Category: 2011 Spring

Water Torture

Guillaume is up to his old tricks. He developed a case of incontinence in France last year which we finally tracked to water trickling back out through his inlet. This led to a drop in water pressure which activated the

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Moules et Frîtes

French cuisine has a deservedly high reputation. Both the French classic cuisine and the French country cuisine have given us a series of notable dishes worthy of repetition, IMHO, even though the emphasis on butter and cream in the classic

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In-Flight Entertainment

Given the right equipment and a co-operative specimen, taking a picture of a perched dragonfly is relatively straightforward. Naturally a few skills need to be employed, such as: not making any sudden movements; approaching stealthily; ensuring that your shadow doesn’t

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An Intro to the Marais

The network of channels and canals that drain the marais encloses a series of fields which are put to various uses by the locals. The water channels are described with some precision by specific words according to their size. Having

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The Emperor’s Clothes

Francine had devised a cunning plan to barter for the use of Mike & Linda’s washing machine: maniac that she is, she volunteered to help Linda working on her allotment (a.k.a. the farm) for half a day. The allotments in

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Long-Term Interest

There are a few areas of France that are capable of holding our attention, not only repeatedly and for extended periods of time. The Marais Poitevin is certainly one of those areas. Our interest began many years ago when we

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Scarcely Recognisable

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I frequently concentrate so much on the process of photography that I don’t actually notice what it is I’m photographing. Maybe one day, it will become second nature enough for that

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À la Marais

We tend to buy a French newspaper to have access to a relatively reliable weather forecast showing the whole country. This way, we can avoid intentionally driving into storms. We bought one in Luché-Pringé and everything looks set fair at

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Luché-Pringé

There are two rivers called the “Loire/Loir” in France: there’s the main “La Loire” (female) and the more minor “Le Loir” (male). Le Loir  is a tributary of La Loire. La Loire is the one everyone has heard of; this

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Jeux avec Sally

Our first main target is the Marais Poitevin, ~30m/50km inland from La Rochelle halfway down the French west coast, where we have friends living. It would be a trip of ~330m/550km trip from Neufchâtel-en-Bray which, though perfectly possible dragging Guillaume,

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