Expat from Wales French Prime Minister's wife

Pénélope Kathryn Fillon,(née Clarke) wife of the newly appointed Prime Minister of France, François Fillon, is only the second ever foreign-born to move into the Palais Matignon, the French equivalent of 10 Downing Street. The first was Eva Barre, the wife of Raymond Barre, who was Prime Minister from 1976 to 1981. She was Hungarian born.

Penelope, or Penny, as she is known, was born 51 years ago in Llanover, close to Abergavenny in Wales. --- One has to wonder what it sounds like when the French try to pronounce these Welsh names!

She married François Fillon in 1980, and together they have had five children, Marie, Charles, Antoine, Edouard et Arnaud - the latter having been born in 2001. Obviously a good match, as one of François Fillon's brothers, Pierre, later married Penny's sister, Jane!

The French are quick to point out what an excellent French student Penelope was at school -- and "out of the ordinary student" they say, and whose French is excellent -- "although with a Welsh accent". That must sound quite lovely -- a gentle musical tilt to her perfect French from the green valleys of Wales.......

The couple live in the Château de Beaucé, a sprawling 12th century manor house at Sablé sur Sarthe, near Le Mans, in western France.

A local journalist, Florence Loyez, said: "Mme Fillon is a very natural and unpretentious woman. She's also very clever. I think she definitely has the intelligence and discretion to be a good 'second lady' of France. She'll advise her husband well."

M. Fillon, 53, is a close associate of M. Sarkozy. He is a handsome, eloquent man, regarded as more consensual and somewhat less abrasive than Sarkozy. As minister for social affairs in the government of Jean-Pierre Raffarin from 2002-05, M. Fillon is credited with steering a significant and overdue reform of the French pensions system through parliament. After he was fired from the government (following the rejection of the EU constitution by the French people), M. Fillon said that his reform was the "only memorable achievement" of M. Raffarin's term of office. As M. Sarkozy's prime minister, he will run the day to day government of France and will be expected to guide a large package of economic and social reforms through parliament within 100 days.

French prime ministers live and work at the Palais Matignon in Paris's seventh arrondissement, a once-aristocratic dwelling, larger than No 10 but much smaller than the President's Elysée Palace. The prime minister's wife and family do not always move into the Matignon but she is expected to be present for formal receptions.



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Josephine Baker : Still in the News

I have mentioned Josephine Baker on several occasions in the Chatea Lalinde blog -- as have others, such as Suzanna Clarke, Arts Editor of the Courier Mail, Australian, in her article about the Dordogne and Chateau Lalinde.

How can one NOT mention this remarkable woman when you talk about the Dordogne Valley and its heritage! Josephine Baker left such deep footprints in the banks of the Dordogne River, with her beautiful home, Les Milandes, her exceptional contribution to the Resistance during WWII, her family of 'Rainbow children' - adopted from many different regions and backgrounds, and her outstanding success as an artist, adored by the French nation.

But the latest reason for Josephine Baker to be back in the news, has nothing to do with any of these things. The reson she is back in the news - yet again! - is because of the now very famous skirt of bananas that she wore - or, that was ALL she wore, and so outraged and/or delighted Paris back in the Twenties!

Agence France Presse reports in New York that the American postal services had difficulty in accepting postcards depicting Josephine Baker in her banana skirt, feathers and bare breasts for mailing!

Apparently Jean-Claude Baker, the thirteenth adopted child in the Rainbow of Josephine's family, owns a restaurant in New York, "Chez Joséphine", and had decided to use the picture of his mother a la banana skirt, feathers and bare breasts, for his publicity mailing. However, when he arrived at the post office to mail the 15 000 postcards, the Post Office worker was mortified. "That will not do at all, sir! I cannot accept these card for mailing. It is explicit pornographic material!", exclaimed the worker.


