A gnome on the truck

Yesterday, during the school run, on the way back, we drove pass a truck. I didn't notice much about it, what business it belonged to, but I saw something on the bumper: a gnome soft toy stuck there by strings. Not a leprechaun or another similar critter: a proper gnome, with a pointy hat and a nice greying white beard, clad in red and yellow, I think. I thought it looked quite cute. I wish it was a sight we'd see more often. I might buy one for the car, except we'd keep it inside, not on the bumper. I'm sure a gnome in a vehicle brings good luck. Can't hurt to have one anyway.

Dernier jour de mars

Le dernier jour de mars... que bloguerais-je? Bon, ça ne sonne pas comme la chanson de la perdriole, cette question, mais je connais la réponse à ma propre question: je blogue donc sur le dernier jour de mars. Comment est/a été votre mois de mars? Moi il fut entre deux eaux et traître, comme les mois de mars le sont d'habitude. Ce n'est pas mon mois préféré, sans être celui que je déteste le plus. Il a quand même ses moments.

Camo Hare

My parents have a visitor coming to see them, or at least their garden, since very recently. This hare, looking very much inconspicuous wearing his snowy fur. It may be spring everywhere in the Northern emisphere, but not where my parents live. So anyway, this may be Bozo he Hare whovisited them two years ago, or maybe a different one. He comes to feed on the branches of the cedar tree. And he looks so very adorable.

Paraît qu'il neige toujours...

Nous avons parlé à mes parents sur Facetime hier et il y a encore beaucoup, beaucoup de neige, tellement que la maison semble ensevelie. Si tard dans l'année, lors que le printemps est techniquement arrivé, je ne dirais pas que je n'ai jamais vu ça, mais disons que j'ai rarement vu ça. Et on en prévoit bientôt ici aussi, ce qui serait ici une rareté. Mais bon, on s'entend que ce ne sera pas les démesures saguenéennes.

4 Things to Do as an Introvert

I found this meme online at random recently and found it very funny as well as sweet. Four things to do while you're being an introvert. This is very me, especially the reading and creating things. Eating snacks, I try to avoid, but I have my moments. As for hiding form the doorbell, I wish I could do it, but sometimes it's unavoidable. But I tend to suspect the worst of people showing up unnanounced.

Un papillon à la porte

Ma femme a pris cette photo hier avant d'aller chercher petit loup à l'école. Le premier papillon que l'on a vu cette année, enfin je crois. On n'en voit pas très souvent des papillons comme celui-ci, même en été.

Putting your Clocks Forward (a guide)

Last weekend, the clock went forward. This is a moment I properly hate, because I lose one hour of sleep, Wolfie struggles to fall asleep and well, I struggle to sleep and I get tired and irritable. I truly loathe longer days. But I try to make the best of a situation and at least laugh about it, so I'm sharing this meme which I found yesterday and which I found very funny. It's also very useful, especially if you have a sundial. Which I don't, but still.

Démesure saguenéenne

 Parce que rien n'est petit au Saguenay, surtout pas quand il neige...

About Mother's Day

It is Mother's Day today. I have prepared fairly little I must confess, but my wife will have a chocolate box if nothing else. Covid cases have been really high recently, so we are not sure if we will go out or not. In any case, celebrating motherhood is just one of the many ways to celebrate the children you have (celebrations are all about the children when you are a family), so this will most likely be Wolfie's Day. That said, I promised to his mother that today will not be dominated by trains, trucks ad tractors.

Neiges éternelles

C'est le printemps partout, sauf au Saguenay. Mon père m'a envoyé cette photo hier. Ce sera avril bientôt et il neige comme si c'était décembre. Je sais qu'il y en a beaucoup qui en ont assez, j'en aurais sans doute assez aussi, si je vivais encore à Chicoutimi. Cela dit, je vais quand même faire preuve de fierté régionale: c'est d'une démesure toute saguenéenne.

Hadrian's Wall in Lego

 A few days ago, Wolfie decided to play in the garden with his Legos. He made a wall of Lego along our picnic blanket. He said it was to prevent the insects to reach the blanket. I thought this was uber cute and I compared it to Hadrian's Wall. It looks like it anyway. Now I am not sure if it can be very efficient against bugs, but it sure took a lot of work and commitment to do. One day, I hope to visit the Wall with Wolfie. I cannot believe I have not done it yet, after all these years living in this country.

