A beaver in Wales

Here is a little bit of wildlife news that made my day yesterday: a beaver has been spotted in broad daylight in Wales. He was discovered, you probably guessed it, because he was making a massacre of the trees in a couple's garden. Antony, as he has been nicknamed by said couple, is the first beaver to have been spotted in the wild in Wales for centuries. Just because of this, I am quite happy. In a time when environment is a concern, it is good to know that some species of animals are (maybe) thriving in a place where they were extinct. Also, I find beavers kind of cute, even though they are rodents. Anyway, give me your thoughts on this news and on beavers in the comments.

La petite/vieille école

Je partage aujourd'hui une autre photo de l'école où j'ai passé mon primaire. La "petite école", comme disait une grande tante, ce qui m'agaçait toujours un peu quand j'étais jeune: pour une école primaire, elle n'était pas très petite, d'abord. Et puis je me sentais un grand garçon d'y être. je ne sais pas pourquoi il y a des jeux gonflables. Peut-être que c'était pour fêter la fin de l'année scolaire? Au Québec, les vacances sont déjà arrivées. Ici, petit loup a de l'école jusqu'au deux tiers de juillet et il commence à trouver le temps long. Je trouvais aussi le temps long, dans les dernières semaines et je ne l'envie pas. Maintenant, cette école est pour moi la vieille école, comme dans une certaine chanson, parce que c'est l'école de mon enfance.

Tea Shortage

You may remember (I mean really, you probably don't) that in January 2022 I received from my employers a good supply of Tetley tea bags. I cannot remember how many they were, but it was a lot of tea bags. Last week, tragedy stroke: there were no tea bag in it. Not a single one. Now, it was not the only bit of tea stock I had been using over the last year and a half, I had bought loose leaf tea and various other brands, but this was the only bag I had left. And as I had taken it for granted, it was suddenly empty. So I spent a whole working day without tea. It was a long day. I finally bought some at the nearest corner shop, a much smaller bag of Tetley tea, enough to get me going for a few weeks. I intend to stock properly soon.

Le smog encore

Nouvelle photo du smog envoyée par mon père. Je ne sais pas si c'était à l'aube ou au crépuscule. C'est beau, mais c'est sinistre. Je me suis laissé dire que la situation s'est améliorée depuis que la photo a été prise et que les choses se replacent tranquillement. Je l'espère, parce que ça m'inquiète.

The Red Baron

 Oh the treasures one finds randomly among the bookshelves of some in-law. In this case, my father-in-law. So we were staying at their place for a few days not so long ago and as usual when I am somewhere I have a look at the bookshelves. I found this biography of the Red Baron. I did not borrow it, because I have more than enough on my TRL, but maybe if I have a few minutes next time I will flick through it. There were other books on the same subject. My wife's father has been apparently fascinated for years about the Red Baron. I don't know much about the historical figure, but always loved the nickname, it sounds menacing and mysterious.

Fleurs

Je ne sais pas où mon père a pris cette photo, mais voici des fleurs très estivales, pour ceux qui apprécient l'été (ce qui est rarement mon cas, je dois dire).

Snakes, Ladders and... Monkeys

I know I blogged on the same topic not long ago, but there are times when a topic comes back very quickly just because. You know my long time interest for Snakes and Ladders, even though it is not the most challenging board game. Something about snakes makes it kind of atmospheric and cool. I always loved it. So anyway we went to see Wolfie's family on his mother's side last weekend. And the grandparents had prepared this game of Snakes and Ladders. It's a very special one, as it is also a jigsaw puzzle (you can see it if you look closely). it also features cheeky monkeys on it. Which changes nothing to the game per se, but it makes it cute. And the snakes don't look too nasty either. So there you have it; two games into one and some monkeys on top of it.

Frites

Mon père a fait il y a quelques jours des "frites patio". Il m'a envoyé des photos, bien entendu, afin que je les partage ici. C'était à ma demande, parce que j'aime partager sur le blogue des photos de classiques gastronomiques familiaux. Je suis un médiocre cuisinier, loin d'être un chef, et mes capacités sont limitées. Je ne saurais sans doute pas cuire des frites patio, même si j'avais la friteuse pour le faire, parce que je ne suis pas doué. Mais au moins, j'ai les photos pour me rappeler du goût.

