tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post2802457547787857988..comments2023-10-31T15:39:09.651+01:00Comments on box elder: Reflections on the season, and all that.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09764296105901909328noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-83165739678739785482011-11-04T00:57:33.659+01:002011-11-04T00:57:33.659+01:00I read this sipping my first real heavy autumn ale...I read this sipping my first real heavy autumn ale. Nice!!Rouchswalwehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01393987883437907945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-22925024178178932922011-11-02T08:19:37.235+01:002011-11-02T08:19:37.235+01:00a perfect post!a perfect post!juliahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04283759962211889152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-15304481042771552562011-11-01T22:49:01.596+01:002011-11-01T22:49:01.596+01:0030 days of Lucy is a great treat to look forward t...30 days of Lucy is a great treat to look forward to! And I agree - lanterns and a little fun for kids works well just as the days get so short.Juliahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02381204473168533313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-18925620324673945242011-11-01T20:53:05.335+01:002011-11-01T20:53:05.335+01:00A bit more research into filer a l'anglaise so...A bit more research into filer a l'anglaise sort of confirms the 'discreet' definition - 'discretement' in the French Wiktionnaire, but with less complimentary origins: from the verb 'anglaiser' which meant to steal ( cf 'to welsh' ie on an agreement in English!). Sneaking off, stealing away, doing something 'on the quiet' are all a bit ambiguous. There's certainly an element of mistrust there!<br /><br />Plutarch - filet (de boeuf) a l'anglaise = semelle de chaussure as far as most French people are concerned!Lucyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09764296105901909328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-79079546316274942782011-11-01T20:22:22.774+01:002011-11-01T20:22:22.774+01:00We have always been told that filer a l'anglai...We have always been told that filer a l'anglaise was more a question of sneaking off without saying goodbye...like leaving a restaurant without paying! Your version paints a rather more respectable picture of modest self effacement!Rosiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12211663940952195703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-36926245834608425472011-11-01T20:19:17.544+01:002011-11-01T20:19:17.544+01:00Your post sounds all cozy and wistful and true.
T...Your post sounds all cozy and wistful and true.<br /><br />T.YourFireAnthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03428838843235292696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-71667030158822301372011-11-01T17:52:24.531+01:002011-11-01T17:52:24.531+01:00I like the expression "filer a l'anglaise...I like the expression "filer a l'anglaise", because it contains a truth about a modest habit of self-abaisement, and also because as a homophone it suggests a steak, or perhaps biftek which is what the French call us as we call them frogs.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06972049290586377462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-70854012139132991762011-11-01T17:37:35.606+01:002011-11-01T17:37:35.606+01:00Good luck with Nablopomo... I'll be happy to ...Good luck with Nablopomo... I'll be happy to see more of your writing.<br /><br />There's so much 'autumnness' in your post. The best of autumn (aside from the trick-or-treating, which even as a kid I didn't think much of). Chicken, chestnuts and dumplings in a stewy-soup sound delicious.HKatzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17653570160517335758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-70600717165125028442011-11-01T09:35:43.072+01:002011-11-01T09:35:43.072+01:00Thanks all.