À propos de Samedi-Jeunes

J'ai blogué avant sur Samedi-Jeunes (ici et là), l'émission jeunesse du samedi matin à Rad Can qui m'a fait découvrir beaucoup de dessins animés. De France, de Belgique des États-Unis et aussi et surtout du Japon. Mais il y avait aussi des séries plus "lourdes", pas animées du tout, avec des protagonistes adultes. Jeme rappelle vaguement d'une série australienne de cape et d'épée avec un contrebandier appelé Donovan (je crois) et un ou deux autres trucs. Des histoires moins faites pour les enfants. J'aimerais bien les retrouver en ligne, ou voir si quelqu'un d'autre s'en souvient.

Here Comes the Sun (from Israel)

I am not the greatest fan of the Beatles, yet I love some of their songs and sometimes I stumble upon a cover of their tunes that is great. This was the case recently andI thought it was so great I had to share it. This was filmed at the Shaare Zedec Medical Center of Jerusalem. And it is seriously the very best version of Here Comes the Sun I have ever listened to. Well, Spring has arrived and it is a fitting spring song, especially done like this.

Panier de Pâques

Photo prise sur la page Facebook de la Chocolaterie Lulu. Ils se préparent pour Pâques et ils n'y vont pas de main morte. Je me rappelle que mon frère PJ a reçu une fois un panier comme celui-ci (mais peut-être pas de Lulu). Je m'ennuie des extravagances régionales. Ici, ils ne sont pas aussi portés sur l'abondance chocolatière, ni sur la présentation. Sur le gigantisme encore moins, surtout qu'ici il s'agit de gigantisme saguenéen.

"Mudroom" (word of the day)

Thanks to Octoberfarm, I have learned a new word, which is going to be the word of the day. If you want to see where I have seen it, read her post here. So the word of the day is mudroom. I don't think I ever heard the term before. Definition: "a room in a house designed for the shedding of dirtyor wet footwear and clothing and located typically off the kitchen or inthe basement." Or, as I call it in this household, the entrance. Front and back entrances, actually. But I love the name, so it is the word of the day.

Paix intérieure...

 Des fois je trouve des niaiseries sur les internets et je les partage ici. C'est tout.

2 years of WFH

This title may sound like a complex formula, but it's a tad more mundane. I just remembered that today was the second anniversary of me working from home. Well, mostly from home, as I have been in the office since then. If you read my post from that date two years ago, I had said that it was going to last maybe two weeks. Funny how things turn out. And a lot has changed. In two years, I've had three different jobs, all in all. I hated the job I had when I started working in lockdown (in fact I hated everything about it), so working from home came as a blessing. Now I'm much better off in every way. Today, to mark the anniversary, my chair broke down at the end of the day. I have a spare one, but not comfy, so I ordered one very quickly. Two years of (mostly) working from home and I still acted as if it was a temporary measure.

Du pain pour petit loup

Aujourd'hui, petit loup a fait son propre pain à l'école, de la conception à la cuisson. Il l'a mangé de retour chez nous pour la collation. Et il en était très fier: il a expliqué en long et en large à ses grand-parents comment on s'y prend (avec les gestes en plus, c'était impressionnant). J'ai hâte qu'il puisse en faire avec mon père: faire du pain en famille était une tradition de mon enfance, ce serait bien qu'on mette une autre génération là dessus.

Table Football

I went to the office last week, as you know. And surprise surprise, there was in one of the common room a table football. Or, as we call it where I come from, babyfoot. My bros also called it foosball, I think that latter term comes from Friends. In the city where I come from, here was a bar that had one just like that and it was quite popular to its customers, far more than the sport. I never cared about it much: it find it rather slow and clunky, with little possibility of movement. And I'm rubbish at it. Even for table games, I prefer table hockey. You know, the proper stuff. That said, it does make for a friendlier office.

La maman de Mafalda (siempre)

Je partage aujourd'hui un gag de Mafalda, mettant en vedette sa mère Rachel/Raquel. C'est à la fois drôle et triste. Je crois que ça en dit beaucoup sur les ambitions et les rêves brisés des femmes d'une certaine génération. Au moins, elle est la mère de Mafalda.

