The Chateau Diaries #196 Nothing ever gets finished and often never even started

[Yebo]

Cafe Joyeux is a wonderful coffee shop chain! I went to one on Champs-Elysees. The place was teeming with people on a breezy summer afternoon and the atmosphere was so positive! It was heart-warming to find a company that employs and trains people with mental and cognitive disabilities.

Cafe Joyeux's connection with the Nadaillacs would be, I assume, the company's owner Yann Lanzerac who is a member of the Emmanuel Catholic Charismatic Community and a staunch supporter of Pro-Life causes. Laetitia de Calbiac, Yorick's mother, and I'm guessing the entire family are active members of the Emmanuel Catholic Charismatic Community, and very much involved in the Pro-Life movement in France. The Emmanuel Community attracts a lot of influential middle-class, upper-class, old French noble families and entrepreneurs into its fold.

perhaps Phillipa and Fanny are members?

 

[Reader's digest]

The problem is she saw what Stephanie had and wanted the same. No doubt silly Stephanie said it was possible.
Clueless and very unhelpful .

Davey has arrived. …Dan has ‘ landscaped’ …moved some soil about badly near the chapel . Have the plants arrived. Will this be an adventvlog?
Is he planning how to get water to the fountain? And where is the fountain and Indian Temple.
Will the pergola be finished and planted?

With F4F new interest in vlogging/ flogging the garden perhaps the planned fruit trees will arrive. And will they come from France?

Someone mentioned previously that perhaps F4F has not made as many curtains as she herself claimed. I do wonder if the dump is sooo cold why does no one close the curtains. Those being the ones that have not fallen off the tracking.
Have they been made as dress curtains only?

And why does Fanny use a carrier bag to move logs about? Very odd.
How did they do this previously for the open fires?

Potts was the pyromaniac. He loved the pizza oven… now not working of course!
There is no heat in the winter salon . Are they permitted to have a fire there? So many questions!?
I’m guessing they will all huddle in the marquis apartment , eat lunch very late and be so drunk they don’t know how cold it is.

Bets on for her Christmas Day outfit that squirrel will have prepared!?

They remind me of a friend of mine who never had to do laundry. So instead of learning how to do it he just bought new cheap clothes. They would rather freeze than invest brain, time and money to solve the heating problem

 

[Gertrude Maud]

Thank you for the get well wishes and vlog recommendations, very kind and much appreciated
I feel like I have Covid but without the cough, the lateral flow tests over three consecutive days are negative. There is a nasty strain of Flu going around which some are saying is actually a new variant of Covid, what ever it is it’s completely debilitating and unpleasant. Onwards and upwards though, not much keeps me horizontal for too long …

Two of our country neighbours and their teenage children had Covid.
Shortly after they recovered, the parents came down with respiratory syncytial virus or RSV.
They said it felt like Covid although it was wasn't Covid.
It's common in children but as adults they said it was terrible, so I really feel for you.
Since then I have heard of other people getting RSV after Covid as well as pneumonia and influenza.
Covid appears to weaken the immune system causing some individuals to be more vulnerable.

 

[Gertrude Maud]

I’m way far behind here, so please don’t be annoyed with me if someone else has poked fun at this ‘low hanging fruit’. I also think this could make a thread title some time: “Molly is wondering why it smells so much in this house” (F4F).
Molly of course being Amoury’s dog.
View attachment 1765537
I also thought that Armoire may have a few ounces of self-control. He looked as though he swallowed his instinct to clock her after being startled out of his deep thoughts. It was probably all staged and he is just a good actor.

I thought he was genuinely startled.
And she deserved a serving for doing it.

 

[vitanova]

1st day of Advent, SJ "scrubbing" the floors, F4F is highly filtered on photo (so Snorts does work?). Really really sad for her. A bit. Such a missed opportunity.

wait, it's not over yet.

 

[pink roses]

I usually make two Christmas cakes - one traditionally topped with marzipan and icing which hubby loves and it serves as his birthday cake as he is a Christmas Day baby. The other rich, dark fruitcake is topped with nuts and glace fruits as I am not a huge fan of marzipan and icing. The family like both. I use my mum's cake and Christmas pudding recipes from a 60 year old McDougalls flour cookbook. I used to make mini cakes in very well washed tuna tins with the children at school and they loved to make the decorations from fondant icing.

Oh wow my husband is also a Christmas day baby! I try to make his birthday even more special for him because It always seems he gets overlooked with all the commotion of Christmas. (He gets a cheesecake)
I am going to have to try a British Christmas cake.. all we have here is a nasty ,nasty fruitcake which is very rare that anyone likes it…And that reminds me, Fanny has not said anything about her Christmas cake…

 

[MRShavershamsdress]

Union is far more exciting as there is more body contact.
Found a photo of some thighs for you. Both taken by me

Oh mercy me, I‘m faint and all a flutter!

