Anyone who reads Tolkien knows that elves exist. And here's the proof. Found this sitting on the table in our conservatory this morning. Magic!
I wish I had something simpler, rather that than brass monkeys in the winter. Mind you, the free dinners at the hunt dos are so excellent that...
Good skills then. I get gibier simply by owning the only smoking compulsory, 30c a glass of wine indoor boules alley within miles of the local hunts lair. Much simpler :-)
I know that a couple of the old timers (like in their 90s) have been forced to give up their bang-bang sticks. The young folk hereabouts are not into hunting and there seems to be nobody between. They know I can't/won't try to get a permit and I am not anti, so rather than risk losing me this is a big bribe. They are very careful here in the forest after a couple of cars got blasted well before we arrived but nobody has forgotten. So they man those towers assiduously. I get venison, boar, hare and pheasants, plus any rabbits or smaller birds nobody wants. No doubt there will be a few offers of the recycled industrial waste style brandy that drink (no ta) and the awful coffee. The sacrifice is great.
Apart from that, the poisonous mushies and the note came at different times, just the same day when I was not there to see who the elf was!
Of course it could be that they're waiting for you to eat them to test if they're OK. It's a win/win thing. You die & they don't have to invite you to marshal. You live, they get a tester 'till the next time. Think of that when you're next eating freebie mushrooms ;-)
Got back from walking dogs and there at the gate was another of those vegetable trays full. We are running out of places to put them this year. I have also had a note from one of the chasse asking if I would like to marshal this year, at least once a week. It means standing on one of their rickety towers for hours on end in all weathers. They would give me safety wear and a whistle, plus use of a radio to direct hunters. What I get out of it is a whole lot of free meat and do not have to pay at any of the hunt dinners. I have no idea who wrote me the note, but the champignon elves probably have something to do with it.
Love it, Vic!
Recently I was walking in the forest. A man appeared with two carrier bags brimming, two people behind him with the same. Where he slid down a bank on to the path there is a sign on a tree 'Champignons Interdit'. Welllll, apart from the fact that despite the best efforts of the owner of that bit of woodland to clearly forbid mushrooms growing there, they appear to thrive. Trying to look stern I look up and slowly read the words on the sign aloud, the man smirked, I smirked back, then he took a small bag out of his pocket and gave me the best part of a kilo of cèpes.
Later that day our neighbour passed and left one of those boxes as in the picture in my hands. Each time it rains at present our freezer seems to get fuller a day or so later. We are still finishing off ones we dried two years ago. But who is objecting. Just love those elves...
Tolkien is Hobbit forming.
It is a good year for all kinds of mushrooms, the elves tell me, Nick. But there's certainly a glut of cepes.
I love cepes and they look very fresh. I'll be telling my missus to get on her boots and be off on the hunt.
Thanks for the heads up.