December 31, 2022–January 3, 2023 A mountain village New Year

 December 31–January 3

New Year’s Eve started at Fabi and Francis’ house for petite déjeuner. 

Sometime after breakfast, we took Sarah to Aline-Cedric-Mia’s house. They have a teeny tiny house. In Mia’s room, she has a pony,  a model of a “dude ranch” and a drawing of herself on the wall that Sarah gave her. Ahhh. To be 10 years old again.

Natalie, a friend of Fabi and Francis, came with us to the mountains. She is the “honey lady” because she has bees and harvests honey. Her honey is soooooo scrumdily-icious. I like the chestnut honey the best.

In about an hour, we arrived at Ramon-sur-Pleine, the village where Jean and Sonis live when they’re not in Schiltigheim. We rented a house with 4 large bedrooms/suites. Here is a photo of the house and some pics of the village.

A couple owns the house—Christophe and Sophie. They are friends with Jean and Sonia. Christophe makes very interesting baskets and “things.” He also has apprentices that work with him in his workshop. We visited the workshop. Against one wall of the workshop, there was a curved bench. The wall and the bench were quite warm and I learned that on the other side of the wall, there is a kind of oven door for a wood fire. Christophe says that he stokess up the fire inside the wall and in two hours, his workshop is toasty warm and he doesn’t even need to add wood all day. It was nice sitting on that bench and I was reminded of similar walls in schools in Moldova villages. Sorry no pics of the wall, but there is a pic of me sitting in the Queen’s chair holding the staff of Gandalf.

Now for the food and fun. (But mostly food)

The New Year’s festivities started at about 6:30 with l’apéritif and little croissant nibbles.

Then we did a little  karaoke with a mic that made our voices sound funny. Celine asked me to choose a song in English but the only thing I could think of was Alouette so we sung that. The others sang heartily.

The whole evening was spent eating several “courses”with lots of time to visit in between. Everyone here is a great story teller and they talk about things that happened to them and their friends and family. It’s quite interesting, even if I caught only about 40%.

Here’s the timeline for the “courses.”

8:20

Deviled eggs (les œuf mimosa), bread

8:45

Smoked salmon

9:35

Ham that was wrapped in a yummy crust; carrot salad; celery salad

9:50

Lettuce salad

10:35

Cheese

12:00

BISOUS. Just before midnight, Celine asked me what we sang at New Year. I introduced Auld Lang Syne. She found a rousing version online and we practiced it for the stroke of midnight. Midnight arrived and we realized that we forgot to pour the champagne. But who cares?? Everyone proceeded to bring in the New Year with the “bisous.” Everyone greeted and kissed everyone else. (I hope it wasn’t a super spreader.) I was too busy singing and kissing to take photos.

Then we broke open the champagne and celebrated again. 

 

12:20

Ice cream cake (leftover from Christmas); cheese tart (cheese cake)

There was also a box of “bredele” or Christmas cookies. I snagged an anise one. These are the kind that my grandmother used to make. They are Alsacian. 

1:15

To bed

The next day, New Years…

We went on a walk to the little lake near the village.

Right there, in the forest, was a little crèche. 

Then a little farther on, there was a cute little chapel. Inside, there was a sign that marked it as being constructed in 1090. Can you imagine? It was a genuine medieval church. It even had a bell to ring.

Under and behind the church was a hole/basement of sorts. We think that was the crypt. Celine checked it out.

We continued on our walk around the lake and enjoyed the “vibes” of nature, as well as a little waterfall. It was so nice to be out in nature.

We came across a little memorial to a soldier, not in uniform, who was shot by the Nazis during WWII.

We returned to the house and had lunch which included apple tart and leftover cheese tart.

Later in the afternoon, we played a kind of shuffleboard. I was the 3-time champion until Francis came along and smacked the puck through hole every time.

Eventually, it was time for the traditional New Year’s Day dinner…herring and potatoes. The herring filets were marinaded in cream, onion, carrots, parsley for 4-5 days. Yes, days! I found it to be surprisingly good.

The next day, we returned home. We found Sarah sitting in the dark, wrapped in a blanket and reading. I think it’s a teenage thing. Eventually, she and Francis made risotto for dinner. This is Mia’s favorite dish. She would chastise him for not including her….if she only knew. (Heh heh)

That’s it for New Years. I’ll leave with a peculiar sight. Usually, the weather in this area is about like in spokane. It snows, it melts a little, it ices over, it snows, it melts…. This year, the week before we arrived, winter had set in with snow and temps in the teens and 20s. I brought heavy winter clothes. But then, by the time we got here, it had warmed up and almost all the snow was gone. The temperature continued to rise until it was like Spring. Temps in the high 50s, low 60s. Record highs!!! This has been happening for several days and is causing problems with plants, flowers, insects and other animal life. This morning, Sarah and I took a walk around Bischeim for one last time. This is what we saw….

…a palm tree in a flower garden. How can the palm tree survive a normal year? And why are the flowers still blooming after the big freeze?

So, that’s all folks.

(This evening is the last big hurrah with the family. We’ll have sauerkraut and sausages and potatoes—traditional Alsacian food.)