Jean-Claude took his 15 000 cards to the printer and asked that he covers the offending breast by 'painting' in a scarf. But once again, the cards were refused. The Post Office worker managed to see -- it is not reported whether this was with or without a magnifying glass -- the tip of one breast peeping through the scarf.
The scarf was enlarged, and Josephine managed to slip into the post box.
This time an advocate for civil liberty at the NYCLU got wind of the incident and stepped in. "It was a misunderstanding!" protested the spokeman for the USA Postal Services, Pat McGovern. "The postal workers have no right to make a decision like that!"

So, six months later, Jean-Claude Baker, son of Josephine Baker, gets his sweet revenge. Last Tuesday he sent off another batch of postcards of his mother - uncensured in her banana skirt, feathers -- and bare breasts -- and this time he held a massive press meeting in front of the post office before mailing his postcards.
"It is a small tear in the river of liberty........And it is all done in the spirit of Joséphine, my darling mama. She was a fighter and she loved freedom!" proclaimed Jean-Claude in true Bakerish style!

Jean-Claude Baker is the 13th of Joséphine's twelve adopted children --- as a young adolescent, he was porter in a hotel where Joséphine stayed in Paris, until she took him under her wing.

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Americans in France

In my recent article for the Expatica.com website, I made a few observations about why Americans go to Paris and the British come to the Dordogne. This article caused quite a storm in the big tea cup of the cyber world, and in that stormy process, I discovered a number of blogs and sites where similar issues are addressed.

One such blog,
Americans in France, writes in particular about the Americans in France. Although his statistics seem a little suspect -- they are vastly different from the official current numbers of 700 000 Brits and 165 000 Americans in France - of which 50 000 in Paris, and this always makes then wonder about the rest of the article, I did find it an interesting read. This is what he has to say:

"Although your first thought might be that Americans in France would end up, for the most part, in the same areas of France as the Brits, this isn’t actually the case so funnily enough there is very little interaction between the two communities.

Generally speaking, the Brits end up in Brittany/Normandy, Dordogne/Loire, and Provence with the Americans largely confined to Paris, though obviously there are a lot of exceptions to this.

One of the more complete sites is Americans in France which seems to be a fairly complete reference guide for Americans aiming to move over here. Interestingly for me is that they still need to declare their income to the US tax authorities.

Of interest to the parents amongst us is the list of bilingual schools. You might think that the list on the site “must” be too short. There are bound to be more bilingual schools in France, aren’t there? Well, there might be a few more but there aren’t an awful lot more which is something you may want to factor in when you’re considering where in France you might want to settle. If you don’t arrange bilingual teaching for your children from about age 11-18, they will not be fluent English speakers and that will set them at a major disadvantage in their future life.

Not listed on the site are the international schools though there aren’t many of these either and bilingual is the way to go. International schools don’t raise children to fluency in both languages as you might expect.

Anyway, lots to see on the site."


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Robert Thompson and Alan Haigh : two very special people

Some years ago I 'discovered' one of those things that is utterly delightful and that you feel would have been poorer for not knowing about it.
I walked into the beautiful home of Kevin and Theresa Leeper in Knaphill, Surrey, and saw, for the first time, a little mouse carved on the side of a table leg. It was a Robert Thompson mouse -- and it was beautiful!

Robert 'Mousey' Thompson (1876 - 1955) was a British furniture maker who worked in Kilburn, North Yorkshire, manufacturing oak furniture. The origin of the mouse is said to have happened accidentally. Robert Thompson and another craftsman were carving a huge cornice for a screen and the other craftsman happened to say something about being as poor as a church mouse. Robert Thompson carved a mouse there and then and it struck him as a lovely trade mark. This was in 1919 and the mouse quickly became his trademark and it is this now world famous `logo' that makes the furniture, whether it be a church pulpit, a fireplace or a dining table, instantly recognisable as the work of the Mouseman of Kilburn.the mouse has stayed until the present day. His company still exists and is now known as "Robert Thompson's Craftsmen Ltd - The Mouseman of Kilburn"

