Two for joy...

Okay, so this is not the greatest picture, but a few days ago, I saw these two magpies outside and I took this snapshot through the window. Two for joy, just like the nursery rhyme.Magpies are a common sight in this country, but I never get bored or watching them. They look so elegant with their black, white and blue feathers.

Un oeuf dans la forêt

Mon père a pris des photos durant son dernier voyage en forêt. Il a trouvé un oeuf. Je ne sais pas de quel oiseau il s'agit, mais s'il y a des gens qui s'y connaissent, veuillez me le dire. ce que j'aime quand on se trouve dans les bois, ce sont toutes les petites découvertes, comme celle-ci. Mais ça fait aussi une jolie photo. Des fois je partage des photos sur Vraie Fiction rien que parce que c'est un beau cliché. Mais enfin bref, quelqu'un sait c'est un oeuf de quel oiseau?

Growing Pumpkins (updates)

You may remember that last month I planted pumpkin seeds in the garden, hoping to have my own pumpkins for Halloween. I read a bit about it, watched a few videos on YouTube, did the ebst I could and planted them. As I am well aware that I am a poor gardener on even the best day, I was very skeptical about the possibility of even making one of the seeds germinate. Well, it turned out I might be better than I thought, or it is beginner's luck, because I saw this growing from the soil no later than yesterday. And there are others too, but this one is the most developed. So I'm very happy and very excited. I can even say that I am carefully optimistic.

"Te V'là" (Robert Charlebois

Parce que ce sera la Saint-Jean bientôt, je partage aujourd'hui une chanson de Robert Charlebois. Faut bien commencer à être festif.

There's a Museum of Literature

The things you learn sometimes at random, just by wasting a few minutes on social media. I discovered something exactly like this yesterday: there is a Museum of Literature in Ireland. I don't know if there are any other in the world, but there is one in Ireland and I don't know why but that makes perfect sense. And in Dublin as well, a city I visited once in my life and which I have been wanting to revisit since then. Now I have yet another reason to visit Ireland. We are planning holidays, but it will not be there this year (among other reasons because it is too chaotic a the airport), but Ireland is on my bucket list. This Museum too.

Tire-toi une bûche

Le 24 juin s'en vient, ce qui veut dire pour moi une autre Saint-Jean en expatrié. Ca me fera encore plus mal que le thème cette année, "notre langue aux mille accents", me touche vraiment. Ils ont de jolies affiches promotionnelles aussi, avec des expressions québécoises. Ma préférée est sans doute celle-ci. "Tire-toi une bûche", c'est vraiment convivial et sans prétention. C'est aussi ce qui m'est arrivé lors de ma dernière Fête nationale au Québec. Nous étions de retour à Chicoutimi pour un mariage, nous avions pris une marche le 23 en soirée et des voisins nous avaient invité pour une bière. J'ai raconté l'histoire en 2020. Tout ça pour dire qu'on m'avait offert de me tirer une bûche, au propre comme au figuré. Je crois qu'ils ont même utilisé l'expression.

Jubilee Cake

Yesterday, we went to one of those "street parties" that the English are quite fond of when there is something to celebrate. It was of course to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee. There were Jubilee pizzas, Jubilee nachos, with Jubilee salsa, Jubilee guacamole, Jubilee sausages, Jubilee other things and a proper Jubilee Cake, baked by one of the neighbours, not bought or anything. Only the topping as purchased. She was quite proud of making it. I managed to get this picture before more got eaten. At least you can see the inside. It tasted quite nice, I must say. Even though I'm a republican, I can appreciate British bakery. And in spite of my misanthropy, I can enjoy a little fête among neighbours.

Photo de Québec

Je partage encore une fois une photo de la ville de Québec, rien que parce que j'en ai une à partager.

The Shark of East Hampton, NY

We went on a day out a few days ago and parked in a public parking next to a truck. I think it was a Range Rover, I might be wrong. On this vehicle there were two stickers, including this one, which caught my attention. The car was British, but obviously they have been to East Hampton in the state of New York. I have never been to East Hampton or heard about East Hampton before. Of course what caught my attention was the shark. Apparently there's been shark sighting there in the recent past. I am not sure why, but I find all this fascinating: now I know of a place in the US I have never heard of or noticed before and I also a bit of local news. All this because we parked next to a car that had this.

Le panini au fromage

Il y a quelques jours, nous sommes allés à Bourne for Desserts, un petit diner américain qui se spécialise dans... enfin, oui, les desserts. C'était la première fois depuis des mois. Ils offrent des lunchs, mais ils sont simples: grosso modo, ue variété de grilled cheese, ou toasted cheese comme disent les Anglais. Mais ils se sont gentrifiés depuis notre dernière viste, car maintenant on peut l'avoir en panini au lieu du pain en tranches. Avec des chips (des crisps), et une salade pour faire un peu de verdure. C'est pas compliqué, c'est un peu cher pour ce que c'est, mais ça nous sustente et on se sent moins coupable quand on prend un dessert après.

Cub Coffee

When we went to that pub in the park event two weeks or so ago, my wife got curious about a stand, belonging to Cub Coffee. It is a vegan coffee company. My wife loves ethical businesses, especially vegan ones (while not vegan herself, she is vegetarian) and she loves coffee, so I bought her a "Pink Power Latte" (she loves pink stuff too). I did not buy a cuppa tea from them, maybe I should have had. I hate coffee, but I just find their sign cool, with the bear holding a mug. My wife was not really impressed with the latte, but I think sometimes it is okay to buy something for ethical reasons.

