I'm the Farmer!

After the campsite in Daon, we travelled about an hour east to a campsite just outside the town of Le Lude. It’s on Le Loir river. Not to be confused with La Loire which is grammatically feminine and has lots of famous chateaux. But they both sound the same and can be found in the Loire Valley. (Coincidentally so can the Mayenne, the river we have been following since Ménil, Chateau-Gontier and Daon.)

We saw this on our way to Le Lude. The Department of Sarthe has planted 10,000 trees for tomorrow - how beautiful

There is a chateau in Le Lude, it’s not one of the famous ones but that didn’t put us off and next morning we went into the town to see it. Unlike so many of the chateaux on the other river (La Loire) that are owned by the national government, this chateau is privately owned and occupied. Well at least I think it was occupied, there was a dog sitting at the door marked Privé (private)… and you’d never leave your dog in one of your homes, alone? That is if you had more than one home… you’d bring him with you. That’s my thinking.

Chateau this way… no, that way…

Oh. This brings up a painful thought - we did leave our grandchild at home… with his parents, of course. Not that I’m saying that’s the same as leaving a dog at home but we have noticed that people who own dogs do seem to feel the same way about them as we feel about our grandchild… And that reminds me of the video I made him. Are you up for another Teru story?

Street on the way to the Chateau in Le Lude

Once a week, since he was a year old, we get to play with Teru in our house and I gathered together all the toys I had kept from my children’s childhood. One of these was a jigsaw puzzle from the Early Learning Center with farm animals. It was perfect for Teru because if you remember… he loves animals. But as well as animals there was a farm house and a tractor. One of the games we played together was, animal sounds. It goes like this, when I picked up the dog he would say Wow-wa which is the sound for dog. The other animals had their sounds, sheep:baa; pig: snort; etc but when it came to the farm house we needed a sound for that…

Chateau Le Lude from the front. There are two front doors. I saw the dog sitting under the right most arch at the front door marked Privé

And that’s how the I’m the Farmer, I’m the Farmer song came about. It’s very simple with not a great tune as I’m not great at the singing but he doesn’t seem to mind. It’s a ballad (!) about the farmer who sows the seeds for the carrots and the onions and… rasss-berries for Teru. Raspberries, because he used to love raspberries when he was 12 months and one week old but at 12 months and two weeks he didn’t love them any more… but they’re still in the song. He loves our song and asks for me to sing it again and again. He never sings it though and it could be because he might not be able to sing off key as both his parents are very musical but he has other gifts.

Love this window on the ground floor looking out towards the entrance gate and the town beyond

Anyway, we had just arrived at the campsite in Le Lude and I noticed an opportunity to send him a message. His parents send us (and his other grandparents, aunts, grand aunts, gran uncles, great grandparents) videos of his life and we pounce on the phone whenever we get them, to see what he’s doing now. Wouldn’t it be lovely to send him a video of us from France? (Queue foreboding music.)There was an unattended tractor outside on the grass. I grabbed my phone and made a quick video for him featuring the tractor and our song and off I sent it. Next day I got a video from his Mam. In it was, Teru and his Dad staring at my video which was playing on Dad’s phone… When the song finished, Teru asked for it again and his Dad turned to the camera and said this is the sixth time! After the seventh time, his Dad said bye bye Nana and turned off the phone.

Tapestry made in Beauvais… before Ryanair it was famous for tapestry… and the cathedral and probably lots more things…

Before I tell you what happened next, let this be a warning to anyone tempted to send videos of yourself on holidays to a little loved one - don’t do it!
He cried!
Ok his Mam and Dad said he was fine afterwards and it was all okay… Maybe he was tired or maybe he was hungry and that was why he cried… but what if he cried because he missed his Nana? And his Nana was sending him a video of the fun she was having with a tractor and their song without him? I’m not the better of it yet.

Loved the spiral staircase and the tiled ground floor

Since then I have made a chickens video, a goats video, a ducks video, a horses video and a birdie video and even one from a room in Chateau Le Lude but I’ll show him them when I get back. Yesterday when I saw an actual farmer ploughing I realised there could be more verses to our song! Already today I’m up to four new verses and although Denis tries to pretend he’s interested, he’s not - but I bet Teru will be…

The side view of the chateau as seen from the town

Remember the 10,000 trees for tomorrow by the Department of Sarthe…? Is it possible we humans plant seeds of ourselves in every moment… for tomorrow?

P.S. The Salad research is going well. I have most of the ingredients for the Vinaigrette Dressing. There was a slight hiccup when I nearly bought the wrong white wine vinegar. Yes, there is a wrong one - the one for household cleaning. Fortunately, the young girl cashier was French so she knew her vinegars. I got White Balsamic Vinegar instead, didn’t even know it was a thing.