About Iced Tea

 We went to see my wife's family this weekend. To my surprise, I saw my sister-in-law drinking... iced tea. The M&S range, which from what I understand is new. I said to my surprise, aslike her sister I know she does not like tea one bit. But she told me she now likes iced tea. Strangely enough, the same happened to my mother, she found a place in Montreal that serve an ice tea she enjoyed, because it is apparently very refreshing. So these conversations got me in the mood for this drink myself, which I haven't had since 2019. Back in 1999, in my very first few weeks in England, when I had started studying here, they were providing free bottles of iced tea for new students during freshers week. I must have drunk gallons of the stuff. I remember it was Twinings. I cannot find them anymore, which is a shame, as I really enjoyed it. Maybe because it was a freebie, but still. In any case, I have decided to drink iced tea again and see if it is as enjoyable as I remembered.

Le Smog

Mon père m'a envoyé des photos du smog causé par les feux de forêt. Et les feux ne sont même pas proche de chez mes parents. Apocalyptique, il n'y a pas d'autre mot.

Pub Walks

The treasures I can find in the local bookshop, even when it is not great literature. So I went there last week and bought this book, as a spur of the moment thing. I bought it for two reasons: 1)we don't walk enough. We used to walk a lot, but we don't anymore and this is a shame. 2)I want to discover more pubs when we go out, which we don't do often enough. And what is better than taking a digestive walk after a good meal or a drink in a pub? Hence, this book. My wife fears it willjust gather dust on the bookshelves. It might, but at least now I have a visual reminder that there are places to visit. And I have no excuses. That is my idea behind this purchase anyway.

Frites et Fête

 Mon père a fait des "frites patio" hier et m'a envoyé des photos. Avec le drapeau du Québec en arrière-plan, ça fait une photo festive. Hier, lors de mon appel avec mes parents, nous avons justement discuté de ce que l'on mangeait durant les Saint-Jean. Je me rappelle surtout de hot dogs, je crois me rappeler de pizza, mais je ne me rappelle pas avoir mangé de frites. Je me rappelle surtout qu'il y avait beaucoup plus de monde, c'était une fête familiale avec justement la famille étendue, c'était aussi une fête de quartier, avec bien des voisins et des amis qui y venaient.

ZHON-bah-TEEST

Today is Saint John the Baptist's Day, Québec's National Day. I thought I would give my Anglophone readership a bit of information about it, I found this tidbit in Charlie Brown's Fourth Super Books of Questions and Answers. I love the book, but the information on it regarding my nation and my people is grossly out of date. In fact, even when the book was published, it was inaccurate. Still, it gave me a good laugh, so I am sharing it here with you today.

C'est notre tour...

C'est la Saint-Jean-Baptiste, la Fête nationale des Québécois, même et peut-être surtout les expatriés comme moi. Et c'est un peu le cas de petit loup aussi, même s'il n'en est que moyennement conscient. Tradition sur le blogue, je commence ici la fête avec Gens du pays, notre hymne national. J'ai déjà partagé cette vidéo, mais c'est la version de la chanson que je préfère.

Giant Snakes & Ladders

We went to Wolfie's school a few weekends ago for a special fayre. I always love these events, they are a lot of fun. I found out that on their playground, they have... a giant Snakes and Ladders board. Now that is uber cool and I hope the children play it t break time. Snakes and Ladders was the first board game I ever played and I love it. Now this one is a bit limited, as it only has three snakes and three ladders (I think). But who cares, it's giant!

Préparer la Saint-Jean

Vous voyez ici un t-shirt de la Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste, donné à mon père l'an dernier parce qu'il avait gagné un concours de photos de drapeau fleurdelisé. Je n'ai pas de t-shirt avec un fleur de lis, mais je sais comment je vais m'habiller demain et je sais aussi grosso modo comment je fais fêter la a Saint-Jean comme expatrié. Mais je m'ennuie du Québec en ta...

