SUMMER HEAT

It has been hot here in the Loire Valley. Last week there was a storm that came through that cooled everything off for a couple of days. But the temperature has been steadily rising ever since. Today, the thermometer on the patio registered 94°F in the shade. I asked the boulangière if this was a canicule – a period of unusually hot weather like our “dog days”. “Mais non, pas de tous, c’est seulement l’été.”

MIREBEAU

On the road into Poitiers we passed through an interesting looking town. We decided that we would not stop but instead check it out on the way home. In the late afternoon Tim was again driving. He got us past a haytruck with inches to spare – that Twingo can go when you need it to!
We parked in the main square and walked about. Just outside the square there was a small church. As we approached the door a man came out with keys who looked to be about to lock up the church. He let us in for a few minutes. Inside was a large interior in classic Angevin style. There were several stained glass windows, including one depicting a martyr being cooked in a large cauldron (St. Florent?).
Back in the place we found a tourist map with the remains of a castle marked. We decided to walk through the town to find it. We walked through narrow windy streets, stopping several times for directions. One woman told us that there was no longer a castle there but we decided to continue anyway. Finally, we saw a direction sign for an 11th century motte or moat. We followed the sign through what appeared to be a residential area. A farmer told us that we could walk around the moat. He told us that there had been a castle here in olden times. This castle was a stronghold of the Plantagenet Dukes of Anjou. During the Wars of Religion Cardinal Richelieu had the castle torn down so that the protestants couldn’t use it as a base.
We walked around the moat, a green strip encircled by the walls and backyards of the town. We hiked up to the top where the castle had stood. There should have been good views over the town but the vegetation made it difficult. Our walk around the moat was a good reminder that the Hundrted Years War was less about the English and French and more about two branches of French royalty – the Plantagenets and the Capetians.

TWINGO TWINS IN POITIERS

There's always an Irish pub!





AMG and TH have been visiting us in Montsoreau. They spent a week in Paris then took the train to Tours where they rented a car. Their car is a Renault Twingo, a compact two-door car that is easy to navigate around the narrow streets of medieval towns.
We took advantage of their Twingo to go to Poitiers. Our car needs some serious maintenance so we have been reluctant to drive it long distances. Tim took charge of the driving while I read my newspaper and chatted with
AnneMarie in the back. It took us about an hour to get to Poitiers with some deviation in Loudon. When we arrived it was time for lunch. We parked at the gare SNCF and walked up the hill to the Place Hotel-de-Ville. They found an outdoor café while I walked back through the old town to the tourist office to get some maps and information about Poitiers’ attractions.
When I got back to the place they had already ordered. They lunch menu was mostly different kinds of galettes with predictable toppings from their names. I ordered a galette too.
After lunch we set out for the old part of town. Rich wanted to visit the department stores so he peeled off early. We walked through the narrow streets making stops at interesting buildings. Our first stop was the strangely shaped church of Saint Porchaire. It was a typically rectangular shape in the Plantagenet style but instead of one altar and nave it had two altars and two naves separated by support columns. It appears that Saint Porchaire was a disciple of Sainte Radogonde, one of the Big 3 saints of this region.
We continued down to the place in front of the Palais de Justice. The building has an impressive 19th century portico but inside is even more impressive. Originally, this building was the palace of the Counts of Anjou and their great hall with three massive fireplaces has been preserved. The law courts are arranged off the great hall.
We walked down to the church of Notre-Dame la Grande. They last time we were in Poitiers the church was closed. We only saw the building from the outside. This time the building was open. We admired the decoration on the outside but when we went inside we were greatly impressed by the vibrant colors. The walls and support columns were painted in bright reds, yellows and oranges. While we were there the organ was being played which added to the atmosphere. The color and the music and the Romance character of the building all worked together to provide a unique experience.
It was extremely hot in Poitiers but the narrow streets provided a little shade. We followed the tourist blue line down to the cathedral area. The Saint Pierre Cathedral is an impressive building in its own right but it is overshadowed by the smaller and older Notre-Dame. We spent some time there admiring the carvings of the entrance façade and the strange carvings between each choir stall.
We were beginning to wilt a little in the heat. We had enough energy to walk down to the 4th century church that houses one of the earliest baptisteries of Christendom. This small church was built over the Roman baths. Sometime in the 12th century a series of frescos were painted on the walls. One of these frescos is believed to be the Emperor Constantine on horseback. Now there remains only traces of the original frescos except for one painting of god looking down from heaven.
We were a little concerned about our parking. We had parked in the short stay parking at the train station. We decided that we should meet Rich and head on home. We met him in the place of the Hotel-de-Ville and after taking a refreshment we headed for home.

