Strawberries!

This time last year, we had a bit of a problem with cherries - our cherry tree was massively productive, we didn't have a freezer and we couldn't even give them away because everyone else in the village had the same problem.

This year, we had a very hard winter and it froze too late for the cherry trees to be happy. Our tree has literally (and I use the word in the full knowledge of its meaning) no cherries on it (well, there were two, but something ate them before they had time to ripen). The neighbours are having the same problem.

The strawberries, however... now that's a different story! We inherited a fairly large strawberry patch when we bought the house, and, despite the slugs' best efforts, we've had 4.7 kilos (just over 10 pounds) of strawberries in five days.

So, what are we doing with all these strawberries?

This should give you an idea... :-)

In which the penguins return

I really did think, for a minute, we'd escaped them for good.

And then, there was The Beast (see this post, he's lurking in the background of the bump picture). He arrived in the UK in August and came back to France with us in the back seat of the car. Thankfully Customs didn't stop us, because we didn't have a passport for him.

And then... they started coming for Ze Baby. First, a friend sent us some adorable penguin bootees (thanks Caroline!). Lovely, practical penguins making themselves useful.

Then there was this from my brother, and my sister gave her a penguin glove puppet for Christmas.

They also appear to be working in more subtle ways. The Original Penguin (who even had his own Facebook account at one point...) goes by the name of Carrot. Anyone who was at our wedding (or has seen pictures) will be aware that we have a certain prediliction for cuddly vegetables round here... and the carrot tally, at the last count, was up to FOUR, plus a pair of orange socks with rather suspicious green frills around the top.

You know what? I GIVE IN. Penguins, you've WON.

Smile, it's...anthromormorphised food

I don't know if I was traumatised by the dancing mushrooms in Fantasia as a child, but the idea of fruit and vegetables with faces makes me smile inside. I try to keep these kinds of things inside my head where they can't cause any damage, really I do. But sometimes... it just gets out.

Apologies for the photo quality, but I think the pears' personalities are still visible enough... the grumpy one that didn't want to be in the photo at the back right, for instance, or the stoned pear on the left. The two at the front seem to have a story to tell, too...to me, it looks like the right-front pear is desperately in love with his neighbour, who clearly couldn't care less.

I'll go back to my cupboard now before I scare anyone else.