Children's Cookbook

A few days ago, Wolfie borrowed this book from the library: Farmyard Tales Children's Cookbook. No, he does not feel like baking or cooking anything himself: he knows daddy will do the baking and he will do the, well, "supervising". Wolfie loves to spend time with me in the kitchen, but he quickly loses interest and does something else. He generally decides of the quantity of sugar in desserts, which is always more than the recipe states. When I saw the book, I knew a dessert or two had caught his attention, that said there are a few proper meals we might try. He seems to like most of the recipes in there actually. But we will start with a dessert, hopefully this weekend. My wife and I are already looking to purchase the book, but it seems to be out of print. So we'll look into a second-hand copy. Until then, we have this one.

Dolores (Robert Charlebois)

Parce que ce sera la Saint-Jean bientôt, je partage aujourd'hui une chanson de Robert Charlebois. Une que je trouve assez festive et que j'écoute au moins une fois le 24.

The longest day of the year

Today we are the 21st of June, therefore the summer solstice,the longest day of the year. For me, it is the longest day of the year in many ways: I find summer days very long and I long for the evening for the light to dim. So the longest day of the year (literally) is also to me the slowest day of the year as well. And it is a long, long day. I am dreading the weeks to come, however I find solace in the fact that once this day will be over, summertime will slowly, slowly wane.

La petite école à la fin de l'année scolaire

 Mon père m'a envoyé des photos de mon école primaire. Au Québec, je crois que les vacances sont déjà arrivées pour les enfants, ou elles sont sur le point. Alors on se recueille pour un petit moment de nostalgie enfantine dont j'ai le secret.

Aces High

The treasure I can find among someone else's bookshelves. During our last stay at my wife's parents' house, a couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon this anthology of war comics. I love a good old war comics, or indeed any war story. I used to read them a lot at my grandmother's place, when I was a kid. I knew my father-in-law loved war stories, I had seen another of his omnibus in 2019. So this is another book I would have loved to, ahem, borrow from Wolfie's daddad. Maybe on our visit, but I am not sure he will let me, for one (he is not a fool), and I also have a huge pile of TBR books already.

Tellement on s'aimait (Beau Dommage)

Bon, c'est la Saint-Jean bientôt et il faut bien que je mette un peu de musique québécoise sur le blogue. Je trouvais que l'on manquait de Beau Dommage, alors en voilà une peut-être un peu moins connue, mais qui me parle à moi qui suis un incorrigible nostalgique.

Antique Sword

No, no, I'm not talking about Excalibur, the mythical sword of all mythical swords But it could be, even if it is not exactly in the right place for Excalibur to be. I read this news that got me really intrigued: they found a 3,000-year-old bronze sword in Germany, in excellent state of preservation. In pristine state in fact: the report says it almost still shines. It reminds me of a certain novel. But my literary tastes notwithstanding, I find the news simply intriguing. Antique magical swords are just a staple trope in myths and legends, it feels surreal when one just appears in real life. Because when they are in this perfect state, shining and all, it feels like it's a magical sword. I don't know, maybe I'm getting carried away, because of my wild imagination. What do you think?

Dans moins d'une semaine...

 Dans moins d'une semaine, c'est la/notre Fête nationale.Je l'ai à peine soulignée sur le blogue jusqu'ici. Il fallait que je le fasse. Je vais donc bloguer sur la Saint-Jean de l'expatrié pour le reste de la semaine. Je sais que j'ai déjà partagé cette photo de notre drapeau, mais je ne m'en lasse pas. Prise par mon père à ma demande.

Father's Day

It is Father's Day today, so happy Father's Day everyone. I know we will celebrate it here, although I am not sure how: Wolfie and his mother have a bit of a plan, but it is all very hush hush. My wife bought me beer, so that is one thing sorted out. We generally don't make a big fuss about it, at least I don't. Wolfie is always far more excited than I am about it. One of the advantages of being a father on Father's Day is that everyone reminds you to contact your own father to wish him well. Another is that your children will usually sort out the celebration somehow. In the end, it's always about them.

Renard et blaireau

Photo prise hier dans le sanctuaire pour animaux. Un renard et un blaireau empaillés. Rien de plus à dire, ils sont magnifiques.

