Drink beer, visit Milan

My readers know that I love English real ales and if I drink other beers sometimes, real ales are my go-to poison. In Québec, it's of course microbrewery beers, again usually English ale types. I'm not the biggest drinker of Italian beers. But sometimes, just sometimes, I go for Italian beers. It was the case recently, when I bought myself an Angelo Poretti. I think it was my first time. It was an all right beer, but I bought it because it also gave me the chance to win a trip to Milan. Now I have been to Milan once and I actually disliked that city, I found it utterly vulgar. That said, I have friends that live not so far and I think it would be a good opportunity to visit them. Anyway, I didn't win, but at least I got a beer.

Des araignées partout

Elles n'ont pas encore commencé à investir la maison comme ça arrive souvent au mois de septembre, cela dit, nous avons pleins d'araignées dans le jardin. Il y en avait une qui avait élu domicile juste à l'entrée de la remise, une autre dans la remise et finalement celle-ci, qui avait tissé sa toile entre le bac vert pour le compost et la clotûre. J'ai dû la chasser, mais j'avoue que je l'ai fait à regret, parce que la toile était vraiment magnifique.

Historical Autumn Traditions

 This post is for all autumn lovers among you. I know there are many. Anyway, I found this article from English heritage, titled Historical Autumn Traditions. There is a lot you probably know already, it talks of Halloween of course, but you might learn a thing or two nevertheless. I love English Heritage, I always learn something with them, or they make me remember something I had forgotten about history or folklore. As I am typing this, I have just flickered through the article, but I will read it more thoroughly as soon as possible. I intend to integrate old traditions to our family life here. I try to automnise my life and, when autumn is finally here (and it is here now, no matter what people say about it), I automnise it more.

Le boulevard du temps qui passe

Je mentionnais récemment sur mon mur Facebook la rentrée scolaire de petit loup, me lamentant que le temps passe trop vite. Mon frère PJ a envoyé cette chanson de Georges Brassens en guise de commentaire. Je l'avais déjà entendue, mais c'est la première fois que j'y prends vraiment conscience. Dans le cocktail de nostalgie et mélancolie, c'est peut-être parfait.

Being the good Samaritan

Last Sunday, as I was walking on my way downtown to run some errands, passing by the local clinic, I was asked by an old lady if I had a pen on me. She was walking with her dog and had a few envelopes in her hands that she needed to post through the mailbox of a drugstore. She had forgotten to write a few things on the envelope. Thankfully, I had a pen in the breastside pocket of my coat, even better it was not out of ink, so I lend it to her for a moment. I held the dog's leash, who was curious and friendly towards me while she wrote her stuff. She profusely thanked me. So that was my good deed of the day and I played the role of the good Samaritan. Moral of the story: always keep a pen on you.

Vache à lait

Lors de notre dernière visite dans un zoo pour enfants pas loin de chez nous, nous avons pu assister à la traite d'une vache. Je sais pas pourquoi, je me sentais mal à l'aise, un peu comme si on regardait une mère allaiter sur scène. Je me sens même un peu coupable de partager cette photo, c'est vous dire. Peut-être que les arguments des vegans ont fini par m'influencer, je sais pas. Dans tous les cas, je serai toujours reconnaissant envers la vache de nous donner du lait, parce que je suis un grand consommateur de lait et de produits laitiers.

Labouring Day

Today is Labor Day on the other side of the Atlantic, but here our bank holiday was the last Monday of August. Our next holidays will be at Christmas. So yeah, today we had a normal working day. You could say that instead of Labor Day, we had a labouring day. I do miss a good September holiday and I must confess, I am still not used to not having Labor Day. But hey, at least it's September.

Rosa, rosa, rosam, etc.

Bon ben mon fils a eu son premier jour d'école de première année et moi j'ai survécu. Je trouve que le temps passe (trop) vite. Alors donc, je partage encore une fois cette année Rosa de Jacques Brel, rien que parce que ça parle un peu beaucoup de ça, de l'école, de temps qui passe trop vite et de l'enfance.

 

Coffee #1 is in Wallingford

We made one happy new (re)discovery during our last visit to Wallingford: believe it or not, they have a Coffee #1. You may remmeber that I discovered this chain back in Cardiff, one of the best things during a trip that had been overall pretty lacklustre. It's a fairly small chain, they had a few coffee shops in Cardiff but little outside and none nearby. None until we found that one in Wallingford, that is. Now I don't like coffee at all, but love a good coffee shop, for everything else: the seating place, the atmosphere, and so on. Going back to this one, I remembered why I enjoyed it so much: it is a very nice setting and the staff is warm and friendly. Wallingford has many nice places like for a drink and a quick bite (or a lazy afternoon), so it makes sense that they opened a franchise there. We will go back.