OUR NEIGHBOR’S FROG

Our neighbor, Lady Willis has a frog in her backyard. She used to have two but she stepped on one and he hasn’t been seen since. This little fellow sits quietly in the flowerbed waiting for his chance to hop in through the kitchen door. The cat is just as vigilant on the other side.
Frogs, and most amphibians are protected in France. This protected status doesn’t stop the French from eating large quantities of farmed frogs legs. Bon apetit.

Visite à l'école de Cunault

Cet après-midi, Richard, Mairtin and Adinia sont venus nous rendre une petite visite à l'école. Mairtin est venu dans notre classe et nous nous sommes amusés à lui demander en anglais des noms d'animaux qu'il devait traduire en français. C'était très drôle. Puis nous avons chanté des chansons et écouté quelques lectures.
Les grands ont proposé des jeux à Richard et Adinia.
Tous les enfants ont passé une bonne après-midi et ils vous remercient tous les trois.

ANGERS

TOURS

We drove to Tours today. We wanted to explore a part of the city that we don't know very well - the area around the cathedral. This area was the original site of the Roman town. People told us that there was a museum and much archeological evidence but we couldn't find a think. We did explore the Musée des Beaux Arts which was originally the Archbishops palace. In an outhouse Fritz the elephant is preserved. It was very hot but we walked to the cathedral (St. Gatien) and explored the area. The cathedral is very impressive. We spent way too much time there. By the time we were finished and hungry for lunch many of the restaurants were no longer serving. We did settle on a Lebanese restaurant, Le Bakaa and had ourselves a delightful meal of Lebanese delicacies and beer.
In the afternoon we walked around in the 90°F heat looking for a cool place to hang out. We made it to the chateau before it closed. That was cool, temperature-wise and art-wise. There was an exhibit of photographs by a French father and son who had a portrait studio in Paris. They photographed everyone of note. The son also photographed many of the great actors of the time in the theater where they were playing.
We ended the day in the old town, Vieux-Tours drinking beer and recuperating from the heat.


TOURS

LANGEAIS

We drove to Langeais for the day. Langeais is pretty close to Tours but we wanted to spend the day here rather than stopping for a short time on the way to Tours.
Anne of Brittany married Chrles VIII here in a secret ceremony in 1491 that reattached the independent state of Brittany to the Kingdom of France. Anne was barely fourteen years old at the time. The marriage contract specified that she would have to marry Charles' successor if anything happened to him. He died shortly after and she did indeed marry his successor Louis XII. Brittany has been struggling to regain its independence ever since.

WALKING TOUR

Brunch at La Blanchière with Karen, Nico, Michael, and Catherine.
Michael is a bike guide who will be leading a party of cyclists through the region. Catherine is the wife of a cyclist who is on another B+R trip through Catalonia. She is like a bike-widow.

After brunch we went back to our house to wait for an electrician who is going to give us a temporary electric hook up in the grenier. While he was doing that Catherine and I went for a walk through the fields to Càndes. We walked up to the panorama view across the confluence. As we were walking back down into the village we met Rich. We walked to the new bookstore where the old bookstore used to be. The owner is a Breton woman from Rennes who followed her heart to Càndes. We sat for an hour chatting with her and drinking tea and coffee. Very pleasant.