The railway by the Thames

Last week, I went to the office for the first time in five months. Almost half a year. I cannot complain that the commuting has been too bad or too frequent since I started working for them. Apparently, my employers want to do such workshop (working worshop? office workshop?) every month. I am not sure I want to do this every month, as I had to wake up ridiculously early, but I must say I quite enjoyed the train journey, especially when the railway was running by the Thames. I had missed train travels.

Après l'équinoxe du printemps (une confession)

Bon, l'équinoxe du printemps est passée, ce qui veut dire qu'il fait jour de plus en plus tôt le matin et de plus en plus tard le soir. Ca veut dire surtout qu'il fait plus jour que nuit dans toute une journée. Je vais faire une confession que les lecteurs de ce blogue connaissent déjà: je déteste quand les jours rallongent. Bon voilà c'est dit. Je trouve le temps long d'ici au soir. Suis-je normal, suis-je le seul à ne pas aimer le retour du printemps? J'en ferai sans doute une question existentielle un jour, mais pour le moment, sachez que je déteste le temps de plus en plus diurne que l'on doit subir.

"I ordered Spring!"

 "I ordered Spring! Where's Spring?" I heard this from one of the teachers at Wolfie's school last week, when we did our school run. It was not very cold outside, just cool and very damp. And by damp, I meant rain had been pouring down all morning. I thought it was very funny and it deserves to be a new great unknown line. I should have told her that it is in the nature of Spring to be nasty and treacherous.

Avoir chaud, avoir froid

 Je partage une photo prise dans Les dires de Piloé, le livre de français de quatrième année que j'aimais tant. Je ne me rappelle pas de ce module, mais il illustre mon propos. C'est le printemps et qui dit printemps dit changements soudains de température: des chaleurs soudaines comme avant-hier et un regain de froid comme hier. Le printemps, c'est vraiment traître.

The Wild Life of the Fox

When I go to the local bookshop, I try as much as possible to behave. But then I often treasures which I cannot pass. Not always great literature, just nice little books which I want to have and want to read. So yes, last time I went there, a few weeks ago I stumbled on The Wild Life ofthe Fox, so I bought it on a whim. Sometimes you buy a book for its cover, sometimes for its subject, in this case it was for both reasons. I love foxes and this is teaching me a lot about them, showing them not only their place in the animal kingdom, but their significance in folklore and art.

Un bout de conte pour l'équinoxe

Nous sommes l'équinoxe du printemps et j'ai décidé pour souligner la journée de partager un bout de conte et une image tirés du livre-disque racontant un conte allégorique inspiré des Quatre Saisons de Vivaldi. Pour toute l'histoire et toutes les saisons, voir ce lien. J'ai déjà partagé l'image en 2019, mais j'ai pensé que la mettre en contexte avec le conte serait une bonne idée. Partagez ça avec vos enfants, je ferai de même avec mon petit loup.

"A Big Hotel"

I don't know where he got that from, but since we have started discussing holiday ideas my wife and I, Wolfie keeps saying he wants to go to "a big hotel". Some idea he got from school, in a conversation with one of his friends perhaps? Be that as it may, he is adamant that he wants to go to a big hotel. Not a specific city or country, but anywhere with a big hotel. He does not even want it to be for a holiday, in fact: he wants us to go to a big hotel for afternoon tea or something. Anyone will do. That might make things easier, or more difficult. Be that as it may, we now have a new Wolfism. And a very cute one.

À la bonne franquette avec Frank

Petit sketch ce soir d'une émission qui m'a bien fait rire quand j'étais plus jeune. J'imagine que je ne suis pas le seul à me rappeler de Samedi de Rire. C'est peut-être la nostalgie qui parle, mais j'ai regardé ça à nouveau ce soir et j'ai encore ri.

Waiting for The Dark Flood

My birthday is coming next month, so I have decided to buy myself a present for when it arrives. My readers know that I love the work of South African crime writer Deon Meyer. His latest novel, The Dark Flood, has been translated into English and will be released in this country in April. So I pre-ordered it. I had wanted to have it for Noirvember but sadly it took much longer than I had expected to get it published (pandemic?). I try not to wish time away, but the wait for this book has been excruciating so far. I have other novels to read, but this is the one I really want to get into.

