DLCI 2021 Magazines - October
October
2021
Ready for La vendange!
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM THE PRESIDENT
Since I saw so many of you yesterday at the AGM (thanks to all for a really good meeting), I thought I would make my introduction to the Magazine mostly about the Autumn Fair – but I can’t resist telling you that we welcomed a new grandchild to our family in mid-September! Arabella Rose is doing very well and I am going to
London this weekend to meet her.
AUTUMN FAIR 2021
Saturday 13 November
Salle de L’Orangerie, Bergerac
10.00am-3.30pm
As usual there will be a variety of stalls, including
· Christmas cards and wrapping paper
· Handmade pottery
· Jewellery
· Glassware
· Candles and wax melts
· Asian snacks and sweets
· Hand carved wooden toys, jigsaws, height charts
· Bird boxes and feeders
· Organic soaps, skin care and handcream
· Scarves
· Christmas wreaths
· Decoupage planters
· Painted gifts, mugs and coasters
We still have room for one or two more stalls so if you would like to take one or know someone who would, please ask them to get in touch with me.
The DLCI will also be running a cake stall and refreshments including coffee, tea and prepared sandwiches, quiches etc. You can look forward to meeting friends in our ‘DLCI café’.
Our ever-popular tombola will be ‘bottles only’ this year: wine, shampoo, sauces etc welcome. Anything so long as it’s in a bottle. You can make donations for the tombola at coffee mornings, book club meetings or contact a member of the committee to arrange collection of donations.
Ways in which you can help:
· Spread the word! Publicity is the key to a successful event and fundraising for our charities – please print off and display the attached poster locally
· Bake cakes for the cake stall and ‘café’
· Volunteer to take a turn on the tombola or DLCI Christmas stall
· Volunteer to take a turn on the cake stall or ‘café’
We already have several offers of help but clearly the more people are involved, the more the load is spread. Please help in whatever way you can!
This is an ideal opportunity to shop early for Christmas gifts in comfort and good company. Please tell and bring your friends!
Just two things:
· Passe sanitaire will be obligatory and we are legally obliged to check
· Due to new customs regulations, we are not yet sure if we will be able to source our usual supply of mince pies, Christmas cakes and puddings
June Davies being presented with a beautiful Hebe at the AGM in thanks for going above and beyond in her role as Treasurer.
DCLI NEW TREASURER - SHEILA HARRELL
Little did I know while enjoying lunch at Chateau de Merles in August and chatting to Sue Heyes, that a month later, I would be writing this brief introduction, having accepted the role as new Treasurer for the DLCI at the AGM! (There will be a longer profile on my background in a later edition of the magazine.)
My name is Sheila HARRELL, née VOWLES, and I’m a bilingual Canadian. I have been a member of DLCI for about 2 years. Kathy John initially suggested that I join and introduced me to Rosemary Copley. After a few events, they suggested that I might like to consider a role on the committee, and I politely declined, being involved in other activities.
After retiring and moving to Beaumont du Perigord, France from Vancouver, in 2007, I casually began helping English-speaking people that I met with translations and with finding solutions to certain French administrative challenges that I had already encountered. I was also approached by other local associations. Jacqui Clarke, a Beaumont artist, and a founding member of ASASArts (Association Saint Avit Sénieur Arts) was looking for a volunteer after their treasurer suddenly died. The person had to be good with numbers and could not be an exhibiting artist within their group. No problem on that count, I assured her! I held the position for 3 years.
I currently volunteer as a translator for “Le Bellimontin”, a quarterly magazine with articles related to the past and present in the greater area around Beaumont du Périgord. My husband also contributes articles and recipes which I translate.
I’m looking forward to my new role as Treasurer, to working with such an impressive group of knowledgeable women and the chance to get to know many more members.
Sheila Harrell
JENNIFER de CHABANEIX (1934 – 2020)
Founder of the DLCI
Jennifer Weeks was born in January 1934 at Nuwara Eilya, near Trincomalee in Ceylon, where her father owned and ran a tea plantation. She was an only child and by all accounts had a happy childhood.
