I'm a Cryptkeeper again

You may have noticed this badge on the margin of the blog, with the rest. You will easily recognise its use: tomorrow the official countdown for Halloween starts. Although for me, it has started since August, even earlier. I have made myself relatively discreet on the blog about it, but this will change tomorrow, when Vraie Fiction will gofull on spooky. Watch this space, as they say. But until then, I wanted to share the badge I chose. It was quite hard, as everyone of them is very nice, as always. So I followed my motto: when in doubt, go for a Jack O'Lantern.

Collectionner les cocottes

Je disais il y a quelques jours que petit loup a une certaine fascination pour les cocottes. Pour ne pas dire une fascination certaine. Il les ramasse, il les ram'ene chez nous et on ne sait plus quoi en faire. Celle-ci est sur mon bureau. Je dis ça, mais je ne me plains pas vraiment: j'associe les cocottes à l'automne, alors ça automnise la maison. Et puis pour une raison quelconque, je trouve ça décoratif, une cocotte, pour autant qu'elle soit bien sèche.

The Flying Scotsman crashes

Sad news which I learned earlier on thanks to the National Railway Museum: the Flying Scotsman crashed today. Thankfully, there seems to be no loss of lives and only two injured. I hope they get well soon. And I also hope the Scotsman itself will get repaired properly. I don't think of train crashes, it feels almost surreal. After the plane, it is the safest way of travelling, if I'm nor mistaken. It is certainly the most pleasant and the most comfortable.

Mafalda a 59 ans

 Grâce à la page Facebook officielle de Mafalda, je sais que c'est son anniversaire. Elle a 59 ans. Si je ne trompe pas, vous voyez ici son tout premier gag. La grande petite dame d'Argentine n'a rien perdu de sa jeunesse, ni de sa pertinence.

The Autumn Experience

I found this meme a few days ago. I am sharing it now. We are not truly there yet, except maybe morning and evenings, but this is very much true. Autumn weather is not merely a question of rain or shunshine, of wind or mist or fog or whatever. It's about that cool soothing air, it's a certain smell, it's the warm comfy clothes you wear, it's the light, the leaves, it's the surrounding sounds. Autumnal weather is autumnal experience.

Le cri de l'escoufle

Il y a quelques jours, je marchais dans le voisinage quand j'ai entendu un cri. J'ai levé les yeux et j'ai vu dans un arbre un milan royal. Mais je préfère les nommer escoufles en français, je trouve que leur vieux nom sonne mieux. Dans tous les cas, le voici. Les escoufles sont nombreux dans notre coin de pays, c'est sans doute le rapace le plus commun, cela dit ils sont souvent bien cachés dans le feuillage des arbres, comme c'est le cas ici. Alors on ne voit pas toujours, mais on les entend.

"The Queen" locomotive

 As you know, we went to Windsor last weekend. Not for very long, just an afternoon. We went through the Windsor & Eton Central Railway Station in a few minutes, but I had just the time to take a picture of the locomotive replica, named the Queen in the honour of Queen Victoria. Front only I'm afraid, lenghtwise it quickly got crowded. I don't care about Queen Victoria, but I do love trains and a good steam train, replica or original, so here it is. Lovely machine.

Le Salon du Livre 2023

Voici une annonce importante: c'est aujourd'hui que commence la 59e édition du Salon du Livre du Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean. Pour les gens du Saguenay (et du Lac), vous trouverez l'horaire dans le Progrès de samedi dernier. Ou alors en ligne. Dans tous les cas, je veux le répéter: c'est l'évènement littéraire et culturel de ma région préféré. Je n'ai que de bons souvenirs. Vous pouvez me donner les vôtres dans la section commentaires. Vous pouvez aussi me dire comment c'était cette année, si vous y êtes allés.

Autumnal Ducks

Here's another autumnal chronicle inspired by a photo I had to share. This picture. It was taken by my cousin Amy, who is a great photograph. She of course gave me permission for it. She took it last weekend. If the apple is the fruit of autumn, I consider the duck to be the bird of autumn. All right, the season can be associated with many other birds, if one thinks of Halloween especially, but autumn also means birds migration and thus, well, ducks. And geese, I guess you could put them ex aequo with ducks as autumnal birds. But in any case, there is just something about the sight of ducks in autumn, whether they are flying or just paddling in the water like here.

