Sunday, June 5, 2016

Will anyone buy it ?


It's rained overnight but the clouds are lifting by the time we make it into the centre of the little market town. We're early. The only other soul around a retired gentleman in blue plaid carpet slippers. A certain generation of French still go to get bread twice a day. The more conservative even take the time to choose how much time the baguette has spent in the oven.

The baker has baked an enormous cake for the European Football Championships. It's decorated with red,white and blue ribbons , milk chocolate boots and tricoleurs. Will anyone buy it ?


Angus declines the offer of a pair of edible football boots and chooses four cakes. 


Worn out by a journey in the car, some flaky pastry at the bakers and a variety of unusual scents around the market square the PONs settle down for their first nap of the morning.


Sophie wakes with a start and a sense of dread. Her large fluffy oaf of a brother is about to savage her.


A ten minute burst of hyperactivity follows. Finally, Bob settles down in his spot by the front door with that peculiar sense of satisfaction that comes from having surprised his sleeping sister.


All is well at The Rickety Old Farmhouse on this June Sunday morning

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14 comments:

Coppa's girl said...

Love the look of satisfaction on Bob's handsome face - a successful savaging of an unsuspecting sister AND slivers of pastry at the bakers ! This has got to be another best day ever !
The baker is an astute man....remove the word Euro, the date and the chocolate footballs, add a few pretty flowers in their place - et voila! a wedding cake ! Tri-couleur ribbons optional?

Kittypup said...

The four petite and exquisitely decorated cakes have my vote - quality over quantity everytime.
So funny the way that Bob and Sophie's canine sibling rivalry so mirrors human nature too.
Wishing all the residents at the ROF another glorious 'best day ever'.

Coppa's girl said...

Looking again at the football cake - I think it might have been a wedding cake before it's makeover....
I'd go for the petite cakes too, they are so pretty !

Sheila said...

I saw a photo somewhere of a Frenchman standing thigh-deep in flood waters holding a baguette over his head. He had a definite "neither hell nor high water" look on his face.

Sheila said...

That should be "come hell or high water".....

BaileyBobSouthernDog said...

I am curious about the " little market town" . Are all the merchants in the very center of town or through out the town? Is housing only above the stores, or is there housing in other buildings designated as dwellings? I can see how Bob & Sophie would be quite the celebrities, hopping from the back of the car! The little cakes are a feast of beauty!

Emm said...

If there's a major football event in the offing, can the end of strikes be far behind?

Bella Roxy & Macdui said...

Go Bob! Usually it's the other way around.

BaileyBobSouthernDog said...

Hi! BBSD here. Coppa's girl you made my day, with your keen observation, that the football cake may have began as a wedding cake! A memory of a beautiful 4 tier, basket weave, wedding cake; an extremely hot southern August day; the melting of the icing, causing the entire cake to fall on it's side; three caterers in tears, asking me to do something; "Why me", "because you did the flowers" was their answer; "I used all the flowers". Heavy sobbing; I sneaked into the Church, with my trimmers. Cutting all the flowers from the back side of all the flower arrangements; it took six of us to upright the cake; what a mess!; after stabilizing the cake with anything we could find; we began covering the cake with icing off the table cloth; what a bigger mess!; I began placing flowers anywhere there was a hole, the flowers ran out; I am now outside pruning shrubs around the church; the cake ended up being a four tier, floral iced, abstract monument, at the reception; my thanks was the promise that no one would eat any of the cake, for fear of death!; the cake stood, as a decoration, for the entire reception. Not one bite taken.

Unknown said...

Wonderful story! I think Coppa's girl may be right, too.

Unknown said...

The picture of a "terrified" Sophie is so funny.

~Kim at Golden Pines~ said...

I love Sophie's canine-sixth-sense expression!

PS: I have never been to Scotland MD, it's about 2 hours from us and is on my list of places to visit because it's probably the only "Scotland" I'll ever visit. I thought the same thing when I visited Isle of Wight County in Virginia last summer.

BaileyBobSouthernDog said...

Thank you Stephanie. Memories are such fun!

Angus said...

Oh my !