Laying eggs

Yesterday I opened up a blog I have read regularly for a while now only to learn that the author has decided to stop posting. It was called "L.A. en vie" and the writer, Sedulia, has an inviting writing style and an interesting point of view. She said she felt like she didn't have much to say any more. She's at least the third blogger I know of who has pulled the plug recently.

Callie stalking something

Sedulia, an American, moved from Paris to Los Angeles a year or more ago after spending many years in Europe. When she lived in Paris, she published the blog called Rue Rude — you might remember it. She said she would post there again on future trips to Paris.

Every once in a while, we all feel the way Sedulia does right now. It comes in waves. These days, I don't have too much to say either. Everything I write seems to me to describe a fairly humdrum existence. I'm not complaining or feeling sorry for myself — every day I'm busy with garden and yard work, cooking, house cleaning and organizing, dog walking, and reading blogs and newspaper articles on the Internet.

The vineyard yesterday afternoon

But I think I've described all that over and over again on this blog. I refuse to start writing about U.S. politics, even though that would be a natural thing for an American to do at this point in time.

You're probably a little bored with my topics, as am I these days. But I don't plan to stop posting. Soon something interesting will happen around here and I'll write about it.

Meanwhile, I hope these local newspaper articles will give you a little of the flavor of local life here in the Loir-et-Cher department of France. Here's one from yesterday's paper. As you'll see, it's not about elections, murders, financial crises, or any of the other big subjects of the day. Ce sont des petites scènes de la vie de tous les jours comme on la connaît en Val de Loire — little word paintings of everyday life in the Loire Valley.

Market seller doesn’t put all her eggs in one basket
With her farm products, Sandrine Ruby respects “the cycles of nature.” The items she sells, including goat cheeses and eggs, are guaranteed to be “garden-fresh.”

For eight years now, faithful customers have been returning to the Coty neighborhood market in Blois on Wednesdays to see the young farmer from the Ferme aux oiseaux — The Bird Farm — at Les Hermites in the Indre-et-Loire department. Nicole, a retiree, is one of them. “Here, the vendor is a nice friendly person and the quality is guaranteed, with products that are a good value for the price,” she says

“We have about a hundred goats in our pasture,” says Sandrine. “Our cheeses are made exclusively with their milk, and we age the cheeses naturally. I make cheeses in the shape of logs, disks, and the little round ones called crottins. Sometimes I add some color by rolling the cheeses in herbs or chopped walnuts. In season, I sell chicken, quail, duck, and turkey eggs, all of them “fresh from the garden,” Sandrine says with a chuckle. The amount of cheese she makes depends on the amount of milk her goats produce at different times of the year.

“In November, we don’t milk them because they are getting ready to kid. With eggs, it’s the same thing. We respect the natural cycles, and we don’t force-feed our animals to increase production. So today, for example, I don’t have any chicken eggs to sell because the hens didn’t lay any.”

From time to time, Sandrine also brings to market ostrich eggs that have been laid by friends’ birds.

“An ostrich egg is equal to 24 chicken eggs. And it contains less fat so it’s good if you have a cholesterol problem,” according to Sandrine, who also sells honey and oil produced by another friend. “That helps liven up my display,” she says.

I just opened the back door to see what's going on out there. It's snowing. More precisely, there's a mix of rain and snow falling. It's not sticking. The temperature is just a degree or two above freezing. Not even Callie wants to go outside in that.