Christina Rosetti

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.

-Albert Camus

There's a certain Slant of light, Winter Afternoons
-Emily Dickinson

Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart.

-Victor Hugo

So when you're cold From the inside out And don't know what to do, Remember love and friendship, And warmth will come to you.”

-Stephen Cosgrove