A Raven

 We went to an animal hospital/sanctuary today. It's a small place, but we enjoyed it a lot. Wolfie and his mum had been there before, a long time ago, but not me, so all the more reason to go there. A parent's life is often going to zoos and such sanctuaries. Anyway, I love wildlife, so I was happy to go there, even though there were not many pensioneers. Which must be a good thing. They had two ravens. I could not see them in their cage at first, they blended in their surroundings. I am always impressed when I see ravens, they are sinister yet beautiful birds. And they are huge! These two were anyway. I took a few snapshots, including this one, where I think the raven looks really scary.

Un puit

Nous avons effectué une visite dans un refuge pour animaux sauvages blessés. C'était un joli petit endroit, avec notamment un puit. Je ne sais pas s'il est sec ou non, mais j'ai pris une photo dans tous les cas. J'aime beaucoup l'esthétique des puits, je ne sais pas trop pourquoi. En fait oui, je sais, j'ai même blogué sur le sujet. Je les trouve mystérieux et ils ont une symbolique qui m'interpelle. Alors bref, je partage dans tous les cas.

Independent Bookshop Week 2023

Quick announcement: as of today and for a week, it is Independent Bookshop Week in this country. So I intend to visit he local bookshop and buy something. I encourage you to do the same.

Tarte aux bleuets

 Mes parents ont fait une tarte aux bleuets. On est du Saguenay ou ben on l'est pas. Mais enfin bref, fallait que je partage, même si ça commence à faire pas mal de billets sur la bouffe.

Medieval Jousting

My wife found out that there will be Medieval Jousting at Stonor Park in a week or so. We are considering going there as we think Wolfie might like it. He said he would when we asked him anyway. I haven't been to these sorts of reenactments in a very long time. As a medievalist by profession, I will find it both interesting and amusing (because it might get quite inaccurate, these shows often are). And it will be nice to get Wolfie interested about something else than modern stuff. It could expand his horizons. Wolfie is already curious about "the old days" and he watched The Adventures of Robin Hood with me recently with a keen interest. But that is for another post. I'm just excited that next weekend, we might go (pseudo) medieval.

Lièvre

Mon père a pris une photo d'un lièvre dans le coin de Dominique-Racine, lors d'une de ses marches. C'est tout.

Gilgamesh

This picture was shared yesterday on the Facebook page of the British Museum. It represents Gilgamesh and his sidekick Enkidu from, well, the Epic of Gilgamesh. The very first literary work, or at least the oldest surviving one. Which I actually have here, actually, I bought it I cannot remember when, just never got around to read it. But I intend to do it and this picture from the British Museum reminded me of it.

Premières frites "patio"

 Vous vous rappelez peut-être les "frites patio", les frites que mon père fait à l'extérieur. Sur le patio, d'où le nom, qui n'est pas très sophistiqué peut-être, mais qui est exact. Bon, ben moment important dans l'année, mon père a fait les premières frites patio de l'année, justement. Je n'en ai pas mangé depuis des années, en fait ça doit faire plus de dix ans selon mes calculs. Mon dernier voyage du temps où j'aurais pu en manger date de 2015, mais je ne me appelle pas que mon père ait fait des frites lors de mon séjour. Enfin bref, tout ça pour dire que vous voyez les premières frites patio de 2023, parce que je devais le souligner.

The Day Agent?

 My wife has been having this job for the last few months and it is not very deanding overall. It is kind of a boring admin job where not much happens. She mostly stares at a screen and waits for emails to come in. At first she was almost worried about it: she thought they might terminate her contract for lack of work. But I told her not to worry: if the job requires that she waits for something to happen, then that is her duty to do exactly that. "You are a bit like the Night Agent," I told her, which I think deserves to be a great unknown line. She has not seen the Netflix tv series, but I have and I thought it was fitting. For the record, I enjoyed the series, found it entertaining enough, albeit derivative. And yes, I know it's based on a novel. But in any case, there are works that don't require much work, yet they still need to be done.

La dégradation de la Grande Bibliothèque

J'ai lu avec beaucoup d'inquiétude et même de tristesse cet article de la Presse sur la dégradation de la Grande bibliothèque nationale du Québec. Je n'y suis pas allé souvent, mais j'ai toujours aimé mes visites et l'endroit lui-même. C'était vraiment acueillant pour les bouquinistes. J'espère que la situation se redressera.

