Quel Champignon !

Our garden is humid enough to provide a lovely home to all manner of fungi. Some of the mushrooms that appear in the yard are edible, although we've never felt comfortable enough with our mycological skills to actually consume any.

There's a fungus among us.

There are morels, we think, and another mushroom variety that's pretty large and white and that friends of ours actually harvested and ate (they survived). The first year we were in the house I cut those white ones down with the lawnmower, an act that brought tears to the eyes of one of our neighbors. But we still won't eat them.

There are also many rather nasty looking varieties of mushroom that pop up here and there around the garden.

When is a mushroom a toadstool? Go ask Alice.

This particular specimen appeared earlier this week beneath one of our fir trees. I decided to take its picture before I puréed it with the lawnmower. The closest match I can find in our Larousse mushroom guide is called Amanite rougissante (amanita rubescens). The guide says it's edible, but only well cooked.

We, however, won't be finding out.

A Balloon And A Dog

During the summer months we frequently see hot-air balloons flying over the house. They come by early in the morning or early in the evening, depending on the weather. And every dog for miles around barks at the balloon. Callie is no exception.

I took this short video a couple of days ago. While shooting, Ken came back from a store run, so I tried to get Callie to stop barking and go see him. She started to run to see him, but the pull of that hot-air balloon was too much, and she ran back to continue barking at it.

She also barks at the moon, but it doesn't move out of view quite so fast. And recently, she's taken to barking at the sun when she sees it behind light clouds. Crazy dog.

Eye Spy

Saturday was gorgeous. After cutting the grass, I sat out in the sun for a few minutes. At most, fifteen minutes. It feels nice, but after a short time it gets too warm for me, then it's back into the shade. Speaking of shades:

Gosh, my hair is getting long. Time for a cut, I think.

On Sunday, the rain came back, but only lightly and it didn't get cold. We've got our fingers crossed for today since we're expecting company for what is supposed to be a cookout. I'll let you know how that goes.

Deck Tour

I often refer to our "deck" in the blog. Some of you have been here and know what I'm talking about. But for those of you who haven't (yet) been here, the deck is just off the living room. Our living space in the house is on the floor above ground level; it's called the first floor in France, but in the US it would be called the second floor. So here's a little video that shows what we see from the deck.

I hope you enjoyed it!

Can Can Chickens

This commercial cracks me up. So I used the PVR to roll back the tv and take a movie of it. I had my camera on its tripod, so the picture is steady, but the sound is not great. So turn up the volume to hear it, unless, of course, you're at work, then be careful...

Maybe I have just a little too much time on my hands?

Photo Du Jour : Planters

In June of 2006, Ken and I took a short trip up to Normandy with our friend Sue who was staying with us at the time. We stopped in the small town of Carrouges to visit the château.

Planter boxes at the Château de Carrouges.
Normandy, June 2006.

Spitting In The Coffee

That's what Ken calls it. That's not what happens. Let me explain. When we have coffee in the morning, we make a pot of automatic drip coffee. I don't drink mine fast enough, even when I only take half a mug, and it gets cool or even cold before I can finish it.

Our humble coffee maker.

So, I pour the cold coffee from my mug back into the pot, then refill my mug with hot coffee. This grosses Ken out. He says it's just like spitting in the coffee pot. I beg to differ. Besides, we've lived together for twenty-six years. Enough said.

I, of course, see nothing wrong with this practice. And let me be very clear: I only do this when it's just the two of us at home. I NEVER do this when we have house guests, nor would I do it at someone else's home. That wouldn't be right. But when it's just us? Doesn't seem like a problem to me.

Pitoueee!