Vivement le printemps !

That means something like "Bring on springtime!" You can see and feel it happening these days. It's been a dreary winter, and now we are finally getting some dry weather and a little bit of sunlight.

The primroses in our yard are blooming, but they're not as pretty as they are in years when winter is colder. They nearly drowned over the winter, I guess, with all the rain that fell.

Our house seen from out on the edge of the vineyard looks pretty good. Just a few days of bright sunshine would make the blossoms on my plum tree really explode into full color. We'll see.

It will be interesting to see if we get fewer apples after the pruning of the trees in February, or if we get even more than last year. Actually, this should be an off year for apples. They produce every other year here.

That's another plum tree that is starting to blossom now. On the right is an ornamental cherry tree that is also just waiting for a little more sun and warmth before bursting into color.

Of tombstones and shipwrecks

There are three churches on the block where the Old Burying Ground in Beaufort is located. The biggest but not oldest one is the Ann Street Methodist Church, which was built in 1854. That's about the time that the European-Americans in the congregation at Purvis Chapel split off from the African-Americans in the congregation. The European-Americans built themselves a new church, below. The third is a more modern Baptist church, built of brick.

In coastal areas of the U.S., graves are frequently built in the style below. The brickwork keeps soil from washing away around the graves when there are heavy rains or flooding.

Most North American cemeteries are wide fields of manicured grass, but not the old burying ground in Beaufort, where there are many trees, including a large number of huge live oaks, growing among the 500 or more old graves.

Because the cemetery is so shaded by big trees, many graves are covered by moss. Lichens grow everywhere, as do ivy and shrubs. The soil is sandy.

The oldest grave that still has a legible stone marker in the Old Burying Ground dates back to 1756, but there are many earlier graves that are no longer marked.

That's because there was no stone in this region of marshes, swamps, and dunes that could be used in making tombstones. They had to be imported by ship, which made them far too expensive for most families.

Many graves had wooden markers, made from local cypress, but those haven't survived over the centuries.

In my post yesterday, I showed the marker on a common grave where crew members of the Crissie Wright, a Philadelphia schooner that ran aground in ocean surf near Beaufort in January 1886, were buried. It was so cold the night of the shipwreck that most of the crew members, who had lashed themselves to the boat's rigging to prevent being washed overboard, froze to death. Some were lost in the sea. Only one out of the eight or nine on board survived. Afterward, a U.S. Coast Guard life-saving station was established on the barrier island at Cape Lookout.

Silent Saturday (Beaufort, North Carolina)

Du déjà vu

I'm not talking about the sun, even though we have seen it before — it had been a while — here in Saint-Aignan. I'm talking about the vineyard. I'm back in it every other morning and every other afternoon. It's wet. Sloppy wet.

Yesterday morning, however, the sun came out. Don't worry, though. It didn't stay long. They do say that we won't have rain for a few days now — maybe for the next 10 days — so the ground might dry out a little. I might even be able to till up the vegetable garden. I want to plant kale, and Walt wants to plant peas and radishes.

People are out working in the vineyard, pruning and just generally cleaning up. Their cars were parked along the road yesterday morning when I went out with Callie. If you enlarge the photo above, you can see our house in the distance. Or you can just look at the photo below.

You can enlarge any of the photos by clicking on them with your mouse, or by tapping on them if you're using a tablet. I'm having a slow and easy morning because I got myself a new toy to play with yesterday. It's a 10-inch Android tablet. Maybe the screen will be big enough for my fat fingers to be more accurate when it comes to typing an e-mail or a blog comment.

Hospitals, helicopters, and wheelchairs

I think my jet lag broke this morning. They say it takes one day of recovery time for every hour of time difference — that would be 6, in this case — to get over it.

For me, breaking jet lag is a lot like breaking a fever. All of a sudden, there's some kind of sleep catharsis as the demon décalage loses his grip on my mind and body. In this case I awoke about an hour later than usual, just as the most vivid dream involving helicopters, hospitals, wheelchairs, dizziness, and running like crazy through the streets of Paris all the way out to the airport at Roissy suddenly ended.

In the dream, I was on the way to a hospital by helicopter to have some kind of medical procedure performed on an emergency basis. Some nurse or doctor finally told me they were going to inject amniotic fluid into my body. A woman who was visiting my mother in her own hospital room (in Paris, not North Carolina) looked at me knowingly and told me that the treatment was meant to cure my dizziness.

