Laquenexy fruit and flavours festival

Laquenexy, a small village in rural France on the outskirts of Metz has been hosting a festival of fruit and flavours for the last 45 years. Along with an entrance ticket each person was given a brown paper bag containing 2 apples, 1 pear and a plan of the area together with a programme of events.

There were several stalls selling plants, a huge variety of spices and teas, a botanical artist selling really beautiful pictures and a whole building devoted to the sale of different varieties of apple. Christmas had come early in the form of unsual “Christmas” trees made of bleached branches of wood which had been hung, mobile-fashion, from the ceiling and decorated with red or green apples - simple but very effective.

The local children had produced a variety of artwork on the theme of gardens, some of which were really excellent.

Entertainment was provided by someone making hats out of brown paper bags - for adults and children alike

and a trio of musicians graced the musical garden.

The main attraction of this festival was that the village of Laquenexy was celebrating links with Japan and they had some Japanese exhibits, including a fine red gate (tori)

and a small exhibition of bonsai trees.

Winegrowers from the Cahors (south western) region of France had provided an exhibit called “Blackittude” which was a black and red garden - black soil contrasting nicely with the red plants which included chocolate cosmea and red veined chard - quite impressive.

There was an exhibition of stamps depicting fruit but it was very difficult to see them because they had not used non-reflective glass in the display frames.

There was a collection of apples which had had stencils attached to them before they started to ripen so that when the stencil was peeled off you could see the design below where the skin remained unpigmented.

There was a display of beautiful copperplate etched prints by the Japanese artist Koji Ikuta

The print of the girl and the picture of the melon flowers and moon were some of my favourites in the exhibition.

Mosaic made out of apples

Water feature

The pumpkin tunnel where all manner of bottle gourds, pumpkins, etc. were growing

the work of a local rush-weaver

 

Stolzembourg plant fair

In lieu of entrance tickets each person was given a pack of mixed seeds.

We started our tour by visiting the chateau and its gardens before walking down through the village. The displays were many and varied ranging from stands selling daffodil/narcissus bulbs, a huge range of allium bulbs and another selling iris rhizomes.

Inside the chateau was a display of glass objects in really vibrant colours.

In the stairwell hung this picture of a raven.

One of the stands sold floral sushi

Down below was another stand selling brightly coloured bird houses.

There were floral displays and mixed-media pictures, assorted organically produced food and apple products, baskets and, obviously, lots of plants.

This man had a sign hanging round his neck “ail I love garlic” (ail being French for garlic) and, judging by the quantity of garlic on his stall, this was no idle boast.

As with all good fairs the kids corner, where they could make assorted wreaths/garlands,  proved irrestible

 

Garden glimpses

In the absence of an actual garden some people will use whatever space they can

and the larger the garden the more exotic elements go into it

These photos were taken in the South of France in  St Paul de Vence, Tourettes-sur-Loup and Eze.

 

Red flora Slide Show!

 

Yellow

For Lois and her lemon tree 

  

A poem from the CD “Colors” by Keith Nordine 

YELLOW

In the beginning

Oho - long before that

When light was deciding who should be in and who should be out of spectrum

Yellow was in trouble

Even then

Seems that Green - you know how Green can be - didn’t want Yellow in

Some silly primal envy I suppose

But for whatever cause, the effect was bad on Yellow

And caused Yellow to weep yellow tears for several eternals (before there were years)

Until Blue heard what was up between Green and Yellow

And took Green aside for a serious talk

In which Blue pointed out that if Yellow and Blue were to get together

Not that they would, but if they did…

A gentle threat - they could make their own green

Oh! said Green, with some understanding

Naturally, by a sudden change of hue

Green saw the light, and Yellow got in

Worked out fine

Yellow got lemons

And Green got limes

 

Harvest cheer

collage made from images from a variety of magazines

 

In which I visit the hermitage and find a new costume growing in the garden

A couple of years ago I set off with a group of intrepid virtual travellers led by le Enchanteur to find the Sybil’s grotto. This is part of my story:

The hermitage 

OMG did I really not read the small print before signing the contract for my ticket to the hermitage - another performance. I really wasn’t prepared for that. Obviously not only a visit to the dressing-up box was required but also a consultation of the instant-party-piece-box. I decided I would travel to the hermitage by raven this time. I had to think carefully about which hermitage we were going to – not the one in St Petersburg (Russia) - one of the world’s greatest museums but to the one that is home to the Amazon Queen.  

