Time for a pause.

It's time for a pause.

I'm closing down for a couple of weeks over Christmas and the New Year.

May I wish you all a peaceful and truly blessed Christmas time.

Severe weather

We had a warning that there would be what the French call 'Tempetes' last night, and it certainly was dreadful.

The wind never stopped, the rain lashed down, and we woke to no power. Three local villages were cut off without any electricity, but thankfully it has now been restored. I had freezer anxiety, thinking of all our lovely Summer fruits melting away!

Looking around we can see that our neighbour has a beautiful Mimosa tree that is about to lose a branch.

Our other neighbour has lost his greenhouse....and our useful little plastic tunnel is in bits.

But...no one was hurt.

Poor tree

We have had two nights of very stormy weather, howling winds, thunder and pouring rain. the garden has been flattened, and today we are sad to see our lovely 5 year old Eucalyptus is down.

There is nothing that can be done for it. The root system obviously wasn't strong enough to support it.

All the other trees seem fine, inspite of the battering.

I have been off line and without a phone for two days as a result of the appalling weather.

I'm so glad that we decided not to go across the Channel for Christmas this year.

Advent 3

We have taken our weekend as a pause.

I was just reading Floss's Advent post, and it struck me how similar our pauses were this weekend.

Because our week has been really busy we decided to do very little during the weekend. Yesterday , when the sun shone warmly, we took a stroll along the river bank, admiring the reflections in the water, greeting the lone fisherman, and taking time just to 'be'.

Today we are not at church, but have had a late brunch, gone to fetch the papers, and are probably going to spend the day reading, talking, listening to Christmas music and relaxing.

Advent is a time of preparing, and that needs good health in body and spirit.

Taking time to listen , to think, is never wasted.

Broadway next?

Last night the angels flew.

Well, tripped daintily across the stage in our Christmas play. Wings and haloes were worn, Joseph looked suitably stunned at the news, and the audience seemed to enjoy the fun of it all!

Scenery was mostly absent.

Each month our Church has a 'social evening', sometimes with a quiz, or a speaker or even just music. There is always a light supper, and last night we had about 30 people in the audience.

During the next week there are four Carol services in different areas of Brittany, one of which is an ecumenical one, with the Catholic churches here.

Our church will be having a Candlelit service, and we are in the midst of planning it.

It's a non-stop time!

Last night we watched 'Masterchef, the Professionals'. It's a programme featuring a competition to find the chef of the year amongst a group of young chefs. I know there are some likes and dislikes about the programme, but we do enjoy listening to Michel Roux Junior's comments. He is very professional.

What disturbed us last night was the part of the programme that came from this very lovely hotel in Scotland. It has a two Michelin star restaurant, and two of the chefs were sent off to cook parts of a meal there.

The actual meal was a seven course 'degustation menu'.

Cost £125.
We just felt that at this time of acute recession, and with many parts of the world having little food, that this was not a tactful programme. I'm not sure that I would ever want to eat seven courses, let alone pay sums like that.
What do you think?

My star

Here's my star

...or maybe, stars.

Getting ready.

We're getting ready for our Christmas play at Church.

A star was needed, so I was so pleased to find these on Buttonbirdesigns blog, courtesy of Rhondi at Rose Coloured glasses. I made one of these stars a couple of years ago following the pattern on Angela's Tracing Rainbows blog, so was delighted to find it again. I have decorated mine with sequins for a real shine.

Button bird designs, photo

Another item that I found today was a Keffiyeh, in fact two of them, both in a 'rag bag' in our charity shop Emmaus. They cost the huge sum of 1 euro, and will be perfect for our shepherds to wear. No tea towels for us!

All I have to do now is to finish dainty little haloes for the angels. fix our wings on firmly, and flying can begin.

For Cottonreel and Pondside

Recipes .

Firstly in answer to Pondside's query, Flapjacks in England are not pancakes, but a sort of thick biscuity thing made with Quaker oats. Very easy.

You need;

6 oz hard margarine or butter

4 0z Demerara sugar

Golden syrup

12 oz Oats

It's one of those recipes that I do by 'feel' rather than following the recipe too closely.

Melt the butter and sugar together slowly.

Add the syrup (here I'm not sure if you can get English type golden syrup in Canada? Would maple syrup work??)

Mix the oats into the pan stir well, and then press firmly into a square baking tin and bake at about 140 degrees till browning on top.

Cut into squares while warm.

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Now for Cottonreel, who asked for the all-in-one fruit cake.

You need;

8 oz SR flour

Tsp baking powder

4 oz Dem sugar

4 oz soft margarine

2 eggs

6 oz dried fruit

Mixed spice.

Milk

I grate an apple in to add moistness.

Put the flour, sugar and margarine in a big bowl with the spice and baking pdr. Add the fruit and the grated apple if used. Whisk the eggs and add them with a little milk to the dry mixture. Beat together until it is all well mixed. Put in a cake tin and bake at about 180 degrees till done (about 1 hour). Test with skewer.

There we have it. hope you enjoy your baking!

Advent 2.

Deep in darkness we begin,

dark outside and deep within.

Now ignite a single flame,

shadows form, let light remain.

Flaming brightly, let love shine,

flaming out through space and time.
As they gleaned the word of life,

narrative of love and strife,

people through each age have known

yet more light: God's glory shown.

Flaming brightly, let love shine,

flaming out through space and time.

Weekend cooking.

The cake tins were all empty, not a crumb in the house...So this morning I made Flapjacks, an all-in-one Fruit loaf and a Mincemeat and apple pie.

I know that in Australia what we call mince meat is known as Fruit mince, a delicious spicy mixture of dried fruits.

Flapjacks are an old family tradition, and my son still tells me that mine aren't quite as good as Gran's!

The all in one cake is such an easy recipe, everything goes in together and is mixed in one go.
I've also done a small mountain of ironing, addressed the last of the cards, and now I'm going to sit down for a moment.

The first sighting.

I saw my first Father Christmas today, a little similar to the inflated one below. He was, as ever, hanging uncomfortably from a roof. It's a tradition here...and there they stay until they are deflated, somewhere around next February.

We are slow to decorate in Brittany.

Some of the towns have decorative lights up, but not our village yet. There are trees available in the supermarkets, real ones which will surely be dead by the time Christmas is here? There are plastic ones in the Garden centres, surrounded by tinsel, shiny baubles.....and motor mowers.

A few examples of Christmas cards are available here and there, and some enterprising shops have pretty baskets full of goodies and beautifully wrapped.

There are Christmas markets planned for next week in the local towns, so I think Christmas will be happening, albeit at our own pace.

Refreshing after the hustle of some of the shops in the UK in October!