Her early adult life was not without sadness, however. She went to boarding school in Scotland when she was 17 and then spent a brief period of time in Lagos, Nigeria. By the time she was 21 she was living in Sierra Leone, where she renovated houses for expat workers and had already been married and divorced. She had also lost her best friend, Valerie, in a terrible plane crash.
(This photo dates from around 1952 and shows Jennifer ready to attend her first dance)
In 1955, still only 21, she was married again, to Jean-Pierre de Chabaneix who was working at the time for Philips Electrical in Sierra Leone. They soon left Africa and moved to Saint Paix near Paris where her husband worked for Texaco.
Jennifer had four children and her husband wanted the children’s first language to be French. So, apart from giving some English lessons and occasional supply teaching, Jennifer spoke far more French than English. She told me that she joined a club in Paris for English ladies so that she didn’t forget how to speak her own language!
The marriage broke up in 1978 and Jennifer moved to the Dordogne with their youngest son Jérôme (now an estate agent in Lalinde), leaving the other children in Paris with their father.
She founded the Dordogne Ladies Club in 1986, after she heard of an English lady who wanted someone to talk to in her own language whilst she was ill in hospital. Jennifer felt sure there was a need for support and friendship amongst the English community in France and was delighted that her idea for a club became truly international.
Jennifer took up her former occupation and began renovating houses in Périgord, establishing a career as an estate agent. In fact, one of the first houses she sold was to Anne Scanlan and they remained friends ever since. Through this work, she met her partner, David, an English theatre director and together they renovated an abandoned house in Pressignac, where they lived for many years.
Jennifer was very sporty – she particularly enjoyed golf and tennis – and was a popular, charismatic and glamorous social figure. She had a gift for getting people to talk about themselves and hence had many friends. However, she was a very private person and did not give much away about herself – especially her age! Her son and granddaughter describe her as a woman ‘before her time’ who was independent and forward thinking.
OCTOBER BIRTHDAYS
Mary Compton
Anne Lamont
Anne Needham
Carelle Sherwood
Philippa Tillyer
Anne Scanlan
In September we wished Anne a happy 90th birthday. We hope she will continue to settle into her new home in the Ehpad in Issigeac
STOP PRESS
Congratualions to Jacqueline Colgate who became a first time Grandmother on the 29th September!
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
SAINT EMILION WALK, WINE TASTING and LUNCH 35€pp
(a choice of Thursday 14th and Wednesday 20th October)
We are delighted that Yannick Astarie has very kindly offered to guide us around and tell us the history of the stunning UNESCO world heritage site of St.Emilion.
· 9:45 am meeting at porte Brunet, free parking spaces available.
· 10:00 am start walking tour around Saint-Emilion. 5km.
· 11:30 am visit of Les Caves du Manoir with tasting of 2 wines.
· 1:00 pm Lunch at L'Antre. menu - entrée + plat + dessert + café. wine extra.
Menu at L’ANTRE
Foie gras mi-cuit, red onion jam, toasted organic bread from Montazeau
or
Scallops carpaccio with cumbawa
Duck breast on a skewer with home made french fries and tomatoes provencales
or
Prawn flambée Bordeaux whisky with tarragon, home made french fries or Thai rice
Cannelés with English cream and vanilla ice cream
or
chocolate fondant with vanilla ice cream
or
cheese
NB The chef will need to know of potential food allergies and vegetarian requests so please inform Lin at the time of booking.
The tour will be 5 km long and will include hills and cobbles (St Emilion is stunning but not flat!) and the weather may be inclement so please wear suitable footwear and clothes.
We will then stop at Les Caves du Manoir for wine tasing before continuing on to lunch at L’Antre.
Parking is tricky so it may be a good idea to car share if you are able to.
This is a member and member plus partner only event as spaces are limited. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis and cautionary cheques will be required. The cheques will be returned to members on the day so that they can choose whether they have additional items at the restaurant eg wine, soft drinks. Those who do not attend on the day will forfeit their cheque.
***
There are two dates available please can you specify whether you do or do not have a preference :
Thursday 14th October
or
Wednesday 20th October
or
No Preference
We will do our best to accommodate you but this cannot be guaranteed.