Des branches et des cocottes

Petit loup a une amie avec qui il va parfois à l'école. Nous faisons du covoiturage avec les parents. Au retour de l'école et parfois à l'aller, ils vont ramasser des branches et des cocottes sur le chemin. L'amie de Wolfie est plus portée sur les branches, Wolfie sur les cocottes. Alors notre fils revient toujours à la maison les poches remplies de cocottes. Parfois, il me les donne, alors j'en trouve de temps en temps dans mes poches de manteau que j'avais oubliées. Pour les branches, ils ont trouvé un endroit ou deux où les stocker. Heureusement, ils n'en ramènent pas à la maison. Pas d'habitude en tout cas. Mais dans tous les cas, je me pose donc une question par rapport à tout ça: d'où vient cette fascination enfantine pour les branches et les cocottes? J'en ferai peut-être une question existentielle un de ces quatre.

Last visit to Waterstones

You may remember back in March, I blogged about the fact that I hadn't set foot in a Waterstones bookshop. A few months later, I found an out of date loyalty card I had totally forgotten. Well, last weekend we went to Windsor and I found time to spend a few minutes in the Waterstones branch there. A few years ago, I used to spend ages there, always finding a book or two to bring home. This time, ironically enough, I bought some stuff, but not a single book: a present formy wife's birthday and another for a friend. I think I did buy any literature partially because I did not spend much time there and partially because I want to encourage local businesses and thus keep my money for our independent bookshop. But hey, that was my last visit to a Waterstones.

Mafalda au Pérou

J'ai appris sur sa page Facebook officielle que Mafalda avait une statue commémorative officielle au Pérou. Enfin, je crois que c'est ce que ça voulait dire, je ne comprends pas l'espagnol. Je sais qu'elle en a ailleurs dans le monde, mais c'est toujours bon d'apprendre que sa contestataire préférée a un banc de parc bien à elle. C'est un peu drôle de la voir habillée en jaune et non pas en rouge, mais à part ça, la statue est parfaite. Il en faudrait une au Québec, s'il n'y en a pas déjà (qui sait). Mais enfin bref, Mafalda siempre!

Apple juice: the drink of autumn?

We went to Hogshaw Farm lastyear and before we left we bought fresh apple juice. I love apple juice, especially in autumn, and every time we go to a petting zoo, a gardening centre or a farmer's marker and it sells apple juice, I buy some. Many drinks are associated to autumn: cider, autumn beers and pumpkin spice latte of course. I am probably forgetting many. But it strikes me that autumn being in many ways the fruit of autumn and its harvest, the apple juice could easily be considered the drink of autumn, at least as much as cider or mulled cider. What do you think?

Le Salon du Livre cette semaine

Comme le temps passe vite: c'est à partir de ce jeudi qu'aura lieu la 59e édition du Salon du Livre du Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean. Ma sortie culturelle préférée quand j'étais jeune. ce billet est un rappel pour ceux qui peuvent y aller, c'est aussi une invitation pour ceux qui y sont allés par le passé de commenter sur leurs meilleurs souvenirs de l'évènement. Pour mes propres souvenirs, vous les trouverez dans ce billet de 2019. J'espère un jour pouvoir en créer d'autres, mais j'avoue que je doute que ça arrive de sitôt.

Cobra (the beer, not the snake)

My wife orders stuff from Hello Fresh and sometimes she gets freebies. Like this one, for instance: a small can of Cobra beer. Not really my kind of beer, but it was a feebie and thus in my price range. It's also an easy one to drink before dinner is served (or when you eat curry, for some reason that seems to be the go-to beer for curries). Wolfie loved the name, because it reminded him of a villain's name of his invention. It is fitting, as one if the brand's variety is named King Cobra, just like said villain. So anyway, I drank this recently.

Scone aux bleuets

Photo que mon père m'a envoyée il y a quelques temps. C'est un scone aux bleuets qu'il a fait, en fait je crois que c'était lui qui a cuisiné ça. Il l'a peut-être acheté dans une pâtisserie. Dans tous les cas, c'est une idée assez inspirée que de mettre des bleuets dans des scones et ça leur donne une touche très Saglac.

