MY EXCITING ENCOUNTER WITH A FRENCH PUSSY - MARVEILLEUX

Now.....the tooth on the left is a Megalodon.

The one on the right is from a Great White Shark.

How in the hell could a medaieval wall builder, bearing in mind that each stone is carefully packed in place, not realise that this was some kind of tooth?

Just for info, a dry stone wall has two "faces" of large flat stones, placed so that they fit closely and interlock, gradually sloping inwards so that they eventually meet in the middle at a height of about four or five feet above ground level. The gap in the middle is tightly packed with waste stone material, to make the wall solid and stable.
The top of the wall is then dressed, usually with the flat stones facing upwards (see pics).

(sound Jaws music......dan dan dan dan dan dan )

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b358/lordellpus/PICT6543.jpg

I'll try and find the newspaper article........

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I think of this angle business as a battered wall...

but listening...

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also tired and about to go abed.

I plan to attend your posts in the morning.

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Goodnight, Osso. Sleep well.

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i object to carpet. i hope you'll find some nice floorboards for your little house.
how are you going to insulate the roof? just curious about the process. i would so love to build my own house one day. from scratch.

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dagmaraka wrote:

i object to carpet. i hope you'll find some nice floorboards for your little house.
how are you going to insulate the roof? just curious about the process. i would so love to build my own house one day. from scratch.

Dag, the roof is quite a subject for debate, actually.

We want to keep all those wonderful beams exposed, but by doing so, we won't be able to insulate the roofspace properly.

One method would be to completely strip the roofiles, build a new frame above the existing one, insultate the space between new and old, so the old frame can still be seen from inside.
This would be terribly time consuming and probably cost a small fortune.

In reality, all those beams will probably be covered in the end, so that it would have the appearance of smooth plaster. Shame, and if we were on an unlimited budget it would be great to do it the first way, but........

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OK, a day out in Suin...... (pronounced swank without the k )

Suin is a little commune (hamlet) about five miles away.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b358/lordellpus/Suin.gif

It is about the highest spot in the area, and the view from there is amazing. Miles and miles of farmland, stretching all the way to the horizon. In one direction, on a clear day one can even see Swiss territory.

We parked up near a restaurant, (to the right in this pic) which was closed for the holidays, which was a shame as we'd eaten there last time, and the food was excellent.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b358/lordellpus/PICT7382.jpg

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Strolling up to the top of the hill near the commune...........

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b358/lordellpus/PICT7385.jpg

I found a rocky outcrop and took this.........

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b358/lordellpus/PICT7387.jpg

Nearby was a very strange statue (celebrating farming life, I believe).
Well....it didn't take me long to find the right angle for a photo....

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b358/lordellpus/PICT7391.jpg

On the way back to our cars, we came across a field, literally covered in edible mushrooms. We all spent half an hour, picking out the best ones, and eventually ended up with four bags full. That night, they were added to a massive risotto.......

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b358/lordellpus/PICT7389.jpg

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And finally, a couple of shots of Charolles itself, our nearest town.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b358/lordellpus/PICT7413.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b358/lordellpus/PICT7415.jpg

The cat found a good home with my sis-in-law's family and now lives very happily, catching mice at the foot of the Jura Mountains in a beautiful little town called Gex.
The latest update is that she's just had three kittens of her own.

So finally, the thread is finished, as far as I can update it at this stage.

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C'est si bon

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C'est vrai, McT. Merci.

Three more shots of Charolles.....

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b358/lordellpus/PICT0118.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b358/lordellpus/PICT0119.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b358/lordellpus/PICT0124.jpg

C'est tout!

Je suis fini!

Adieu!

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A la prochaine, mes amis! :wink:

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Mais, ou sont les neiges d'antan?

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Lord Ellpus wrote:

Je suis fini!
Adieu!

Non!

Pourquoi serais tu fini?

La vie a tant de choses à t'offrir encore...

Allez, courage!

Twisted Evil

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Ah, champignons. Nothing like young champignons breaded and fried. Or in a nice summery vegetable soup. All the more reasons to come invade!

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Lord Ellpus wrote:

Are these ferns expensive where you are, GW? They grow all over the place here, and if they work out the same price as moss ($20 a sq foot? Blimey), we could make ourselves a fortune.
I could rape the British countryside and pack it all in bubblewrap, and you could unwrap it at your end, while a queue of ardent gardeners shuffle and count out their dollar bills, eagerly waiting for you to open your shop.

Sorry to bust your get rich quick scheme, but ferns here are done by tissue culture and therefore not very expensive.

Lord Ellpus wrote:

I'll dig one or two out the next time I go down, and insert them in that front wall.
The only thing I'll check out first though, is whether I'm allowed to do this, as it would mean taking soil across borders and I think there may be some regulation against that.

They don't transplant very well. What you should do is wait until the spores appear on the bottom of the fronds, then pick a few fronds and tuck them into the cracks where you want them to take hold.

Lord Ellpus wrote:

I know we have to go through a rigmarole and stacks of forms if we want to take saplings down there.
The French have plenty of trees of their own, granted, but we wanted to take some really ancient varieties of English apple tree down with us, as they're not available over there.
Strict rules and regs, due to possible spread of apple blight across borders etc.
Maybe we'll just smuggle them in.........

What and risk infecting every apple tree in France? For shame. You very possibly can get stock that is certified disease free. It's also possible some of that English stock already exists in France and you just have not seen it. Check with the French Ag. officials or national farming groups. It's very rare that fruit stock would not be available in countries that are so close. Odds are somone brought stock in years ago before regulations, but it's not widely available.

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Green Witch wrote:

What and risk infecting every apple tree in France? For shame. You very possibly can get stock that is certified disease free. It's also possible some of that English stock already exists in France and you just have not seen it. Check with the French Ag. officials or national farming groups. It's very rare that fruit stock would not be available in countries that are so close. Odds are somone brought stock in years ago before regulations, but it's not widely available.

T'was a joke, GW. I wouldn't dream of spreading stuff like blight etc.
There's a massive UK website for rare apple varieties, and I may email them for relevant info.

Great advice re. the ferns though,...I shall grab some spores and do that very thing when I next go down.
You shall be the garden supervisor when you come down. This entitles you to a better grade wine in the evenings, and fresh bread with your cheese. Very Happy

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Goodnight, everyone. I'm orrrf!

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Lord Ellpus wrote:

Goodnight, everyone. I'm orrrf!

Like a bucket of prawns in the sun!

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Looking gooood, Ellpus!
I love those areas of France (and all France, really) It's just so different to here.

Dadpad
I think they'd all welcome some sun to leave those prawns in - been a bit nippy in UK lately

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MY EXCITING ENCOUNTER WITH A FRENCH PUSSY - MARVEILLEUX

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