Along the way, I found myself wandering through the Food Lion supermarket in North Carolina when a couple of serious-looking people, a man and his wife who sitting on folding chairs in one of the aisles, signaled me to stop and talk to them. They started speaking in French, telling me about the helicopter trip and saying I had only a few minutes to get ready. Pourquoi me dites-vous tout ça ?, I asked them. Il faut vous rendre à l'hôpital tout de suite, they said gravely. They told me just to call my cousin and give her the news, so that she could in turn tell my mother.

When I got somebody on the phone at my cousin's number, the person spoke French and there were several other French voices that I could hear in the background. It was CHM on the phone. Comment se fait-il que vous parlez français, I asked him. J'appelais ma cousine. — Et bien, on est au bureau, comme tous les jours à cette heure-là, he said. Où es-tu, d'ailleurs ? I didn't have time to explain everything, so I just said I'd call back when I could and fill him in.

A nurse was then pushing me in wheelchair through the streets of Paris out to the airport at Roissy, north of the city. I told her that, unfortunately, I needed to pee. She told me to run find a toilet and to hurry back. The first public toilet I found, the door was locked. The second had a En Dérangement sign on the door. The third was flooded, with ankle-deep water on the floor. I ran frantically from one place to another around Les Halles in Paris — frantically not because I had to pee so bad but just because the nurse was going to wonder what had happened to me if I didn't return soon. I never did find a toilet.

I wonder what this woman sitting in a Paris laudromat was dreaming about.

The nurse had by then disappeared so I had to walk all the way to Roissy. Of course I got lost. The weather was beautiful, and I was walking on some kind of footpath lined with pretty trees and high stone walls. The farther I went, the surer I was that I had taken a wrong turn and was on the wrong path. Just when I was about to turn back, I arrived at a small hangar of some kind and there was the nurse waiting for me with the wheelchair. That's when I woke up.

Included in this post are a few photos of things and places that I might have seen in Paris... in my dreams.

Cuisses de canard aux panais et aux figues

This is a recipe that I mostly made up yesterday. I had seen duck leg-and-thigh pieces for sale at SuperU, and I also noticed a package of parsnips. I needed carrots too, and these are the ones I found. They're sold as « carottes des sables » ("carrots grown in sand").

Selling sandy carrots as healthier and more flavorful seems like a gimmick to me, but I guess not washing the carrots after they are pulled out of the ground keeps them from absorbing water and tasting watered down. They are harvested by hand, the package says, and not by machine. Here's what they looked like peeled and, yes, washed.

You probably know what parsnips (below) look like. These are alread peeled. Parsnips have been slowly coming back on the market in France in recent years and are called a « légume oublié » — a "forgotten" or heirloom vegetable. They are like sweeter, starchier, white carrots, really.

I sliced the carrots and cooked them first, in just a little bit of water in a pot on top of the stove. When they were tender, I took them out, set them aside, and cooked the parsnips, cut into larger pieces, the same way and in the same water. I saved that water to use it as a braising liquid for the duck. Oh, and here's the duck. I cooked just two leg-and thigh-pieces, called just « cuisses de canard » in French.

The first step in cooking them was to brown them, skin-side down, in a lightly oiled pan on top of the stove. Don't worry — they will make their own fat. I wanted the skin nicely browned.

When the skin is browned, turn the duck pieces over and add a sliced onion, along with some salt and pepper, to the pan. Cover the pan for a minute and let it continue cooking on low heat to soften the onions. Then take the cover off and set the pan in a hot oven. When the onions look cooked, pour in about a cup of the parnsip-carrot broth, mixed with some poultry stock and white wine as you like. You don't want to cover the duck with liquid, because you want the skin to stay brown and kind of crispy.

I almost forgot the figs. These were cooked months ago and had been stored in the freezer ever since. After the duck cooked in the broth for half an hour, I added the figs and the cooked carrots and parsley to the pan.

And there it is. After browning, the duck needs to be braised for an hour or so altogether. Mine could have stood to be cooked even longer (next time...) — it would have been more moist and tender. You know, you could make this same recipe using one or two turkey thighs or 4 to 6 chicken thighs. The figs, parsnips, and carrots give a nice sweetness to the braising liquid, which you serve as a sauce.

P.S. Those are a few leftover steamed potatoes on top, just heated through at the end... not required but good too.)

La Tartiflette savoyarde

La Tartiflette is a cheese and potato dish that was more or less invented 30 or 40 years ago up in the Alpine area called La Savoie. It's a meal you can enjoy when the weather outside is especially wintry. You start the tartiflette by sauteeing some nice potatoes in oil or butter. (Or you can steam the potatoes before you cut them up and then, optionally, brown them.)