"Autunno" by Vivaldi

It is officially autumn everywhere now since yesterday, nobody can think otherwise. And I want to share some autumn music with you my readers. I may not be original, but I am sharing today the autumn concerto of The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi. You will notice subtitles in the video: they are taken from a sonnet written 300 years ago and they pretty much explain what the music represents. You don't really need them to ppreciate, but I thought it was interesting.

Couleurs d'automne

Mon père m'a envoyé des photos d'un bouquet de fleurs (gerberas?), le titre du courriel était "couleurs d'automne". J'aime sa façon de voir les choses. Et c'est vrai qu'elles ont les couleurs de l'automne.

Autumn Steam Gala

You live in the South East of England and you are looking for a special day out this weekend? You might want to visit the Didcot Railway Centre. They are hosting the Autumn Steam Gala. Or a display of steam engines that happen to be at the autumnal equinox. Otherwise I guess there is no link between old steam trains and autumn, but as I love both, it makes so much sense to me. We already have other plans, but we'll keep this in mind for next year.

Frites

Je partage parfois des photos de "frites patio". Autrement dit, des frites faites maison par mon père sur la friteuse dehors. C'est bon parce que c'est gras. Je partage la photo aujourd'hui un peu juste parce que je veux la partager (duh!) et aussi parce que c'est encore le temps de faire des frites dehors, même si ce n'est plus l'été depuis officiellement aujourd'hui.

My Autumnal Tea

I have some good news I had forgotten to mention: I stocked myself in autumn tea. By this I mean that I found a brand that makes a brew that is my go-to tea for autumn and Halloween: the Spiced Pumpkin Pie Tea from Bird & Blend. It's like a pumpkin spice latte, only it's tea so it tastes so much better. Especially on a cold autumn day, like we've been having recently. I blogged about this brew last year, although I found Bird & Blend in 2021. This year, I bought enough to get myself stocked until Halloween and after, but I am still careful and pace my consumption of the Spiced Pumpkin Pie Tea to make sure I will have enough for the big day. So yes, this was today's autumn chronicle post.

Le vingt-deux septembre (aujourd'hui)

L'équinoxe cette année, c'est demain. Et pour moi l'automne, c'est au début de septembre que ça commence, pas lors de l'équinoxe. Cela dit, c'est une tradition que de partager Le vingt-deux septembre de Georges Brassens sur Vraie Fiction, tant comme célébration de l'automne que de sa mélancolie. Alors donc...

Bedroom Wolfism

I haven't shared a Wolfism for a long while, not since August, so I thought a new one was long overdue. I think all parents can relate to that one. But anyway, here it is. So Wolfie sometimes plays in his room, which of course gets in a sorry state, like a pandemonium of toys and other things. So he tried to reassure me once, telling me before playing: "Daddy, daddy, I will not make my room very messy, just a tiny little bit messy." Can't say I saw much of a difference, but it could have been worse I guess.

RIP Le Fromentier

 Très triste nouvelle que mon frère PJ m'a apprise: la boulangerie Le Fromentier ferme ses portes. Après 30 ans de service, autrement dit une institution. Pour diverses raisons: hausse des loyers, des taxes, concurrence, etc. C'est une énorme perte, je le dis sans ironie. C'est une partie du Plateau que j'ai toujours connu qui disparaît.

"Hey man, love your jumper!"

This is what my manager told me this morning at the end of our one to one meeting: "Hey man, love your jumper!" I thanked him, told him that I had beenw aiting forever to wear warmer jumpers. Not that it is that cold now, but it is cooler and often rainy, so you need warmer clothes. This is an old turtleneck jumper my mum bought me a couple of years ago, kind of thin but it does the job when it is slightly beneath 20. Anyway, I am grateful for that reminder: autumn is most definitely here and I can now wear comfy clothes.

