2 février 2007

The Woodmen



No more watery river days for the moment. I took my little car and headed off into the big bad Sologne forest. Not that we have any wolves nor Red Riding hoods. At this season of the year there are just a lot of woodmen, no I don't think I've seen any woodwomen. One day lots of red marks appear on the trees and then a few days later they are on the ground. Another day or two and there are big bare trunks alongside wonderful neatly stacked piles of logs ready for shipment to wherever. The Sologne sends firewood all over Europe, for those poor overcrowded people in Belgium, Holland and Germany.

I always love the forest. One of the rare English books that I found worth reading was the Woodlanders. I'm not sure why and I can't remember too much about it, but I thought Hardy created a splendid atmosphere. It really smelt and felt like the forest.

If you click on the picture you can see the beautiful intricate patterns of the branches. Beyond the back of the garden there are often deer and pheasants roaming around.


Busy times I had to have dinner in my friend's restaurant, l'Epicurien,(Sebastien is my friend, only his brother Guillaume, the chef appears in the photo. We sat under the water melon) in the evening. With the wild boar I had a gorgeous Saint Nicolas de Bourgeuil 2005. Cabinet franc grapes, 20 year old vines. It is a strange wine, it seems to age very quickly and gives the lovely mature taste of a 10 year old wine after only a couple of years. Sometimes it has a fusty taste, which I don't appreciate, but this one was perfect. End of a perfect day, not an Anglo Saxon in sight.

16 commentaires:

Bill Taylor a dit…

Saint Nicolas de Bourgeuil can be a fantastic wine. I had a delightful bottle of the 2003 vintage in Quebec City last Monday evening. I was introduced to it about 20 years ago by a Toronto restaurateur. It's not common on winelists here so I've learned to grab it wherever and whenever I can.

richard of orléans a dit…

Good to hear that the Saint Nic has got over to Quebec. It's not an expensive wine, good value for money in my opinion. But as I said you have to be a bit choosy, worth having a good cavist to select it for you.

Presumably you get the better known Saumur-Champigny as well. Though certainly I would say a good Saint Nic is better than the Saumur.

While in that region of La Touraine, do you also get the Chinon? Good again, but quite different. Of course Chinon town is beautiful. Nice restaurant, Auberge de France, good place to try the wine.

Bill Taylor a dit…

I bought some Saumur-Champigny just yesterday though, yes, I too prefer the St. Nic. And I'm very fond of Chinon, which isn't hard to find here. My wife and I were in Chinon a couple of years ago and had an excellent meal at Auberge de France!
By the way, you photo when it's blown up is lovely.

sciencebod a dit…

I'm not going to ignore your suggestion, Anne Gilbert, for fear that might be seen as discourteous. But neither am I going to respond to it in the way you appear to suggest, for the following reasons.

Richard may be a model of hospitality when chez soi, but that hardly excuses his persistent abuses of hospitality when he's chez someone else.

Take for example Colin Randall's most recent post Gremlins update on the brief problems we had last week with Blogger: that was Richard's cue to rush in with a double-barrelled post knocking not only what he calls Anglo-Saxon technology (fair enough) but to seize on Blogger's IT-speak to condemn the entire English language.* That's putting the most charitable interpretation on his words, ie that one thought led to another. Other less charitable souls might detect a brain that has slipped into default automaton mode.

For now I would just make two main points. Given that Blogger runs on Pacific time, I presume their software people are California- based. The Californians have a healthy multicultural outlook, which respects and welcomes folk of many different ethnic origins - Hispanic, Japanese, Chinese, Middle Eastern (in spite of everything), European etc. Richard's anti-Anglo-Saxon rants would leave them totally baffled. Who is this Neanderthal, they would ask ?

But as I say, this comment is mainly about abuse of hospitality: Richard should stop using Colin's or any other blog as a vehicle for his obsessive Anglophobic (self)loathing, especially when it borders on crude repetitive baiting in an attempt to provoke a response.

He should know the spectrum of responses by now, ranging from amused tolerance, through pity to outright irritation. In almost a year of this fire-breathing, has he ever won a single convert to his poisonous "let's demonise the Brits" creed ?

But now that he has his own blog, there's no longer any excuse for using other people's as his own soapbox.

*It's not entirely clear whether his term "meaningless gibberish" was referring merely to Blogger's frightful IT-speak, or more generally to modern English after millennia of evolution. One suspects both. But isn't that typical of Richard: to be slipshod and imprecise with the very language he condemns ?

If it's the debased language that you claim it to be, Richard, then why not write in French ? Let's see how well you do that. One wonders what the local Orléans citizenry would make of your rantings, written in the language of Molière.

richard of orléans a dit…

With 25% of the British population wanting to decamp from their frightful isle, urgent measures are required. All hands are needed to try and civilise them.

An example came to my attention only the other day. Talking to the head of a large research facility here in Orleans, he informed me of a regretable situation. Many English live in or travel to the Perigord region. They seek medical help which the NHS is unable or unwilling to provide.Indeed many travel expressly to receive care. Beyond the fact that many English seek services for which they are unwilling to pay. They are also abusing and insulting the personnel.

Rather than whining and complaining does it not behold you, as a guest in this country, to do something about this deplorable situation. I have already advised you of the bad behaviour of English tourists and the burden on our social services of English retirees. What have you done to remedy these issues?

sciencebod a dit…

You ask "What have I done to remedy these issues ?

