" of gates, and how the french manage land "

tuesday, march 25


Dear Reader,

so this is a fair outline of how the french manage their land.  Of course, one has to take into account that this is only one example of how they go at it,  but it is not totally random.

So the Reporter's friend, the one who had a subtle flavor of Maxime de Winter,  and who had generously invited our courageous writer, did let her into his land via his gate, and as you can see, there was a zest of Manderley already there,

view of left gate :

view of right gate :

detail of left gate :

and just before getting to the gate :

Do you sort of see the subtle relationship to Manderley ?

Then, once inside the land, the french like to ask their guest to give a small hand to their managing of it. For that purpose, the french like to wear " des bottes de caoutchouc"  or simply,  english flavored rubber boots made in china :

So, Maxime de Winter asked the Reporter if she could help with the lawn somehow, and the Reporter being of a very devoted and friendly manner helped carve out the path to the woods as in here,

So you, educated Reader, can immediately understand, that anything in pale green is where the Reporter lent a hand.
Also, she managed to not fall in the pond which, anyway, was sadly empty.

Then Maxime de Winter gently asked if the writer could give a hand in collecting  " du petit bois"  or as we vulgarly say ' some wood,'  as in here,

and you may still admire the pale green path beyond the wood pile,

wood pile which would serve to warm up the cold thick massive walls of the house as in here

Then, Maxime de Winter took the Reporter to the barn and showed her  " des outils "  or simply said ' some tools :'

which might be useful to
clean up "les mauvaises herbes et tailler les buis", or plainly clean up
"the weeds and trim the boxwood,"
as in below

Then Maxime showed some stone that might need some carving,
and there was a stone saw in the barn, see the stones on which Maxime stepped that could be carved better

and then, since the Reporter thought of herself as artistic,
Maxime showed her some work to do in "  l'escalier "  or of course,
the staircase.

And then the Reporter went to bed with her candle

and that, she decided, was about the end of her observations of how the french De Winters managed their land.




With all Love,

the Frog