Halloween Horror Hellfire

Well in America there is Trick or Treat, a kind of very wimpy excuse for blackmail. Here in the North East we have true Halloween Horror in Tim Burton style! (courtesy of the forestry commission)
James has just returned from a Halloween walk in the Woods (in the dark by moonlight!) where hidden around the Branch Walkway were various people in costume ready to leap out at unsuspecting children. He encountered skeletons sitting on the fence, various witches, people swinging devils by the tail blocking the path, he was chased by zombies and a "man with no face" and the worst (best) was a doctor who was disembowelling someone and throwing the guts at the children "it was only bits of pumpkin Dad!"
NOW THATS HALLOWEEN!

Kiwis in Normandy

So we are back in the land of autumnal cold. The Orne was having an indian summer whilst we were there, and walking in the woods in shirtsleeves spotting mushrooms was the order of the day.
We found a fabulous cider farm where James played on the old stone press and I was shown round the barn - I ended up buying 12 bottles of the demi-sec after a two hour tasting in the sun with the owners.














We went to the local market as usual and Anne chatted up the various french men including "Fred Pizza" (yes he makes the pizza!).
Highlights of the trip this time included the morning when I leant out of my dining room window to look out along the street and I was hailed by two older french women down below. I went down below to see what they were on about and it turned out that they thought I was the local Gynaecologist who`d made an appointment for them to be seen down below! It was an easy mistake to make as he has big blue double doors as well as us. Anyway I was delighted to direct them along the street to his offices and I felt as if I`d just become a local.
Scott and I cleaned out the drains fronting the house onto the street which led to another conversation with the neighbours, the other neighbour Jean Claude gave us some of his apples and Anne made a great Tarte Tatin.
We closed the week with a great meal out at the Auberge Clouet round the corner where Anne had the largest Oysters you`ve ever seen and Angus had an apple sorbet in a lake of calvados.
There is loads to do in the house still and we will need to go over as often as possible to keep up with stuff but so far it has been great fun.

Family gathering in Normandy

We met up (without Ruth) with the Kiwi cousins and David and Sarah at the french house. Islay and Faye were doing a european tour with their parents Scott the Aussie vet and Fiona (Anne`s big sis). For now here are some pics of James flanked by Faye on the left and Islay on the right, and also the three Rhodes siblings Anne, David and Fiona enjoying fizz.

Count Dracula

So here is Count Dracula going to a "Spooky party", also there was a Skeleton, several Witches and assorted vampires.

Mid-life crises

Job 14:1 "Man who is born of woman Is of few days and full of trouble.
A depressing text which can come to dominate the mind as I reflect on what is going on around us.
So many of our friends are currently struggling with major stresses ranging from bereavements of parents or friends, divorce, family illness and severe work pressure.
We all know we should sleep more, exercise more than once in a blue moon and eat more healthily (well I do one of the three thanks to Anne and Debbie and their salad obsession).
The solution is not the above, however hard we try!
"I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." Philippians 3:8.
The last few weeks have been a bit overwhelming for me and I have been forcibly reminded that if I want to cope in my own strength I am going to suffer stress related conditions. Even worse I have realised that my personal aims have been seduced away from the basic fact that ALL THINGS are but loss compared to the excellency of KNOWING the one person who is my all in all.
'nuff said!

Bethany Childrens Choir

We were visited by a children`s choir from Tanzania who sang and danced, transforming our church with joyous rhythms and beaming smiles. They have a fantastic website with songs and video to download - just click on the title of this blog!

Old dog!

Freshers Week

An update from newcastle university! After a week of non-stop partying and no sleep, myself and my flatmates (Clare, Laura, Jess, Charlotte and Katie) took our duvets into the sitting room and had a girlie night in with pizzas and cheesy films.

Highlights of the week include the fairground rides at the beach party, judge jules, a trip to asda and the freshers finale pub crawl.

On saturday we walked into town and tried on silly hats in Accessorize. In the middle is Katie from Liverpool and on the right is Clare from Northern Ireland.


And finally, by special request, Gregg from flat a throwing up into a bucket after too much vodka, as flatmate Laura tries to look the other way.

