Confiture

It took a few tries before I understood what he was wanting to ask me. Sometimes just following the general sense of what Monsieur Pierre (Pappy) is saying suffices, but then sometimes the subtleties are everything. And I don’t always get the subtleties. This time it was something about bringing us some of his homemade fromage frais. He seemed to be very urgent about it, and wondering if everyone would be here on Tuesday. Everyone? Tuesday? And then I clicked: Greg’s birthday! Monsieur had remembered that the 19th is Greg’s birthday, and was assuming that we were going to have a big party again like last year (I’m sure he assumes we have 80+ people for Greg’s b-day every year…!) And he was wondering if he could bring us a bunch of fromage frais, like he did last year, and if so, how much?!!
When I said that we were not having a big party this year, I’m not sure he really believed me, until I explained that Greg was not even in the country on Tuesday – he will be in Britain, for work. He shook his head: Greg works too much.
I offered him a fresh black currant – cassis -- muffin. Made with his eggs (every Saturday he now brings us a box of fresh eggs…sometimes we have to share them with friends, as the supply exceeds our demand. But to ask for less would hurt his feelings – he’d assume we prefer store eggs). As he took the muffin, he said: it’s not Greg’s plum jam, is it?
!
Greg’s plum jam – you remember the picture? Well that jam has certainly gone over well, particularly with our French friends. Monsieur had his first sample about 3 weeks ago. After he got over the shock of the fact that Greg, the man of the house, had made it, he ladled it on. And was Very impressed.
As he bit into the currant muffin, I commented on the fact that the black currants had fared much better than the cherries this year. Hmmph! was the muffled assent. And then, “These are your currants?” I nodded and pointed to the bushes: from just over there. Hmmph!
We chatted about how the strange weather has been affecting the fruit and nuts. Due to that abnormally hot spell in April, many fruit blossoms did not last long enough to pollinate: it has and will be a tough year for many fruit farmers. There was generally very little fruit on the cherry trees – thanks to Monsieur’s bees, we had lots, but then they all suffered the same problem: rot. After that early blast of heat, May was a torrent of cold rain. A random day or two of sun, and then torrential rain again. June began the same way. We had two different guests here during that period, and no sun. We couldn’t believe it – Kim was here for 10 days, and it rained every day but one. And that was mostly cloudy. The result of the excess of rain was that the cherries swelled to bursting before they were even ripe, and many of those that did not burst rotted instead. We are fortunate, as we got more cherries than any of our neighbours – but only about three basketfuls. Quite a contrast to last year. And just sad to see them disappear that way.
The 'normal' plum trees and the walnut trees also suffered from the short flowering. Again, while we do have some, the contrast to last year is incredible. A bit on the humorous side, the Green Plum tree is laden – it is a late bloomer, like the 2 apple trees – these 3 trees are actually bowed down already from the weight of their tiny fruit. I’ll be sure to be picking those green plums when they’re soft this year, rather than sitting around waiting for them to change colour! ;)
And the currants – they’ve loved the cool wet weather. Now that we’re getting sporadic sun, they aptly match the adjective ‘succulent’.
Monsieur had finished his muffin. Well, says he, as long as there are enough plums for Greg to make his jam...
He slowly stood, and swung himself onto his ancient bicycle, placing the empty egg carton in the wooden crate tied to the front. Then waved goodbye.
So much for the muffins!



I mentioned our friend Kim. She hails from Greg’s McGill days, having been one of the Big House occupants, and is one of our ‘multi-connection’ friends. For example, while at McGill she became good friends with Val Michaleson – who then became one of my closest friends at Regent. Just one of the many ‘multiple connections’ with which we’re blessed. Kim grew up in Quebec, and hence, her French is of the Quebecois persuasion. Which means that she can be teased, even misunderstood, here in France. French accents can be as diverse as English ones. In fact, in the Montreal airport the bookstore provides French/French dictionaries, for the challenge lies in vocabulary and expression, as well as in accent.
Kim was here when Monsieur was sampling Greg’s jam. Have I explained before that Monsieur’s country accent is so thick, his vocabulary sufficiently ‘other’, that our French friends from Grenoble can hardly understand him? (combined with the lack of teeth, etc, the challenge defeats some) Well he and Kim got on like a house on fire. She understood him better than any of our city friends, and he didn’t even seem to notice that she had an accent. A bit like Western Scotland and the Ottawa Valley I guess. Needless to say, Monsieur has asked when Kim’s coming back, every time I’ve seen him since.

Not many photos at the moment. My computer crashed, losing its entire hard drive. Including some stuff that had yet to be backed up. That’s happened to me three times now – different computers too. Being married to a computer genius helps considerably, but there are still always losses. What can one do besides not dwell on it, and carry on?! At this point it’s only serving to increase determination.
Here’s a few garden photos for the moment. I’ll have some from my cousin’s wedding next time – I’m only just back from that really special occasion in North Carolina. While I was there, Greg was enjoying himself in the Ardeche region – included is a shot of the forest mushrooms he picked and cooked (as guided by French friends!).
The lilies in the top photo, btw, are 6 feet tall. Last year they were two. Dunno if it's all the rain, or quoi... And then there's Greg's mega-artichoke...
The architectural plant that blue bee (we've tons of those!) is buzzing around is an acanthus -- the leaves of which you might recognize from stone columns...or pictures thereof (!). From the Greeks and Romans thru to Renaissance architecture, this was the plant of choice for design purposes. It's marvellously low-mainteance!
And then there's that shot of Greg, living up to Monsieur Pierre's proclamation...he's even got his computer with him in the coffee corner!!