The last couple of days have been filled with the usual chores and helping in the Fromagerie. Today was a misty day, which made the farm look very different. Everyone hung out inside so I got to listen to Chloe playing guitar and singing and others watching TV or movies on their phones. I can see now why everyone uses American expressions (especially ones that include the f-word) for emphasis when they speak, and they do so with American intonations, it’s because they hear them so often in what they are viewing.
Later when the weather improved, Lysanne stacked up the wood that was dropped off the other day and Chloe and Safran bound the homemade journals they had been working on all week for Noè and Brittany’s upcoming birthdays. They look really cool, what a beautiful and useful gift made with love.
We had taco night tonight in celebration of Saffron and Chloe‘s trip to Europe. Safran leaves tomorrow and Chloe leaves in another week or so after a family wedding. The tacos, though very different from ones I’ve had at home, were delicious. The corn tortillas were homemade and held together really well, the carnitas was from the pigs on the farm, the cheese was from the goats and the salsa had tomatoes and onions from the garden as well as sesame paste. There was also a bottle of salsa ‘sauce’ which looked like picante sauce. We had homemade sangria which everyone enjoyed quite a lot of, again different from what I’ve seen at home in that there was no fruit in it, only fruit juice. After dinner, we played the game Decrypto which caused a lot of laughter (I’m sure the sangria helped). I learned that the québécois tend to be much more casual in their speech, so the less formal ‘tu’ is used to address an individual even if you don’t know them, as opposed to the more formal ‘vous’. I wondered about this as it had been drilled into my brain that you only address people as vous unless you knew then really well, but apparently it’s more of a thing in France. Which makes sense as Quebec is generally more down to earth than France. Kind of how the US is generally more relaxed than the British.
Since it was Monday night, it was the weekly family zoom call and I was able to stay awake for it this time. Today is the sixth anniversary of my dad’s death and it was good to be able to spend time with family, if only virtually. We caught up with each other and had some laughs and love. I told a few people here about the significance of today and received some lovely support, including a toast to my Dad at dinner. What wonderful people.
