Meanwhile back in Belgium, the “garden” is growing quite well.
Little green banana:
Things exploring new worlds, new civilisations, boldly going where no… ahem.
Tomato section:
With little nearly-red balls of fire!
And also some flowers:
Anything is possible with enough watering and singing and loving care!
Yesterday our neighbour asked me to help out with making bread. Locally this is still done very traditionally. René gets up at six in the morning to prepare the dough, and around nine the furnace is lit and the bread is folded into the right shape.
The bread is laid out and covered to prevent them from drying out.
The fire is lit to heat the oven. Afterwards the burnt wood is pulled out and a piece of newspaper is inserted to measure the heat. If the newspaper goes brown the oven is at an ideal temperature. If it burns in any way the oven is too hot and you have to wait for it to cool down a little.
The bread is then flipped onto a small board using the folds in the fabric. From this board the bread is sled onto a larger board and placed into the oven.
Once the bread is brown and crusty they are taken out one by one.
And voila the end result! Amazing traditionally made bread by René.
Our well has definitely known better days, and is in desperate need of restoring. As you can see on the before pictures above stones have been falling out and the old cement is crumbling. If we would leave it for a couple more years without a facelift, we wouldn't have a well any more.
Under the all seeing eye of the dog (aka the boss) we have taken out loose parts. We do this part by part, careful not to dislodge the general structure of the wall. The good stones we keep, the bad ones we throw. After cleaning out a hole we puzzle together a new one, using the old and new stones. The puzzles are stuck in using a mixture of 3 parts sand, one part chalk, and some water. This mixture is less rigid than cement and is thus more suitable for our old (and moving) buildings. Everything made of cement cracks and tears within a couple of years in this region.
We’ll keep you posted on the progress!
The side door is the only one that is used to enter St. Etienne cathedral in Cahors (Dept. Lot). On Saturday the square in front of the cathedral is used for the weekly market. Even though the square is buzzing with activity, the cathedral and adjacent abbey are quiet and peaceful.
Not every statue has survived the hand of time. However,some are detailed enough to see what they symbolize.
Last but not least is the little mistake just above the main altar. To mask it in a divine way they have decided to put tow little angels in the space of the misplaced beam. You can see them above. The ceiling of the ship of the cathedral is one of the main attractions. It is decorated with a 14th century fresco depicting the stoning of St. Etienne. I And it pulls away the attention from this little mistake above.
Remember the Medusa bust I posted about a couple of days ago? Using it as a source of inspiration, we decided to make them ourselves.
What you need:
First of all we drilled a couple of holes in the bottom of the Buddha. Then we drew a very nip-and-tuck-ish cutting line through its hair. Tom used a stone saw to cut through the stone. I have to tell you, it really felt like preforming brain surgery on a Buddha! We then put potting ground in, and planted a pretty hairy plant. We’re so happy with the result.. it feels so zen!
Honestly, I have the bestest boyfriend ever!!