Around the towns here one sometimes s...Thanks all.<br /><br />Around the towns here one sometimes sees these days quite demure little groups of dressed-up kids. Attempts to commercialise the festival have more or less failed, and indeed there was quite a reaction against it as creeping Americanisation in some quarters, with an attempt to reinstate the Mardi Gras carnival to compensate, but that didn't much take off either.<br /><br />Out in the rural areas of door-to-door progressing isn't very feasible, and the French tendency to barricade oneself behind shutters at day's close doesn't help, though that's relaxing a bit.<br /><br />On the other hand partying for youngsters on the last night of October here seems to me quite a good idea, as 1 November is always a public holiday, Toussaint, the one where everyone feels obliged to go back to their ancestral turf, pay homage to the old and the dead, smother the cemeteries with chrysanthemums (don't ever give a French person chrysanthemums unless they're dead - the person not the chrysanths - it's bad luck), and sit for stultifying hours over a family meal. Seems to me the kids need something to alleviate this.<br /><br />Sebastian, Sarah and co, who presumably were en route from home to the lotissement where their grandparents live, have had a dreadful loss by suicide in their close family in the last couple of years, so I imagine Toussaint is likely to be heavy going. So I'm really glad they got to have some of the fun and warmth and light to offset some of that darkness.<br /><br />When we lived in a residential close in Devon, Halloween and trick-or-treating was observed cheerfully and politely and generally enjoyed. In America the the threat aspect seems to have been minimised, and I don't get the impression that that has permeated the practice such as it is here much either. <br /><br />Typically, I'm afraid, in much of Britain the menace and greed seems to have become predominant, so the business has got itself a bad name.<br /><br />'Filer à l'anglaise' is sometimes compared with 'French leave', but the sense is quite different. I think it genuinely does reflect the comparative reluctance and uncertainty we have, about greetings and partings and the degree of formality attached to them: we prefer not to make a fuss. It's not exactly pejorative, is accepted as possibly a question of being discreet or tactful or self-effacing, but also can be seen as rather graceless and regrettable.<br /><br />It's a useful one to know though, as it can be employed with humour when it's what you want to do!<br /><br />Winter: we were told when we came that snow was a rare thing here, and it is erratic, but we've had quite a bit some years. Last year's early December duvet was quite unusual. Our autumns are often mild and pleasant, frosts late. The damp and grey can be wearying.Lucyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09764296105901909328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-82215699414161816592011-11-01T08:13:36.055+01:002011-11-01T08:13:36.055+01:00That was a lovely write. I agree about Lothlorien....That was a lovely write. I agree about Lothlorien.earlybirdhttp://mangetoutetc.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-64668467957929333272011-11-01T08:03:17.940+01:002011-11-01T08:03:17.940+01:00Thanks for filer à l'anglaise, I didn't kn...Thanks for <em>filer à l'anglaise</em>, I didn't know that one. But I did know, and was taught it at school: Pistol: "My Doll is dead of malady of France." one of the rare useful things I took away from Bradford Grammar School. er, that's the phrase, not the disease itself.<br /><br />Halloween in the USA was popular and properly organised (parents lurking at the end of the driveway) and we prepared accordingly. Also I had two little witches of my own to take out. Here it's like "carols" at Christmas - a half-hearted attack of rapacity - and I fear I resort to the computer, print out a small poster I created in Quark five or six years ago, stick it on the front door window and we retire behind the curtains.<br /><br />Your talk of central heating and thick socks defines the transition between summer (a juvenile time of year where there is no need to take heed for the morrow) and winter (where the act of preparation itself is an adult act). Why I might even try to write a sonnet, fledgling tendency squeezed out for some time now by great slabs of novel prose. A threnody, perhaps, but somehow winter seems too comfortable (indoors at least) for lamentations. My abiding memory of winter in Brittany was of your car immovable under a great duvet of snow.Roderick Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16828395545197001637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-1480725215833582572011-11-01T06:26:08.896+01:002011-11-01T06:26:08.896+01:00A wonderfully, warm remembrance of one Halloween n...A wonderfully, warm remembrance of one Halloween night. Thanks for writing it, Lucy.Catalysthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03804837416104556928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-74639264348350649012011-11-01T02:52:45.107+01:002011-11-01T02:52:45.107+01:00What a wonderful Halloween story.What a wonderful Halloween story.zephyrhttp://www.thegarden.typepad.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-66142460864856234562011-11-01T01:38:28.689+01:002011-11-01T01:38:28.689+01:00we have just shut the door behind my 15 month old ...we have just shut the door behind my 15 month old niece whose trial run this was for next year's real trick or treating. she was dressed as a panda bear, and loving loving loving becoming her own teddy bear. it was adorable and i felt my heart squeeze in the most delightful way. mr. monkey asked me why i didn't want one of my own which i don't understand - can i not adore the little human without wanting to produce one as well? yes i can! and do! happy halloween!the polish chickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09929281676865641560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-3929275022002639662011-11-01T01:15:40.423+01:002011-11-01T01:15:40.423+01:00Such a lovely way to enjoy the last day of October...Such a lovely way to enjoy the last day of October! And I adore the photo.marja-leenahttp://www.marja-leena-rathje.infonoreply@blogger.com