Le Muguet

Le 1er mai, on offre traditionnellement du muguet « porte-bonheur » car il fleurit aux alentours de cette date.
On May 1, you traditionally give Lily of the Valley as a "lucky charm" because it blooms around this date.

Amazing day. Wonderful, wonderful day...full of happiness, family and friendship. Today, with Caroline, Sylvère and Zoé we headed to Bricquebec, the town of Sylvie and Yves, Caroline's parents. Beautiful little town, although not too much to do! Not that we wanted to, or had any need to. After a lovely breakfast in Ifs at chez Caroline we headed to meet her parents. Now our families have a long history now, stretching back to the first day Caroline arrived in England and lived with my parents and I. Now my parents and Caroline's parents speak little of each other's language yet somehow have ended up the best of friends. Sometimes friendship does not always need expressing. Now there is Caroline and Sylvere who speak English, and I speak French things run a little smoother and more communication can happen...but even so, there is no doubt that the friendship was there from the very beginning. As ever, when we arrived we were instantly welcomed and bombarded with questions. Zoé was passed around the room and behaved like an angel (as ever), and Caroline's sister Sophie was also there with her gorgeous dog...so quite a lot of things going on! After a catch up where everyone forgot which language was which (Caroline speaking English to her parents, me speaking French to mine) we sat down for an absolutely wonderful lunch, finished off with an amazing mousse/chocolate/cake/wafer concoction. Also managed to get the word charpenté (full-bodied!) into conversation...today was a good day! Anyways, it was decided that we would go for a walk along the beach, so we all set off, baby, pram, parents in tow to a lovely little sheltered cove where all the Parisians used to go before finding Deauville. And, yes, I know I didn't take this photograph, Caroline did...but these are my parents, and me. And yes, it was warm and sunny in Normandy (out of the wind of course!) despite what some people say!

On the way back we stopped off at La Biscuiterie (or La Maison du Biscuit) to buy, well, biscuits. And on the way we also bought caramel au beurre salé for me...liquid caramel, what is there not to love! You also cannot buy it in England...so my parents are taking some back for me! After stopping for a little bit to have a wander round the little rooms (they have built it to look like a street, and an old one at that) and explore what each one had to offer. Such an interesting place, and ran by three generations of the same family, improved and added to each time it changed hands. Apparently it is the second most visited site in Normandy, after Mont Saint-Michel, and I think it deserves that title, well worth a visit!

After travelling home I spent the evening with my parents. It is horrible to realise that not only will I be leaving my friends here in Caen on Friday, but also my parents. I'm still trying not to think about it.

When you love someone, they're a part of you. It's like you're attached by this invisible tether, and no matter how far away you are you can always feel them.