France Deuxième Partie

France Deuxième Partie

OK... So I guess we are officially a part of the village now. The night of January second, we were invited to a "Welcome 2016" house party at Jean-Pierre and Katarine's house. Well... this is no exaggeration, the entire village of Vaux was there, along with friends of the hosts and some people from a few of the surrounding villages!!! About 50-60 people with all the kids too!!! It started at 7pm, we left at 1:30am and it was still raging! Of course it started with cremant, the local sparkling wine, when you walked in the door. The hosts and a few friends had been cooking all day so at about 8pm the announcement was made to grab a plate and step up to the finger food table… deviled eggs, pâtes, sausages, pickles of all sorts, white endive salad, cheeses, olives… At this point we had moved on from cremant to our choice of the local white or red wine. The Bourguignon people are very, very passionate about their wine, very, very passionate. When I mentioned to the little group we were sitting with that I bought and enjoyed the inexpensive “Bag in the Box”, Vin du France… Boy did I get the business! Natalie, the neighbour across the street, upon hearing the translation of my wine find, leaned over and assailed me for quite some time with the superiority of all things Bourguignon, especially the wine. I made a feeble attempt to redeem myself citing it was decent, inexpensive “French” wine which was dismissed with a wave of the hand a French version of “Harumph”. The conversation was thusly closed.

About ten or so, we progressed from finger food to frankfurters served with warm Alsatian potato salad, a mountain of it and a huge pot of frankfurters. Of course, served with lashings of moutarde du Dijon. Ma oui! The conversation was lively and interesting, a number of people translated both to us and for us. The folks here in Vaux and surrounds are extremely friendly and hospitable. We came to learn that not all the villages share the camaraderie of Vaux and it would be strange to see a similar gathering in any of the surrounding ones. And the wine flowed!

Eleven thirty or so the dessert came out, or should I say the plates and plates and plates of galettes and tarte tatins arrived. The tarte tatins were from people around the village and were fantastic! The galettes on the other hand, came from a number of different bakeries and there is an interesting history to them this time of year as they are linked to Twelfth Night and Epiphany. Here is a great article on Wikipedia on it…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galette_des_Rois

Galette des rois, king cake, is baked with a small ceramic king, bear or something in it (in the days of old, it was a bean or a pea) and if you get it, then you the king or the queen of the evening. Katarine almost broke a molar on the one she found and was named reine for the night!

Then we started cooking, by this time as you might have surmised I had nosed into the kitchen, the onions for French onion soup. Yes… It's almost midnight and the final course of the night is just being started. There was a huge pot of beef stock going and lots of emmental cheese and home made croutons. I showed the guys how to flip the onions in the pan without a spat, which led a rousing rendition of a Burgundean traditional song of exclamation (it gets sung at dishes broken, glasses dropped, a faux pas, or anything out of the ordinary LOL) It is quite fun! As soon as the onions were nice and brown, everyone was given a bowl which was then filled with a few croutons, then some cheese, then a pile of cooked onions and finally the beef stock. It was really, really good! We have come to find out that this was a very early time for the onion soup. At many other soirées, they did not start cooking the onions until at least 3am!!! And yes, the wine flowed.

Next came the mistletoe hats, one for a man and one for a woman that were randomly placed on peoples heads. Oolala!!! What a hoot! And cameras to boot! Nope, ya ain't getting any of those stories or pics...

WOW! what a beautiful slice of Burgundian life. The hospitality, the friendliness, the camaraderie, it was all amazing!!! Thanks to all our new friends here in Vaux for a grand time!

Next time… more on food, not just food but gastronomy! Get them taste buds cleansed...

Reflections so far…

Reflections so far…

(This was written about 6 weeks ago and I have edited a bit)

We left Canada over a month ago, the first few weeks of our “outing” were a blur, like walking through life with a clear plastic veg bag from the supermarket over your head but able to breath. Well, kinda, getting just enough oxygen that your brain functions, just. The first two weeks over here in the UK were a “soft landing” for us, not taxing really and we acclimatized to the time change well. Spain, well, Spain was very much mañana, chill and slow paced, friendly people, warm and sunny. We were able to get our game back on and really started to enjoy the trip. All of the sudden, it was time to leave for France; we both looked at each other, “WTF, where did the time go so far!!??!!” Yes, it's astounding, time is fleeting. Madness takes it's toll! Whoa!!! Where the heck did that come from!!??!! Must resist the inner Tim Curry… ;)

OK, where was I, yes, time, definitely not warping!!!! No, no warps here! Yep, here in France :)

Time, is flee… going by quickly :) and we are a bit stunned at the fact. So here we are in France, more correctly, Vaux, St. Ythiare, Burgungy, France, in an old farm house that sits on rue du Anciennces Fermes. One of about 13 or 14 anciennes fermes in a working farm hamlet. The first morning we woke in bed, we both pinched ourselves to see if we were really here! You see, this house sit is the one we have been really looking forward to as it is a long one, almost 3 ½ months (all due respect to Sam & Rick and Wendy). A place where we can (and have) really settle in and start to respond to, as opposed to react to, this little venture we are on. I have mentioned once or twice that this trip is not so much a vacation but a sabbatical, a time off from “normal” life (I know, it is somewhat difficult to attach the word normal to me) and reflect, reconnect with life, not the “rat race” but life, the deep, rich adventure we are meant to live. To nurture our connection with God, the universe and everything. A time to focus on just what exactly is important in our lives and then set our sails on that course because as we all know, time is flee… No… must… not… go… there… Time is flowing and carrying us along as it does so, at the pace it deems proper, this fact reared it's head in the past few days for us and now it is time for Penny and I to start to do the “work” we have come here to do.

Penny and I are on a journey to find not happiness or fulfillment but where Father wants us to be and/or what He wants us to do next. Back almost 5 years ago, when we had our fateful discussion with our financial guy, 'John' there was this idea of taking a period of time off from work/life and to go and “listen”, however, we had a house to sell, blah, blah blah… Then my shoulder got hurt, blah, blah, blah… Now here we are! We have almost 6 months to “listen”, to discern, to engage in the process going on, a process called life. There has been prayer, mostly in the form of “HELP!!!!” as we have been through the ringer a number of times, moments of quiet reflection, journaling, etc. In the midst of all the stuff going on, smack right in the middle of the “process” (as grueling as it has been at times), a faint but clear voice can be heard… “Trust me.” In hindsight, through all the crap times and the great times we have had preparing and then “doing” this trip, He has come through time and again, many of which have been really quite imaginative! You see, the lesson to be learned is trusting Him, even when the flies are on you, even when you have a house full of stuff that needs to be sold and gone by 30 September, even when you are going from bank to bank to change Canadian currency to Euros and they all say no. The list goes on and on and on; and will continue to for the rest of this adventure, the rest of our lives.

Trust Me.

Simple but not easy.

Reflecting back on the past 2 to 3 months or so, this is what the whole process (as we have come to call it) is all about. What happens in March? Dunno! Not yet anyway, but I can tell you, by then, there will be a bit more trusting going on, well, hopefully.

Pics and travel stuff next time and trust me ;) the wine and cheese in France… Tres Magnifique! Oh yeah, inexpensive too :)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Till next time…

“With a bit of a mind flip
You're there in the time slip
And nothing can ever be the same”

Now how does that go?

Just a step to the…

Au revoir!