Des bonhommes de neige en ski

 Quand vient Noël, je suis toujours à la recherche de décorations pour le sapin. Des décorations originales et de préférence artisanales. Alors donc, il y avait un marché de Noël il y a une semaine dans notre petite ville et un artisan vendait des ornements en bois, notamment des gnomes (Pères Noël?) en ski et des bonhommes de neige. J'ai acheté un des bonhommes, parce que c'étaient les plus mignons. J'aurais pu en acheter plus, chacun était unique. J'espère revoir cet artisan aux prochaines Fêtes.

Verre de Noël

 Bon, on dirait bien que Noël s'en vient, même dans cette maison. Je trouve ça encore tôt un peu mais bon, ma femme a acheté ce verre de Noël. Avec des Pères Noëls, ou en tout cas des gnomes de Noël (des petits lutins?), du gui et des arbres de Noël. Ma femme s'en sert maintenant à chaque fois qu'elle veut boire un verre d'eau. Je crois que nos décorations des Fêtes vont sortir avant peu de temps.

Christmas Gnomes

 My wife went to an art and craft evening with some friends last week. She does that sometimes. We spend a boy's night in Wolfie and I. When my wife came back, she had made these two gnomes. She used two old wornout  Christmas socks for the hats. Socks I bought her ages ago as Christmas present. I'm glad we granted them a second life. Anyway, these two fellas are our new Christmas ornaments. We haven't decided of a name yet. Please feel free to provide suggestions in the comments section.

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.

L'Halloween dans un magasin

Photo prise dans un commerce sur le Plateau par ma mère. Je n'ai rien à dire, sinon que j'achèterais tout le magasin.

Cool Halloween Gnomes

My mum took this picture a few days ago in a shop on the Plateau Mont-Royal. It seems that the gnomes craze has reached Montreal. I don't mind, I love gnomes and especially Halloween gnomes. These two look like a cool duo of spooky gnomes, what with their shades. Maybe they look more autumnal than Halloweeny, especially the one with the ginger beard, you tell me. Still, this household has the best Halloween gnomes, especially Spooky Spooky, it also has the best autumn gnomes. That said, the more the merrier, and I might buy more gnomes before the end of the month. And you, do you have any Halloween gnomes?

New Halloween Gnomes

 You might think I'm exagerating.Maybe I am. But summer is in full swing and I want to start preparing for Halloween to change my mind a bit, so I bought more Halloween gnomes. These two. They look quite cute and unique in their own way. One holds a candy cane(!), the other has two bats on a leash. With Spooky Spooky, that makes three Halloween gnomes. Added to them the three Autumn gnomes I got for my birthday and we are building quite a tribe. Wolfie loves them, but we haven't named these two yet. Any suggestions, please give them in the comments section.

Autumn Gnomes

My wife bought me these three gnomes for my birthday. I know, I know, they are out of seasonand they might be put in a drawer soon, to be taken out in September, but aren't they cute? We haven't decided of names yet, but Wolfie (who loves them as much as me) and I are working on it. We might actually keep them on display, just so I can look at them when I long for autumn. Which often happens when autumn is not there as of yet. In any case, I believe we never have enough gnomes and other magical creatures in the house, so I'm very happy we have three more.

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.

Spooky Spooky the Halloween Gnome

For today's countdown to Halloween post, a quick update on one of favourite Halloween finds this year. You may remember that last month I bought a Halloween Gnome, who was baptised Spooky Spooky by Wolfie. As a guardian gnome, I wondered what he should guard, then I thought he'd look good on the bookshelves, guarding our books. So far, no thief or intruder has showed up, so he must be doing his job well. I'd say he must have a few magic tricks up his sleeves, or in his hoodie, or in his wand. Or maybe he just terrifies baddies and evil critters with his scary demeanour. In any case, we love him very much. And he is doing his duty so well that I am considering keeping him on the shelves all year round.

Our Halloween Gnome

Well, I don't care if some people might say it's still too early: for me countdown to Halloween is already started and has been for quite a while. So it means that I started looking for and buying decorations. And I stumbled on this one online, which I bought recently. It's our new Halloween gnome. You might remember that I had wanted to buy a Halloween Garden Gnome last year. Well, this one is a Halloween House Gnome, with Jack O'Lantern hood and Jack O'Lantern on a stick. My wife was not too happy, but Wolfie absolutely loves him. He said the gnome will chase nightmares away, which is a very fitting duty for a gnome clothed in the coloursof the season. Wolfie has already christened him "Spooky Spooky". I wanted a bit more time to find him a name, but Spooky Spooky will do.