The Signalman at Didcot Railway Centre

We went to the Didcot Railway Centre only once, but I have been wanting to go back ever since and I found another very good reason to go there again. On Saturday the 24th of June, Gerard Dickens will be performing a dramatisation of his great, great grandfather Charles Dickens' The Signal-Man. Like in many adaptations, it has been retitled The Signalman, but I digress. I have read the original ghost story and seen a stage adaptation of the story nearly ten years ago. I throughly enjoyed it. Enjoyed them, I should say: I loved both the original and its adaptation. Ghost stories and trains, these are two of my favourite things, here wrapped up together. When technology meets the supernatural. On my countdown to the countdown to Halloween (or my officious countdown that starts whenever I feel like it), this would be the perfect day out. That said, given that Wolfie might be a bit young for such scary story, I will probably give it a pass, even though the shows are in daytime. But hey, maybe some of my readers can see it. If you can, tell me how it went. Lucky you.

L'agente de bord avec l'accent du Saglac

Je ne connais pas Biolovik, mais je viens de voir la vidéo qu'elle a faite sur l'agente de bord avec l'accent du Saguenay à couper au couteau et j'ai bien ri. Le lien est ici. Elle en a fait d'autres et je vais en partager dans un avenir sans doute proche, parce qu'ils sont tous hilarants. L'humoriste a une page Facebook, une chaîne YouTube et d'autres choses, jusqu'ici selon ce que je vois elle n'a pas beaucoup d'abonnés, mais je crois que ça va changer et que ses vidéos vont vite devenir virales. Peut-être que c'est le Bleuet expatrié qui parle, mais elle est vraiment bonne.

"A talk with the weather"

 A few days ago, my wife and I were waiting for Wolfie's end of day and were talking to one of the mums. We were of course talking about the weather, because this is what we do in this country, and the fact that it was actually sunny and warm. She said: "Well, it better be, we're in June, it's meant to be summer now. It didn't feel like it a few days ago. I need to have a talk with the weather." I actually much prefer cooler temperatures (although I kept it for myself), but it is far to say that she expressed a feeling shared by many and I thought this deserved to be a great unknown line.

Mésange tombée du nid

 Mon père m'a envoyé des photos d'une mésange tombée du nid. Il ne m'a pas dit si elle est retournée chez elle, ou s'il l'a aidée. Mais il a pris des photos de la mésange égarée. Elle n'a pas l'air trop paniquée,c e qui est déjà ça.

The Artillerie Drawer

I blogged before about the equipment we gathered over the months for an ongoing make believe game Wolfie and I have been playing. Well, this is the look of the artillerie drawer now. It has handguns, binoculars, police badges, baton, walkie-talkies, a rifle, handcuffs, other things I forget and now a machine gun, which Wolfie is quite fond of, because it is noisy (mummy likes it far less). With the recently acquired secret agent briefcase (but this is hush hush) we truly are now fully equipped.

L'orage et la grêle (enfin!)

Après quelques jours de chaleur estivale, voire de canicule, nous avons eu hier notrepremier orage électrique, avec en plus de la grêle. Il était temps: la chaleur commençait à m'avoir.

Secret Agent

Can you keep a secret? Well, I hope you do. Because this post is for your eyes only. We went to Wolfie's school fayre yesterday. It was too hot, but otherwise pleasant. Anyway, I digress. Of course at such fayres, there's lots ofthings to buy, including books and games and Wolfie had his eye set on a number of toys and games, including this one. Actually, it is not a game, it is a briefcase. At £9.99, three for the price of two, it was not a bargain, but almost. So since we got back home, Wolfie has been training to become a secret agent for the Global Intelligence Organisation, or GIO. Just don't tell anyone. He is very good and has been learning to crack secret codes, read and write secret messages, tail someone, hide in plain sight, conceal his identity, be aware of his environment. Also, he's been told to eat plenty of fruits and vegs and drink lors of water, because an agent has to be in top shape. So all very sensible instructions really. Secret agent is a healthy profession, who knew. His adversary and the GIO's main target if Stealth, a criminal organisation that wants to rule the world. Does it remind you of anything? Anyway, we're working on top secret stuff now and I will try if I am authorised to keep you informed, as long as the Official Secrets Act allows me. Do I sound enthusiastic? Because I am.

