A Rocket in our Garden

A few weeks ago, I found this rocket in the front garden, right in the lavender plant that belongs to our neighbour, but on our side. It was coming from the foam rockets launcher of our neighbours, a little boy who is a few months older than Wolfie. He sometimes plays with it and it ends up everywhere, including our front lawn. Thankfully it's only in foam. Wolfie's grandparents have a similar toy for when their grandchildren visit them, but I think it might be nice if he had his own at home. Although we can easily lose the missiles, Wolfie really playing this and it is just great fun. I must confess, I enjoy playing with rocket launchers too.

Bumblebees and lavender

Yesterday I blogged about arachnids, today it is about bumblebees. So one of our neighbours has lavender in her front garden, lots of plants, from her house to the alleyway. It looks and smells quite nice. For the last few weeks, I have noticed a lot of bumblebees buzzing there (I think they are bumblebees and not bees, certainly they are not wasps). We steer clear of them, but I love the look of them and the buzzing. They make for much nicer neighbours than the spiders.

Signe du déclin industriel (la photo du mois)

Tu parles d'une idée, me suis-je dit quand j'ai lu le thème de la photo du mois d'avril, choisi par Alban. Puis je me suis dit: vivant en Angleterre, ça sera d'une facilité assommante. Ce pays est un témoin vivant du déclin industriel. L'industrie y est née pour décliner, pour ainsi dire. Et pourtant... J'ai trouvé le signe du déclin industriel lors de mon dernier séjour en Bretagne. D'une facilité assommante tout de même, mais dans un endroit inusité. Enfin bref, ceci est un lavoir. Parce que, bien que les lavoirs existent encore, il ne sont plus guère (plus du tout?) utilisés et les lavandières n'existent plus. Peut-être que c'est plus un signe du déclin de l'artisanat que de l'industrie, je ne suis pas certain, mais enfin c'est bien une industrie qui a décliné et qui est morte et je trouve ça toujours frappant quand je vois un lavoir.

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Bleuets et lavande

Petite découverte inusitée lors de la fin de semaine dans le Derbyshire chez les amis de ma femme: cette confiture de bleuets et lavande. C'est ce que j'ai eu pour le déjeuner le matin, un délice qui vient, comme vous le voyez, de Bracken Hill, une compagnie du Yorkshire. je ne sais pas si on peut trouver leurs produits dans le sud, mais je compte essayer d'en trouver, s'ils sont aussi bons que la confiture de bleuets et lavande. Je peux toujours en acheter sur leur site en ligne, j'imagine.

Bon, pas que je tienne à en beurrer épais (ha, ha, ha!) sur une simple confiture, mais c'était vraiment bon et je n'avais pas pensé que la lavande se marierait bien avec le bleuet. Pour moi, la lavande, c'est un parfum. J'ai choisi cette confiture pour mettre sur mes toasts par curiosité et parce que le bleuet est le fruit du Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean. Il fallait bien que je l'essaie, mais je ne savais pas que ce serait aussi bon. Le Yorkshire étant dans le Nord, je me demande s'il n'y a pas une certaine affinité avec mon propre coin de pays.

Rooibos, lavender and blueberries

I was thinking about this post about lavender, and it reminded me that I have a special rooibos brew from David's Tea which has lavender in it. It is called rooibos de Provence, because of the lavender. And it has blueberries in it. I find it an unique mix: the rooibos is of course South African, the lavender associated with the South of France and the blueberries, well, they are the fruit of the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean where I am from. And of course I bought it in Montreal. So I like this rooibos for cultural reasons too. Sadly my stocks are getting desperately low.

The fragrance of lavender

The evil witch I used to have as a downstairs neighbour and who worked very hard to poison my life is now gone. As I think I mentioned before, she was also the self-appointed gardener of this block and self-proclaimed regent of the darn place. So anyway she sold her house, left the place and left the garden as it is, unattended. So plants keep on growing, untended. I should be angry, but I don't care one bit. The witch is gone, I prefer an untended garden to one that is run by a crazy busybody. But I noticed something today: lavender growing in various patches by the building. And I love the smell of lavender. I associate it more with the South of France, especially Provence, something that they put in clothes so they can smell fresh. I love the smell of lavender, when it is real, fresh lavender. I am kind of tempted to use the lavender of the garden in the same fashion, put some on my clothes to have the fragrance on them. It's not like anyone will care anyway. The gardeners that come here are basically glorified lawnmowers and they were doing what the witch was telling them to do, which is very little. Now they'll keep on mowing the lawn and do very little else. And the plants are going to grow wild anyway, until (and unless) someone in the board of administrators decide to do anything. That said, I am maybe just as keen to let the lavender grow wild. I will enjoy its fragrance in the garden and remember that the evil witch is gone every time I smell it.