Thanksgiving in France - We are Grateful!

While there are not signs of American Thanksgiving in the stores here in the Dordogne, we are reminded of this event on Facebook, as friends and Family back home (US home) share their good wishes for the day, and their gratitude.
So, in that same spirit, I would like to share my gratitude: Continued good health as I start my 60's, the love and companionship of my best mate and husband, Waz, and the ability to travel on a budget, enjoy new adventures with my similarly adventurous companion, and share our interests with others whom we meet along the way.
We are grateful for opportunities, which we take (or not) and enjoy regardless of the shortcomings, in many cases. We are grateful for the continued good health of our senior family members, now in their 96th and 90th years respectively (Poppa (Waz's dad) and Mum), our siblings and their various family members. We are grateful this year for somewhere to live following Hurricane Irma, when many have nowhere. We are grateful for being included in our friends family celebrations, their love and care of us individually and as a couple, and their fellowship.
In short, we are grateful for whatever life brings. Each day that we wake up, has to be a good day:)


Like every day that we wake up, we are grateful to be opening our eyes...just to continue that theme:) It is always a pleasure to be able to step out of bed, stretch, drink fresh water, have a bathroom to wash ourselves and do ablutions, open a refrigerator and find food inside for a meal and eat it in relative peace and with family and friends. That this were the case for the majority of the rest of the world! World peace is more of an ideal than a reality at this juncture.
 That it should be a given, is obvious.

Back to our reality with cats. I know this theme might get boring, but we would be sadly mistaken if we said cats are boring. Far from it.
As a source of entertainment, they are hard to beat. These moggies continue to surprise and delight us. Sitting down is usually accompanied by one or two cats, vying for lap space. One of our new friends continues to be aloof - Elsa. Names after the famous Born Free lioness, she is a lovely light brown striped monster. She didn't appear at the appointed time last night, so we didn't shut the shutter, but left the cat door in open position so that should she deign to grace us with her presence, some time during the night, she had a safe place to sleep. The kitchen door was closed so that she couldn't get into the rest of the house and mioux (she is French, after all)  us awake. She watched me closely while I was taking photos outside, and was poised to scoot off the seat.

Our morning is now beginning around 7.30am. The alarm rings, but we are almost awake, already. I'm first out of bed, clothed and down the stairs (2 flights) to the sous-sol to open the door to the monsters contained in the bowels of the house. They crowd each other on their way up the stairs to the kitchen. I have left the kitchen/back door open so that they can immediately exit the house and do their THING in the Garden. This varies greatly from drinking from the fish pond, drinking from the swimming pool cover, chasing birds that might be eating seed on the feeder,  milling around my feet looking for fresh food, and climbing on the counter/table to discover what went on in their absence, last night. They get short shrift from the latter two.
Scruffy is having an early morning drink from the pool cover. She kept slipping into the water.

 Despite clearing the leaves yesterday, there were more this morning.

Elsa sitting hopefully under the bird feeder.

Holly made a half hearted attempt to chase a bird.

Once all the moggies were fed, I set about making us something a little unusual. We had crepes, bananas, and the last of some Crème Fraiche, left over in the fridge. Sounded like a recipe, non?

A tablespoon of unsalted butter, a small tablespoon of brown sugar, juice of one lemon, and juice of half an orange....eat the orange meat over the sink afterwards..oops!..carrying on...
Melt the ingredients over moderate heat, stirring all the time to avoid burning. Place chunks of banana into the mix and turn as they cook. You don't want them mushy...unless you like mushy banana.

 fold the crepes into 1/4s and place into the pan, moving them around to soak up the syrup in the pan. Fold them again with some banana inside, and turn the heat off. Place a couple on each warmed plate, and add crème Fraiche or whipped cream. No need for further syrup! I promise.

 That was rather a lot of crème fraiche, I have to admit.
Waz opted for the Crème Entiere, which is like whipped cream, in this bag.

They went down a treat with a pot of Earl Grey tea. We repaired to the living room to read mail before cleaning up the kitchen and putting on the rubber gloves for the kitty clean up in the sous-sol.
The weather was rather warm by comparison to yesterday, so we doffed our sweaters and did some leaf sweeping; Waz on the pool, and me on the paths. The cats thought this was a real treat. They played chicken with my broom, and had such fun jumping on the leaves in the bushes.
The front path at least, looks somewhat clean, but with plenty of leaves yet to fall, this may just be an initial clean up.

After cleaning up the fresh windfall on the pool cover, Waz set out for the wood pile to stock us up for the evening's fire.

What a gorgeous day...another one. We have enjoyed 7 straight days of sunshine. It did rain briefly during the afternoon, but it was all rather half hearted, and the sun was still shining through it. We ventured once more towards the Intermarche, first in search of a coffee pot...French Press kind. We have three in the USA, so this was a bit excessive, IF we could find one.  First we had to deal with the bins full of recycling, so we turned right, opposite the Intermarche, and posted the recycling as prescribed. Turning back onto the main road at the bottom of a curved hill was a bit tricky, with fast oncoming traffic, but patience is always rewarded, and we got our opportunity to return to the supermarket, and for further inspection of the items contained therein. We are always enthralled by supermarkets. This being an Hyper Market, you can buy pretty much anything and everything, except Bricolage, which you have to go to the Mr Brico, Bricomarche or whatever other brand of Hardware store you can find. Our favorite being Leroy Merlin, as I have previously mentioned.
We weren't fortunate enough to find our coffee pot there or any of the other three places we checked. We will make do with what is available at the house.  Back to the house to do some more work.

 After all the afternoon activity, we retired inside as the temperature dropped, around 3.30pm, and with a cup of coffee, we sat reading for a while. I was joined at the computer by a couple of monsters.

 Scruffy, above, is a wonderful lap cat. I could easily adopt her. She is highly affectionate...as is Cocoa, who has decided that my neck is a much better place to visit with me.:)

Waz took a nap, and I was reprimanded, around 4.30 for making too much noise in the process of making a fire. It wasn't a very good one I might add, and needed his expert ministrations to increase the heat. Then again, I was trying to be quiet, lol.  That's my excuse!

 Time to make some dinner. I have fresh pasta! Pappardelle with porcini mushrooms.

I sautéed some eschalots and fresh chopped garlic with a few lardons, in unsalted butter. Rough chopped mushrooms and broccoli (for color) went into the pan, and a dash of sauvignon blanc wine, after the Crème Entiere (Whole cream). The sauce was ready at the same time as the pasta, and VOILA! Dinner!

The raw pasta, which had to be separated, like a zipper.

 Pasta boiling in the back pot, and the sauce simmering at front.

 A little tomato for color and garnish, and there you have dinner! oh...I added a few estragon flakes at the last minute...Tarragon. Delish!

A cup of tea has been made and delivered, and it looks like I need to do the dishes first. One kitty is rather taken with the sauce pan and she is on the counter...again! Naughty Cocoa!
Ciao, bonne nuit! A demain.