Le temps du spaghetti tunisien

Des fois, ça m'arrive, je fais revivre une tradition régionale dans la perfide Albion. Bon, je suis un peu trop dramatique. Recommençons Des fois, ça m'arrive, je fais revivre une tradition régionale dans ma famille ici. Parce que c'est aussi un des repas préférés de ma femme et je lui ai fait découvrir. En plus, petit loup aime ça, fa' que... J'en ai fait assez pour qu'il en reste pour un deuxième repas pour chacun. Le spag tunisien, c'est aussi bon réchauffé.

Summer Books 2023

Well, I don't like summer much, as you know, that said my last visit to the Wallingford Bookshop gave me at least one good reason to tolerate it. A new season means new books being released. And they had a leaflet about it. Some freebie provided by Books Are My Bag. Since freebies are in my price range, I picked one up. I must confess, while I always take one of these leaflets when I see them in an indie bookshop, I have yet to buy any booklisted there. But it is always nice to see the new releases. And when I read something good, it makes summertime go faster.

Santons marins

 Photo trouvée sur la page Facebook sur les Santons de Charlevoix. Cette fois-ci, ce n'est pas un santon, mais trois et même quatre: un capitaine, un matelot et un pirate (avec son trésor), avec un bateau. Je les veux, surtout le pirate, qui a l'air pas mal cool. Quand vient juin, je pense souvent à lire des histoires maritimes, qui se passent en mer ou près de la mer. Ou de regarder des films qui se passent au large. Je ne sais pas pourquoi, c'est le cas depuis que je suis enfant. Je décorerais aussi la maison avec des choses qui évoquent la mer. Je regarde ces santons et je pense aux vacances.

Less Coffee, More Tea

I took this picture a few days ago from the Facebook page of David's Tea. I understand they have been struggling for a while now and been a bit discreet on social media, but I do like their products and love how they made tea cool again. Be that as it may, I love this table, although I don't know how accurate it is. From my personal experience, it is very accurate, especially about the smooth sailing energy. I don't drink coffee anymore, I'm a total tea drinker, but I am sharing it today hoping to evangelise. Drinking tea is just better.

Gâteau

 Des fois, je fais un gâteau pour petit loup. Pour le reste de la famille aussi, mais surtout pour petit loup, parce qu'il a été sage ou parce que je veux qu'il le soit et que c'est toujours utile d'avoir du gâteau à portée de la main (pour ainsi dire) afin de l'encourager. Mais j'en fais surtout parce que je préfère les desserts faits maison à ceux achetés et des fois l'envie me prend. Enfin bref, j'ai fait un gâteau récemment, tout simple, à la vanille, deux étages avec de la confiture au milieu, sans glaçage cette fois-ci. Il est en train de partir dans le temps de le dire.

The Train Money Box

 I received a few Amazon vouchers from my employers as a thank you gift for being a high performing employee. It happens sometimes. So I bought some Amazon stuff to make my life nicer. Apparently, it works like this. Things I did not necessarily need. As I have a lot of spare change and I never know what to do with it, I bought myself a money box. I mean, I could just give it to Wolfie, who would put it in his own piggy bank, but I thought he gets enough money as it is, just for the sake of dropping it in his piggy bank. So, I got this one for me. Hand mande and all in wood, it of course has a train on it. It looks elegant on a desk and there's a train on it, which was a very good reason to buy it. It is not the most practical piggy bank: I cannot take its content unless I take it apart. And I'm not so sure how to do it. So the highest value coin I dropped in it was 20p. It won't make me rich, but I like looking at it.

Pivoines Rocky

Mon père m'a envoyé des photos de ses pivoines, comme je le mentionnais hier. Parce que c'est l'été et que Vraie Fiction prend les couleurs de la saison (même celle que j'aime le moins), voici une autre photo de ses pivoines. Celles-ci sont des pivoines "Rocky" et je n'ai aucune idée de pourquoi elles ont ce nom.

The Werewolves' New Moon

 I blogged back in 2017 about The Werewolves of Miller's Hollow, a card game/board game and borderline role-playing game about, well, werewolves. So it is a horror game of sorts. I bought one formy  brother Andrew in its original French version,then years later I bought the localised version for Blonde Tickler. But never for myself. Then, to my great surprise, I stumbled upon its first expansion, called New Moon, in a toy shop in Wallingford. Now how cool is that? I am very tempted to buy it next time, and get my hands on the original, so I can play it during my countdown to Halloween. This seems to be the perfect game when the season of the witch comes.

