Westoby Terence

Bonjour
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Cordialement

Saturday, Sunday, Monday

3 photos of our garden. On Saturday we had 2 lakes but after a night of tropical rain on Sunday we had just a lake and no garden.

Sunday was dry(ish) except for flooding on the roads so by Monday we were back to 2 lakes.

As you can see, the house is elevated over the garden so the house stayed dry.

Visitors are recommended to the dry season

Fish and Lights

Some meetings are in the church buildings; others are where the people are. One such is on the beach where several families live in home-made houses.

These are fishermen and their families. Some fish on the river which is one side of the single road that gives access. Others, those who own a boat, fish in the sea which is the other side of the road.

Because we meet after 6pm it is always dark. So we sit in a circle on the sand under an LED light. Later the men will go out in the boats to fish.

So on the way home we stop at the next "village" where Evangeline is friends with one of the families. We park and follow the lady to the seashore. The night is very still which is good for fishing not least for safety reasons. The boats are those small thin ones with outriggers.

As photos go, it is not smartphone friendly. Just starlight, candles and torches. So the flash photos is the best I got.

However, for buying fish it is ideal. The boats have just returned and the men are still throwing the catch from the nets onto the sand. We fill a bucket with small fish called "lady of the farm" in Filipino and return to the house to weigh them and pay for them. They will have to be gutted when we get home.

The next night we returned from the church building at Reserva village. As we pass through a town on the main road, their Christmas lights are worth a look. The big tree is last years winner made large for this year's display. The smaller trees round the edge are contenders for next year.

All the trees are made from local materials, often recycled. The winner is already selected but we liked one best that wasn't even placed.

There is a video playing and stalls selling food, nativity scenes and lots of people. Most large towns have one but this was the one on our route.

Today, lunchtime and some of the ladies of the farm are in the frying pan. They should taste good!

Tea for two

Tea and scones with cream and jam served by Harrods. So where are we?

Kuala Lumpur of course.

But is this supper, or breakfast, or afternoon tea; or maybe midnight snack?! For us, it is 2:30am and our flight is at 4:15.

But it is breakfast time here and this is as suitable as it gets.

Shopping French style

Keep up the good work

Google have a way of encouraging you. 

I contributed a couple of photos on Google Maps. They appear to be popular!

If you look carefully, you can see Evangeline in the British Embassy.

The fire image is Bastille day at the Eiffel Tower. Clare has some photos of this too. However it is hard to find on the map site because there are hundreds of different photos of the structure. The meal at Martos is different - and was rather exceptional!

Whether I will "keep up the good work" or not depends on how I feel, but the positive feedback, I have to say, does help!

Apple smashing in May

It was Sunday the 7th. I was passing the little commercial centre in Massy where on my way out I had seen someone setting up speakers in the light rain. And now it was after 11am and it appears I had missed the "fun".

There was plenty of evident 'though. Broken apples on the ground (if you look carefully you should see them in the photo, click to enlarge it). It appears some perfectly good apples had be crushed underfoot at the appointed time.

It is election day; but that can't be the reason as it is illegal to promote the candidates in the last 2 days. So this had to be some other occasion. 

A celebration of harvest? of spring?
Nothing on the internet has given me the slightest clue; except perhaps the one place where it said "anything can happen in May"!

I have missed out on the "pleasure" of stamping on apples. And the reason why, I may never know!