La collection de cocottes

 Vous ne le savez peut-être pas, mais petit loup aime les cocottes, pour une raison quelconque. Les cocottes, les bouts de bois, sinon les branches tombées des arbres, les cailloux, les roches, les fleurs sauvages et les cocottes. Il les collectionne: j'en retrouve dans son sac d'école et dans ses poches de manteau. Celle-ci, trouvée un matin d'avril alors qu'on allait à la gare, il ne l'a pas prise, parce qu'elle était trop grosse pour ses poches, mais j'ai pris une photo. Les cocottes me font toujours un peu penser à l'automne, je ne sais pas trop pourquoi.

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.

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.

La "dernière" bûche de Noël

Pour moi, le dessert de Noël, c'est la bûche. Mes parents en font deux: une en gâteau, une avec de la crème glacée. J'ai essayé d'en faire, avec des résultats catastrophiques. Alors au lieu de tenter ma chance et de me planter encore une fois, je les achète. L'une de nos pâtisseries locales va fermer bientôt, alors j'ai acheté pour la dernière fois une de leurs bûches. Pas mal, avec un glaçage au beurre. Glaçage que petit loup n'a pas aimé. Alors ma femme et moi en avons eu plus. J'aime bien l'ajout de la cocotte en chocolat, avec les copeaux. Enfin bref, c'est peut-être la dernière bûche que l'on mangera de cette pâtisserie.

Cocottes

 Lorsque nous allons porter Wolfie à l'école, il y a une chose que j'aime beaucoup et c'est l'allée où l'on marche pour s'y rendre. Elle a beaucoup de conifères qui la longent et ça veut dire qu'il y a beaucoup de cocottes par terre. Je sais que ça ne me prend pas grand-chose pour être heureux, mais bon, ça ajoute du cachet à l'endroit. On pourrait l'appeler le sentier ou l'allée des cocottes. Et puis j'aime les cocottes parce que je fais certaines associations par rapport à elles (voir ce billet). Mon fils a aussi cette fascination pour les cocottes, parfois il les cueille pour en faire collection. C'est pas une mauvaise chose à collectionner, tant qu'on les laisse dehors.

Une cocotte dans le passage secret

Vous vous souvenez du "passage secret" entre notre jardin et la rue. C'est un coin que j'aime beaucoup, bordé d'arbres. Je passais par là avec petit loup (il aime beaucoup le parcourir lui aussi) quand j'ai vu cette cocotte sur le sol. Et puis? Et puis rien, sauf que j'aime aussi beaucoup les cocottes, pour les raisons citées ici. J'ai trouvé l'image assez intéressante pour en faire une photo et la partager sur Vraie Fiction. Après tout, ce blogue est aussi fait de petites anecdotes sans importance.

Sensory pine cones

Today, we went to a sensory workshop with our little Wolfie, for babies, toddlers and slightly older but still young children. There were a number of sections, including one with a kind of woodland display, including these pine cones in a box. Wolfie was pretty indifferent towards this particular section, but since I love woodland, I absolutely loved it. Especially the pine cones. I noticed that it was babies with their mums who seemed to enjoy this woodland display the most. Some little ones were fascinated with the pine cones, touching them, sometimes chewing them even. It was quite sweet. I never thought before that pine cones could be used for early learning, but it makes sense, given their shape and texture.

"Brownettone"

Is it too early to think about Christmas and thus to blog about Christmas stuff? I tend to think so, yet I will do it right now. Because, for my wife's birthday, we went to Zizzi, a restaurant I don't like much generally, but this time the food was decent enough. They already had their Christmas menu, and in their dessert a hybrid between the brownie and the traditional Italian  panettone, the "brownettone". I thought it was an intriguing mix, so I ordered one. It tasted weird, but it was a nice mix overall, with the chocolate sauce and the moist of the brownie counterbalancing the dryness of the panettone. And I loved the chocolate pine cone on top. Anyway, so this was my first Christmas experience this year.

Christmas stockings

One of the many Christmas traditions that my family keeps, even though we are now adults and should have outgrown them, is the Christmas stockings. We've had the same ones since we are children and now three more have been added by the fireplace: one for Andrew's girlfriend (which you can see on this picture), one for my wife (which we forgot in England, so we need to buy a replacement quickly) and one for little Wolfie. This is one is the best looking I think, with the pine cones. I thought I would share it here.

Pine Cones for Christmas

There was a Christmas market today at the hotel where my parents are staying. They have one every year at the end of November, which I find a tiny bit early, but we go there every year all the same. I usually buy a decoration or two, if I can find some that look nice. In a stand, they were selling among other things hand made pine cones meant to be like Christmas tree baubles. I thought they would make a nice addition to our Christmas tree, so I bought two of them, because they were two for five pounds. So here they are, to put you in the spirit of the season.