Les branches cassées

Il y a quelques semaines, il a beaucoup venté. Assez pour arracher notre clôture, ce qui nous cause encore bien des problèmes (on cherche quelqu'un pour la réparer, mais comme ce n'est pas la seule clôture qui soit tombée, c'est bien dur de trouver des gens disponibles. Cela dit, malgré les problèmes que l'on a rencontrés à cause du vent, j'avoue que j'aime encore les jours venteux. Et afin de montrer l'effet des grands vents qui sont tombés sur nous, j'ai pris quelques photos, dont celle-ci des branches cassées. Je me rompe ou ça a quelque chose de beau et de vaguement terrifiant à la fois?

And now on to Easter...

Now Saint Patrick's Day has come and gone. I hope nobody among you my readers has the Irish flu, although I hope everybody enjoyed themselves. I always feel a bit melancholic once a holiday I love is over. But the good thing about Saint-Paddy's Day is that once it is over, it means Easter isn't so far off behind. This year, it comes one month after, which is a pretty good delay. Enough time to prepare it and to get excited about it.

Wofie et "le truc"

Nouvel exemple du franglais de Wolfie, durant son déjeuner il y a quelques jours: "I had forgotten that truc." (Le truc étant de pencher son bol de céréales pour mettre le plus de lait possible dans ta cuillère quand t'as tout mangé tes céréales.) J'ai trouvé ça bien mignon. Toujours est-il qu'il a tout bu le lait grâce au truc.

Why Saint-Patrick's Day?

Happy Saint Paddy's Day everyone! I will not be able to celebrate much this year sadly, because of this and because I am still recovering from a cold. But I am sharing with you two pages from Charlie Brown's Fourth Super Book of Questions and Answers. It gives you a lot of info about Saint Patrick's Day, and it's aimed at children, so it should also be a reminder that today is not only about drinking (although that can be fun too).

Pain au fromage

Mon père a fait du pain au fromage il y a quelques jours. Ca fait des années que je n'en ai pas mangé. On le faisait en famille quand j'étais enfant et mes frères et moi nous en faisions trois, un pour chaque frère, dans des petits moules ronds. On mettait souvent beaucoup trop de fromage dans ceux-là, mais le pain goûtait vraiment bon après. En fait, le pain au fromage faisait un excellent lunch, bien consistant et délicieux.

Montreal's Irish "Mafia"

I blogged about this book before, but I'm plugging it again today because tomorrow is Saint Paddy's Day. Okay, so it may not seem like the best way to celebrate everything Irish, but if like me you like to know the darker side of a culture and love true crime history, this is one you cannot miss: Montreal's Irish Mafia. It's like reading an epic crime novel, except you know it's not fiction. But talking of fiction, it really is a great source of inspiration for crime fiction. We often forget that organised crime is not always Italian. Every year on Saint Patrick's Day, I take it out and I read a few pages.

De l'Irlande à Québec

C'est la Saint-Patrick demain, alors si vous avez le temps, je vous conseille ce documentaire que je partage aujourd'hui. Sur l'arrivée des Irlandais au Québec et dans la ville de Québec. Je l'ai trouvé fascinant et parfois aussi émouvant.

Remembering the Ides of March (and why)

 Today is the 15th of March, day of the Ides of March, the anniversary of the assassination of Julius Caesar. I commemorate it every year on this blog, sometimes humorously, sometimes not. This year, I want to place this commemoration in a special light. I think the Ides of March taught us two very important lessons: 1)even the most powerful man in the world is vulnerable, if he made himself enough enemies and 2)we must be wary about the power vacuum created in the aftermaths of a coup d'état. Caesar's enemies succeeded murdering him, but it was Caesar's heirs that took power eventually. Nowadays, with the rather volatile situation we are living, I think we need to keep this in mind. So yes. Beware the Ides of March all right.

Les renards au pied

 J'ai acheté à NEXT il y a quelques temps des bas avec des motifs de renards dessus. Il y avait d'autres paires de bas dans l'ensemble que j'ai acheté, avec des animaux différentes pour chaque paire, mais j'ai fait l'achat pour les renards. Wolfie les aime beaucoup et je crois qu'il aimerait en avoir à sa taille. 