La bannière du Salon du Livre 2023

Tout d'abord, un rappel: le Salon du Livre du Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean commence le 28 septembre. Vous avez l'horaire sur l'image avec la bannière. Mais je voulais justement bloguer à propos de la bannière. Qu'est-ce qu'elle évoque en vous? Moi, ce sont les mangas japonaises, les animés que je regardais quand j'étais jeune, mais aussi les bédés européennes, dans un décor vaguement science-fiction et résolument exotique. Et vous?

The Gruffalo

During our last time downtown as a family, we had the chance to see the the window display of the local Jojo Maman Bébé. It showed of the Gruffalo and various characters from his universe. It was quite cute. Wolfie used to love the Gruffalo when he was a few years younger, although he also used to find him scary. I blogged about it back in 2019. Then a few years later he kind of forgot about him, but the display reminded him of the critter. There was also a Gruffalo plush toy on display. Jojo Maman Bébé sells products that are a tad too young for Wolfie, but now he wants his Gruffalo teddy.So I just might get it for Christmas, if Wolfie is still interested about him by then.

L'automne et la lumière

 Photo prise par mon père l'an dernier à environ la même date, je la partage car elle sert mon propos. J'ai souvent mentionné l'un des autres attraits de l'automne: la lumière qui se tamise dès l'après-midi, même bien avant que le soir tombe. Une lumière discrète et qui n'a rien d'agressant. Et je crois que cette photo l'illustre justement très bien.

Mushrooms (an autumnal chronicle)

We were walking back home from school yesterday with Wolfie and his classmate we give a lift to sometimes when the children spotted these mushrooms. They were very impressed by their size. So was I. This is a typical sign of autumn, which I wanted to share here. Talking of autumn, I can safely say that it is finally settling, touch wood. It is cool in the morning and evening, there is a breeze during daytime, it is often rainy and the temperatures do not rise above 20. So yes, I am happy. Even the air has an unmistakable autumnal smell to it. You know the one.

Les pédalos

J'ai pris cette photo à Weymouth dans le Dorset, pas loin des quais. Une armada de pédalos pour les touristes, enfin je crois. Yous avec des noms un brin pompeux. C'était la fin de notre dernière journée, je n'ai pas eu l'idée ni l'envie de faire un tour, mais ça m'a rappelé qu'enfant j'en avais fait quelquefois, même si je ne rappelle guère des détails, à part en avoir fait. Chaque fois, j'ai beaucoup aimé, allez savoir pourquoi.

Blueberry Gin

 In my adult life, I rarely ever drank gin. When I did, it was occasionally, when I was living in Liverpool, as one of my housemates and friend was quite keen on gin and tonic. When I drank some with her, it was more out of friendship than anything, like a nice little ritual. That said, I recently got curious about a specific gin from the Distillerie du Fjord (the fjord being the Saguenay fjord where I come from) called 48 Chemin Price. This gin is different as it is made with blueberries, the fruit of my region. From my exprrience, in has a strong flavour of tasting nothing but hard liquor, so I am curious about how this one can taste blueberries.

Steak frites

Mon père a fait il y a quelques semaines des frites patio et il les a mangées avec un steak. Donc, mes parents ont mangé un steak frites. Ca doit faire des siècles que je n'en ai pas mangé, la dernière fois c'était vraiment un expérience décevante (lire ce billet), depuis j'ai peur de m'essayer à nouveau. Mais mon père ne m'a jamais déçu quand il a cuisiné un steak frites, alros j'imagine qu'il me faudra attendre ma prochaine visite. Comme d'habitude. D'ici là, je partage cette photo.

A portrait of Mary Shelley

At one of our latest family evenings out, we saw this portrait of Mary Shelley. The author of Frankenstein. I love these portraits made of words associated with the author. Not sure why. I hesitated before sharing it, as this would have been a fine post for this year's countdown to Halloween. But then decided that I could not wait, that I am already counting the days to Halloween anyway, so here it is.

Le Salon du Livre (rappel)

Je fais un rappel d'intérêt public pour les gens de ma région ou ceux qui y seront bientôt: Salon du Livre du Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean commence dans un peu plus de dix jours. Il aura lieu du 28 septembre au 1er octobre. J'ai revu ma passe de lecteur de l'année catégorie cégep et ça m'a donné envie d'y retourner. Et en plus, regardez comme l'affiche promo est belle cette année, avec son esthétique vaguement manga. Bon, d'accord, c'est exotique pour un évènement saguenéen, mais le Saguenay, c'est un peu le bout du monde.