Lectures start tomorrow!
xx Ruth

The Flood

So we survived a 450 mile round trip in two days - crossing the Yorkshire moors to Humberside via the Humber bridge and then down through Tennyson country to Norfolk and the Fens.
BUT the gorgeous weather did not hold out into the second day!! I was perturbed to see animals being led from the fields two by two as we were still 20 miles south of the Humber bridge - the skies turned black as pitch and a biblical deluge fell on us! My Arizonan cowboy boots betrayed their fancy Dan origins and filled with water, closely followed by gloves and the seat of my pants! Only 120 miles to go, soaking wet with a 70 mph wind blast pushing the water into your chest. Crossing the Humber in the rain and wind was exhilerating - how we suffered for our art. Funnily enough it was one of the best bits of the whole trip. We had to defrost in Helmsley for a pot of tea and caramel shortbread `cos we are well `ard bikers.
Whilst I was away James learnt to ride his bike properly so he joins the biking fraternity. We are celebrating with the weekend curry tonight.
Also Anne is thinking of getting a 125cc and learning to ride so she can come on these mad trips - maybe West Coast, Norway, South of France!!

From Wetwang to Dogdyke

Black Beauty has been serviced and fitted with brand new indicators front and back, and today Rollo and I head off over the moors south, all the way to the Fens and back for a two day road trip.

Photos will be posted later tomorrow.

We`ll always have Paris

Here am I resting on the pedestrian bridge over to the Louvre, which is shown in the next photo!
The conference was a bit poor in terms of content which was a shame as I had to console mself in the arms of Paris - Brasseries (no not brassieres!) and bars, restaurants and ice creams and finally chocolate.

The Chalice of power

Who is this super hero?
Sarge? ...No.
Rosemary, the telephone operator? ...No.
Penry, the mild-mannered janitor? ...Could be!
Well actually no again, I am just reporting that (after weeks of ambivalent vacillatory activity!) I decided to go for interview yesterday and was subsequently appointed as Clinical Director for Adult Services for our Trust (Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust) which provides services to County Durham and Darlington, Hartlepool, Stockton, Teesside and North East Yorkshire.
We are heading for the new NHS business environment and intend to be amongst the earliest of the Foundation Trusts in about 18 mths time when we will all be reconfigured again!
So I have supped from the chalice of power and will be drinking from the goblet of domination. Nothing tests character more than ultimate cosmic power but I don`t think I`ll be affected at all as I rule over the petty lives of those minions that will be at my complete beck and call ........ Ooooo hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahaha!

Art and shopping!

Ruth it turns out was selected not to have (as we thought) just one of her pieces to be on display at Corus HQ but ALL OF THEM. She was subsequently judged to be the best student of her year and none of us were there for the exhibition!! Including Ruth who didn`t think it was a big thing!! Jonny is following in her sisters footsteps!
Anyway we are heading off this weekend to various places - Ruth and Nana to London for a girlie shopping weekend, Angus to Paris for a long weekend of conferencing til wednesday, Anne and Debbie to York and James and Jonny wherever!!
At the weekend I did my first ever abstract canvas as a part of a contribution to the church`s art exhibition - I used textured paint to get a rough base and then laid on top of that a combination of aerosol acrylic gold and black followed by two types of metallic flakes and then a number of inks in the red/brown range, more gold on top and finally laquering the lot to seal it together. I loved doing it and if time and inspiration allow, will do some more.

Birthday Celebrations

The gorgeous Anne

Complaints have been received over the absence of Anne pics so here is one of her climbing a dangerous peak in Arizona in February this year and more will follow over the weekend!

Family News

Well over the summer big things have happened avec Les Cloches. Ruth got her results and was relieved to get all A's so she can go to the height of cultural and footballing excellence that is Newcastle Uni to do English literature! We are very pleased for her and this means she is not too far away. She subsequently got her accomodation confirmed as being in the flats in Richardson Road which was not her first choice by a long chalk. She moves in on the 24th September.
Jonny meanwhile got his AS level results which is kind of halfway - he like his sister is demonatrating a severe attack of artiness and has an A in the bank for Art, B in English and C in Psychology. The way it works these days is that you get each paper marked and reported separately - Jonny got A`s for English apart from one D on an essay which he obviously answered completely wrongly so he is redoing that module next year and you keep the A`s in the bank. Similarly in his psychology he is redoing the weaker result in the coming year so expectations are for an A in art, A in English and B in psychology come next year. Both America and Soul Survivor were immense for him this year and his faith has developed as a result. He has some great stories to tell so ask him directly! He plans to take a year out and work in America in the church for a year from next summer.
Debbie is turning into the fashion icon of the family and has had a great summer both in New Wine and with us in France - she loves all cheeses (even the most french stinky ones) and will eat all kinds of fish but almost no meat any more.
James is becoming super sociable mostly with those older than him - he enjoyed his cousins and his new friend Evie and surprisingly loved french food and wanted to eat from the main menus rather than the menu enfant!