Epic Hot Chocolate

I try not to share pictures that are not my own, but sometimes I can't resist. Anyway, the Strawberry Grove published on social media this photo of their hot chocolate and I know now what I want to do as soon as we can: go to one of their coffee shops and try that. I haven't crave hot chocolate for ages, but this is the kind of epic hot chocolate I want to try: with lots of whipped cream and marshmallows. If it's only half as good as it looks, I'm in for a treat.

"Le souffle de l'hiver"

Mon père m'a envoyé à nouveau des photos de l'hiver, cette fois-ci avec de la poudrerie. Le titre de son email était "Le souffle de l'hiver". Je n'ai rien d'autre à dire, c'est vraiment impressionnant.

Catholic Fasting

I blogged two days ago about the fish and chips I had recently. The first fish and chips I had since last year. Maybe it was chance, maybe it was destiny, but yesterday I saw this meme online and it made me laugh a lot. I used to be a good Catholic boy when I was a child and I never gave up meat during Lent, but yeah, it shows why it's kind of easy to "fast" nowadays.

"Enterrés sous la neige..."

Je partage une nouvelle photo de mon père. Le courriel était intitulé "Enterrés sous la neige". Il en a un peu assez, mais j'avoue que c'est vraiment impressionnant.

Women of Ireland

As it is Saint Patrick's Day Soon and I think we should get in the mood to celebrate, I am sharing tonight the beautiful and haunting song Women of Ireland, which I discovered thanks to Barry Lyndon. I get shivers every single time I listen to it.

Cèdres enneigés

 Photo envoyée par mon père récemment.

About Walks

At the heart of the pandemic, our family was taking quite a lot of walks. Especially but not exclusively at weekend: nearby woodlands, the neighbourhood, sometimes other places my wife found on Google Map and got curious about. Then for some reason, we stopped. I think the lockdowns and sort of demotivated us. I'm not very proud of it, but we spent a lot of days in, not going much further than the garden. It only changed recently, again I'm not certain why. We just decided to walk: in the nearby woodlands, to the nearest pub, or just walk in town. And it made us all feel very good. But it struck me that I am not used to it anymore: every time I got home my legs were sore. Hopefully I'll get used to it.

Vilain rhume

Mon fils a choppé un vilain rhume (enfin je crois que c'est un rhume, ça en a tout l'air en tout cas). Et là il est dans son pire. Comme de juste, il me l'a aussi transmis. Le matin je me réveille avec un mal de gorge qui me donne l'impression d'avoir avalé des hérissons et je me sens frissonnant. Ah oui, rajoutez à ça une fatigue généralisée. Conséquence: nous allons passer la fin de semaine à l'intérieur (pas un probème) et j'espère que ma femme ne le choppera pas. Si tout va bien, je suis dans le pire du rhume et ça devrait se replacer demain.

Fish & Chips

 Last Sunday, we went to the pub for the first time in six months or so. I wanted to eat a Sunday Roast, but since we went in the evening, they were sold out in Sunday Roasts (I should have thought about it). So I had fish and chips instead, which were quite good anyway. And not to be congnitively dissonant or anything, but entering the pub I could smell fried fish and that had gotten me in the mood for fish and chips anyway. It was also fitting: it is Lent after all. And as it is (fish) Friday, I am sharing this picture with you.

Le prix d'une conscience

Bon je ne veux déprimer personne sur la guerre en Ukraine et sur l'agression russe, mais j'ai lu cet article d'opinion dans la grosse Presse, intitulé L'Occident doit intervenir militairement. Par Rémi Landry, lieutenant-colonel des Forces armées canadiennes à la retraite. Rien que ça. Sans dire qu'il a raison (je ne suis vraiment pas un expert), je trouve que ses arguments ont de la valeur. Et il y a une voix désagréable qui me dit qu'on ne va pas toujours en guerre quand on le veut, quand on est prêt, quand c'est le moment opportun. Parfois on doit le faire. Même si les conséquences peuvent être catastrophiques. Il suffit que l'alternative soit pire encore. Et c'est ça qui m'a agacé avec le texte: sans trouver ses arguments infaillibles, ils sont quand même très solides. Des fois, le prix d'une conscience peut être très élevé. Phoque.

