RIP Mabel

Here's some news from Misérieux.
The great thing about sporadic blogging is that, with a little luck, you'll come back to it and the photo you had up last year will be seasonally correct for the new post! I do this on purpose!

But after some prodding and encouragement from my dear boy and his sweet honey who are homesick for France, I decided to tell you about the adventures of the past 24 hours.

Last year, the farmer who owns the field behind our house told us that he'd be putting in cows. Momma cows....with BABIES! I love animals, and really love baby animals. Never mind that these poor ladies are being raised to make hamburger, they are fun to watch for now.

So finally, yesterday, they arrived. I was messing around out in the yard, and heard a "mooooo", looked over and there they were. He must have put them in while I was in Villefranche giving an English lesson. Needless to say, the babies are adorable, chasing after their mommas for a little milk, or chasing each other around in the field, just being kids. I think they'll be a great addition to our own personal farm zoo. Now we have donkeys 2 doors to the left, horses 2 doors to the right, and cows straight ahead! It makes for a fun evening chorus sometimes! The only thing that concerns me is the fly population this summer. Hopefully it won't be much worse than usual with the animals that were already around before.

The new neighbors checking out the neighborhood

So  that was yesterday's adventure...

This morning, I went out to feed the chickens and nobody was home. I looked in all the normal hiding places, the coop, under the bushes, in the cellar (yes, the ladies have hollowed out a "dirt hammock" in the floor of the cellar). No chickens, nowhere. So, I widened my search, and headed out the lane the leads from our house to the main street of town. And there I came upon poor miss Mabel, feet up, on her back, obviously dead. She was just outside the neighbors gate. I'm not sure what happened to her, but I think she must have adventured out the street and had a rough encounter with a car. There weren't any signs of her being attacked, but I guess we'll never know. I wasn't too upset because she was getting old and not laying as much. We'll have to go to the livestock market in Villefranche one of these days and replace her. I just can't imagine buying eggs after having had fresh ones these past few years. They are cheap and I know what's going into them. They taste so much better too!

So, Mabel, may you rest in peace wherever you are. May you find fat earthworms and gross bugs to eat, and may you finally fly high over fences.

 

Mabel - RIP (What the heck are you doing on the picnic table?)

Now, the only problem is that I haven't seen Ethel either, since yesterday. Is she out there on Main street, feet up, for everyone to see? Did guilty car do a double murder last night? I'm afraid to go look, I think I'll just wait for an neighbor to call me.

So, only Daisy is left for now. And guess where I found her this morning?

For some reason, when I leave the door open, Daisy comes in and jumps up on this old trunk my friend Marceline gave me. She just loves it! She gets up their and scratches around on, as if she were arranging some imaginary straw to sleep on, then lays down and closes her eyes. I know it's gross to let a chicken on my furniture, but it's so cute, and it's not like she does it every day. (Anyone feeling defensive? Lori?) I'm just glad my husband doesn't read this blog. DON'T TELL HIM KIDS!!

Well, there's a quick post for my shildrens and anyone else who reads this. It's not that interesting but it's all true! I love you all!

Misérieux skies

So, I like to skip whole seasons in my blogging and surprise you with a new post every once in a while. Aren't you glad I'm here to bring some spice into your life?

Lots has been going on in our lives, and at the same time, I feel like we're in a normal routine for the school year. Florent is working hard, pastoring the church, mentoring several men and doing lots of conferences. His main focus these days has been around twelve conferences on the "end of the world on December 21st". He and several friends wrote a book on the subject, which came out last year. Since the big date is coming up, several churches and groups have asked him to come and speak more in detail on what some people believe will be the end of the world as we know it.

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork. Ps 19:1

 At the same time, I'm working on the translation of a book which speaks a lot about heaven. It has been encouraging to me to think about what really is going to happen at the end, and just how amazing, almost unreal, the passages seem to me. We live our little lives here on earth and we say that we believe Jesus is coming back, but can we really imagine what that time will be like?
As I've been translating, the author has been talking about what will happen in the heavenlies, and I found these pictures of the sky from our house kind of inspiring. I hope you'll enjoy them too.

His descendants shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me.It shall be established forever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. PS 89:36, 37

The earth and the heavens will disappear, but my words will never disappear. Mt 24:35

Then he will send out his angels, and will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the sky. Mk 13:27

The sun has one kind of glory, while the moon and stars each have another kind. And even the stars differ from each other in their glory.

This is my rest forever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. Ps 132:14

Yellow....

Ok I know it's been forever...let's just say you forgive me and go on from there ok? Poor old France has been trying to get into summer, but the weather just isn't cooperating! We've had more rainy gray days than I can remember in my 24 years here. It's been kind of depressing in a way, but maybe it'll mean a gorgeous summer while everyone is here for Mel and Derek's wedding in July and August. If so, I'll take the rain now!!

This is faith - 3" high tomato plants next to 5' stakes!!

 

All this water has been good for the garden though, and I haven't had to pull my hose out more than 2 or 3 times so far. We've got lots of lettuce, the strawberries are almost done, and we ate our first peas yesterday.

All the rain is really giving us lots of weeds too!

  

Well I'm thinking I might need to change the title of my blog from "Cornfields up to my door" to "Wildflowers up to my door". The farmer who owns the field behind our house has decided, after years and years of corn, to put cows in the field! He planted it over with grass and planted I don't know how many wooden pickets to get ready for the fencing he'll be putting in soon. Wild poppies have decided that this field was the perfect place for them to go crazy, to my great joy! They are so pretty! And I'm pretty impatient for the mama and baby cows to get here too! Yay, more animals to watch, and I don't have to take care of these...

 

Sunset

The view from our house

The garden gate

Emilie has been studying really hard for her bacculauréat, which actually started yesterday. But between study sessions, she decided to repaint the garden gate and the chickens' "front door". She chose a color that matches the poppies in the field, so pretty!! 

The girls love their door!

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.