The Forth Bridge - jobs at Le Pre Vert ...

If you are holding your breath waiting for the post about our trip to La Promenade, you’ll have to wait a little bit longer.

Tim rubbing down!

Today we started to prepare and paint the Forth Bridge aka our 10 sets of French windows and shutters – that’s 20 windows (‘cos we’re only painting the outside) and 40 shutters! That’s not to mention the barge boards, downpipes, garage doors, other windows and walls!!

With any luck we’ll run out of paint …

*For those of you who might be wondering about the reference to the Forth Bridge, legend has it that the painters never finish painting it. When they get to the end they go back to the beginning and start all over again! If you want to know more you can read all about it here - it makes fascinating reading...

**Susan pointed out that I should have linked to the FORTH RAIL BRIDGE and methinks she could be right!

Home sweet home ...

Dr Sally Ride 1951-2012

It was with great sadness that I heard the reports of the death of Sally Ride. I wasn’t even aware that she had been ill. For someone in the public eye Sally Ride was an immensely private person but had been fighting pancreatic cancer for the past 17 months. On July 23^rd she lost her fight and passed away peacefully.

Sally compiled her own obituary (which you can read in full here) with her life partner Tamara O’Shaughnessy , such a brave thing to do, as I guess she wanted the world to know something which although known to friends and family wasn’t generally public knowledge.

In 1983 Sally Ride was the first American woman to fly in space aboard the Challenger Space Shuttle, something she also did in 1984. She was preparing for another mission when in 1986 Challenger exploded on lift off and the program was suspended. Sally retired from NASA in 1987 and continued her life as an educator, setting up Sally Ride Science in 2001. Her great passion was to get kids, particularly women interested in Science and Maths.

 As Sally would point out, if you Googled “scientist” you were most likely to get a picture of a mad scientist than a normal young woman or man.  She wanted to make it more “normal” to master chemistry, physics, biology, and calculus – the survival skills for tomorrow.

In her opinion the 1960’s Russian satellite Sputnik inspired the public to focus on science and engineering.  “It was cool then to be a scientist or engineer, and we need to make it cool again.”  .

In a tribute to her President Barack Obama said -

"As the first American woman to travel into space, Sally was a national hero and a powerful role model. She inspired generations of young girls to reach for the stars and later fought tirelessly to help them get there by advocating for a greater focus on science and math in our schools. Sally's life showed us that there are no limits to what we can achieve, and I have no doubt that her legacy will endure for years to come."

As an admirer of what Sally Ride achieved, a scientist and  a woman I sincerely hope so…

Dinner tonight ...

We'll be eating dinner at a restaurant in Le Petit-Pressigny with friends tonight, so prepare yourself for a virtual (via blogger) gastronomic feast at the weekend!

To prepare, our lunch was made up of very meagre rations ...

All in a day's work....

Tim was ‘working from home’ today. In the morning we popped across to the market at Le Grand-Pressigny and happened upon Tim and Pauline with their friends Eunice, Peter and Harriet at the Prehisto, so spent a very pleasant time chatting over a mid-morning drink.

To make up for his hour out Tim spent the afternoon working whilst Gaynor sat in the shade! As the temperature began to cool (to a manageable 34 in the shade) Tim finally found time to put up the hammock we’d bought a couple of years ago.

All he needs now is a wireless connection that reaches his very shady spot in the garden. Gaynor either needs Tim, or for him to fashion a rocking device...

In the way...

Yesterday we were ‘cooling off’ in our sitting room – following my recent moans about the weather who’da thought I’d be saying that! Tim spotted something heading towards us, although to be honest it would have been very difficult to miss!

Did it stop in time? No, but it did turn!

As we ate our supper on the terrace we noticed that everything was covered in a fine dust – even the window frames that Tim had spent the morning brushing down and vacuuming off …

Friendship + Cake = Yummy ...

A couple of weeks ago my friend Barbara handed me some gloop in a container, with instructions about how to look after this gloop and a recipe for a ‘friendship’ cake. She assured me that said cake would be delicious!

I dutifully followed the instructions and Barb was right it was delicious, although better warm than cold. I kept some of the by now even bigger bubbling pile of gloop and passed some on to friends Linda, Debbie and Gill. Gill, I could tell, was more than a little wary and Rory was dispatched to put it in the front porch!

I brought some of Herman junior with me to France and today made another friendship cake, this time substituting the Bramley apples with rhubarb – I love rhubarb, but mostly because we have tons in the garden!

As I type it’s baking in the oven and the smell is wonderful. Tim is drooling but has been promised a slice of the warm cake with a cup of tea.

The instructions and recipe are as follows-

Herman The German Friendship Cake

Hello, my name is Herman.

I am a sourdough cake. I’m supposed to sit on your worktop for 10 days without a lid on.

You CANNOT put me in the fridge or I will die. If I stop bubbling, I am dead.

Day1: Put me in a large mixing bowl and cover loosely with a tea towel.
Day 2: Stir well
Day 3: Stir well
Day 4: Herman is hungry. Add 1 cup each of plain flour, sugar and milk. Stir well.
Day 5: Stir well
Day 6: Stir well
Day 7: Stir well
Day 8: Stir well
Day 9: Add the same as day 4 and stir well. Divide into 4 equal portions and give away to friends with a copy of these instructions. Keep the fourth portion.
Day 10: Now you are ready to make the cake. Stir well and add the following:

• 1 cup of sugar
• 2 cups plain flour
• half tsp salt
• 2/3  cup of cooking oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 cooking apples cut into chunks OR 6 sticks of rhubarb cut into small chunks and cooked with a tablespoon of sugar for a couple of minutes to soften.
• 1 cup raisins
• 2 heaped tsp cinnamon
• 2 heaped tsp ginger (optional but we are a ginger loving family!)
• 2 heaped tsp baking powder

For the top of the cake

• 1/4 cup flaked almonds 
• 1/4 cup brown sugar 

Mix everything together and put into a large greased baking tin. Sprinkle with the brown sugar and flaked almonds. Bake for 45 minutes at 170 ‐ 180C. You may need to cover in tin foil and bake for a further 20 minutes to make you’re your Herman is done in the middle.

When cold cut into finger pieces. The cake freezes well and is also delicious warm with cream or ice‐cream.

The recipe and full instructions can be found here, a website devoted entirely to Herman and his variations!

If you are due to see me in the next couple of days shout if you DON'T want your very own 'Herman' or shout something different if you do....