Insey Winsey Spider

 As you may have noticed reading this blog, I have been trying recently to rediscover board games and also get Wolfie interested about them. I say recently, but I have been working on it since his last two birthdays at least. So I bought him this board game, or rather these two board games in one, Insey Winsey Spider. Because he always liked the nursery rhyme and because it's one of these educational board games that encourages numeracy. At first he didn't want to play: his mother gave him her arachnophobia. But a few weeks ago, I was surprised to learn that he had started playing with his mummy. He is naturally good with numbers, so I can understand why he enjoyed it. I hope the game will also cure his and his mummy's fear of spiders.

"Toujours la neige"

Ici, c'est le printemps, à toutes fins pratiques (mais je sais que c'est traître le printemps). Mais au Québec, ben... Photo envoyée par mon père. Il commence à trouver ça lourd.

A wallpaper of books

 As I mentioned last week, we went to John Lewis recently, the first time since 2020. To my surprise, as I generally hate shopping for anything, I actually enjoyed it. Not everything about it, and in the end wewere not really fruitful in our researches, but all the same, it felt great to be outside the house. But what I discovered I really missed is their coffee shop. Not because of the food, but because of the wallpaper: it's looks like wornout book covers. You go there and it feels a little bit like home.

Escoufle

Qui aime les oiseaux de proie? Moi oui, surtout qu'il y en a ici beaucoup. En fait de prédateurs ailés, ce sont surtout des milans royaux. Mais je préfère le terme désuet d'escoufle. Désuet, mais tellement évocateur. On dirait une bourrasque en bouche, ou un début de tempête. Les escoufles viennent souvent se percher dans les branches des arbres près de la maison, il m'arrive de les prendre en photo, comme sur celle-ci.

Saint Paddy's Day: in the office

There is one thing I keep forgetting to blog about sicne the beginning of the month. Because March might be a harsh and difficult month, but there is something I love about it: it is the month of Saint Patrick's Day. And I love Saint Paddy's Day and everything Irish. Sadly, this year my employer has decided to have an in-office day on the 17th of March. I go to the office every six months or so and it had to be on that day. That is just unfair. So instead of taking it easy and celebrating in the evening, I will be commuting, then going back home. Sober. Because I have to be. And being careful about any drunkards. I guess at least I will not suffer from Irish flu the next day.

"Encore de la neige..."

Mon père m'a envoyé des photos hier. Le titre: "Encore de la neige et on annonce 15 centimètres demain". Je crois qu'il en a ras le pompon. Moi ça me manque.

The Stag and the Fireplace

No no, this is not the name of a pub, although it would be a great name for one. I blogged recently about the fireplace in the basement of my parent's house, which used to fired up my imaginative mind when I was a child. Well, there is something else above which also had a strong impression on me as a child: the stuffed stag's head. I blogged about it before, you can read its story here. My mother always found it kind of tacky, my wife finds it cruel (being vegetarian and all), but I always loved it.

Des orchidées pour le printemps

Je partage aujourd'hui (et encore une fois, puisque je l'ai fait hier) une photo des orchidées de mon père. ce sont encore une fois des cymbidiums. Des cymbidiums jaunes, et ça m'a frappé en les voyant que jaune, surtout jaune clair comme ça, est une couleur assez printanière. Tehniquement, nous sommes au début du printemps, alors c'est un peu ma première photo du printemps. Vraie Fiction prend les couleurs de la saison.

War and a Prima Donna

In the turmoil surrounding the Russian invasionn of Ukraine, you might have not noticed this piece of news. It took me a while to comment on it, but I thought it was important that I do, being an opera afficionado. Anyway, so Russian soprano Anna Netrebko will not be performing for the Metropolitan Opera because of her refusal to condemn her country's actions. From what I understand, she will not be performing for the time being. And I don't know what you think of it, but I'm glad and I think the Met took the right decision. I know of Netrebko's status in the operatic world, but I have not been following her career and she is not my favourite soprano. In fact, she'd ranks fairly low on my list, if I had a list. Something about her voice. But whatever her skills as an artist, I never liked how in the past she showed no reservation about backing up Putin as if she was a friend of his regime. I know it is difficult for an artist to be the citizen of a country ran by a despot, I know Putin is not the kind of person you want to cross. But she could have been discreet in the past instead of showing support for his warmongering. She did not. Also, her post on Facebook regarding the whole affair, trying to dismiss it as personal political opinions that should remain private, was nothing short of disgusting. She came off very much like the prima donna she is. Arrogant, capricious, self-entitled and self-centered. She may be a great artist, but she proved to be a very small person.

