The Donkey Faire

Monday 12 May, 2008
Today is the BIG DAY! The donkeys are coming, the donkeys are coming! I was up early to witness the arrivals, donkeys from everywhere in France in one’s, twos, tens, tied to rails in the Champ du Foire (Fair Field). Beautiful, noisy and a cause to celebrate Asses of the 4 legged variety. Our hope this year was that the weather would be nice instead of the storminess of last years version. Up early, at dawn, for no good reason (part of ageing) I looked out the comp rm window and the skies were clear. Whoopee! Even before dawn the trucks were lining up to deliver thier braying hoards onto the Champ (shaw-mp). I grabbed my trusty Nikon Coolpix S10 and set it to movie and left the house bound to see the beginnings of todays Big Event in Lignieres. The movies are in two parts, each about 5 minutes in length. Just click the links below.

The Donkey Faire Continued:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbBHfJCNu2U

Too big to upload? Who knows, I’ve tried three times now to no avail so just click the link and watch it on YouTube. Sorry.

After the 2nd video (about 11:30) I returned to the house to prepare for our late afternoon lunch for 10. My grand idea for this gathering was to have the group make thie own sandwiches. Well…that’s how I set the table up, you know…plates of onion rings, tomato slices, pre-cut bagettes, lettuce leaves etc. and a big salad. This was to be made easier by the addition of leftovers from the meal the night before at A&R’s place. Easy to do, fun outdoor-sy at our now long table with the additional length furnished by my library table which I just completed. Sure. Wine by the bottle was soon flowing among the gathered group and conversations went off like firecrackers in every direction. I thought I made to announcement re:making your own sandwiches, but the second the plate of meats (chicken and pork) were deliverred to te table the group swarmed on them like hungry wolves. What sandwiches? Oh well, best laid plans and all of that. Much wine was drunk, the Vouvray Sparkling was especially delicious and made for a festive occassion. The party moved indoors with the coming of the late afternoon rain and we raided the bar closet for samples of the many bottles. Great fun was had by all as usual, Our Little Supper Club.

A Week of Warm Sun…

It’s true! A whole bloody week with some sun everyday and not a drop of H2O to go with it! Yippee! We had grown quite tired of the constant grey skies and rain routine that seemed to go on and on weeks at a time. Suddenly it’s Real Springtime! Birds, swallows, pigeons, tits, nightingales in and out of our backyard feeding station all day long, wonderful!
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The Waiting Room project continues with Kelly painting the elaborate iron window frame with several coats of her own home-brewed color choice, looks nice. The small wall and the door still need the cloth covering and curtains are yet to be put up, but it is close, maybe this week. I opened up the wall at the entrance to the Dining Room, it was a constant wet source and the lower portion was soft, damaged and falling off of it’s own accord. It was, as expected, waddle and daub (rock and mud) covered by individual tiles of a light fired brick color, interesting as an artifact of much earlier times but not the wonderful STONE edifice we desired. I’ll do some wood mouldings around the doorway and cover it all up with a moisture barrier of some sort and a more modern equivalent of the horsehair plaster that someone used a century or two ago.
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Today and tomorrow are (today) Pentacost (Everything you EVER wanted to know about this celebration is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentacost ) and the Monday after, so what do you say you heathen, ok, ok, it’s The Donkey Faire in Lignieres! Two days of Merguez and frits, red wine, crowds, agricultural sights and sounds and donkey shit by the bagful! Terrific as long as the weather holds out. Last year it was not a nice day. Wet and sloppy, cold too boot. I have a short video of it on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qNxC0srBJo . Today Sunday is the Opening Day and Tomorrow is The Big Day. Difference? Dunno, but there’s LOTS of Donkeys arriving today, tomorrow they will already BE here and there’s more shit on the ground. It’s a wondrous thing to behold, donkeys and their keepers from all over France and a few from other European countries. They come to show them, buy them and sell them and all the gear that goes with. It’s a great rural France scene. Not to be missed.
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I built a Library Table this last week, used the Sapin pine panels for the lumber as I had downfall from the Waiting Room bookcase project of last week. The table was simple to build and came out quite well if I must say so myself. Not to be used in the library though, more as a utility table, another flat surface to fill with papers and tools and reading materials AND mostly as an adjunct to our outside table so we can accommodate more persons for summer lunches and dinners outside.
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We had dinner with our Scottish friends Danny and Wanda last night, she is a wonderful cook and I appreciate and invite to their table anytime. We sat outside amidst there sizeable garden which we toured before dinner. Row after neat row of every vegetable important to cooking, it is very impressive, Alice Waters would be proud. We drank more wine and nibbled then went inside to have one very fine meal of Roast Leg of Lamb, Scalloped Potatoes, Green Beans. a fine rich gravy from the pan drippings, a very fresh green salad with her special dressing (I MUST get that recipe) followed by a cheese course (It IS France after all!), and a lovely gelatine, mandarin orange with cream trifle as dessert. Wonderful all. We finished the night with scotches outside under a clear and dark, dark sky. A very easy and wonderful way to end the week. I’d be happy to pay for it!