Saturday, December 13, 2014

meanwhile, back at the farmette...

On the upside, it's pretty warm outside!

I start with this flash weather bulletin, because it really is a dismally gray and somber day out there. You can't help but think about it when you look out over the slightly shrouded brown terrain. A dense fog advisory is issued for later and I am so glad that it's not affecting my travels.

The trip yesterday was long but delightfully uneventful. Perhaps the most shocking thing for me was to be asked something by my American seatmate on the long flight over and to stumble in my response. It hadn't taken long for me to become unused to responding in English. I smiled to myself at the effortless way a conversation could proceed again. When speaking in French, there will always come a point where the person I'm talking to will assume that I know more than I do. When I say then -- sorry, I didn't understand that, I get that surprised look, as if the person wants to ask -- why not? I'm just speaking normal French, for God's sake. Yes but...

Still, I was a tired beast by evening, so much so that for the first time ever, I did not even open my suitcase (to see, for example, if there was any damage to the bottle of poppy petal syrup I lugged back). I fixed a light supper of cheeper eggs and quickly after, followed Isie the cat upstairs, leaving Ed to his computer work.


This morning, as I write out all that I have to do in the next week, I ask myself why I always choose to go away just before the holidays. Well, never mind. I put on good music and get to work.

And there is, of course, breakfast. Hi Ed, across the table again!


farmette-2.jpg



We go out to check up on the cheepers together. I want protection in case of an Oreo attack, but in fact, the attack never comes. In September, I had been gone three weeks. I came back to a raging rooster! This time, I was away only twelve days. I'm learning that a rooster's memory is good for twelve days!


farmette-14.jpg





farmette-35.jpg



Grocery shopping, errand running -- that takes up the better part of the daylight hours. One very pleasant errand is to take over some of the small purchased items to the expectant parents. I'm less than four weeks from becoming a grandmother. It feels very close!

(Yes, this is the place where I get to visit, too, with their very playful cats. Playful, but respectful of their beautiful Christmas tree, thank goodness!)


farmette-42.jpg




farmette-40.jpg



At home, the cheepers, noting that I am back at the farmhouse and remembering that I often give them treats just outside the farmhouse door, make the long trudge over and surprise me with their happy faces.


farmette-43.jpg



Inside, I put up our "tree" -- it takesonly five minutes!


farmette-24.jpg


And as I sit down to do some writing, I think for the millionth time how much I love being home and how strange it is that I really do have a burning urge to cross the ocean again and again. Even as these days and evenings at home fill me with such total peace and happiness.

In the evening I make broccoli veloute -- a smooth soup that tries to imitate one I had in France.



farmette-45.jpg



Within just these few hours, I'm fully immersed in my life back here,  but little bits of travel creep into the everyday. The best souvenirs are the ideas that I bring back home to try out here, in my own foggy corner of the world.

11 comments:

  1. Nina is back! You definitely sounded tuckered upon return. Hopefully the poppy syrup is in tact. I see a new addition to the bfast table. Sweet!

    You garnered Oreo's full acceptance and I laughed with a rooster having a memory good for 12 days!

    Nice photos and especially of the clan outside.

    Love your Norfolk pine. I wanted one earlier in the month but they all have been sprayed with silver glitter. Grrrr. Love these pines and they are easy to grow.

    Soon to be a grandmother. The count down begins......

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Norfolk started out as one little stalk. She has blossomed and multiplied over the years! Yes, very easy to care for...

      Delete
  2. Welcome back! I hope your daughter's cats continue to be "playful but respectful" of her tree and ornaments. I remember my first real tree with all my favorite felt ornaments and a 4 month old kitten full of claws. Let's just say I still miss those ornaments!

    It's this fog crazy?

    Enjoy getting ready for Christmas.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They paw at the low ones a little, but so far, all's holding steady!

      Delete
  3. When I look into my crystal ball, Nina, I see you starting up a French restaurant in Madison somewhere, or out near where you live... a bit of high cuisine in the country ... called, of course, "Nina's" and featuring all your wonderful versions of those gastronomic delights you photograph for us. Like this soup! You could have one soup for each day of the week... and of course, lots and lots of croissants!

    There is one little flaw with this picture, though... you would be stuck in Madison all year round! That would never do...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a fatal flaw, Bex. Too, my years moonlighting in a restaurant taught me that I only like cooking for friends and family. Not especially for strangers, oddly enough.

      Delete
  4. Welcome home! I feel so happy to see home and Ed, right along with you!

    I like the Isis photo, and the one of the kitty peeking out between two ornaments. Eric and Mary have two young cats who think they are ferocious jungle cats. It appears that they leave the Christmas tree alone, but... every morning the owl ornament is on the floor! :) E&M play a game of putting the owl in a different place every night.

    So when did you downsize your tree? Did you give all the family ornaments to your girls? Every year lately I wonder when I will give up putting up my trees? It is a good daylong project for each. Maybe someday all I will want for Christmas is for somebody to light the tree for me! Putting on ornaments is the fun part.

    I have loved, loved your Paris photos. And now, how great returning to this cheerful Advent season!
    You can't appreciate coming home without going away right?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I downsized five years ago when my daughter moved to Madison and got her own place. We decided to do the family Christmas at her home and it stuck. She got all of the family ornaments which at once was nice for her and a bit of a burden -- when she partnered up, obviously her guy was less attached to the significance of HER family's ornaments. Now they sort of mix and match.

      I may have continued a tree, but Ed is extremely not a Christmas guy and so in many ways I was glad to let it move to a home where Christmas mattered. Still, it hasn't been a smooth transition. Their dad never got any of the ornaments, neither did her younger sister. I suppose, considering how difficult post divorce holidays are for some families, ours wasn't so stressful. But the details still, ten years later, are being worked out. And each year, there are new permutations. This year, for example, their dad will be up here for the holidays, but without his GF who is with her family. Ed will probably minimally participate, so oddly enough, it will be their dad along with me and the two young couples. We all get along, though there is a certain sadness to it. It is what it is...

      Delete
    2. I think it's very caring, very pragmatic, very mature (and we are mature,let's call it that). Remembering old times, good times...how considerate you both are for your children.

      Delete
  5. And with a click of her heels - there's no place like home.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If only this particular home didn't have old house issues! (See today's post.)

      Delete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.