Cymbidiums

Bon, je n'ai pas de raison en particulier pour partager cette photo, mais mon père m'a envoyé des photos de ses cymbidiums il y a quelques jours. Ce sont des orchidées. Mon père a une grande variété d'orchidées et elles sont sa fierté, alors autant les partager sur Vraie Fiction. Je ne fais pas vraiment dans la botanique, mais l'orchidée est une fleur sans pareille.

Mozart Cube

There are times when I give breat presents to Wolfie, if I may say so myself. Anyway,I was (trying to) do some tidying among all the toys he has and I stumbled upon one of his presents for his very first birthday: Munchkin Mozart Magic Cube. Or, as I call it: Mozart Cube. It is simply a big plastic cube which has buttons you press and it plays a melody of Mozart. The choice is pretty wide and it ranges from instrumental pieces to opera arias. You can add and take away instruments. It's pretty cool and it's also educational, especially if you believe in the Mozart effect (which I don't). Anyway, regardless of any pseudoscience and questionable psychological theories, it's still a smarter than many kids' toys. And children and their parents can enjy it just as much. The baterry of Wolfie's Cube are now going down, but he was still eager to let it play. Anyway, you can find a few videos of the Mozart Cube on YouTube, I am sharing this one which gives a pretty good idea of how it works. But it's more entertaining with a toddler or a baby handling it.

Le gâteau préhistorique

J'ai fait la semaine dernière un gâteau avec un glaçage vert, à la demande de Wolfie. Enfin, le gâteau, c'était pour passer des oeufs et de la farine, mais quand je faisun gâteau, c'est Wolfie qui décide de quoi il va avoir l'air. Enfin bref, il a choisi la couleur du glaçage et pour faire bonne mesure a voulu y ajouter des dinosaures. C'était pas trop mal je dois dire. Le goût n'était pas fameux, mais le gâteau avait de la gueule. Un gâteau préhistorique.

The Old Fireplace

My parents have two fireplaces: one for the ground floor, and one for the absement. The one you see here is the latter. It is not used very often now, if at all. When I was a child, I was fascinated by it. I think it has to do with the stones there, it looks very rustic. I remember in our make-belief games, it used to be the entrance to an ancient cave where cthonian monsters dwell. Like a gateway to Hell. When there was a fire, nobody could get in... or out. It felt deliciously sinister. Even looking at it now, I get a shiver.

Carême (une pensée)

Photo prise en Bretagne il y a près de 15 ans, je l'ai choisie parce que je cherchais une image qui irait avec le sujet du billet. Toujours est-il que depuis mercredi dernier c'est le carême. Quand j'étais un bon petit catholique, ça voulait dire quelque chose. Maintenant, même si je suis athée, anticlérical et impie, je pense encore toujours un peu l'année en fonction du calendrier grégorien. Pour moi,le début du carême veut dire deux choses: 1)que c'est encore long d'ici Pâques et 2)que Pâques s'en vient malgré tout. Entre ces deux constatations, on peut tirer les conclusions que l'on veut.

The £1.00 book voucher

It was World Book Day today, one of these cool special days which I love because it promotes reading. It is named "World" Book Day, but it truly is something limited to the UK and Ireland. They make a big fuss about it in schools here, which is great.  I wish I had something like this when I was growing up. So Wolfie today got home with a £1.00 book voucher. I hope he can spend it in the local bookshop and not a big chain. So I guess I know where we will be heading this weekend.

Les joies de payer cash

Demain à l'école de petit loup, c'est une journée spéciale et ma femme va y faire du bénévolat. Je l'envie pour ça. Mais cela veut aussi dire qu'une contribution des parents est demandée, pour une raison quelconque. Quatre livres sterling, à mettre dans une enveloppe avec le nom de l'enfant dessus. Comme dans le bon vieux temps. Heureuseent que je suis parfois très traditionnaliste et que j'ai toujours de l'argent comptant sur moi. À une époque où l'argent est surtout électronique, il y a des choses qui ne changent pas et je trouve ça rassurant.