Recently, years after the discovery of my first Thompson mouse, I friend of mine showed me two beautiful writing boxes that her father had lovingly and expertly restored to their original perfect state. The craftsmanship was exquisite, and as the daughter of a man who restored antique furniture with the skill and authenticity of a master craftsman, I recognised the excellence of this man's work. So it was with joy and pleasure that I got to meet this man - Alan Haigh, a retired maths and science teacher and then headmaster, breaks all the rules of left brain/right brain-, art vs science-, logic vs dreamer theories. His 'official' field is mathematics and science, but his interests cover every spectrum imaginable --- from Motown and progressive music (who knows another 80+ year old who could DJ a hip disco tonight with just the music he has on his Apple Mac at home alone??) to meticulously restoring falling-apart bits of furniture -- and, because he too loves Thompson's carved mice, but because 'he is slow --- because he CAN be'!, Alan has started carving little snails on his work!

Just as years ago I 'discovered' the Thompson carved mice on furniture --- that I would have been poorer for not knowing about, just so, in meeting Alan Haigh, I feel again as if I had 'discovered' someone quite special and unique-- a true Renaissance man -- and who also carves little snails ..........and my life would have been poorer without the encounter.




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Market Day in Lalinde and Cheese cakes from the Poitou Charente

Every so often, one discovers something new.

And the most likely place to make new discoveries is when one travels. Being a tourist in France must be one of the most exciting experiences -- there are just so many things in this country that are unique and special and delightful!

One of the many great pleasures of living here in the Dordogne, is the availability of fresh organically grown produce that one can obtain at any of the country markets in many of the towns and villages in the area.
Not only can one buy the most delicious fresh fruit and vegetables, seafood straight out of the sea at Arcachon, locally home made cheeses of every kind, flowers picked from a garden, deliciously aromatic home cured hams and sausages, second hand books, candles, donkey milk soaps and toiletries, exotic silk skirts and sun bleached cotton shirts, but one can listen to an actor reciting poetry or to a group of talented youngsters making the most beautiful music.





And then -- you discover yet another speciality from the region --- such as these light-as-air fairy cakes made with goat's cheese. Originally from the Poitou Charente, the same area as the first would-be woman president of France hails from, the tourteau fromagé not only look splendid, neatly stacked in perfect little rows, looking like a class photograph of little school boys in their black caps, but taste heavenly!



One needs a special mould for these cakes, but should you not have one, choose an oven proof dish which is preferably narrower at the base than at the outer rim, about 8 inches in diameter and about 2 inches high.

The black caps were probably originally an accident, but that is what gives these cakes their individual and special appearance!



Recipe for tourteau fromagé or cheese cake

Ingredients

260 gr flour
120 gr butter
250 gr fresh goat's cheese
175 gr sugar
6 eggs
5 cl milk
a pinch of salt
1 coffee spoon vanilla essence

Method

With the butter, 200 grams of the flour, salt and a little bit of water, make a pastry, cover it and let it stand in the bowl for a couple of hours -- preferably in the fridge.
In a bowl, mix the cheese with 125 grams of the sugar and the milk
As soon as the sugar, cheese and milk mixture is well beaten, mix in the egg yolks one at a time, 60 grams of the flour and the vanilla essence
Beat the egg whites with the rest of the sugar until stiff and fold into the mixture.
Press the pastry into the well greased mould. Pour the cheese mixture on top.
Bake in an oven at about 180'C for 45 minutes.
When baked, either under a very hot grill or with a blow torch, very quickly and evenly blacken the top.

Try it at breakfast, with your apéritif, with a glass of Haut Poitou white wine, or as a dessert, covered with fruit purée or ice cream. -- or like we did, with a cup of coffee at a little bistro on the Lalinde market square!

As with all great traditions, there is a special Brotherhood of the Tourteau Fromagé, founded in 1974 in Lezay! Their address is:
9 avenue Général Faucher
79400 Saint Maixent



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