Halloween, l'héritage Celte, et même avant

L'origine d'Halloween est l'antique fête religieuse celtique de Samhain qui a perduré plus longtemps chez les Celtes d'Irlande et de Grande-Bretagne
Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain .The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year". Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient Celtic pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores

La déesse Celte SULIS
Bien avant que les Romains colonisent puis exploitent les sources de la belle cité de Bath, les Celtes les utilisaient, Bath, en ce temps là s'appelait Aquae Sulis.

Un druide déclame en langue Celte l'histoire de la ville de Bath.

Dieu Celte

L'Halloween est une fête traditionnelle à laquelle on attribue une lointaine origine celtique : il y a 2000 ans, les Celtes fêtaient, pendant sept jours, le changement d'année – appelé Samonios en Gaule, Samain en Irlande – aux environs du 1er novembre. Importée, pour finir, sur le continent nord-américain par les immigrants catholiques irlandais – l'Irlande ayant été évangélisée très tardivement au VIe siècle, c'est le pays où la fête de Samhain a subsisté le plus longtemps.

The term Halloween is shortened from All Hallows' Even (both "even" and "eve" are abbreviations of "evening", but "Halloween" gets its "n" from "even") as it is the eve of "All Hallows' Day",which is now also known as All Saints' Day. It was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions

(Source Wikipedia)

Un tag en anglais, from Jeannie

Where did you meet?
In a café in town, he was coming from one bank of the river, I was from the other bank, the café is at the foot of the bridge.
tag from Jeannie

How long did you date before you were married?
Four years, that was very long.

How long have you been married?

A long time.

Do you have any kids?

Two wonderful gorgeous persons.

What does he do that surprises you?
He is very good at do it yourself when he has decided to potter around.
When we have guests, he is very good with ice cream desserts, he makes fabulous Peach Melba.
When he waits for me while we're hiking, he usually walks in front.

What is your favorite feature about him?

Something a bit surprising: I like his baldness, most of the men don't like being bald, but I must say I like his bare skull very much. He never goes to the hairdresser, I cut his hair myself.

Who said, "I love you" first?

I don't remember, him, most probably, I was surprised that such a great soul would love me.

What is your favourite thing to do as a couple?

Go for a walk,

a long walk,

a short one
go for a trip,

with the car, a boat, a plane.

What is his favorite color?

I don't know, most probably he likes green, the color of his eyes.

What is his favorite sport?

Golf.

He likes watching football on TV, then he becomes crazy with the players, the referee, and all football in general.

What's a hidden talent that he has?

He knows how to play all sorts of card games.

How old is he?

not that old;
In some years time, we are planning a big joint birthday party.

His age and mine will reach hundred and twenty years old.

Better to enjoy this old age while still young, when we can still blow the birthday candles.

What's his favorite type of music?

Opera, Verdi, Puccini,
Classical, mostly Beethoven and Brahms.





What do you most admire about him?

His great and profound intelligence.





What is his favorite pastime?

play his golf,

PSP, computer game, and sudoku.

What is his favorite food?
Potatoes, and potatoes, with some eggs, and nooddles for a change.

Does he have a nickname for you?

He was the first one to call me Dany, then everyone followed. He calls me "ma puce", but also his daughter and some other friends, our daughter doesn't want to share "ma puce", she says she's the only one. He has lately called me "ma grande" a few times, but then I overheard him called his sister "ma grande" too, I don't want to share with my sister in law.

What is your favorite quality about him?

His great culture and his cleverness.

But because of this, he thinks he is always right and will never admit he could be wrong.

Is he going to read this?

Yes,

I would prefer not,
but, he enjoys reading my blog and he is my faithfull supporter.

Purple

Harrods of LondonTout a commencé avec une paire de lunettes.
Sun glasses have started all.

Then it was a very nice long sleeves tee shirt, from Benetton. Mon deuxième est un très joli et fin tee shirt à manches longues de chez Benetton.

Puis un jour que j'avais passé la journée chez Harrods of London, juste regardé, pas acheté, en sortant je suis entrée dans la boutique Benetton. Ouf, je suis rentrée à la maison avec un petit quelque chose.

Have you ever been to Harrods, in London? everything is beautiful but so expensive, On the Harrods day, I ended buying a knitted dress at Benetton's.

J'adore les robes tricots, c'est la mode cette année, et j'aime tellement celle ci que je ne la quitte pas. Le tee shirt du dessus va dessous.

I just love knitted dress, I wear this one non-stop, wash at night and wear it again le day after.

The above tee shirt goes under the dress.

Un peu dans le desordre, le sac est venu vers la fin, un coup de foudre chez John Lewis Sloane Square.
Then it was the bag, love at first sight, it come with matching gloves, very chic.

Puis le béret crocheté un jour ou j'étais mal peignée.

I love beret, this one is crocheted, I bought because I didn't like my hair on that day.

Les collants bien sûr, deux paires. Two pairs of matching thighs, of course.

Le collier est venu en dernier, aprés l'écharpe de la photo de dessous, là, j'ai dit stop.

The necklace came last, after this I said stop.

Une écharpe pour les jours de grands froids, qui ne sont pas encore arrivés.