Retour à la petite école

Non, non, je ne retourne pas à l'école. Mais petit loup oui, il entre en première année pas plus tard que ce matin. Et oui, c'est la rentrée aujourd'hui. Et je ne suis pas prêt, bien entendu, je trouve que le temps passe trop vite. Afin de souligner la nouvelle année qui commence, cette photo des jeux sur mon école primaire, "la petite école" comme une de mes grand-tantes l'appelait. Je me rappelle avoir moins aimé ma première année, alors je regarde cette photo avec un mélange de nostalgie pour moi et d'anxiété pour mon fils. Un brin d'anxiété, pas trop.

September Calendar (in a nutshell)

I took this image year or two ago the Facebook page of David's Tea. I didn't have time to share it then, so I am doing it now. I know they have been struggling, but they can be so in tune with what I think it is uncanny. So here is their September Calendar, which I find very accurate, at least where I come from.

Chevreuil et Île d'Anticosti

La photo date d'une dizaine d'années, mon père l'a prise sur l'Île d'Anticosti, m'a-t-il dit. Le coucher de soleil est superbe et on voit très bien le chevreuil, alors je la partage.

Geese Flying

How's your September so far? As you know, I consider that autumn starts with the month, not on the equinox. Be that as it may, it's been so far an okay month: a tad too warm, perhaps, but you can feel the cooler air and that smell that is so typical of autumn. You know that one? The temperature may still be in the lower 20s, it still does feel like summertime anymore. And I'm very glad for it. One sign though I hadn't yet seen were the flocks of geese flying south. Their cry pretty much heralds the season for me. Well, two days ago, late afternoon, I heard them. I did not see the flock, but I heard their distinctive cry. And it really felt good.

Miguelito Siempre!

C'est septembre, quasiment la fin des vacances, le temps où je lisais les albums de Mafalda pour combattre mes nombreux accès de mélancolie, j'en partage donc un autre gag. Il met en scène Miguelito et est autant drôle que philosophique.

The Old Nags Head

We went to Wallingford recently and we had a few walks there. In one of these walks, I saw this pub ensigne: The Old Nags Head. Strangely enough, it's "Old Nags" and not "Old Nag's". Be that as it may, it looked great and it was such a cool name for a pub. it makes a change from The King's Head, The Queen's Head, The Duke of This or The (Insert Colour) Lion. I thought we could stop there for a quick pint and then go our merry way. Alas, we were sorely mistaken: The Old Nags Head is no longer a pub, but a private residence. We nearly walked in someone's kitchen. Whoever had this idea was an architectural sadist.

La Tour de Pise en bouteille

J'ai blogué plus tôt sur Avanti, un petit restaurant italien plein de charme situé dans la petite ville anglaise pleine de charme de Wallingford. Il y avait pleins de petits trucs sans importance qui ont retenu mon attention, dont cette bouteille, penchée comme la Tour de Pise, qui d'ailleurs était sur son étiquette. Dans une autre vie, elle a contenu du limoncello. Il faudrabien un jour que je voie la vraie, avant qu'elle ne tombe. Sinon, j'aimerais bien acheter une bouteille de limoncello de cette marque précise, pas tant pour boire du limoncello (c'est pas vraiment plus qu'une limonade alcoolisée), mais pour avoir la bouteille après comme décoration à mettre quelque part. Bon, c'est pas comme si on n'avait pas déjà assez de cossins à la maison, mais c'est quand même une jolie bouteille et ça italianiserait la maison. Ou alors je suis quétaine.

Vesuvio Souvenir

For our wedding anniversary, my wife and I went to Avanti, a little Italian restaurant in the little town of Wallingford. It was a lovely evening and Avanti was the perfect place to celebrate. Like many Italian restaurants, it had many little things that were used as part of the décor. Such as this bottle of what I assume was limoncello, in the shape of Italy and of a booth, called "Vesuvio Souvenir", so probably bought somewhere near Mount Vesuvius. I thought it was funny, this delicate carved bottle associated with a volcano. Anyway, we didn't drink limoncello after the meal, I'm not a big fan of it anyway, but for a moment I almost felt like I was back in Italy. My wife and I agree that we ought to visit it one day.

Coucher de soleil sur le Lac Saint-Jean

Mes parents sont allés souper chez des amis près du Lac Saint-Jean et ils ont pris cette photo. C'est tout, fin du billet.

Blessed September!

Happy first of September everyone, especially to all the autumn lovers and the spooky minded people reading this blog. As we all know, autumn starts with the month and does not wait for the equinox. To celebrate the new month, I share this picture taken by my father two decades ago or so. It represents autumn in a nutshell: harvest of apples and crab apples and jellies of said fruits. It is a cornucopia of sorts. In any case, happy September again.

Le temps de la gelée de pommettes

 Mon père a fait de la gelée de pommes il y a quelques jours et m'a envoyé cette/ces photos. Je n'ai jamais fait de gelée de pommettes, mon rôle a toujours été celui de cueilleur. Dans tous les cas, la récolte des pommettes et la fabrication de la gelée représentent pour moi l'un des indicateurs de l'arrivée de l'automne. L'odeur des pommettes en train de bouillir, surtout quand il fait un peu frais dehors, c'est simplement imbattable comme atmosphère. Je m'en ennuie beaucoup.