Collecting Sticks

Our family went to a walk last weekend in a piece of woodlands nearby. Wolfie decided to startpicking up sticks. Bits of branches that had fell during the last spell of windy days we had, thanks to Storm Eunice. He was very eager to get them all. One ofthem, shaped vaguely like a gun or a rifle, he pretended it was just that, a gun, with a small stick he had as ammo. Wolfie then shot at zombies he decidedto pretend were roaming free around us. I think he got that idea from his friends at school and from videogames. But it was quite fun and it made the walk all the more entertaining. Even though, as the amount of sticks increased, I ended up carrying them. Some branches were probably big enough to be used as canes by my wife or me. In the end, we brought them all back home. I placed them in the garden. Hopefully they can be used as prop for future games.

Athéna, Minerve et un calembours atroces

Je suis depuis longtemps un grand amateur de mythologie grecque, ça date de mon enfance. Quand je dis mythologie grecque, je suis puriste: j'utilise par exemple le nom des divinités grecques et non pas romaines. J'ai d'ailleurs souvent exprimé mon irritation sur ce blogue à propos de cette agaçante confusion: les dieux grecs et romains se ressemblent parfois, mais ils ne sont pas interchangeables. Enfin bref, j'ai récemment vu sur les réseaux sociaux quelqu'un utiliser Minerve pour parler d'Athéna, ce qui m'a fait réagir. J'ai écrit donc sur une certaine plateforme un truc du genre: "Donner à des dieux grecs leurs noms romains, franchement, ça m'innerve." Calembour atroce que j'ai commis assez souvent, y compris ici en 2015. Quelqu'un m'a répondu: "Il ne faudrait pas se fâcher pour ça, ça n'en vaut pas l'Athènes." ce qui est tout aussi épouvantable, et mérite donc d'être homologué ici pour la postérité. Si vous en trouvez un meilleur, ou enfin un pire, veuillez le commettre dans les commentaires.

Hell's Gate Island

A friend of mine discovered recently on Google Map that there is a Hell's Gate Island somewhere, in Antigua and Barbuda. I know nothing about this country to begin with and there is extremely little online about the island: its Wikipedia entry has a line and a half. Even the official website seems to have a spelling mistake: it says Hells Gate instead of Hell's Gate. All the same: what a cool, sinister name. I'm not sure I want to go there, but I sure am glad it exists.

Le Diable et Rose

Nous sommes le mercredi des Cendres et pour l'occasion je partage une autre image du livre Le baiser maléfique, ma version préférée de la légende de Rose Latulipe. C'est à minuit le mercredi des Cendres que le diable a, du moins selon certains, embrassé Rose Latulipe (Latulippe? Faudra que je le relise) et l'a ainsi damnée, la condamnant à une vieillesse prématurée. J'ai toujours trouvé cette image terrifiante. Qu'ils aient réussi à faire publier cette version de la légende dans un livre pour enfants est aussi étonnant que louable. Non mais sérieusement, essayez de trouver Le baiser maléfique et lisez-le. Vous ne serez pas déçus.

The Welsh Connection

Today is the first of March, which means the Feast of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales and thus Wales' natonal holiday. I try to observe it every year, somehow, because I have fond memories of the first Saint David's Day I spent in the UK, see this post for more details. I even got myself the flag of Wales, I loved the day so much (and also for other reasons). I only have a few Welsh friends, but I try to celebrate all the same. It may be ironic, because while our family is a mix of quite a few people and cultures, neither my wife nor I have, as far as we know, have even so much as a drop of Welsh blood. So my Welsh connections are tenuous at best. All the same, we don't need a reason to celebrate, that there is a celebration on this day should be enough.

Conseils du Mardi gras

Nous sommes aujourd'hui le Mardi gras, ce qui veut dire pour bien du monde: les crêpes, notamment, le party avant le carême pour certaines cultures catholiques. Pour moi et d'autres Québécois, c'est un peu beucoup la légende de Rose Latulipe. Racontée magnifiquement dans Le baiser maléfique,sur lequel j'ai blogué hier. Alors, inspiré du livre et de la légende, je vous donne quelques conseils pour aujourd'hui: 1)si vous fêtez, faites cesser les réjouissances aux douze coups de minuit, 2)méfiez-vous des visiteurs impromptus, surtout s'ils sont beaux, bien habillés et qu'ils refusent d'enlever chapeau et gants, 3)évitez donc de danser, un coup parti, ça vous évitera des ennuis.