Cresson et Crécerelles

Stone-mason Jean-Philippe turned up this morning in his Renault Master. We looked at the four à pain. He said, in the roundabout way that Vendéen artisans have, that he hadn't rebuilt one before.

"Mais je connais une association qui pourra t'aider".

He gave me the address on the back of a Gauloise packet [Actually it was Marlboro. Please forgive the blatent over-gallification here. Ed], then said something off-the-wall for a stonemason. [No comment. Ed]

Cresson des Fontaines/nasturtium officinale

Click on cresson pic to go on a four-minute spring journey to the lavoir de Sigournais

"Je peux demander aux pierres leur âge"

"You can ask the stones their age?"

...enquired your correspondent.

"Oui. C'est de la radiésthésie"

From his pocket, he produced a wooden sphere, the size of a cochonnet, which was attached to a fine, golden chain. Then he placed a hand on the stones and mumbled a phrase in patois.

The pair of kestrels in the field next door screeched mating calls and performed ballet in the spring air.

Mille six-cent quatre-vingt-dix à mille sept-cent. Louis XIV, non?

He said with a smile, slipping his ball back into his trousers.

Faucon Crécerelle/Falco tinnunculus (presumably because of the noise?..Latin specialists please advise.)

That'll be 1690 to 1700, then, I thought. The same estimation that had been given by the Architecte des Bâtiments de France a few years ago.

We shared a few stories about dowsing, divining and doodlebugging over a glass of rosé, and I showed him a video clip of the lavoir in Sigournais from last week's picnic.

"Sigournais. Magnifique. Deux châteaux et de la belle pierre calcaire". He said.

I showed him the watercress from the spring which feeds the lavoir.

After exchanging recipes for soupe au cresson, he bade me farewell, and drove out of the village.

The male crécerelle broke off from his noisy courtship to swoop, silent and low over the Renault.

Lexique

Cochonnet; Petite boule en bois utilisée lors d'une partie de pétanque.

Louis XIV; Roi de France (1643-1715) peu modeste.

Lavoir; Regardez le clip vidéo, vous le verrez.

Cresson; 1. Plante médicinale et délicieuse. 2. Nom de famille de la première femme premier -ministre de France. (mai 1991 à avril 1992. Don't ask...)