Autumn Leaves

A couple of days ago, at the very beginning of September, we were walking back from a trip downtown and we stopped by a large maple tree. Wolfie picked up these two leaves. There were other leaves like them, but Wolfie seemed to like these two particularly. The day was far too hot for a day in September, it has now cooled down a bit. But in any case, these leaves are autumn leaves, I don't care what some people say, the season starts with the month, not with the equinox.

St-Viateur sur Mont-Royal

Ma mère m'a envoyé cette photo hier. Pas une très bonne photo, mais vous voyez la longue file d'attente pour entrer au St-Viateur sur Mont-Royal. C'est l'endroit où j'ai fait ma découverte des bagels montréalais, je m'en rappelle comme si c'était hier. Un coup de foudre gastronomique. Je m'en ennuie beaucoup.

Whatever happened to the Veneziana?

Tonight, we went to Pizza Express for dinner, to meet my wife's friend who wanted to introduce her new fiancé to us. I always loved Pizza Express: the food may not be fancy, but the quality is always reliable. But recently, there is something that has been bothering me: the Veneziana, my go-to pizza when i go there, is no longer on the menu. The Veneziana has everything I love in a pizza: capers, olives, and well, that's it. They also give a discretionary 25p to the Venice in Peril fund for every Veneziana sold. Well, they still do, except for every mushroom pizza sold, because they don't sell Veneziana anymore.  My question is why? Why is it no longer on the menu? Because I don't care about mushroom pizza. I mean I really don't. And I am all for saving Venice, mind you, but I will donate to the charity directly rather than eat a mushroom pizza. In the end, the Veneziana allowed me to make a good deed while enjoying a dinner out. Since it is gone, I don't find the menu of Pizza Express so appealing anymore.

Des vestiges de chemin de fer...

 Petite nouvelle pour les amateurs de train, donc pour les gens comme moi: on a trouvé des vestiges de chemin de fer à Montréal. dans le quartier Saint-Henri, au nord de la rue Notre-Dame. Pas grand-chose à dire, sauf que c'est une nouvelle cool.

The Last Hunt in September

Fair warming: today's post is another piece of autumnal chronicle. This is the case for pretty much all of Vraie Fiction when September arrives, but hey. I make the most of my favourite season. This post will also be about The Last Hunt, crime fiction novel by South African crime writer Deon Meyer, often mentionned here. There is a line that struck me when I first read it four years ago and that has remained in my mind since then. This line, in chapter 71, which starts Friday 1 September: "It was cool and overcast, as if autumn was recognising this offical date for change." You will have guessed that this part of the plot is not set in South Africa, as this would be the southern emisphere and the beginning of spring. But it just made me happy as the character whose point of view we are following this considers autumn to start with the first of September. Daniel Darret, you are a an after my own heart.

"PS: ne mange pas trop de gâteau!"

 Je reivens sur la fête de petit loup, car ses grand-parents paternels lui ont envoyé une carte. Ma mère a décidé de lui rajouter ce PS. Je trouve ça ironique, sachant de qui Wolfie tient sa dent sucrée, d'une part, et sachant comment grand-maman le nourrit quand elle le voit. Preuve à l'appui: ce billet. Et pour la petite histoire, non, il n'en a pas trop mangé, il a été raisonnable.

The Man Cake

It was Wolfie's birthday a couple of days ago, as you may have guessed. This was his birthday cake, which I made myself: chocolate cake, chocolate ganache, KitKats on the side (two varieties) and Smarties on top (or rather the Smarties equivalent I bought at the local sweet shop). Delicious, but extremely fillin. When my wife saw it, she said: "I'm going to call this the Man Cake." I think this deserves to be a new great unknown line. As for the cake, I must say I'm quite proud of it. One of the best I've made, both in look and taste.

