Monday, September 27, 1999
Moret in 1900
We had a rather exciting weekend as the “Moret in 1900” fair was held on Saturday. The old city was closed to traffic and there were food and souvenir stalls, the locals in period costume, horses, music and parades. A group of young drama students disguised as monsters leaped and danced among the crowds and quite alarmed Kevin and Pauline. They liked the merry-go-round, the ice-cream and the animals best, and spent ages patting a donkey.
It felt like autumn already, but luckily the rain held off until the afternoon. We met Pauline’s teacher Thérèse dressed up in a long purple dress with a crinoline and floppy hat. I held Pauline up so she could say hello but she didn’t recognise her at first and it took a few seconds, after she heard the teacher’s voice, for her to realise who it was. I was laughing out loud as I saw the look on Pauline’s face change from bewilderment to recognition, to a big smile. She said “Oh! You’ve got a dress, you look pretty!” to Thérèse, who usually wears trousers at school.
On Sunday morning P. drove us to Fonty for the Fête du Cheval which was quite spectacular. There were lots of horses, more people in costumes, a fake king, François 1er in a grand carriage, and a brass band in the parade. Even tiny children on their ponies were dressed up in lovely costumes.
Unfortunately there were frequent heavy showers, so by midday we escaped for lunch in a cafeteria, so no cooking for me. In the afternoon, between showers, I took Kevin on his bike for our almost daily ride to the Petit Chemin behind the cemetery to pick little black grapes which have grown unchecked in an old, abandoned garden. But most of the grapes will go to waste as the vines have climbed right up the apples trees and are too high to be picked. Last week I picked 3 kilos of grapes and made them into jelly. There are also apples and quinces. Kevin still has stabilisers on his little bike but as I walked behind him I could see he doesn’t really need them anymore. The problem is psychological – when we took the stabilisers off, he panicked and wouldn’t get on the bike!
Not much gardening news to report. I should get out and weed the flower beds of course, but that just doesn’t appeal with all the rain we’ve been having. My tomatoes and sweet corn are long gone and I have sown spinach in the empty beds which is supposed to act as a natural fertiliser. The theory is that it prevents the weeds coming up too fast, we can hopefully eat some of it and dig the rest directly into the soil, thus replenishing the minerals etc. ready for next spring. We shall see. I’ve only parsley and parsnips now. Kevin’s carrots are still teeny. We had some surprise raspberry canes that shot up in the far left corner by the lilac and there are a few late berries which the children will gobble up as soon as they find them.
It felt like autumn already, but luckily the rain held off until the afternoon. We met Pauline’s teacher Thérèse dressed up in a long purple dress with a crinoline and floppy hat. I held Pauline up so she could say hello but she didn’t recognise her at first and it took a few seconds, after she heard the teacher’s voice, for her to realise who it was. I was laughing out loud as I saw the look on Pauline’s face change from bewilderment to recognition, to a big smile. She said “Oh! You’ve got a dress, you look pretty!” to Thérèse, who usually wears trousers at school.
On Sunday morning P. drove us to Fonty for the Fête du Cheval which was quite spectacular. There were lots of horses, more people in costumes, a fake king, François 1er in a grand carriage, and a brass band in the parade. Even tiny children on their ponies were dressed up in lovely costumes.
Unfortunately there were frequent heavy showers, so by midday we escaped for lunch in a cafeteria, so no cooking for me. In the afternoon, between showers, I took Kevin on his bike for our almost daily ride to the Petit Chemin behind the cemetery to pick little black grapes which have grown unchecked in an old, abandoned garden. But most of the grapes will go to waste as the vines have climbed right up the apples trees and are too high to be picked. Last week I picked 3 kilos of grapes and made them into jelly. There are also apples and quinces. Kevin still has stabilisers on his little bike but as I walked behind him I could see he doesn’t really need them anymore. The problem is psychological – when we took the stabilisers off, he panicked and wouldn’t get on the bike!
Not much gardening news to report. I should get out and weed the flower beds of course, but that just doesn’t appeal with all the rain we’ve been having. My tomatoes and sweet corn are long gone and I have sown spinach in the empty beds which is supposed to act as a natural fertiliser. The theory is that it prevents the weeds coming up too fast, we can hopefully eat some of it and dig the rest directly into the soil, thus replenishing the minerals etc. ready for next spring. We shall see. I’ve only parsley and parsnips now. Kevin’s carrots are still teeny. We had some surprise raspberry canes that shot up in the far left corner by the lilac and there are a few late berries which the children will gobble up as soon as they find them.
# posted by Antipodeesse @ 1:38 am 