The Great Outdoors

Again, I took this picture from the Facebook page of David's Tea. It is basically advertising their autumnal products with a forest and camping theme this year, with pine cones, bears and everything. Because yes,the season has already arrived at David's Tea, so for the lucky tea lovers who have one nearby, it is time to stock up and get yourself into an autumnal mood. I have to say, the designs as usual are great (albeit maybe not as great as last year) and the blends are intriguing (among them we can find good old classics). With the cupboards of my new home, there is some room for new mugs. And there is always room for more brews. But I will need to find somewhere my autumnal teas.

A house troll

I blogged not so long ago about the Arensbak Trolls. These trolls are not like the trolls of Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore, they are not evil monsters, but more akin to spirits of nature and, since these trolls are for home, they are also household guarding spirits. My brother and have gathered some through the years, thanks mostly to my parents' generosity. This one is mine. It is comfortably set on one of my bookshelves in my bedroom, guarding my books. I was very tempted to bring him back with me, but then I thought better of it: the bookshelves here are already cluttered and this troll has been guarding my books all his life and this is how he should remain. I recently showed the picture to the Ticklers, who thought my troll was really cute and spontaneously said they wanted one like this. Maybe one day I should.

Trolls

There is this shop on Saint-Denis, on the Plateau Mont-Royal, that sells gems and stones and New Age(ish) stuff. But it also sells trolls made by this American company. You can see their Facebook page here. The trolls are hand-made with natural fabrics (such as pine cones) and of various shapes and forms. Some are as small as say glass and can stand on a bookshelf or a mantelpiece, others are as tall as a child, such as the one you see on the left. As I love folklore in general and Norse folklore in particular, you can guess that I I always loved them. I have one back home in Chicoutimi, which I might show on the blog one day. This is one is at the entrance of the shop. I am blogging about them because I always stop at the shop and rediscover them when I stay in Montreal. These trolls are far kinder than the original Norse monsters, they are more like spirits of nature than malevolent creatures, so they belong to a home, as guardians or simply dwellers. I was thinking about buying two as presents to the Ticklers, but the girls might prefer something a bit cuter (although they love scary stuff). I could buy one for myself, but the bookshelves at home are already crammed. So I might just enjoy their display in the shop.

A pine cone

This is a post about one of these little nothings that make life. I took this picture yesterday on my lunch break, of a pine cone that had fell on a bush, the thick leafs keeping it from falling further. I don't know why but I thought it was a striking image, it got stuck in my head so I took the picture. There are plenty of pine trees in the business park where my working place is, so there are plenty of dry pine cones like this one falling on the ground. I don't associate pine cones with Spring, for me it is of course the object of cold autumn or winter days, things you put dry in the fire after a walk outside. This is what I think about when I see a pine cone: I daydream about warming up by the fireplace. In a way, it is one of these objects that trigger my mind the way madeleines did to Proust. I didn't put them that often in a fire, but I remember doing it sometimes.

The Ancient Yuletide Carol

This is a decoration from the family Christmas tree: a pine-cone turned into a little person, maybe a gnome, holding proudly a Swedish flag. I am putting it up for a few reasons: because it is a beautiful, simple decoration, my family and I have a bit of history with Sweden and because as I blogged before I associate Christmas with Norse mythology. I love my Christmas primitive in a Pagan way, with the Christmas tree represents some representation of Yggdrasil, the mistletoe is the instrument of the god Balder's death and overall, is all about the return of light after darkness. I am very tempted to call it Yule. I will blog more about it in the coming weeks. Now, as I haven't uploaded music on Vraie Fiction for a long while, I thought about uploading a Christmas carol that is more secular and mentions Christmas' Pagan roots. I immediately thought about Deck the Halls, with its instructions to "Troll the ancient Yuletide carol". Although the troll of the lyrics is a verb, not a troll, it is still primitive. I was not much of a big fan of this particular carol, unless I started paying attention to the lyrics. Now I love it.

Une cocotte

Cette photo a été prise à Kew Gardens. Je sais que c'est une image modeste comparée à tout ce que les jardins ont à offrir, mais c'est ce genre d'objet qui capte mon attention. On en voit tober un peu partout ici, elles sont sèches comme celle-ci. Les cocottes, je les aime sèches dans un feu de foyer une soirée froide d'automne. Il est supposé faire chaud cette semaine, mais j'ai déjà des envies de feux de foyer. J'y pense à chaque fois que je vois une cocotte par terre.