Wintry is what our weather is like this March. Yesterday, we had a snow shower — une giboulée it's called — that saw snow falling hard but didn't last as long as the one I blogged about last Saturday. The snow didn't stick yesterday, but the temperature outdoors this morning is down to freezing, or below.

The second step in making the tartiflette is to sauté some thick bacon or little chunks of smoked ham (lardons fumées in France), along with a couple of diced-up onions, in the same pan, after taking the potatoes out. If you cook the bacon and onions first, and for more flavor, sauté the potatoes right in the bacon fat. (Nothing would stop you from using smoked chicken or turkey instead of bacon, or leaving the meat out entirely.)

It seems that tartiflette was invented by people who wanted a good way to increase sales of the Alpine cheese called Le Reblochon. According to Wikipedia, Reblochon is "a soft washed-rind... French cheese traditionally made from raw cow's milk from the Alps [and] produced in the region of Savoy (departments of Savoie and Haute-Savoie)." I wonder if you can find it outside France.

You assemble the tartiflette by first cutting the Reblochon in half through the middle to make two discs that have skin on one side and none on the other. It you want, and depending on the size of your baking idsh, you can cut the two cheese halves in two or even four again. Place them skin-side-up on top of the sautéed potatoes, bacon, and onions, moistened with a splash of cream or milk and seasoned with a little salt and good amount of black pepper.

The cheese I used is one that is sold at Intermarché specifically for making tartiflette. It's called — surprise surprise — fromage à tartiflette. I think its rind is thinner than the Reblochon's, which you need to remove partially by scraping it with a knife before you melt it on top of the potatoes. (Again, nothing would stop you from using a Camembert or a small Brie, made either in Wisconsin or France, or some other cheese that melts well, to create your own version of tartiflette.) Bake the dish in a hot oven until it's heated through and the cheese has melted appealingly.

Purvis Chapel (1820), Beaufort, North Carolina

Here is an article published by the Carteret County News-Times newspaper in Morehead City, N.C., about a 19th century church building called the Purvis Chapel in neighboring Beaufort, N.C.

BEAUFORT — Lively singing can be heard each Sunday coming from a scenic church under large live oak trees at Craven and Broad Streets here.

While many appreciate the gospel music at Purvis Chapel AME Zion Church, they may not realize the church’s historical significance to the county and the nation’s African Methodist Episcopal Zion and Methodist church movements.

The church is in the National Heritage Registry and is recognized as the second church to join the AME Zion Church in the South in 1864. In addition, the church had been meeting for 10 years prior as a black Methodist body of believers, according to the Rev. Curtis Oden of Beaufort, a member of the church’s board of trustees who has compiled a history of the church. Rev. Oden also pastors an AME Zion Church in Cove City.

Rev. Oden is assisting another historian who is working on a book about the history of black churches in the county.

“St. Peter’s AME Zion Church (originally known as St. Andrew’s Chapel in New Bern) gets credit as being the first AME Zion Church in the South, but Purvis Chapel was the first pulpit,” Rev. Oden said, referring to the fact that the first sermon by an AME Zion pastor was given at Purvis Chapel but St. Peter’s was the first to join the conference.

The church building is also believed to be the oldest in the county that’s still in use.

The church’s history is intertwined with the tumultuous Revolutionary War and Civil War eras, according to historical accounts. The building has served not only as a church, but also as a courthouse, school and hospital, and housed Union soldiers during the Civil War.

“It’s been a lot of different things to this community,” said the Rev. Margaret Blackmon, who currently serves as pastor of Purvis Chapel. “Where our fellowship hall is located is on the site of Beaufort’s first firehouse, which burnt down.”

Historians believe the current Purvis Chapel building sits on top of the remains of St. John Parish, which was built in 1724 by the British Anglican Church. Methodists moved in and began using the building in 1774 after the Anglican Church minister left during the Revolutionary War. In 1784, Bishop Frances Asbury with the Methodist Church in England visited Beaufort, and it’s reported that he donated the church’s first bell. That bell, made in 1798 in Glasgow, Scotland, now sits in the church’s balcony with a sign, and Rev. Blackmon said plans are to eventually place the bell back in the bell tower.

The present Purvis Chapel building was built in 1820. It was originally called Methodist Church and was part of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, according to Rev. Oden. The name Purvis is ascribed to a past popular revivalist, the Rev. James Purvis, who in 1834 led a soul-stirring revival in Beaufort.

