Saturday, January 24, 2015

As mad as a fruit cake.



An invitation from the town hall to the annual prize giving for the most beautiful garden in the village. The mayors wife has made 'interesting' tableaux out of dried root vegetables as first, second and third prizes. These will be presented to the lucky winners by the sous-prefet. The less fortunate will receive a calendar of the departments floral villages.
There is more canine excavating. Please keep on sending in comments saying that the PONs are digging for truffles. Heaven forbid they be doing it for fun. Tomorrow morning we'll head to the nursery and buy forty rosemary plants. These will be used to fill in some of the holes. Visitors might just believe that the rosemary has seeded itself. 
Angus finishes the 1500 pages of the brilliant third and final volume of  John Rohl's biography of Wilhelm II. Despite the authors even handedness one comes away with the feeling the Kaiser was as mad as a fruit cake and rather unpleasant with it. He nearly went to war with America in 1904. Having doctors who tried to cure his withered arm by wrapping it in the skin of a newly killed hare each evening can hardly have been a stabilizing formative experience.

9 comments:

Bella Roxy & Macdui said...

Rosemary in the driveway?

Duke and Petite-Chose at 2G said...

Somehow we can't help thinking that the calendar might be the better option. If your garden wins a prize, would it be in order to politely refuse by saying that the PON's would eat the "interesting" tableau ? Will there be drink to go with the coque?
Keep a close eye on those two when they dig - they could just be eating the truffles when they find them!

WFT Nobby said...

Yes, the calendar does sound a better option.
Do you have truffles in your part of France? (Clearly Bob and Sophie think so).

OJ said...

I'm sure the PONs would have found Kaiser Wilhelm's arm an irresistible distraction from their truffle divining!

~Kim at Golden Pines~ said...

I'll admit that I don't know too much about Kaiser Wilhelm. But I do recall reading about his life that from his relationship with his Mother to how he conducted foreign affairs can only be described as bizarre. It all makes the digging that Bob and Sophie are doing, seem pretty sensible!

JacksDad said...

How many baths do they get each day? :)

Anonymous said...

Friends have put little mittens on their infant children's hands when putting them to bed. The idea is it prevents the babies from scratching their faces while they are sleeping. Too bad you can't put socks on the dogs to prevent the digging!

VirginiaC said...

The light bulb has just gone on in my head...NOW I know why Bob and Sophie were caught up in such intensive digging, they were helping you to get ready for the most beautiful garden in the village competition...how clever of them....pity we didn't catch their drift...
I am sure they would prefer the calendar too if they won....I know I would.

Emm said...

I didn't know about the Rohl books, thanks for the reference. I note that there is a "concise" version for those who may not have time or energy to read all 4,000-plus pages. Most of what little I ever learned about him Over Here is of the nice-guy-but-ineffectual slant, which clearly isn't Rohl's take on it.
How that connects with PONs digging for truffles, I've no idea, but perhaps Sophie and Bob know some secrets we mere humans don't.