Le renard perdu

Ma belle-soeur (la blonde de mon frère Andrew et la mère du petit cousin de Wolfie de mon bord de la famille) nous a envoyé des photos d'un renard qui s'est perdu dans leur coin. Un renard perdu en banlieue, ou même dans un milieu plus urbain, cela n'a rien de si tant spécial, c'est même assez commun ici. Cela dit, comme j'aime les renards, je partage ici. C'est quand même plus impressionnant qu'un écureuil ou un lapin.

The Lawn, the Queen, the Jubilee

I blogged yesterday about No Mow May. My wife Veggie Carrie picked up on it, so we had this conversation last night, which I am sharing it here for posterity

My wife: "Now that No Mow May is over, maybe you should mow the front lawn?" 

Me: "The grass isn't that long." 

My wife: "Yes but it would be nice for the Jubilee." 

Me: "So what? The Queen is not going to show up here for a visit!"

 

I think this deserves to be a new great unknown line (seems to be making a lot of them these days). In any case, I will wait a bit until I mow the front lawn.

Calembour royalement atroce

J'y ai pensé pas plus tard qu'il y a quelques minutes et je me devais d'immortaliser ce calembour atroce maintenant. Alors le voici, retenez votre souffle: 

"Aujourd'hui, les Anglais jubilent." 

Je sais, je sais, vous êtes maintenant pris entre le désir de vous faire aller les gencives ou vous goinfrer de Tylenols pour la migraine que vous venez subitement de choper.

The Jubilee Cat (and an invitation)

We received this through the door a few days ago. It is an invitation to a local Jubilee Party on the 5th of June. It is not signed. There are parties like this all around England and the UK of course. I don't know who gave us this card, but I suspect she (I think it's a she, this is a woman's handwriting) knows we are cat lovers. Or maybe she's just an old lady. Old ladies sent such cards, with cats on them. We don't know yet if we will attend. I am not a monarchist, for one, so I find the current display of patriotism a little bit much. And, while I get along with a few neighbours, there are one or two I can't stand. Still, it's a cool cat. A Jubilee Cat, if you will.

L'eau de la piscine est bleue

Dans mon billet du 1er juin, je disais que l'eau de la piscine chez mes parents (la piscine de mon enfance) était verte. Et pas un beau vert de mer, un vert laid, glauque et visqueux. Mais là, l'eau est finalement bleue. Elle est donc prête pour la baignade. Hélas, la branche anglaise de ma famille ne pourra sans doute pas en profiter cette année. La piscine, c'était la chose que j'aimais le plus de mon été quand j'étais jeune.

No Mow May

 I have only learned about it on the last day of May, but I thought I needed to mention it here: last month was No Mow May.  If you do No Mow May, you should not mow the lawn for the whole month, so the bees (other insects too, but especially the bees) can pollinate the wild flowers that will bloom. You can read about it in this article in The Guardian. Well, I now feel less guilty for not mowing the back garden for the whole month. Although I did mow the front one, as my wife insisted. Well, this will not happen again for May. I now know that I must be eco-friendly and help the bees. All these years, I was fighting the good fight and I didn't even know it.

Le mois de "la St-'ean"

Il y a une chose que je voulais souligner, j'aurais peut-être dû le faire hier, mais bon: le mois de juin, c'est le mois de notre Saint-Jean-Baptiste, la Fête nationale du Québec et des Québécois. Je la fête en expatrié depuis 2007. Le thème cette année, "notre langue aux mille accents", est vraiment bien, de même que les affiches et bannières. Laquelle est votre préférée? Pendant tout le moi de juin, je vais bloguer sur le sujet aussi souvent que possible.

The Magic Flute Book

I had promised myself to behave last time I went to the local bookshop, but then I found something I had to buy for me, herr, I mean, for Wolfie. I found this book, which is a retelling of f Die Zauberflöte by Mozart. The Magic Flute. It is one of these books where you press a button and you hear a bit of music. Now it is a beautiful book, it has absolutely lovely illustrations, however I think it made serious and questionable changes to the story. I am not talking merely of cuts here: entire plot points are entirely rewritten and overall it is very different from the original libretto. Only the characters are the same, somewhat. And well, there is the music too, the lovely music. On the plus side, Wolfie has been enjoying it fairly well, at least he's been asking a lot of questions when I read it to him. So it was a good purchase. Anyway, to end this post, I have to share a bit of the score. I have decided to go for the quintet of the first act. It is literally one moral preaching and a lot of exposition, yet Mozart turns it into a charming piece.

L'eau de la piscine est verte

Premier billet de juin, comme c'est techniquement le premier jour de l'été, je partage une photo de la piscine chez mes parents. L'été est ici, mais l'eau de la piscine est encore verte. Cela semble si long, quand on attend que la piscine soit prête pour se baigner. Mais c'est bien le seul aspect de l'été dont je m'ennuie. Petit loup aimerait vraiment visiter ses grand-parents rien que pour la piscine, mais je ne crois pas que ça va arriver cette année.