GARDENING IN FRANCE
by Chris Lees
At this time of year, our garden pots, hanging baskets and windowboxes may be starting to look a bit tired. They should carry on to the first frosts, but to make them look more attractive you can replace the summer bedding plants with winter pansies and violas, hardy cyclamens and small shrubs, depending on the size of your pots. Plan your colour scheme as you can buy winter pansies and violas, in particular, in a wide variety of colours. Take the opportunity to replace the top few centimetres of compost with fresh compost suitable for pots, and add some slow release fertiliser. You will need to provide more fresh compost if you are planting small shrubs.
You can also make some very attractive displays with small spring flowering bulbs which would otherwise get rather lost under larger plants in the borders. You can either add some bulbs to your pots of plants, planting them at the correct depth at the same time that you plant your other plants, or plant shallow pots with one type of bulb, packed quite close together.
This can look very effective with dwarf Narcissi such as Tete a Tete, grape hyacinths all of one colour, or dwarf Irises. Species tulips such as Tulipa biflora or Tulipa saxatalis, which are much smaller than other varieties of tulips, can also look very effective in shallow pots. You can finish the effect by spreading grit or small stones over the surface, this also helps to stop rain from splashing the compost onto the flowers.
Other small bulbs suitable for pots include:
Crocus
Muscari (grape hyacinths)
Narcissus 'Jetfire' and 'Pipit'
Scilla sibirica
Chionodoxa (Glory of the Snow)
Puschkinia
You can still plant winter salads such as Escarole and Lettuce 'Winter Density' in your potager, and any winter brassicas such as cauliflower, broccoli and kale which you can still find in the garden centre.
You can also plant hyacinths and 'Paper White' Narcissi in bowls to flower indoors during the winter.
CARING FOR OUR ENVIRONMENT
BY KATHRYN CARR
Following the AGM, the committee have agreed to put together an environmental policy which will set a strategy for how the association will try and reduce its environmental impact. In order to raise awareness of how we individually can make a difference in our daily activities I am going to run a monthly environmental section to give people ideas on making small changes to our lives which will help reduce our carbon footprint. To start, here are some facts and figures : in the US the average personal annual carbon footprint is 16 tons which is one of the highest in the world, in Europe the average is 6 tons, compared with the world average of 4 tons. We need to reduce this to 2 tons by 2050 at the latest and preferably sooner to prevent some of the most drastic impacts from climate change. This will mean some quite significant changes from all of us. I hope that this will be a positive thing for us all and we will be willing to embrace these ideas as much as possible. As women we are more empathetic and this makes us more willing to make changes to our lives for the sake of others and this is important as the initial effects of climate change are already being felt by populations around the world and we have to show our support for these people by doing what we can in our own lives.
WALK – THURSDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER - BOUCLE DE SAUSSIGNAC
BY JACQUELINE COLGATE
We met shortly after 10am. It was foggy when we arrived but this cleared soon after we set off. It was a most enjoyable woodland walk which is on La Route des Vins.
The vines have not yet been harvested and are laden with grapes. A few of us ate a grape or two. The scenery was spectacular and after some steady hill walking we were afforded spectacular far reaching views of Saussignac village.
The highlights of the walk apart from the scenery and views were delicious figs and woodland mushrooms. I was tempted by the ripe sloes and was trying to commit Rosemary’s Sloe Gin recipe to memory. We were lucky to be joined by several mycologists. I had no idea that there were edible ‘false ceps’!
I would highly recommend this early morning Autumn walk.
DORDOGNE LADIES BOOK CLUB
This is an exerpt from Troy by Stephen Fry. An elegant and witty re telling of the famous story……
FOUNDATION
After the death of Erichthonius, his son TROS succeeded to the throne. Tros had a daughter, Cleopatra, and three sons, ILUS (named in honour of his great-uncle), Assaracus and GANYMEDE. The story of Prince Ganymede is well known. His beauty was so great that Zeus himself was seized by an overmastering passion for him. Taking the form of an eagle, the god swooped down and bore the boy up to Olympus, where he served as Zeus’s beloved minion, companion and cupbearer. To compensate Tros for the loss of his son, Zeus sent HERMES to him, bearing the gift of two divine horses, so swift and light they could gallop over water. Tros was consoled by these magical animals and by Hermes’ assurance that Ganymede was now and – by definition always would be – immortal.
