Did you know that baby sheep aka lambs are born with tails? I did not know that until this past week. And this is how I found out.
These are the lovely sheep and their babies that I got to spend 5 days with. I made noises at them, they baaaed in the morning. I whistled at them. They baaaed at me. Boris chased them. They ran. Basic sheep stuff. 3 mommas and 4 babies. (that means twins!) The oldest one already had a little puffiness going on and didn't have the long tail anymore. I've done a little research and i guess they chop them off so that they don't get poop all over them and everything. Much more hygienic that way and then the sheep don't get sick either. Anyways...
They have these little tails! Which I loved. They run around and wiggle their tails. They baaa and wiggle their tails. They nurse and the tail goes around like a helicopter. When we arrived there was a new little wrinkly guy. We was so little and full of wrinkles but by the time we left he was not quite so wrinkly and had grown and was able to catch up with the others and jump and climb on the rocks.
This is where the sheep sleep. Someone thought long ago when they built this little animal house that it would be a nice touch to put a heart in the door. I agree.
The point of this isnt all sheep. Don't worry. This is about my vacation in a small town called Champelmy in Bourgogne a few hours south of Paris.
This is the laverie in Varzy which is a larger town nearby. This is one of the few remaining laveries in France. It's where you do the laundry. Or where they used to do it.
It is an incredibly peaceful spot in the middle of this equally peaceful town.
Of course now people don't use it anymore. It is filled with algae that floats and streams around, all of these amazing shades of fuzzy green.
For five days my life was concerned with two things. Well three. Ok, more than that. But mainly our objectives were two things.
Making a fire in the living room and kitchen every morning and keeping them going. Staying in an old house in the process of being worked on...no heat. So I learned how to make a fire! I took care of the kitchen fire (or tried to) and Boris took care of the big one. We spent a lot of time blowing at the embers and coaxing the fire to start and ended up with a few unlucky times where one just wouldn't start and we just were a little chillier.
Our second most important activity was cooking and eating. It is really very relaxing to spend your whole day only worrying about staying warm and eating. So we ate a lot.
Gâteau molleux de crème de chataignes avec crème fraîche et ses fraises.
My yummy hazelnut and chestnut cream cake. Wheat free! With fresh crème fraîche and strawberries. Oh and mint too.
It was quite a challenge to learn how to cook with out anything. No fancy gadgets. No scale to weigh out the ingredients. One measuring cup. No whisk!!!!!! A confusing stove and a very shallow sink that would not drain. But we figured it out and improvised and ate very well. Things we ate.
Eggs Benedict. No way to measure the butter. No way to measure the lemon juice. Without a metal measuring bowl (which i always thought was necessary) or a whisk (which is really honestly necessary for a good hollandaise sauce) I made some delicious EB. My best poached eggs ever and a very great sauce. I surprised myself.
"pizza" aka something kind of like pizza but on wheat free quiche crust.
gâteau au yaourt avec son Mont Blanc Praliné
Yogurt cake with Mont Blanc Praline flavor. Miam!
Over 5 days we ate: about 20 eggs, 500 grams of butter, two large jars of delicious 40 percent fat crème fraîche, shoko bons, cookies, two and a half things of milk (for hot chocolate!) and much much more.
After eating, or any time that the wind wasn't blowing and the sun was out, we sat in these chairs. Mostly I sat in them while wearing my bathrobe over my clothes to keep warm.
We drove on little roads through fields of yellow and green and brown and through forests of trees and through little towns of 10 houses or so.
We drove to nearby towns to explore ruins of ramparts and look over the Loire River.
We found this little tiny house nestled into the side of a cathedral. We looked at old churches with new stained glass windows. Churches that were bombed in the war almost to the ground and now stand tall again. The second longest church in France which is now missing almost all of it because there are houses where the middle of the church used to be.
I learned about those things that keep the windows together. And the difference between Gothic and Roman Architecture.
Churches smell like ice-skating rinks to me.
And when we were driving if we saw a sign that looked interesting, we followed it. Thats how we found this spot on top of a hill. When we passed horses in their fields we slowed down and I whistled at them.
We walked up little streets.
We looked at places where Dukes and Duchesses used to live.
We played lots of games. Yams tournaments. Labyrinthe. Petit Cheveaux. But somehow no cards.
My first real time vacation. Where there was nothing to do but relax. And for the first time in my life, I felt truly relaxed.
Fire. Eat. Play. Eat. Sleep. Eat. Repeat.