Pivoines Shima Nishiki

Mon père m'a envoyé des photos de ses pivoines. Pivoines "Shima Nishiki", allez savoir pourquoi. Mais bon, je voulais mettre de la couleur dans le blogue et illustrer le changement de saisons. Même si je n'aime pas beaucoup l'été.

Where to find Komodo Dragons

 You may remember from this post that I have a certain interest for Komodo dragons.I find these big, venomous lizards fascinating. Well, I learned to my surprise that you can find them in capativity here in England and not too far from where we live. A friend of mine recently posted on Facebook pictures he took from his visit to Crocodiles Of The World, a zoo specialised in, well, big lizards. And lo and behold, among them was a picture of a Komodo dragon. In fact, they have a whole Komodo Dragon Experience. I just can't believe it. Not on our doorstep, but pretty close. Real Komodo dragons. We might not plan our visit very soon, our next weekends will be pretty busy, but it is good to know that we have another zoo to go and thatit would be a completely new experience. With Komodo dragons. I still cannot believe it.

"L'échec du rail"

J'ai lu avec intérêt un article dans L'Actualité intitulé L'échec du rail, d'une certaine Taras Grescoe. À propos du piètre état des transports ferroviaires en Amérique du Nord, tant aux États-Unis qu'au Canada. Ca m'attriste toujours et ça m'enrage au moins autant, parce que ça n'a pas toujours été le cas et que ça aurait pu être évité. En fait, on pourrait changer les choses. Je vous invite donc à lire l'article. Il fait un bon résumé de la situation et un excellent plaidoyer pour changer les choses. Je rêve de pouvoir voyager de Montréal à Québec, voire à Chicoutimi, en train, dans des délais raisonnables.

Ascot Racecourse (in Wallingford)

We saw a lot of nice things during our last trip to Wallingford. This is what I love about this town: so many nice little palces and nice sights. There was one shop, a hat shop, which I never set foot in yet, that always has a really nice and inventive window dressing. It isalways topical. Last time, it featured a representation of Ascot Racecourse. My wife has been to Ascot at least once, I never went. I am not really into horseracing, but I can understand the appeal. It looks kind of glamorous. I think I prefer it like this with figures. It is still, but it looks all neat and fancy.

Cymbidium

Je partage une photo d'un des cymbidiums de mon père. Rien que pour mettre un peu de couleurdans le blogue.

Return to the Wallingford Bookshop

We went to Wallingford recently, one of my favourite towns in England. Of course I made time to return to the Wallingford Bookshop. This had been long overdue: I think my last visit dated back to September. I behaved, I only bought one book. It is my wife who found it. She just said: "I have seen one you might like." I asked her to show it to me to save time, as it was late in the day. And yes, I did like the look of it and bought it. It's not the first time it happened, and in this very bookshop. I said I only bought one book, but this is not quite true: I also ordered one through them. I will tell you which one in another post, but let's just say now that I find it nice that I will buy a novel that is now hard to find thanks to a bookshop and not Amazon. I feel kind of proud of my initiative.

Du blanc-manger?

Nous sommes allés à un mariage la fin de semaine dernière, comme vous le savez (si vous suivez ce blogue). Ce qu'il y a de bien dans les noces, c'est souvent le repas. Le dessert était assez original: c'était je crois du blanc-manger. Je ne suis pas certain, mais ça en avait l'air en tout cas. Une sorte de dessert au riz avec une confiture. Je crois vraiment que c'était du blanc-manger. Il y avait aussi une tarte au chocolat, que petit loup a mangée. Ma femme était un peu déçue d'avoir du blanc-manger, moi aussi au début j'avoue, mais j'ai trouvé ça très original. Et après les excès du repas principal, c'était léger et de circonstances.