It was Ganymede’s brother Prince Ilus who founded the new city that would be named Troy in Tros’s honour. He won a wrestling match at the Phrygian Games, the prize consisting of fifty youths and fifty maidens, but – more importantly – a cow. A very special cow that an oracle directed Ilus to use for the founding of a city.
‘Wherever the cow lies down, there shall you build.’
If Ilus had heard the story of CADMUS – and who had not? – he would have known that Cadmus and Harmonia, acting in accordance with instructions from an oracle, had followed a cow, and waited for the animal to lie down as an indication of where they were to build what would become Thebes, the first of the great city states of Greece. It may seem to us that the practice of allowing cows to choose where a city should be built is arbitrary and bizarre, but perhaps a little reflection should tell us that it is not so strange after all.
Just for fun
The importance of punctuation cannot be underestimated!
POETRY CORNER
Christina Rossetti (1830 – 1894)
Christina ( second from the left ) with her family.
Christina Rossetti was born in 1830, the youngest child in an extraordinarily gifted family. Her father, the Italian poet and political exile Gabriele Rossetti, immigrated to England in 1824 and established a career as a Dante scholar and teacher of Italian in London. He married the half-English, half-Italian Frances Polidori, who had been trained as a governess and was committed to cultivating intellectual excellence in her family. They had four children in quick succession: Maria was the author of a respected study of Dante, as well as books on religious instruction and Italian grammar and translation; Dante Gabriel distinguished himself as one of the foremost poets and painters of his era; and William was a prolific art and literary critic, editor, and memoirist of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Christina became one of the Victorian age’s finest poets. As an aside two of her poems have now become popular Christmas carols – In the Bleak Midwinter and Love Came Down at Christmas.
In 1854, during the Crimean War, she volunteered to join Florence Nightingale’s nurses but was turned down. Her aunt Eliza Polidori did join Nightingale in Scutari, and Rossetti temporarily took over some of Polidori’s district visiting, providing assistance to the sick and poor of the parish. In early 1859 Rossetti began volunteering at the St. Mary Magdalene Penitentiary in Highgate, a charitable institution for the reclamation of “fallen” women.
Although never comfortable socially, by the late 1800’s Rossetti was more politically. Critical of slavery, imperialism, and military aggression, she was most passionately committed to the antivivisection movement. She also petitioned for legislation to protect children from prostitution and sexual exploitation by raising the age of consent.
OCTOBER
In my Autumn garden I was fain
To mourn among my scattered roses;
Alas for that last rosebud which uncloses
To Autumn’s languid sun and rain
When all the world is on the wane!
Which has not felt the sweet constraint of June,
Nor heard the nightingale in tune.
Broad-faced asters by my garden walk,
You are but coarse compared with roses:
More choice, more dear that rosebud which uncloses,
Faint-scented, pinched, upon its stalk,
That least and last which cold winds balk;
A rose it is though least and last of all,
A rose to me though at the fall.
L’ARC DE TRIOMPHE EMPAQUETÉ
FLORENCE ASTARIE
Staying in Paris late September was the occasion to admire the Arc de Triomphe, wrapped by the artist Christo, and find out what has been fueling the conversation of Parisians - journalists ,taxi drivers and politicians alike : Is this art? Is this useful? Couldn’t they use the money somewhere else?The famed Paris monument has been wrapped in 270,000 square feet of fabric and almost 1.9 miles of red rope and cost 14 millions of euros totally financed by private funds.
I saw it for what it was , an artistic statement! a salute to circumstantial beauty…it’s beautiful, temporary, lightweight. It’s responsive to the wind and the changing light and will be in place for two weeks only.
