Shrooooms & Shots....

A couple days in Paris, our bellys full from a phenomenal 'Menu Chef' from our favourite little sushi restaurant in Paris--this is a menu where you just sit down and eat what the chef puts in front of you--all fresh and his creation for that day--風味がよい!! (tasty in Japanese :) ) A couple hours spent running errands near the Hotel de Ville area, and a wonderful dinner party at some new friends' apartment--I might have spent a good portion of my time ogling the phenomenal view of the blue Eiffel Tower from my spot at the dinner table--it's an addiction, what can I say?

Back at the house we are definitely settling into Fall....as for acclimating to...errr....certain country Fall habits, well, that's a completely different story!

So....Sunday morning we wake up, the sun is shining, brisk air dresses us in warm clothes and we are partaking of steaming cups of java to conclude the morning crawl when we hear..."BANG BANG ...bang bang". A flash of gray means Josie has torn into the house, closely followed by a flash of white-Freya. Neither are a fan of gunfire for some odd reason.

Ah yes, the ringing sound of gunfire on a Sunday to relax a person....and why is this you may ask? Weeeeeell--apparently in the lovely, idyllic French countryside that we have chosen to call home there is huntin' season--yep, the dress up in camo, grab the dogs & gun and go shootin' for stuff just 'cause it's fun season--September to March. Now, I personally don't have anything against hunting, along the principal that you eat what you shoot, but what I have a particularity against is....when you freakin' shoot a gun within 100 meters of my front door where I'm enjoying my coffee!!.....and based on the corners that the farmers cut in other areas of life, I'm just not convinced of their skill in hitting a target, nevermind a moving one....and thus fear for my, my beloved's, my pooch's & my kitty's rear ends staying intact. Call me vain. Oh yes, and did I mention they were within the bounds of the law and it is apparently us who must now apply to the regional hunting Poobah for limitation of hunting on our newly acquired property? Ah yes, the continued joy of educating ourselves on la vie rural.

And so it was that T had his first encounter with a local hunter (wearing a flourescent yellow vest at my behest) and we are researching the various methods of making the surrounding property to ours completely undesirable to hunters and the animals they stalk--loud music, fake signs, anything legal, suggestions are welcome!In the meantime, we decided that perhaps exploring further rural paths on this particular Sunday was no longer a good idea, but a certain puppy was in desperate need of serious outdoor time and thus we packed off in the car to explore a huge public park/forest just outside Le Mans. It is fabulous! I won't go into the description, see for yourself @ www.arche-nature.org (they have an English button!), but it was a most educational, exercising and entertaining time for all three members of the family! Most importantly, no fear of shots ringing out at any moment AND a haven for all the cool 'champignons' (mushrooms) I have placed pictures of throughout this entry (didn't have any hunters captured on film...yet). I swear some of them looked fake--but I promise you, real as can be! Now I know where Disney traipses around looking for plant inspiration--incredible! As the forest browns there is all new life erupting around...and then again, there is life ending....shooting & shrooms folks....I'm off to search for any remnants of the 80's fluorescent trends in my clothes boxes!!