ON THE WATER

LES RACINETS

We had a lazy day today wandering about the countryside and visiting old friends.
We walked about the town in the morning noting all the changes in our little village. Everything is spruced up. The main plaza has been nicely finished with a low wall that separates it from the street and the café has new umbrellas. The other plaza has also had a makeover with pea gravel and a new exit. Now you can go straight through without having to turn the car around in the narrow parking area.
Later we drove into Chinon for a walkabout. The buzz there is the new Carrefour store that has replaced the pokey and pricey Shoppi. We did some business at the bank then started looking for a place to have lunch. We walked down towards the Place Jean d’Arc and found a restaurant connected with one of the small hotels close to the place. The prix fixe menu at Le Treive was superb – boudin, crudités, bavette, fried steak, peach melba, gateau au chocolat – we had it all between the two of us.
After lunch we took a ride out to see the boys in Lerné. Tim and Steve have been working on their house for the past two years. They are pretty much finished with the main house but they are struggling to finish the old barn that will eventually be their income-bearing gite. We picked a ton of cherries from their trees and talked clofouti.
In the afternoon we drove to Fontevraud. We wandered about in town for a little then decided to visit Les Racinets in their new house. We spent the evening there – they showed us all the work the have been doing for the past 2 years since they bought the house. Just this week they have been able to move in. They produced a splendid feast of beouf-bourgignon and lashings of red wine. After dinner we got down to brass tacks regarding their garage in Montsoreau that they are thinking of selling. The garage is not attached to their house so they are selling it separately from the main building. The man from Paris who lives across the street is also interested in buying it since he doesn’t have a garage either. M. Racinet is staying non-committal until he gets a bidding war going. We will all be meeting together next week to walk through the property. We may have to visit the bank first.

OVER A BARREL

We drove to Saumur to pick up le tonneau for our cave. There is a new wine shop there and Rich had struck a deal to buy a used wine barrel that will serve as a table in our cave. When we got there the owner told us that the barrel had not been delivered because these are busy days in the vineyard. Instead, he offered us a barrel that he had on hand already. He helped us load it into the back of the car and we took it home.
We wrestled the barrel through the house and down the steps into the cave. It was surprisingly heavy. Our cave is now complete and we can start to entertain guests there for wine tastings.

CHEZ-NOUS

Finally, at home in Montsoreau.
The flight on Ryanair was delayed by about an hour. We sat on the plane without any information. A French group close to me couldn’t understand the announcements so I had to translate. There wasn’t much to tell them. After about an hour they closed the doors again and we were off.

Tours was overcast and cold. Normally I leave cold and dark in Ireland but this time I flew into it. They weather has been strange all ovber Europe this Summer. The Azores High sitting over Ireland has protected it from the cold and rain coming from the Mediterraenean. France has had torrential rains and flash flooding in the south and depressed temperatures everywhere else. But that is about to change.

I took the train from Tours to Saumur. Rich was there to pick me up in the “new” car. The ’84 Visa was traded in by Karen for a “luxury” Dacia as part of France’s version of Cash for Clunkers. We got her Citroen K-Way, another varient of the Polski Fiat.

DUBLIN WALKABOUT

DRABHLÁS: 5 HEINEKENS LATER . . .

I spent the day today with my nephew Austin. I got a ride into the city center with Helen. She had a day off and wanted to do some shopping. I left her in Jervis Street and walked up to Parnell Square. I spent an hour at the Municipal Gallery. Nothing new there but always a pleasure to see Bacon's studio. I did enjoy a video by an Irish artist, Gerard Byrne that recreated the print advertizing of the 1981 Chrysler Imperial.
I gave Austin a call. He works at CitiBank in the Docklands. He told me to take the Luas from Abbey Street but I decided to walk over there instead. I followed the tracks around the Customs House and into Georges Dock. I waited on the bridge for Austin. When he came down we walked along the quays on the other side to an old-style pub called The Ferryman. Along the way we met Helen and persuaded her to come to lunch with us.



I hung around with Austin until he had to return to work for the afternoon. It was really pleasant sitting in the bar and chatting

Later in the evening I reconnected with Austin. He had invited me to birthday drinks for a co-worker at a place called Dicey's Garden on Harcourt Street. I got there first but was turned away by the bouncer because my shorts were not "neat dress". I called Aussie and he suggested that we meet at a bar on Camden Street called Ryan's. Austin came along with another co-worker. We had a great night of drinking and chatting.

PARFAIT BHIABHÓIGE

Simmer the chopped rhubarb in a simple syrup of 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar with vanilla, cinnemon and allspice.
Add jello cubes and refrigerate until jello is set.
Layer the rhubarb with yoghurt and drizzle with honey.

JETLAG DAYS

Looking south towards the Dublin Mountains


I arrived in Dublin at 8 in the morning. I stayed up until about 10:30 then went for a little lie down that lasted until 8 in the evening. I managed to stay awake until about 11 at night. I was able to sleep again for a couple of hours but at 3 in the morning I was wide awake and ready to do the tourist thing.
While I was asleep Switzerland beat Spain. This morning I watched Argentina beat South Korea and this afternoon I saw México beat France. It's hard to avoid the World Cup.