The original St. John Parish building was moved to Ann Street where First Baptist Church is now located to make room for the larger 1820 Methodist Church building, according to county historian and author Mamre Wilson of Beaufort. The St. John building was eventually torn down.

Both white and black Methodists in Beaufort worshipped together in Purvis Chapel as one congregation until 1854, with blacks sitting in a balcony area. While most of the balcony has been removed, one small section still remains.

In 1854, the white members of Purvis Chapel built Ann Street Methodist Church and gave the Purvis Chapel building to the black members. Purvis Chapel continued to have white ministers until after the Civil War. The church remained with the Methodist Episcopal Church South from 1854-1864.

Then, at the convincing of the Rev. James Walker Hood, a pastor sent to New Bern and Beaufort in 1864 as a missionary with the AME Zion Church of America, based in New York City, Purvis Chapel decided to break with the Methodist Episcopal Church South and become part of the AME Zion Church. From that point on black pastors were brought in.

Historians say Rev. Hood landed in New Bern around January 1864, but was unable to preach there because of the Civil War fighting in the area. He sailed to Beaufort and preached his first sermon in the South at Purvis Chapel.

This photo appeared with the News-Times article in 2013.

He preached at St. Andrew’s Chapel (now St. Peter’s) in New Bern on Easter Sunday 1864, which became the first church to join the AME Zion Church in the South. Purvis Chapel joined Dec. 17, 1864, becoming the second.

Rev. Hood went on to become a great bishop in the AME Zion Church and founded conferences in North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia. He also became influential in politics and served as the North Carolina assistant state superintendent of public instruction, with the major duty of founding and supervising schools for blacks.

The actual anniversary of the AME Zion Church in the South is 1863, according to Rev. Blackmon, and this year AME Zion churches, including Purvis Chapel, are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the conference’s establishment. The church will hold an anniversary celebration at 4 p.m. Aug. 18...

P.S. As always, you can click or tap on the photos to see them at full size. All are mine, except as noted. You can read the full article here — it includes a photo gallery.

P.P.S. Yes, I am back in France, recovering from jet lag and a slight cold (or pollen allergies). Our weather is lousy, so taking photos isn't happening right now. Thanks to everybody for the birthday wishes. Given my general fatigue and malaise, the birthday went by in a blur.

Two 18th-century houses in Beaufort, N.C.

So as an official "elder blogger" I thought I'd post a few pictures of things that are older than I am. Specifically, I'm talking about houses in Beaufort, North Carolina. It's not my home town, but I'm sure some of my ancestors lived there. I drove and walked around in Beaufort three or four times in late February 2016.

The Rustell house (or Russell house in some accounts) was built in the early 1700s in Beaufort, North Carolina, making it the oldest existing house in the town.

You can see the floor plan of the first floor of the Rustell House here.

I wonder if they had rocking chairs on porches in the 18th century.

The town of Beaufort [BOH-furt] was founded in 1709. It's one of the three or four oldest towns in North Carolina, along with Bath, Edenton, and New Bern. The town I was born and grew up in is Morehead City, which was not founded until 1857. Beaufort and Morehead are separated by just three miles, including two bridges and a causeway built in 1927. Earlier, a railroad bridge, built in 1907, gave residents and tourists a way to get to Beaufort from Morehead and points west without having to go by boat.

Samuel Leffers' house, a rustic or "primitive" cottage, was built in Beaufort, N.C., in 1778.

I liked seeing collard greens growing in the Leffers House garden.

Samuel Leffers was a schoolmaster and merchant who also served as the clerk of the local court.

North Carolina was also the site of the first English attempt at establishing a colony in North America, in 1585. That attempt was a failure — all the colonists vanished while a ship made the return crossing to England to bring back supplies. The first successful colony was established in 1607 just to the north at Jamestown, in Virginia. People from Jamestown starting moving south into North Carolina in the mid-1600s.

Snow video

March 5, 2016 at La Renaudière outside Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher in the Loire Valley region

A surprise snowstorm for my birthday

67

Walt just pointed out to me that I picked a lousy day on which to have a birthday. It's not just raining outside, but it's snowing too. The snowflakes are big and fat and falling straight down. So are the raindrops.

By the way, 67 is my new age. I don't know if you can believe it. I know I can't. Even so, I just managed to snap a couple of photos out of the kitchen window to document today's malheurs.

I

I don't think the snow is supposed to last — but I am. I had always said it would be a cold day when I reached such an advanced age. Happy birthday to me.

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P.S. Since I took the photos above, the snow has really started to stick.

Here's a shot of Walt and Callie leaving for their morning walk. Walt drew the short straw today!