The morning was too nice not to go for a walk. As two out of children were still asleep and the other had just come back from a run, Karl and I decided on a morning stroll. The temperature outside was at least half of the temperature inside and I was glad of my scarf and coat.
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| Morning in Izel |
The dew here never dries before the next evening's covering so the grass
is always moist. Maybe that's why the grass is so green! It was very
dewy this morning and there were patches of frost. We walked down the
road towards Florenville and then spotted a lane which seemed to be a
walking track. We followed it and discovered we could do a nice car
free circuit between the fields and back up the hill, through the church
yard and voila (!), home again!
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| Autumn berries |
We have remarked that the Belgian beef cows are really stocky and
muscular compared to the lean dairy cows of Holland. The cows in
Holland are taller and thinner, typically Dutch, I suppose. This is a
beef cattle area by the looks of things. There are still many more
animals per field than in Australia as the pasture is rich and green and
there is loads of grass to graze on.
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| Stocky, muscular beef cattle with cute faces and fringes! |
At lunchtime we made the discovery that
our bakery is close don Mondays! Fortunately, we had enough flour and
eggs and milk so it had to be pancakes! Our little village only has a
bakery and no other shops! There is no such thing as a milk bar in
Belgium.
Luke,
for some reason, is particularly resistant to school at the moment and
it was mid afternoon before he had done half of what was required of him
but that was that. Enough is enough! Like I have said before, any
thoughts I had of becoming a teacher have thoroughly evaporated!
We
also discovered that our hot water and heating had gone off and it was
getting very chilly inside. Our host was super quick to rectify the oil
shortage so we the cosy house again. Everything here is so lovely and
homely and the host, Jasmine, has left everything very organised and
easy to use. It is currently 4 C outside so it is pretty chilly once
the sun is set.
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| Local wildlife |
The boys and I left Annika doing her school work and walked down the
nature path to Florenville station and onto the town (about 12 kms
return). Along the way there are signs about forest birds in both Dutch
and French. It is quite funny to compare the languages. The French are
poetic in their descriptions such as:
fauvette a tete noir versus
zwartkop
(literal translation: blackhead)! I noticed this on most of the
signs. The French description of the birds was longer as were the names
and the Dutch was very economical in comparison. Call me ignorant, but
I have concluded that French deserves its reputation of being a
romantic language.
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| Nature path to Florenville |
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| Peaceful...well it was before we were there! |
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| Corn - we think it is only used as animal feed as there is none for human consumption in the shops |
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| View over Semois Valley |
Our path led us up to the rear of the big old church in Florenville and
it was a short walk from there to the supermarket. By the time we got
home, it was quite cool again and time for dinner.
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| Deer near Florenville Station |
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| The sun was dropping lower as we neared home |
Karl sorted out all the different bags and tubs for recycling and disposal. Like Germany, Belgium is quite specific about what goes where. We are thankful for the simple process at home of all the recycling going in the one bin!
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