In my new guise of thieving magpie, I exchanged my swansdown cape for one of magpie feathers. Since ravens and magpies belong to the same family perhaps I would have to revise my view of magpies as being the killer whales of the bird world (for their habit of stealing eggs and killing baby birds for food). My feathered cape was quite spectacular as it was made of wing and tail feathers of a dark green/blue hue and a lustrous sheen. We flew through the night sky, dark with storm-threatening clouds and no moon that night. My raven guide assured me that that wouldn’t be a problem as the hermitage was only a couple of miles away as the crow flies. What a strange expression. Does anyone know the origin of that expression? and how appropriate for my present situation.

After a short flight my raven set me down on the gravel in front of the main door. I pulled at the chain to ring the bell and heared it clang somewhere deep inside the building. The door opened, seemingly of its own accord and I stepped forwards into the entrance hall.A tall lady came forwards to greet me. “You must be Traveller, I have been expecting you”.  I followed her into a large hall with a minstrels gallery running around it. Tapestries hung on the walls and there was rush matting on the floor. Tall vases filled with bullrushes stood in the corners. There was a stained glass window on one side through which the light streamed casting rainbow patterns on the floor. A delicious smell of cooking floated up from somewhere. “I will show you to your room and then you can join us in the refectory for a snack before I show you the dressing-up box”. Oh help, I thought. I’m really going to have to put in some practice for this next bit.

She showed me to a turret room with views over the fields and woods. There was a smell of something woody in the room and I noticed that a small bunch of wild flowers and herbs had been tied together and hung on a hook near the window.  After giving me directions to the refectory, she left me to get settled. It didn’t take me long to sort out my things so I followed my nose to the refectory, down a number of winding corridors with ceilings so low that I had to stoop to avoid hitting my head. The walls were covered with whitewash and a number of pictures adorned the wall but I didn’t pay these much attention. My stomach was more interested in the prospect of food.When I got to the refectory I found that a place had been set for me at the table, but seemingly I was to dine alone. There was a wooden platter, a mug and a jug of some frothy liquid which, on closer inspection, turned out to be cider – my favourite. I helped myself to the bread and cheese.  Replete after my snack I considered my situation.  I thought that some of the other travellers were here as well but the hermitess had made no mention of them and I hadn’t heard or seen anyone else since my arrival. Very strange, I thought.  

My thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the hermitess herself. “Come along now, we need to find you a costume. Come with me to the costume box”.  I duly followed her out of the refectory and outside into the garden. We walked until we were out of sight of the hermitage itself and came to a greenhouse.  She opened the door and motioned me to follow her inside. “This is where we grow the costumes”, she explained as she showed me rows and rows of costumes seemingly growing at a rapid rate. Each was tied to the sort of canes you see in vegetable plots and as the costumes grew, they were tied for support to the canes. Some had only just started and others were obviously nearly full grown. “Choose any one that you like. Whichever you choose will fit you so don’t worry about size. You will need these special golden scissors to cut it off the plant”. She bent down and showed me where to cut the stem of the plant at a point just above a bud. Thus a new costume would grow when I cut mine off. “You will find various accessories on the shelves, take what you want”. I had a vague memory of someone saying something about mediaeval costume as a group of troubadours was supposed to be stopping off at the hermitage. I wandered up and down the rows until I stopped at a silky red dress, with flared sleeves edged with blue brocade with a white under-sleeve.  I touched the fabric, imagining how it would move with me when I walked. I hesitated a moment longer and then bent down to cut the costume carefully off the plant. She stood watching me as I slipped the dress over my head. ”You see, it fits you perfectly and it’s just the right colour for you. I think the gold crown and the golden cords plaited into your hair would finish it off nicely” she said as she picked up these last items from the shelf. “I expect you will want some time to rehearse your piece so I suggest you take the dress off and go back to your room. I think the others are probably practising at the moment”.  She’s right, I thought as I walked back to the hermitage for I could hear snatches of song and a few muffled curses…. 

 

Who’s been spell-making in my garden?

I have used image-editing software (pre-Photoshop) to change the colours and used a cloud filter to create different effects in the following photos:

I have used a solarisation effect on this one

 

garden statuary

 

Li’l Miss Rose