Discovery

Since our arrival here at La Maison M-J life has been about discovery.

One might think it was just the mundane discoveries of life in a new milieu--where to shop, eat, buy gas etc....but Madame Nature has intervened to give us a smart smack in the arse as to what life is truly all about! :) 

Here you see what we discovered just outside the kitchen window in a hydrangea bush (pictures of that in bloom for a later flower power blog entry!) as the source of a chorus of peeping we had been wondering about.

So beautiful to watch life beginning and getting ready for the heady summer to come.

My heart has been touched by Freya's gentleness here--those of you who know our little 'terrorier' know what a crazed maniac she can be, but here as she began her redecorating work...also known as 'chasse de taupe' (mole chasing) she would uncover a baby mole blindly making his escape from the savage beast (aka F), but did she kill or maim the little guy as her instinct might command? No, she would take him ever so gently in her mouth and come to us or wag her tail madly...so we, or more aptly, me, would have the pleasure of soothing him, and getting a baby pet-by before releasing him into his hole.  I guess having a little bird for a big brother taught her the lesson of overriding nature! 

Life here has given us a taste of youth again and I for one am reveling in it.  Now for the presumptuous of my readers who assume, knowing my gourmet tendencies, that I refer to a food taste--you would be...WRONG.  Instead, I refer to the sheer joy of discovery that kids have when seeing something for the first time.  What we as adults see as a wondrous enlightenment, or growth of knowledge in a little person who truly sees something for what it is.  

Here, it's the joy of discovering what fruit is growing on the two little trees in our 'potager' (garden for vegetables, fruits, herbs etc.)...in the case of the photo, our suspicions are that we will be making apricot jam this fall as opposed to the hoped for peach crop the previous owners claimed--my question is--who after ten years of eating it mistakes an apricot for a peach? Either way, it will happily cover our toast!

There's just a giddy elation that overcomes me as I see yet something else that is 'new' to me on either a walk with Freya (quickly becoming a morning, noon & evening habit) down our lane, or touring the property, or just sitting and watching the sun set.  Don't even get me started on the amazing show the sun puts on for us in the morning as she rises (yes Mom & Dad-J shocking as it is, T & I have been up early enough to see the sun rise on several occasions!!), or the evenings as she sets....here an example of around 10:30pm, as I stand at the head of our 'champ' (the field the farmer has rights to, but which I ignore and Freya has deemed--the dig zone--!) It's a feeling difficult to explain but which I can only relate to what I vaguely remember feeling when I was young....so vive la jeunesse (long live youth) and I can't wait for all the other discoveries to come!