Garden gnome shortage

Well, sometimes there are news that you don't know if they are plain bad or just plain weird. Because of the Suez canal blockage, the UK is short on... garden gnomes. I kid you not. I haven't been in a garden centre for ages and I am a terrible gardener, but I would love to have a garden gnome to do the job in my place. Or just to look cute outside. We used to have scarecrows, but they didn't last long. Anyway, I will have to wait to buy garden gnomes, or so it seems. I really wish I had bought that one when I had the chance.

Halloween Gnome

Sometimes there are things I wish I could have bought and carried home when I saw them. It happened last year when I walked to the Morrissons near my then working place in my previous job (it seems like ages now). I used to like that Morrissons, in fact going there was often the only thing I liked about my working day. It always had a thing or two to discover, whether it was food or, well, something else. So anyway, last October I walked into Morrissons and the first thing I saw next to their flower bouquets was that garden gnome. Except that it was a Halloween Gnome (the Halloween Gnome?). I did not buy it, albeit at £30.00 while not cheap it was not grossly out of price and I kind of regret it. I could go back there and check if it is still on sale, but I fear I could bump into one of my ex colleagues and I'd rather avoid it. But what a very cool gnome.

David the Gnome

I blogged about David the Gnome before, when I wrote about the book that inspired the animated series. I have been wanting to read the book, but also to revisit the old series. I actually did not watch all that much of it as a child, but I did enjopy the few episodes I watched. Maybe it's my natural tendency to feel nostalgic, and this series's appeal has a lot to do with nostalgia. One of a time that never quite existed, but you still feel familiar with it. Anyway, here's the opening credits. It always gives me goosebumps.

The gnome in the park

I blogged before about this wooden man, I presume a gnome or another faerie or magical type of creature, reading a book in a park near the home of our friends.We went to visit them last weekend and we stopped at the park. I think it had been changed since we last went there, some extra equipment in the playground area, some extra benches too, but I was happy to see that the mysterious gnome made of stomp was still there, still reading his book with his stern face. I strongly suspect that he is the guardian of the park. I also wonder what book he reads. It is probably written in gnomish, so I would not be able to read anyway. But the gnome absolutely fascinates me.

Gatekeeper

A few weeks ago, we went to The Apple Orchard in the village of West Wycombe. The Apple Orchard is a coffee shop that is also a mere shop, with furniture, articles for the garden and so on. I particularly liked one piece of sculpture for garden decoratio: this gatekeeper. I know it is a gatekeeper as it's  the name it has on its label. But truly, he looks like a beardless garden gnome with a distrustful and sinister expression. A gatekeeper of folklore and myths, guarding the entry to the Otherworld. Not all gnomes have to be jolly and friendly. This one is not. Since I love all things spooky, I was tempted to buy it, but at £24.50 it is a bit much and more importantly, I don't think my wife or little Wolfie would like it much. Nevertheless, I thought I would show it here, just because it is a cool looking critter.

Gnomes

I don't know why, but the recent post I wrote about gnomes made me think of an old animated TV series I used to watch as a child, called David the Gnome. I used to love it, although I only have a vague memory about it. As a medieval fantasy fanatic and being already into medieval role-playing games, the series was right in my alley, even though it was a bit naive and light on violence. The cartoon was based on a series of books by Wil Huygen and artist Rien Poortvliet. One of my brothers got this book of the series (pictured right) for Christmas (or maybe for his birthday, I am not certain). I only read a few pages of it, but was happily surprised as it was far more complex, far richer and much darker than the children cartoon. I hope I can get my hands on one of the book again and give it a proper read at last.

Wolfie and the gnome

If some of you may remember, I blogged in 2017 about a park with a wooden sculpture looking very much like a gnome. Well, it turned out they have a few more wooden statues like it, including this one of a much friendlier looking gnome, who actually ot Wolfie quite curious. We were in that park recently with some friends and at some point, getting bored of the playground, Wolfie decided to explore. So he found out this gnome. I took a few snapshots, not very good ones as the light was getting dim already, but this one was not too bad. I wonder if we had stayed longer, the gnome would have started moving. I suspect they are the guardians the the park.

Behold some mushrooms

Here is another sign of autumn's presence, however discreet it still is: some mushrooms I found nearby. I associate strongly wild mushrooms like these with autumn and with their old folkloric significance. Maybe they are also the signs of some faerie folk, some gnomes perhaps, or maybe, if you have a more sinister imagination, some witches. Although they were only a few mushrooms, not a circle. Still, it was nice to see.

Grimble Gromble the Gnome

I thought this blog needed a bit more Pink Floyd, as I have not uploaded any of their song since 2015. So here is The Gnome from their first album. It is kind of silly compared to their greatest works, but it's a catchy tune and it's a million times better than the rubbish we get on radio these days. The Piper at the Gate of Dawn had plenty of folkloric elements, come to think of it.