 

[newengland]

WTF is A Jumper??? Again, WTF??? Is a Jumper? Little girls wear jumpers. our dear Phillip is constantly wearing that damn ugly Ass Sweater!!!
By the way, I thought Fanny did a damn good job on those floors.

 

[Gertrude Maud]

I do !
I have made my Chrissie Cake and its iced with marzipan and white icing with my handmade marzipan fruits on the top Rexy !

I can't think of Christmas cake without marzipan and white icing.

 

[C'est moi]

View attachment 1770393

What is the thing I've circled in red? Any ideas?

I was wondering the same thing. And then the moment passed. Maybe it's something to do with Wavydavy.

 

[Gertrude Maud]

He has said in the past that it was difficult for him to get his license in France, so instead he was going back to the UK to get it ... then COVID happened.

I presumed it was a language barrier as his French isn't fluent. But in reality he's a lazy fucker, who lets mummy run around after him.

He had ample time then to get it in England before he landed in France.

 

[Gertrude Maud]

I believe she’s stated that she was a decorator, which in British English means she painted and hung wallpaper. North American English uses decorator similar to Interior Designer.

Thank you Plant Person.
And thanks for clarifying the terminology.

I thought she may have been what we call in Australia a painter and decorator.
And that she may have developed skills in decorative finishes.
Here, an interior designer helps with room layout, furniture choices, fabric choices etc.

Each has a different skill set.

 

[Beachgirl]

Congratulations on your VIPness, @Beachgirl!!!
Since us Yankees are still kind of waddling around after Thanksgiving, your very special fish shack shin dig shall take place next week. Fish shack just outside the entrance of the VIP lounge, and to the left, bien sur. Sort of going for an Irish Sea/Goan beach rave trance dance vibe.

Irish Gewurtztraminer
Miller Lite, Kingfisher Beer
Grandmama's Receipt
Cashew Feni Punch

Goan Portuguese Linguiça Sausage Rolls
Goan Mango Chutney

Goan Fish Curry with Pollock, Coconut Milk, Chili, and Warming Masala Spice
Basmati Rice with Cilantro
Steven Reichlen’s Florida Slaw with Mango, Starfruit and Scotch Bonnet
Steven Reichlen’s Guava Cheesecake
Massado, Egg Flip Coffee with Brandy

Get out your tie-dyed sarongs and glow-in-the-dark lotus ear jackets, bitchaaz.

There goes my pre Christmas diet

 

[Margo Polo]

This is the winter salon and we now know it needs redecoration. SJ words not mine.


That was pre advent flogs. When she hadn't had cash.

Ah, thank you, wrong room. It could use one though...and an overhaul.

 

[Pekey]

I adore you @Pekey. I will admire your beautiful work, but then scrape all the offending coating off the top!

Philistine !!!

* only joking Rexy !!!

 

[Gertrude Maud]

Some of the worst ones are newly minted female Physicians.

Tell me about it!

The lovely female doctor who we used to see in the country, retired.
Consequently, I saw another doctor in the practice, a young female.
Initially I had gone in for an asthma diagnosis and treatment.
Because this happened during lockdowns I wasn't able to access the usual diagnostics for asthma testing.
So it was trial and error over a period of two to three months to see which medication was appropriate.
Every time I saw her my blood pressure would go up, and up, and up.
She decided there was something very wrong with me and did not consider it was her manner that made me anxious.
I had to have blood tests, an e.c.g, and wear an overnight blood pressure monitor.
Boy did I feel smug when the results came back, all normal.
On my last visit to her she made a comment how she didn't usually 'intimidate' patients and I thought . . . I bet you don't.

 

[Beachgirl]

Thread nom, after @Beachgirl has had her way with us. How can it not be?

I’m taking screenshots so I can remember what has been suggested as they are far better than anything I’ve thought up so far

 

[KyBourbon]

This does sound yummy and I’m tempted to cook it for Christmas. How many people would this be for.

Thanks! I think it could easily serve 10 people…up to 12 people. It’s one of those casseroles that taste really good as “leftovers” too.

 

[Gertrude Maud]

There’s enough of an age difference between me and my sibling that I was aware of Santa’s true identity years before my brother. Of course I was easily sworn to secrecy for those few more years as that meant extra haul for me! Mom did insist on continuing the stockings for the rest of her life. She’d shop throughout the year for the exactly right little gifts that were her signature special touch. My parents never had stockings though so after the first year Santa had moved on from our house I made a pair for the ‘rents and my baby brother and I returned the favor. We continued to do as mom and hunt for special trinkets for theirs until they passed away 20 years ago. To this day we still hang their stockings with a favorite photograph sticking out the top.

That is an incredibly sweet thing to do.

 

[Madame No]

The next Shane Warne.

Well, I have no idea who Shane Warne is but if you say so.