Christo and his wife Jeanne Claude had dreamed of wrapping the Arc de Triomphe like so many of other projects they did together. Born the same day of the same year, on the 13th of June 1935, several thousand miles apart, they became much later , the star couple that wrapped among many places: The Pont Neuf in Paris,the Reichstag in Berlin,The Valley Curtain in Colorado, the Surrounded Islands in Biscayne Bay Florida and a stretch of rocky coastline in Australia - Ephemeral artworks that took years of preparation- They liked to compare their works to rainbows, beautiful, yet volatile and elusive - no one can own a rainbow.
Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Florida
Valley Curtain, Colorado
Pont Neuf, Paris
Christo studied art at the Académie des Beaux Arts of Sofia under communist rules and was criticized by the authorities because the peasants in his paintings didn’t look happy enough . This bred in him a lifelong distrust of making things as the authorities wanted them. The couple worked as a team, he was doing all the project drawings, Jeanne Claude was the project manager : she organized, fundraised, negotiated with administration. It took 10 years to get to wrap the Pont Neuf in Paris and 25 years to do the Reichstag in Berlin. They funded their entire conception using the proceeds from the sales of Christo’s preparatory studies.
The wrapping of the Arc of Triomphe was already planned when Jeanne Claude passed away in 2009 . Christo decided to go ahead, unfortunately he too died last year. In spite of Covid the project was continued giving us the occasion to see the Arc de Triomphe, a tribute to military victory and glory, from a different point of view . It is not something beautiful in it’s own way, but maybe it is saying something about our delusions of grandeur, conquests and nationalist rhetoric…the concept of art for Christo and Jeanne Claude was one of freedom and beauty and a longing for a shared humanity.
PRECAUTIONARY ADVICE FOR OUR DOGS THIS AUTUMN
ELLI DOWNER
Autumn is a beautiful season with the many golds, reds and russets amongst our favourite trees, shrubs and plants.
However, it can be a dangerous time for our dogs, it pays to keep a close eye on what they pick up and eat whilst walking in orchards or vineyards.
Walnuts
Walnuts can cause a severe toxic reaction in dogs. In general, fresh walnuts in their brown shells are toxic however the ones that have gone black are not as dangerous, but it pays to try to stop your dogs eating them at all. When we first moved to our home we quickly discovered that our dogs were addicted to the newly fallen walnuts, we picked them up before giving our dogs access to the orchard!
Macadamia nuts
are also toxic causing similar symptoms to walnuts. Other nuts to avoid are almonds, pecans and pistachios which can cause intestinal problems as they’re hard to digest.
Grapes and Raisins
Compounds in grapes and raisins can cause toxicity and symptoms can be quite severe. I’ve heard several people say their dogs pick up fallen grapes in vineyards without problems, I don’t take the risk with mine.
Fruit Cores
The core of an apple, as well as the stones in plums, peaches, pears and apricots, contain cyanogenic glycosides which is also known as cyanide!!
Enjoy our wonderful autumn weather, but keep an eye on your dogs foraging habits !
MEMBER’S PHOTOS
This was sent to me by a friend in the UK – it’s a Dry Cleaners in Paddington – their comment was ‘Faith restored’
The statement on the door reads:
‘If you are unemployed and need an outfit cleaned for an interview we will clean it at no charge’.
Sent in by Lin Green
PETS CORNER
My terrier cross Honey just being super cute!
Sent in Julie Goatham
Hector developing a nose for fine wine at Monbazillac!
Kathy
PHOTO REQUEST
We would love to include more of your photos including those for Pets Corner in the next Newsletter. Simply email me at DLCIMagazine@gmail.com (no later than 27th of the month) with the photo and where it is. They will be published in the next months newsletter
LASTLY !
Information and communications in this magazine are accepted by the Committee in good faith. The DLCI cannot be held responsible for complaints arising from them
All contributions to the newsletter should be sent to Lin Green at DLCIMagazine@gmail.com by the 27th of each month and we hope to have a new monthly issue to you on the 1st of every month to allow you time to plan your calendar.
A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS CONTRIBUTED TO THIS NEWSLETTER.
PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO CURRENT DATA PROTECTION LAWS THIS DOCUMENT MUST NOT BE SHARED WITH ANYONE
WHO IS NOT A CURRENT DLCI MEMBER