Les cadeaux de fête pour Wolfie

C'était la fête de petit loup il y a peu de temps. Nous avons donc acheté quelques cadeaux, sa mère et moi. Ma femme est toujours embarrassée quand je partage les photos sur les médias sociaux, elle trouve qu'on exagère un peu et elle n'aime pas qu'on le sache. mais Wolfie est enfant unique (pas une excuse, je sais) et puis l'extravagance c'est paraît-il un trait de famille du côté de ma mère et je n'y peux rien. Dans tous les cas, petit loup est toujours reconnaissant et pas blasé pour deux sous.

The Printer That Worked

A friend of mine shared that picture on social media a few weeks ago and it made me laugh so much that I decided to share it. It is funny (or tragic) because it's true: the printers we have here never work. Or they never work for long. They fare a bit better at work, but not that much. So, yeah...

Pointe de Bourdaloue

Photo d'une pointe de la tarte Bourdaloue mutante sur laquelle j'ai blogué en août. Rien que parce que.

The Autumn Alleyway

Okay, so I thought I would blog another post of our autumn chronicles. How is your September so far? Here the first week has been way, way, way too hot. And I mean dire. But it has finally started cooling down, at long last. And I don't care what others may say: autumn starts with the month, not at the equinox. So it should be autumnal now, not a week from now.And well, it is finally starting to be. At least in thealleyway leading from the back garden to the street, as you can see on that picture, taken yesterday. Granted, it has dry leaves pretty much all year round, so it looks like it's autumn any time of year. I often call it the Secret Passage, maybe I should call it the Autumn Alleyway.

Gâteau citron fromage japonais

Mon père m'a envoyé une photo de ce gâteau au fromage (et citron), paraît qu'il est japonais en plus. Je ne sais pas trop où il l'a acheté, mais j'ai pensé que les amateurs apprécieraient.

9/11 and now

Today is the 20th anniversary of 9/11. I have not forgotten. I will try to remain short, as I often blogged about it and I don't know if I can add all that much to what I have already said in the past. For my observations about this fateful day, please read this post from 2008 and this one from 2009. They are still the posts I am most proud of in all my years of blogging. Otherwise, there might be one thing that is worth adding: I find it tragic and often infuriating that nowadays, the United States is struggling with another sort of religious fundamentalism, not islamist this time, bu Christian, and that it brought its own homegrown domestic terrorism. Because I challenge anyone to tell me what is the intrinsic difference between a a MAGA supporter and/or a Christian fundie and an Islamist. No, cosmetic differences don't count.

Un champignon

Photo prise par mon père il y a quelques semaines. L'un des signes de l'automne. J'aimerais bien en voir ici, c'est l'automne en théorie, ou alors ça s'en vient, mais au lieu de ça ilfait juste chaud, alors je me console en regardant et en partageant des photos automnales. Sinon, comment est l'automne chez vous? Avez-vous vu des champignons?

Swanage Railway: the next journey?

On the last day of holidays in Dorset, I saw this poster at the Weymouth railway station. It was of course advertising Swanage Railway, which we did not have time to see. In fact, we did not even think of going there at all. I have heard about it before, but I don't know all that much about it. In fact, I know very little. It is on the Isle of Purbeck and it has steam trains, this is pretty much all I need to know. I know I would have had fun there. Wolfie too. My wife, maybe not so much. We might not go to Dorset again for our next holidays, but this is now on my bucket list.

Cormoran

Photo prise à Weymouth dans le Dorset, lors de nos vacances. Il s'agit d'un cormoran, enfin de la sculpture en bois d'un cormoran, avec la plage et un bras d'eau en arrière-plan. J'ai vu (peut-être) de vrais cormorans dans le Devon il y a presque dix ans. Ils avaient l'air presque surnaturel, avec leur plumage sombre. Sinon, je n'ai pas grand-chose à dire sur celui-ci, mais j'ai assez aimé la sculpture primitive pour la prendre en photo.

Monstrum on the Sasquatch

Let's talk about cryptids for a moment. Monstrum has recently done a video on the Sasquatch, aka Bigfoot, which I found utterly fascinating (as always). And as usual with Monstrum, the art and animation are as interesting as the educational content.

Le vent dans la voile

Photo prise par mon père à La Baie. Un vent d'est que j'aimerais bien avoir ici. Parce que ça nous rafraîchirait...