In my own personal qualifying rounds I waited all day for news of where I will be next year. Jag is my proxy. She managed to get me my third choice - a 1/2 bilingual combination at Treeview Elementary. I have to say I'm not displeased with the outcome. Treeview is a better school than Longwood but a combination class is a combination class in any language. I think I will fit right in and enjoy the new challenge.

CHICAGO - O'HARE

I made it on time. In San Francisco they told me that I would only have an hour to get from Terminal 1 to Terminal 5 to check in for the flight to Dublin. Fortunately, the flight from San Francisco arrived 45 minutes early in Chicago but it was still a challenge to figure out how the ground transport worked. I walked to Terminal 2 before I found the elevated train. By the time I got to the Aer Lingus counter there was absolutely no line. Ditto for the security check. The TSA official had many questions about my CPAP machine and they even swabbed it down for explosives residue.
My going away dinner was really special. Jag’s boyfriend came by. I had bought some arrachera the day before. I made a garlic-ginger-cilantro-oil paste and daubed it liberally on the meat and vegetables. Then I grilled everything and served it with warm corn tortillas and black beans. Rich’s mom Anita would have been proud of me.

The weather was very strange in Chicago. At first it was hot and muggy but as we sat on the plane waiting for takeoff a thunderstorm moved through. We had to sit on the ground for about an hour before we were cleared for takeoff.

MOTS DE JOUR

je vais te mûrir
mégot
guignol
maquereau
ça me fait râler

COMHRÁ AMADACH

Comhrá le freastalaí i gCeltic Cafe i San Francisco:
Mise: Cén fáth go gcuirtear "Celtic Cafe" ar an mbialann seo?
Sise: Níl 'fhios agam. Cad is brí le "celtic"?
Mise: Nach mbaintear úsáid as an focal seo chun caint faoi áiteanna cosúil le Éirinn.
Sise: An ea? Ní raibh sé sin ar eolas agam.
Mise: An Éireannach é an t-úinéir?
Sise: Níl 'fhios agam.
Mise: Cad é an sloinne atá air?
Sise: Níl 'fhios agam. Chuir sé teachtaireacht r-phoist chugam ar maidin. Ba chor domh amharc ar a shloinne.
Mise: Ba chor.

MOT DU JOUR: berlingot

berlingot

berlingots

Cad is Berlingo ann?

TALES OF THE CITY

Bhí cumann na leabhair agam i San Francisco inniú. 'Sé an leabhar reatha ná Lie Down In Darkness le William Styron. Ní raibh ach ceathrúir dúinn i láthair ach bhí comhrá an-mhaith againn faoin leabhar.

PEA. SHOOT. SALAD

Tablespoon of seasoned rice vinegar
Tablespoon of sesame oil
Tablespoon of lemon juice
1lb fresh pea shoots

Caith mé roint gairleóg i sesame oil ins an wok. Bhain mé an gairleóg nuair a thosnaig sé ag éirí donn. Tar éis, chaith mé na pea shoots isteach ins an wok go dtí go raibh siad sleabhctha. In a dhiaidh, chuir mé na comhábhair eile (meascán vinegar, oil 's juice) leis na pea shoots agus dháiligh mé iad le leath avocado.

SIÚLÓID NA BLIANA ÚR

Chuaigh an beirt againn amach ag siúl inniú. D'fhagamar an gluaisteán ar imeall Menlo Park ar Sráid Alma agus chuamar trasna an droichid go Palo Alto.
Ar aghaidh linn ag siúl fríd sráideanna ciúin Palo Alto. Ní raibh mórán daoine amuigh ar an céad lá 2010.
Bhí ocras orainn tar éis bheith ag siúl le 5k ach ní raibh mórán ar oscailt. Shiúlamar ar Emerson chuig an bialann fraincíse Bistro Maxine. Ba duine gairgeach é an freastalaí ach bhí an latte le tartine go fáiltiúl.

Is a tartine a sandwich?

Imani = Creideamh

Creideamh
Creid lánchroítheach in ár phobail, ár thuismitheoirí, ár múinteoirí, ár taoisigh, agus creid i fíréantacht agus bua ár coimhlinnt.

Imani
To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.