A few weeks ago while my petit cousin Jean-Frederic was with me inspecting our micro-mini vineyard, he asked me ... "Do you know why the vines weep when you prune them?" I told him "Sure it's because of the sap flowing from the cut". He told me "No, in France we say that it is actually the vine crying thinking of the debt that it owes the vigneron". I liked that! Right now our vines have just burst into life. We have just planted this summers vegetable crop, including tomatoes (Grosse Lisse and Cherry Toms), zuccini, rocket, beans, celery and spinach. [View Full Entry]

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Lorenza and I had a lot of laughs over the weekend, thanks to Rob’s distant cousin Jean-Frédéric who came to visit. He shared his stories of his tour in Australia and New Zealand, plus a few jokes … like “Did you know there are two types of Kiwi fruit in New Zealand? One is yellow and the other is green. Do you have any idea why the French do not like the green one? It’s because there are green pieces inside”. Yes it is corny, but it got a laugh from us! I gave J-F a tour of our house and [View Full Entry]

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Almost every visitor to our place gets to do a short walk along the track across the road from us. It is a favorite stroll for me and my dogs when we feel like taking it easy and breathing in some fresh air, but not exerting ourselves. Although Spring does not technically start until the 1st of September, the wild flowers along the track have been coming out for a few weeks now. The photos are just a few examples of what is in flower down the track. Among the bush gems that are out, there are woolly grevillea, bacon and [View Full Entry]

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On the day my “petite cousine” Juliette departed Australia to return to France the saying on the calendar in our kitchen was a Gypsy proverb … “We are birds of passage, tomorrow we will be far away” or “Nous sommes des oiseaux de passage, demain nous serons loin”. It seemed it seemed so fitting for the day! Alternate Realities Lorenza and I were so excited that Juliette was visiting. We did comment that it seemed “odd” because we associate her with our “alternate reality” rather than our “normal reality&rdquo [View Full Entry]

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Christmas in my part of Australia is normally associated with 35 to 40 degree heat, the possibility of a bush fire, lots of flies if you decide to eat outdoors and nothing at all like the white Christmas all the carols harp on about. In fact, all of my memories of Christmas are more likely to revolve around BBQs, seafood, beaches, sunburn, and cold salads. Absolutely nothing about Christmas resembles any Christmas card I have been sent. As a result, our neighbours all decided to join in on the idea of celebrating Christmas in July. After all in Australia it is [View Full Entry]

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Reasons to be happy? ... 1. Home is such a good place! 2. Our pooches are back with us! 3. We have jobs to save for our next trip! 4. Bud burst will soon happen on our vines! 5. Winter here is not so cold! 6. Summer is coming! 7. I feel so much better that I have given up smoking! 8. We will miss all our friends (new and old) but we wil get to see them again - we hope! 9. Life is good! 10. We hope all our family and friends are well and happy - always! [View Full Entry]

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Our trip is drawing to a very sudden close - we will fly back into Sydney on July 10, so over the next few days (6th to 7th) we have to say too many goodbyes and also apologise to those who we ran out of time to visit. We dropped Florence off at Strasbourg airport and only just made it time wise and also fuel (the fuel gauge in the little 205 was flashing "help, help, help" for a few km's before we got to the airport. All going well we will see "Super Flo" again in 2011. Next it was [View Full Entry]

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Some of you may know of the world wide, internet based hospitality club called Couch Surfing. The idea of that club is simple … if you are travelling to a certain destination do a search and see if someone will let you sleep on their couch, or even meet you for coffee and a chat. Lorenza, our friend Florence and I came up with a similar idea after consuming a few glasses of Alsace wine. Our idea was simple enough …. Select destinations and try and travel the world, solely using the connections we made when we visited my cousin’s place [View Full Entry]

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Saint Wendelin Wikipedia tells me that Saint Wendelin is the patron saint of country people and herdsmen and is venerated in Germany, Austria, Switzerland (and obviously Alsace). In artworks he is depicted as a youth, or as a bearded man, with a shepherd's bag and a book in one hand and a shepherd's crook in the other; about him feed lambs, cattle, and swine, while a crown and a shield are placed at his feet. I read in a book about Catholic Saints, that because of his pious lifestyle he worked the odd miracle relating to good harvests and healthy cattle [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Niedermorschwihr by car from Frankenthal. I realised on the way that we were actually one day earlier than planned - how did I do that? It dawned on me as I was looking at the calendar in my PDA/GPS and said to Lorenza, "you know it is Wednesday today". Sometimes travelling can stop your brain working properly? It was great to be back in the land of cigognes, choucroute and Riesling. We were so happy to be driving from Strasbourg along the main highway in the direction of Colmar. The Vosges mountains to our right, with vineyards and [View Full Entry]

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