A giant scarf for the cold days, not there yet.

Les gants ont fait partis du coup de foudre commun avec le sac en veau velour, et eux, je les mets tous les jours, même s'il ne fait pas froid.

Et puis j'ai dit:

PLUS DE VIOLET!.....

mais,
il manque les chaussures! (à moins que cela ne fasse un peu "too much"), qu'en pensez vous?

The love-at-first-sight-gloves, matching the bag.

Then I said:

No more purple.

But I think I miss the shoes, unless it is a bit of too much of the same color, what do you think?

Rêvons un peu

When I was visiting Hélène in England, I received a small packet in the letter box.
Quand j'étais en Angleterre, Monsieur Garden a trouvé un joli paquet dans la boite aux lettres.

C'est Lisenn de "Rêvons un peu" qui m'envoyait un petit présent d'un jeu auquel j'avais participé l'année dernière. Une très jolie pochette qui va aller tout droit dans la trousse de maquillage.
Lisenn from "Rêvons un peu" has sent me a nice little present, it came from a little game I played las year, and I had forgotten all about it.

Regardez comme cette petite pochette est jolie et bien finie, il y a même une étiquette au nom du blog, très jolie, et un gentil mot qui accompagnent le paquet. Lisenn, la petite poupée qui va arriver a bien de la chance d'avoir une maman aussi joliment douée de ses mains.

I was a nice surprise, I love the present. Lisenn is going to have a baby soon, this baby girl is lucky to have such a wonderful mummy.

Nature morte

Une colonie de champignons s'est installée sur une vieille souche;
An old tree stump is been invaded with wild mushrooms, I won't try to cook and eat them.

Mais le reste du jardin n'est pas figé en nature morte, tout pousse encore, et il est temps de lui faire une grande toilette.
It's time to do some cleaning in my garden.

Especially those nasturtium, they are happy in the garden and climb everywhere.

Les capucines ont décidés que le jardin leur appartenait, moi, j'aime bien ces taches de couleurs à l'automne, c'est gai, et j'aime aussi la feuille des capucines, elles me rappelle les feuilles de lotus.
But I have a big problem, Mr Garden doesn't like Nasturtium, or capucines as we call them here. It seems they understand and play a trick to him, they grow beyond measure.

Il faut dire que Monsieur Garden n'aime pas mes capucines, on dirait qu'elles ont compris et se sont mises à envahir le jardin.

Look at that, we alomost don't see anymore the tree bush under the large nasturtium leaves,

Elles ont déjà squatté le massif, les rosiers, les nepettas...
And here they are going onto the terrace. Elles vont bientôt arriver sur la terrasse.

England, suite et fin du séjour, en vrac...

As my French friends are complaining about my posts in English, this one will be in French.
alors que j'allais prendre en photo ces appetissants chausson non pas aux pommes mais fourrés à la viande, le marmiton a pris la pose pour moi.
On reconnait bien là, le style anglais, decontracté et toujours prêts à faire la fête.
Voici donc les giant traditional Cornish steak Pasty.
Dans la campagne et sous une petite pluie avant le grand beau temps qui a ensoleillé le reste de la semaine, Dirham Court, un joli chateau que nous avons eu beaucoup de plaisir à visiter.

Découverte de la spendide cathédrale de Wells, la dernière cathédrale gothique construite en Europe, et la plus petite, je crois aussi que c'est la plus belle.
Comme l'enseigne l'indique, la boutique du Musée, difficile de ne pas resister, mais on a droit qu'à 15 kilogs dans les bagages, et j'aime bien aussi les boutiques de Kingston et de Londres.
La facade de la cathédrale au soleil couchant, aprés ça on a voulu aller la voir la mer, mais nous sommes arrivés à la nuit tombée à Weston Supermare, la marée était très basse, on a rien vu, et tous les restaurants étaient fermés!

Pas de panique, on a déniché toutefois un pub très sympathique. Et nos hôtes du Bn'B se sont bien demandés ce qu'on était allé faire à Weston Supermar, Il parait qu'il n'y a rien à voir, et on a rien vu.
Je voulais absolument visiter le chateau du Marquis de Bath, Longleat House ne se trouve pas du tout à côté de Bath, ça trompe! nous n'avons pas vu ces célébres fresques érotiques, on ne les a pas trouvé! trés jolie "maison". Le parc, au grand desespoir des puristes a été transformé en un parc d'attraction géant. Ah, il sait faire du fric, le Marquis!
mais il faut dire aussi qu'il lui en faut, pour entretenir son immense domaine.

Octobre ou Aout? August in October

Glorious day One of the many Hampton Court entrance doors, this glorious day deserves two posts today. The second one under is the story of an accident on the Thames.

After the traditional and very filling sunday roast at the pub, the beautiful Ye Old Swann.

We had a lovely walk along the Thames.

Poor Britons had a rainy and cold october in August, this week was a bright warm sunny August.

We walked back home from above Hampton Court Bridge.

To Kingston bridge, called The horse shoe, I don't know why.

Here Helene is playing with goose and swans, while I am watching the boat on fire and the firemen working with their water hoose.