A quote from Napoleon Symphony

Here is a fitting quote from Anthony Burgess' Napoleon Symphony. Fitting as it describes perfectly the weather these days. Like perfectly. Dammit it's accurate.

Le condor

 Il y a environ un mois, nous sommes allés à une foire agricole, où nous avons vu entre autres une exhibiton d'oiseaux. Ceux de Millets Falconry. Dont ce condor. Je suis toujours un peu étonné quand je vois un condor en chair, en os et en plumes, parce que je le trouve toujours un peu moche. Une laideur sympathique qui me surprend un peu, parce que je l'imagine comme le Grand Condor (en or) d'une certaine émission de mon enfance. Tu regardes l'oiseau et on dirait plus une dinde qu'un rapace. Mais bon, je ne veux pas en dire du mal, comme je dis il a une laideur sympathique.

Fauda Will Return

Well, here is a bit of good news for amateur of intelligent spy/action drama. You may remember from one of my previous posts that I got seriously hooked on Israeli tv series Fauda. It has suspense, gripping tension in fact, plenty of drama, heart, soul and also, on top of that, a fair bit of Krav Maga, which is always great. The series had so far four seasons, each outdoing the other in some way or the other. The last season had ended on a cliffhanger of sorts (I don't want to give too much away if you haven't watched it.) Well, I learned two days ago that there will be a fifth season. As Fauda is a drama where anyone can die and it ended on a cliffhanger, I am really eager to know more about what happened and who survived the last ordeal, if any. I know I will be tuning in as soon as it is released.

48 Chemin Price (gin au bleuet)

Mon père m'a envoyé des photos de 48 Chemin Price, qui est le nom un peu long d'un gin au bleuet fait par la Distillerie du Fjord. J'ai bu très peu de gin dans ma vie, un peu plus durant mon année à Liverpool, mais j'essaierais bien celui-ci. Parce qu'il est au bleuet, parce qu'il est régional. Je suis curieux, parce que selon mon expérience (assez limitée), le gin ne goûte pas grand-chose, sauf l'alcool fort. Je me demande si on peut vraiment goûter le bleuet. J'imagine que oui, mais je suis curieux de savoir à quel point.

A post box in Wallingford

My readers know that I love the little town of Wallingford. We try to go there as often as we can, because it is so darn enjoyable. During our last time there, we walked pass a post box with a pink crocheted dog on top of it. Although I am not a dog person, I found it so cute and quirky that I could not resist taking a picture. I believe it was placed there by a charity to raise awareness for breast cancer. Many post boxes in the UK have little extra things like this for special occasions, that makes them stand out. It brings a bit of fantasy to the mundane and trivial.

24 pâtés à la viande

 Mon frère PJ a cuisiné 24 pâtés à la viande pendant la Fête du Travail. Il faudra bien que j'en fasse un de ces quatre. C'est juste que je serais le seul à en manger.

Ugh!

 Well, what goes around comes around. I was so happy that we had a fairly cool summer, I naively expected September to be at least as cool. It turned out I was a proper fool: it is hot with temperatures above 25 and we are heading right into a heatwave. In bloody September. A heatwave. In autumn. This is not new, but this is disheartening. And the attitude of the people who apparently are happy to head to the beach and do one last barbecue is downright infuriating. We might have the hottest days of the year this week! In autumn? Oh bloody Hell!

Les yeux du loup

Ma cousine Amy l'artiste photographe est allée avec sa famille au Zoo de Falardeau. Et elle a pris des photos, dont celle-ci. C'est pas moi qui pourrait en prendre une comme ça. Elle est vraiment magnifique.

Back. To. School.

 Today is the first day of shcool for Wolfie. Again. After a very short holiday (they do finish the year was too late in this country) of one month and a half or so, that gave us just the time to be all completely socially jetlagged as a family, it is back to the frantic morning routines. And it is a reminder that time goes way too fast. I always feel really sad when we kiss him goodbye at the school gate. Iam just not used to have my little boy growing up.