La Belle France

Well we`re back from a wonderful two and a half weeks of french culture and house decoration with my mother and brother and his two girls!
I`m sitting here sipping a Kir, and a bottle of Muscat is chilling in the fridge for later as I reflect on the culinary and linguistic adventures we have recently experienced.
Part of getting this house is the challenge of becoming more fluent in french, and we had a great conversation with the carpenter when we were commisioning him to build us a fitted wardrobe in our bedroom - he turned and asked us why we wanted a shelf at the top? Anne replied in her best french that she wanted to keep her blankets there. Unfortunately she thought that by saying blankets in a french accent that he would understand! What he heard was "blanquettes" which either means "stew" or sparkling wine!! He laughed a lot!
Anway we have decorated most of the upstairs bedrooms now and I varnished the floors in the dining room and Ruth`s bedroom. The roof leak in the utility has been mended (par moi!) and the railings have been scraped and rustproofed and painted, the oil for the central heating has been delivered (courtesy of the Bretaux brothers) as well as a corner sofa and chairs. Paintings have been put up and we have engaged Serge the electrician to put up the chandeliers!!
As well as all this we got out and about discovering this little restaurant in the middle of nowhere called the Poisson Vivant where we had a 3 and a half hour lunch. It is a charming little place run by a young couple near to Flers about 40 mins north of us. She is spanish and Anne taught her how to fold napkins into Lilies with 8 leaves. We had two meals there in the end!
We also went cycling on the VeloRail, swimming in the fabulous leisure pool at Flers, calvados tasting, and beach lounging near Mont St Michel.

Culinary highlights were goats cheese ice cream, Creme Brulee of Foie Gras, caramelised apple crumple with calvados and anything from the local markets (see pic!).
We still have yet to visit the northern coast, Falaise (William the Conquerors birthplace) and I have been promised a tour of the Loire with my Uncle who knows some wine producers there. So Giverny, Bayeux, Camembert etc are all to come!!
For family news see next postings!
Le Baron x

Newcastle Council ban the use of "Pet and Hinny"

Newcastle Council are in big trouble as the ire of the Geordie Nation has been aroused. They have dared to suggest that using the words pet or hinny (the latter is thought to be a diminutive of honey from the 18th century) to refer to women is derogatory and offensive.
They ruled that staff shouldn't use these horrible words but the outrage has been so severe (even from southerners!) that they are backtracking faster than an italian tank in WWII (a historical and faintly racist joke!). If you want to read the original Times article click on the title of this blog.

Academic success

Well we all cheated, by going on the UCAS website Ruth confirmed she has got a place at Newcastle to study English Lit before we have actually got her results! So she must have got an A at least!!
So we go off to France today with happier hearts as she can now rack up her £33,000 debt which is the average for a three year degree these days!! We are all delighted.
She has also had some of her artwork chosen to be displayed in the Corporate office of Corus, so we are doubly pleased in our arty talented daughter.

La France profonde d` Edward Cummings

Well we`re off to Normandy on thursday to carry on developing our little piece of La France profonde as the parisians call our area. Apparently it is not deep France, so much as "backward france" according to the sophisticates of the capital.
I`ve just discovered that the american poet and painter Edward Estlin Cummings (1894-1962) was interned in our little town of La Ferte-Mace during the end of WWI. He also died in the year of my birth which continues the sensitive and artistic link to Normandy very neatly I think! He published an account of his imprisonment in 1922 called the Enormous Room.
So suitably enlightened (if you want more you can click on the blog title above!) we are very excited about our trip - we are gradually getting more amd more done. This time we have some lights to put up (chandeliery things), floor varnish for the stripped floors, radiator paint, sanders, rugs, a Lloyd Loom bedside table, a Parker Knowle chair and footstool all courtesy of a good trailer.
We are also living the rock star life where you get an entire wardrobe established in one`s second home doncha know - this will be very helpful should we choose to fly from Teesside to Paris for £30 return without any luggage which will be our future mode of transport for quick trips.