Sangria

My parents told me that they recently bought a bottle of already made sangria, but that it was not good. That trivial bit of conversation reminded me that a few years ago, I was a fairly regular drinker of sangria. It was back when I was a uni student: at our kitchen parties, or simply at our gatherings, we often made sangria. Ironically, my friends then were mostly Italian. We bought some cheap wine, some fizzy soft drink, fresh fruits, fruit juice and a bottle of spirit, either tequila, gin or vodka. And we mixed it in the biggest bowl we could find. That's how our evenings started, usually. My Spaniard friend would say: "All right guys, we're gonna make sangria." And we did. I don't remember it tasting nice, but we drank plenty of it. I don't remember getting drunk from it, but one of my Italian friends got sick on sangria at the end of the infamous Saint Paddy's kitchen party of 2,000. Infamous in our circle of friends at the time anyway. Shehad decided to finish the bowl when everybody but three people were gone, after my other friend and I were downing beers. I still tease her about it. But yeah, after my uni years, I don't think I ever drank sangria again.

La lampe hippopotame

Nous sommes allés à un marage la semaine dernière et nous avons passé la nuit à l'hôtel. C'était un très beau site, même si le service était parfois déficient. Au déjeuner, nous avons mangé dans une très belle salle, avec, surprise surprise, une lampe en forme d'hippopotame. Ou "popotame", comme on dit dans mon côté de la famille. Avec l'ampoule dans la gueule. La lampe a fait une forte impression sur Wolfie, allez savoir pourquoi. Il a insisté pour que je la prenne en photo.

4,000 Year Old Board Game

 Who said that time and history has no sense of humour? I found this meme online a couple of years ago. I don't know how accurate it is, but I thought it was really funny. I think I have seen this board game somewhere else, probably on the Facebook page of the British Museum. In any case, I wished I knew the rules. It looks like a primitive backgammon. What do you think? How would you play?

Les fraises

Juin, c'est le mois des fraises, du moins au Québec. Par conséquent, mon père a acheté des fraises il y a quelques jours, un casseau ou peut-être plus. Je crois qu'elles sont de l'Île, mais je n'en suis pas certain. Il m'a envoyé des photos dans tous les cas. Je sais, je montre encore de la food porn. Mais enfin bref, puisque les fraises sont l'un des aspects de l'été que j'aime encore, je partage la photo. Vous les mangeriez comment, ces fraises-là?

June and Juno

The things you learn thanks to the Facebook page of the British Museum. They shared this picture recently, a 15th century enamelled mirror. It represents the Goddess Juno and Queen Dido, in a scene from the Aeneid. June is named after Juno, as you probably know. I knew it, but it is nice to be reminded of it and of an epic poem which I have read, but don't remember much. In any case, if you did not know the connection, now you do.

Michel Côté et le Québec

Excellente nouvelle: lors du spectacle de la Fête Nationale, on rendra un hommage à Michel Côté. je crois que ça tombe sous le sens et pas seulement parce qu'il est mort récemment. Michel Côté était peut-être le plus québécois des acteurs québécois. L'un des plus aimés, certainement, mais il a tellement incarné le Québec dans ce qu'il avait de mieux et aussi dans ce qu'il avait de plus typique. Enfin bref, je suis encore en deuil.

A red panda on the run

Do you love red pandas? I sure do. They look like cute little plush toy made of flesh and bones. They just look sooo adorable. I'm a bit of a sucker for red pandas. But maybe I am just saying commonplaces here. Who doesn't love red pandas? A heartless monster, that's who. So a bit of news recently caught my attention: a red panda escaped from a zoo in Cornwall last Friday and was seen walking about in the street. She was later on captured and returned to the zoo. Although the escape was short, it is far more epic to have a red panda on the run than a bunch of cows. Anyway, I'm glad Sundara (that's her name) is safe and sound and I hope she enjoyed her time out.

Un juin tolérable?

C'est le premier juin, le début officieux de l'été et quant à moi le vrai début de la saison. Je n'aime pas beaucoup juin, je vous le dis tout de suite, justement parce que c'est un mois d'été. Cela dit, je me permets une pointe d'espoir pour cette année. Jusqu'ici, nous n'avons pas eu beaucoup de journées aux températures estivales, tout d'abord. Selon la météo, il va faire un temps assez frais, un peu en deça des normales saisonnières. Ce que d'autres vont appeler un été pourri. Quant à moi, c'est un été tolérable. Enfin, ça pourrait en être un, touchons du bois.