The crowned heads of Europe

Old Christmas. The Epiphany. Twelfth Night. Call it what you will. Here in France you're likely to hear it called La Fête des Rois (Festival of the Kings). All of them refer to the day in the Christian calendar when the three kings of orient supposedly arrived in Bethlehem with gifts after the birth of Jesus. Ceramic tokens are baked into cakes called galettes des rois. Whoever finds the token hidden in his slice is crowned King for the day and gets to wear a stylish (not) paper crown that comes with the cake.

The giraffe comes from Africa, the souvenir of a work trip Ken took in the '80s.

Our ceramic token this year is the face of a wild boar. I didn't take a photo. I did pack the token away with all the others we've collected over the years. The paper crown adorns a Moroccan tajine on the buffet. It (the crown) will be gone soon. 

Ready to take a chance again

I'm going to the market in Saint-Aignan again today, hoping that the fish monger is back and that she has cockles. It may be that she and her crew are still on January vacation and I'll be out of luck. Still, we need some bread and I want to get some egg rolls. I hope that I don't have to come home empty-handed.

Dried grape vine tendrils wrapped around a guide wire.

Some of you might recognize the title of today's post as the theme song from the 1978 American film "Foul Play," starring Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase. Barry Manilow sang the theme and it was a huge hit that year.1978! Barry Manilow! Lordy Moses. Old fogey alert: I remember Hawn from "Laugh In" and Chase from "Saturday Night Live." 

Thinking of spring

It may be a tad early, but I'm thinking of spring. One of the signs of the season is the flurry of tax reporting forms that show up in the mail (e-mail mostly these days). Then there's the annual reporting of kilométrage (mileage) for the two cars that makes us eligible for a small reduction in the cost of our car insurance.

A roe deer caught munching on spring growth.

Then I saw this photo of a deer out in the vineyard from back in 2013 (I think). We see many deer in and around the vineyards and in our neighbors' yards through the year. Our property is fenced, so we don't get many deer in the yard. When they do get inside, they panic trying to get out and can hurt themselves. It's difficult to maneuver them to the exits so we can close the gates behind them. Tasha's herding instincts kick in, but she's never been trained to herd. She has to be kept indoors when we have a deer in the yard so she doesn't get hurt herself.

This time with shutters open

Here's another view of the new shutters (and repaired door) that were installed on Tuesday. You can see some ivy on the wall. Our landscaping contractor is scheduled to remove that this winter. Then, we'd like to patch those fissures, but probably not until summer. It goes without saying that the inside of the shed is a mess and needs to be reorganized.

Shed with new shutters open. That red spot is Tasha's leash.

Our current weather is mild. More rain showers are expected over the next few days, though. I'm glad the shed work got done in this relatively short dry spell we've had. 

It's done!

The contractor showed up on Tuesday morning and got right to it. By mid-day, he was done. So here's a first "after" photo with the window shutters closed. I'll do another with them open for tomorrow.

That 20+ year old door looks like new! The shutters are new.

I hope the the PVC shutters last a long time. That door is PVC and we had it installed just over twenty (!) years ago. It had torn itself from its hinges not long ago, so that was repaired yesterday.

Hurry up and wait

Our contractor called early Monday morning to postpone. We were having some rain showers. Most of our project is outdoors. So he postponed until today (Tuesday). There's no rain in today's forecast. Hope springs eternal.

Stained glass in the church in our town.

The waiting is the hardest part.

I don't have a photo ready for today. I'm getting ready for the contractor to arrive to do the garden shed door and window shutter. I did get the shed kind of cleaned up yesterday, mostly along the wall where the work will get done. I hope it's enough. When I worry about stuff like that, Ken always reminds me, "he's probably seen worse." Ha! There may be photos in the next day or two...

Xmas day, 2025.

Here's a recent shot of the outside. It will serve as my "before" shot.