La Fête du Travail

C'est la Fête du Travail aujourd'hui, du moins en Amérique du Nord. Ici, c'est un lundi comme un autre (en fait non, c'est la rentrée, mais pour un travailleur c'est un lundi comme un autre). J'essaie de souligner la Fête du Travail chaque année, même si je ne peux pas en profiter depuis que je suis un expatrié. Je préfèrerais et de loin un congé en septembre qu'un congé en août. Pour mes impressions sur aujourd'hui, lire ce billet de 2015 et celui-ci de 2020. Sinon, je vous souhaite un bon jour férié, chanceux que vous êtes.

New Spooky Gnomes

Remember Spooky Spooky, the Halloween Gnome? Well, he now has little brothers, or cousins, or family members: these two gnomes. One is just like Spooky Spooky, albeit a tad smaller (I will need to compare him to the original when he's out of the Halloween box currently in the attic), the other is his exact twin brother, except clad in black. I find them both gorgeous. They are already on the bookshelves, Wolfie and I saw to it. Well, my son saw to it, he chose the place and everything.

Un panier de champignons

Ma cousine m'a envoyé une nouvelle photo, cette fois-ci d'un panier. Lequel est rempli de... Oui bon, pas de surprise ici: rempli de champignons. Je ne sais pas s'ils sont comestibles ou simplement décoratifs, mais je n'aime guère les champignons en général, sauf justement comme éléments de décoration. Ils sont magnifiquement automnaux, cela dit, alors je les partage ici pour le plaisir de rendre Vraie Fiction automnal.

Things to do in September

Quick post today. I am so glad it is September at last, even though it is meant to be quite warm this week. But I digress. September means autumn is here and that is enough to make me happy. Fittingly enough, English Heritage published yesterday an article (blog post?) about the Top 5 Things To Do In September. They are a bit vague, but good for inspiration (not that I really need any inspiration, mind you). They are all good advices anyway, very autumn related and there is even a skip and you miss it link to Halloween (number 4 if you are wondering). Anyway, I might write my own list of things to do in September, but I am curious about yours. What do you intend to do this September? Please leave a comment.

Question existentielle (383)

C'est le premier samedi de septembre, une date spéciale pour les enfants et pour tous nos souvenirs d'enfance. C'est le temps de la rentrée télé et des émissions pour enfants, surtout les émissions du samedi matin, qui étaient sans doute les meilleures. J'ai déjà blogué sur le sujet. Je ne veux pas faire un blogue complet là dessus, alors je vais me contenter de poser une question existentielle:

-Quelle est la meilleure émission pour enfants ou dessin animé du samedi matin de tous les temps?

Fish Platter

Here is another food post about our holidays in Dorset. One day, we went to the Taste Café at Chesil Beach, just to see the, well, beach. Also to have lunch, as we had heard good things about it. I had the best meal of my whole stay. It's a fish platter: fried scampies, smoked salmon, prawns in sauce, some kind of mackerell pâté (the best!), tartare sauce, a baguette to go with that and some beetroot salad for vegs. I cannot stress how good it was. A simple café by the sea, next to the visitors centre. I wanted to go back there again, but we didn't have the opportunity. If you ever go this way, seriously, this is the café to go for lunch and this is the dish to order if like me you are pretty much pescetarian.

PS:Literally just after posting this I discovered that the café shut down yesterday, after ten years of business. This is heartbreaking. It's like I was writing their eulogy without knowing it. Really lovely place with friendly staff.

Un champignon

Ma cousine Amy l'artiste-photographe a, à l'instar de mon père (incidemment son oncle) pris des photos de champignons dans le bois. L'automne est bel et bien arrivé. Photo partagée ici avec la permission de l'artiste.

September, Blissful September!

Happy first of September everyone! The first day of autumn, at least for the meteorilogical season and for autumn lovers like myself. I have been waiting for it all year. As it is tradition on Vraie Fiction, I share a picture of this sort of cornucopia: the fruits of autumn, apples and crab apples, and their jelly versions. Because September and autumn also means harvest. Of course, I don't take anything for granted: I have seen the weather and it will be warm, up to mid 20s (argh!). But September is here, cool times are coming, whether people want it or not, this is autumn, by any practical means. And I am very grateful for it.