Bize: Carnaval 2010

And it’s that time of year again. This year, I’ve been a little more involved, in that I’ve been helping with making of the paper flowers for the float!

Every Wednesday afternoon, a group of us got together and with the help of nifty home-made contraptions of wood and wire, assembled thousands of paper mâché flowers.

The men were in charge of constructing and decorating the float in Jacque’s barn, and periodically called by to collect the plastic bags full of flowers.

Bonnie and I also spent several afternoons at my place, sewing like crazy, getting our costumes ready.

Bonnie brought her sewing machine and was well in control of that side of things. I was pretty much on the end of the iron and a bit of hand stitching! I’m not so good with a needle and thread, so let’s just say parts of my costume were pretty rough – dare I say even done up in places with the odd safety pin …..

This year, our group’s theme was the traditional costumes of some of the regions of France. I got to be ‘La Normande’ – from Normandy. One of the women’s daughters used to be an avid collector of costumed dolls, and she has kept them. So out came a huge box of dolls in various costumes, and this was my remit.

And despite my best efforts to replicate the outfit, this is the finished product. Thank goodness for masks and big hats, I say. Not everyone knew it was me!

And a few more photos of the parade:

Indigo and Elisa

Our float - showing departments of France
the result of our paper-flower-making.....

Bird flu / H1N1 theme ....

Terry and Bonnie
(from the Savoy department - a 'grand' dame and chimney sweep!)

Bob the Builder aka Miki

Some local residents, with the best view of the parade

Terry and Jacques

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The week before the Carnival was the Maire’s annual lunch in the village. As always, a damn fine meal, followed by an afternoon of entertainment.

Actually, I didn’t do so well with the starter. I’m a bit of a wimp and haven’t yet developed a taste for foie gras or gesiers (duck gizzards) and that’s what came served on a bed of green salad. The gesiers were freshly fried up and served warm, and there were generous slices of foie gras on grilled bread. Everybody else enjoyed the dish, so it was me missing out ….. but I just can’t bring myself to eat them.

However I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the meal, the company, and the afternoon’s show ...

At last .... snow!

Finally, some snow has fallen in Bize!

When the rest of Europe nearly ground to a halt over the New Year with the severe weather, and villages all around Bize had at least some snow, we had only a few flurries which melted on hitting the ground.

But this morning, I woke to find lots of snow swirling around the courtyard. And a walk around the village later - a veritable winter wonderland!

Magic ……

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And nothing to do with snow, but a few snippets here of this January’s Pig Fair at Puicheric…… the annual pig crying competition and kid/piglet racing!

Resting before the big race .....