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Well, before they take me away I will try to finish this month's Blog Post!
As you can see, we've had some snow …. and the forecast for this last week of January is that there is more to come. So, from the sunshine and blue skies over Christmas we have gradually moved to more seasonal weather. I sense that making snowmen is not big over here, or perhaps not in this area - just not a priority I suppose. I think I better pop out and put a gilet jaune on him … you know, just in case - to show solidarity before he melts, an irony that's not lost on him.
As ever, some snow creates new and beautiful perspectives in the countryside - trees take on new shapes and the contours of the hills provide different landscapes and, even in this peaceful area, the acoustics change and soften down:
As you can see, we've had some snow …. and the forecast for this last week of January is that there is more to come. So, from the sunshine and blue skies over Christmas we have gradually moved to more seasonal weather. I sense that making snowmen is not big over here, or perhaps not in this area - just not a priority I suppose. I think I better pop out and put a gilet jaune on him … you know, just in case - to show solidarity before he melts, an irony that's not lost on him.
As ever, some snow creates new and beautiful perspectives in the countryside - trees take on new shapes and the contours of the hills provide different landscapes and, even in this peaceful area, the acoustics change and soften down:
Later January is usually a very quiet time around the countryside, but there has been some activity here in Le Bruel - notably our annual 'WinterFest', where we invite friends and neighbours from the nearby communes to have something to eat and drink and generally have a bit of a 'get together'. About thirty-five folk came this year, which was really good - and we were joined by Monsieur Durand, the Mayor of Lacapelle-Pinet who continues to give his support to these small, community ventures - which is very welcome. This year we had savoury dishes as well as cakes in all shapes and sizes - so, giving the 'Treize Desserts' a rest; and people, as ever, were incredibly generous and so there was a magnificent spread, washed down with wine and a 'vin chaud' based on the traditional 'Bishop's Punch' recipe … so, rum, port and red wine with spices and that seemed to go down remarkably well. And there was the 'traditional hat competition', this year for the best hat to welcome the New Year …. and it does now seem to be understood that this means something other than a hat one wears in winter - so, there were some really good ones:
And as you can see from the last photo above, we introduced the BruelFilmClub, by running Jacques Tati's Monsieur Hulot in the background and got people to 'sign up' if they were interested. It looks like we have enough interest to run the Club, so the first film will be shown in mid-February. and then monthly until the end of May. As we planned, each film will be from a different country and this 'season' we have films from Italy, Spain, France and Japan and each screening we show a feature-length film and a short film. We have set up a Blog for the Club and you can have a look at this at https://bruelfilmclub.weebly.com/
We'll just have to see how it goes …. but if it is a success we will start a new season in October; and we're thinking about maybe doing a couple of outside film screenings, perhaps with a barbecue beforehand during the summer.
Festival des Lanternes
This year we heard that a lot of people were visiting this Festival which, for a couple of years now, has been held in Gaillac in the Park Foucaud which houses the Museum of Beaux Arts. It has been developed out of the close association that Gaillac has with China. The Festival celebrates the art of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) and the town of Zigong, known as 'the lantern town of the South Kingdom' - and so far Gaillac is the only place in Europe to host it. So, we went with a group from Le Bruel and neighbouring hamlets to have a look. It seemed a slightly bizarre event to hold in the middle of winter, but we were amazed by it - with the 40 metre high structures and the 80 metre long dragons and extraordinarily complex lighting:
This year we heard that a lot of people were visiting this Festival which, for a couple of years now, has been held in Gaillac in the Park Foucaud which houses the Museum of Beaux Arts. It has been developed out of the close association that Gaillac has with China. The Festival celebrates the art of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) and the town of Zigong, known as 'the lantern town of the South Kingdom' - and so far Gaillac is the only place in Europe to host it. So, we went with a group from Le Bruel and neighbouring hamlets to have a look. It seemed a slightly bizarre event to hold in the middle of winter, but we were amazed by it - with the 40 metre high structures and the 80 metre long dragons and extraordinarily complex lighting:
Wildlife of the Month
We have been putting out feed for the birds, and we see the tracks of various creatures across the early morning, dewy grass and now, of course, in the snow. But January's 'wildlife of the month' has to go to the European Jays that are flapping and squawking all over the garden. They have always been in evidence at the outer edges of the garden, in the thick hedgerows that run into the pastureland and the woods below us. But certainly this month they've decided to move in a lot closer and one can see clearly how incredibly colourful these birds are and how they really enjoy a good argument!
Other Events
Most notable has been the eclipse of the moon last week - luckily we had crystal clear skies and the view was terrific …. unfortunately we did not get a good photograph, but here's one from our good friend Jean-Jacques Valliant, taken by Phillipe Ledoux a member of the Astrological Society in Fecamp:
In the next couple of months, depending on the weather, we hope to start and complete work on the garden area outside the new Garden Studio …. that will involve making seating and barbecue area, and planting ornamental grasses and more roses. We're looking forward to that and the completion of our overall barn development. We'll keep you posted …….
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