Since I'm not a politician, I have to assume that you are again trying to make me feel guilty for matters out of my control,
or attempting to probe my personal arrangements.

As I've said before, Richard, one does not expect to visit a blog, and then be subjected to an inquisition on one's private life -especially from someone like yourself who shelters under a pseudonym, while I use my real name.

But since you persist with this line of questioning, and because I have a clear conscience, I will answer you this time (and this time only).

Since living in France on a full time basis (about 4 years) I have been to see a doctor just twice. He's a dermatology specialist, who says my condition is fairly common, and pre-cancerous, whatever that means.

On the first visit he prescribed fluouracil, which is a topical chemotherapy agent. It did not work. On the second visit he used liquid nitrogen to remove several lesions.

For these two visits I paid the full cost, in the region of €150 + prescription charges. I did not claim the 80% refund that I am entitled to under EU and French law.

A separate specialised test that I requested was carried out at a UK hospital for which I again paid the full cost - about £130.

I don't know if you're aware, Richard, but the NHS will not treat for free someone who has been out of the country for more than 6 months. Indeed, my GP in England has removed me from his books, ignoring my protests.

All my dentistry is done in England.

Now kindly stop the pumping, Richard, and confine your attention to the issues, instead of attempting to delve into people's private affairs.

richard of orléans a dit…

I am not surprised that you gave up scientific research. You seem to have run out of rational thought. I am in no way 'pumping' you for your personal information.

You obviously have, in one very clear manner, total control over the matter. Return to England forthwith.

But beyond that, you could assist me with my efforts to draw attention to the problems that France incurs being geographically challenged with a difficult neighbour.

If one lives next to a family of drunkards and thieves, if each member of that family, however nombreuse, were to mend their ways, then progressively order would be restablished.Life would be pleasanter.

sciencebod a dit…
Ce commentaire a été supprimé par l'auteur.
kkendal a dit…

colinb just added and then removed a statement asking anne gilbert if she really thought you were the kind of fellow he would raise a glass with. And then he called you a "bouffiasse." I don't know what that means but not complimentary, I don't believe. Abuse of the hospitality of your blog, roo.

sciencebod a dit…

Identify yourself kkendal! Who would know what I have just sent, and then decided to delete, except Richard, or someone who uses the same computer ?

What kind of hospitality is it for a blogger to re-publish a comment that has been withdrawn, and to masquerade as a third party (even if you are a member of the Orléans household as distinct from Richard himself ?)

Speaking of les injures françaises, there are a lot more where that came from !

sciencebod a dit…

PS: And when I clicked on kkendall what did I find ? A username created in Feb 2007, with just one "profile view" (mine). In other words, a new pseudonym, from the Orléans household. But not Richard, of course, since he's told us that he would never stoop so low. And Brutus is an honorable man !

Louise a dit…

Hi there -
I got back to my mountains at the end of the afternoon - haven't had time to read backlog and have 120 email/spam to dispose of but will be up and running next couple of days.

sciencebod a dit…

Hi Louise

Great to have you back. I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say you have been greatly missed these last few weeks. Looking forward to reading more of that warm humour of yours.

richard of orléans a dit…

Great to have you back Louise.

Of course you are not a: Bouffiasse. Femme enlaidie par les excès de table.

and I am not kkendal

anonyhamster a dit…

colinb, you are a very courteous person, but you waste your consideration on le con d'Orléans. Don't ask him to write in French. Remember the mess he made last week!

Has he forgotten, if he ever knew, how the French health service works? You pay up-front and are then reimbursed IF you are eligible. The more I read from this guy, the less I feel he knows about France, or anything else.

He's Kevin and he's in Essex!

ng a dit…

Sire Richard d'Orleans, no man who knows how to apreciate le St. Nicolas de Bourgeuil, le foret de Sologne dans toute sa splendeur can be a bad fellow...so I'm going to have to forgive you for being often rustre and agressive on the blogs I have seen your script.

I had a lovely hunting lodge à La Ferte St. Aubin for years, and my youngest son has two businesses in Orleans.

Your anti Brit side will chuckle when you hear that some years ago I had a real set to, nearly fisticuffs with the sommelier in the Savoy - when I suggested he introduce wines such as those to his clients - he huffed and puffed and looked as me as though I had pustules!

Well, the little I know about good wines, and until a few years ago I made a past time of collecting them, I owe to clever sommeliers, restaurateurs and vignerons who drew me slowly to more adventurous land than dead sure bordeaux or bourgone.

Le Quincy, le Coteau d'Alaon (never had sauterne with my foie gras since) were presented to me by those clever people who loved their area, their food and their wine. Le Chinon, le St. Nicolas and all sorts of other delights for which I thank them. Les pays de Loire et la Touraine sont une mine de merveilles.....

One day I was asked what I liked about getting up early and riding thru the Sologne forest...and I said it was the smell..wet leaves, wet horse, wet dogs and wet me - and the assurance at the end of having a super lunch or breakfast typique et bien arosé du cru!!!

Could the redoutable goujat Richard d'Orleans be a gentleman after all? A man who loves good food and wine, and the Sologne can't be such a goujat after all...

ng