Look at what we received in the mail yesterday. Postcards from France. The boys were absolutely thrilled to know that someone across the pond was thinking of them. Thank you Vicki!
Vicki from I Need Orange recently returned from an amazing trip to France with her daughter. Be sure to check out Vicki’s blog to get the inside scoop.
Vicki found this postcard in Bayonne. It says, “You have cousins in Basque country?” Vicki was sure she knew four guys in Albuquerque who did.
Then she got to La Rochelle, and there were donkeys everywhere. Donkeys everywhere – in pajamas! Sea salt is a major product of the area and donkeys help haul the salt. The “culottes” (typically described as stockings, leggings or knee-high boots) help to protect donkeys there from mosquito bites.
The postcard says the donkeys in culottes are one of the main folkloric elements of Ile de Ré – right by La Rochelle.
Needless to say, Bernard might be in a bit of a bind. I’m thinking Bernard would look adorable in a couple of pairs of culottes. We just happen to know someone who knits… Hi Cathy!
And then, goodness! Vicki said she saw this brochure and picked it up, but only as she was mailing it to us did she read it. They are keeping donkeys for their milk! The brochure says that visitors can taste the milk, and that they make skin-care products, including soap, from the milk. As Vicki said, “Who knew??”
We’re surprised too! Vicki said that she ate lots of goat yogurt and sheep yogurt while she was in France… and just think, maybe she could have had donkey yogurt!!! ♥
September 18, 2010 at 5:46 am
LOVE THE PAJAMAS !
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September 18, 2010 at 6:14 am
I wonder if Vicki saw any Poitou donkeys?
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September 18, 2010 at 6:42 am
I think you’ll have to break out the sewing machine and get those boys into matching knickers!
Wouldn’t THAT be a great postcard for Christmas?! LOL.
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September 18, 2010 at 7:01 am
How adorable the culottes are! So great of Vicki to think of you and the boys while she was traveling. 🙂
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September 18, 2010 at 7:25 am
What wonderful fun for the whole family to get all that mail!
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September 18, 2010 at 9:40 am
I love the postcards, and I think the boys would look adorable in culottes! How about some Christmas themed ones – keep them warm this winter!!!
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September 18, 2010 at 10:06 am
Those leggings are quite adorable! Me thinks yes, your boys need some too. 🙂
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September 18, 2010 at 7:05 pm
Well, I would be happy to knit Bernard a pair of pairs of legwarmers, but don’t you think that would be a little too Olivia Newton John?
I agree with the above poster that it is time to break out our sewing machines. If they are used to keep mosquitoes off in France, then maybe they will work against the flies in New Mexico.
At the very least, it will give the goats something to laugh at!
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September 18, 2010 at 8:00 pm
🙂
You are most welcome. 🙂 So glad they arrived properly. I had the envelope all sealed up and thought “Yikes, what if it gets lost in the mail?” — and opened it up and took pics, so that at least we’d have the images, if the actualities got lost. 🙂
There was no way I could look at donkeys, anywhere, and not think of the Fabulous Foursome. 🙂
And when the donkeys appeared on a goofy postcard, I knew I had to send it to you and the boys. 🙂
Then, when we saw more and more and more donkey stuff in La Rochelle, well, there was no way I wasn’t sending that to you, too. 🙂
I can just imagine how much fun Bernard would have, ripping pyjamas off his brothers……
Glad you like them, and thank you for the kind words. 🙂
— Vicki
ps — I did respond to your email; not sure if you got the response.
pps — unfortunately we saw no actual donkeys at all. Only representations. We saw a fair number of cattle, a handful of horses, a handful of goats (all in one place), just a few cats, and a LOT of dogs (and pigeons)……. And that’s about it. Not one donkey, alas. Also — not one sheep — a stark contrast to my better half’s and my trip to England in 1985, where there were sheep EVERYWHERE….
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September 18, 2010 at 8:02 pm
Tre cool! I guess cuteness is an international Donkey language!
Love the PJ’s!!!!
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September 19, 2010 at 5:15 am
Practically speaking, considering the fly mask issues, culottes might be out of the question. 😛
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September 19, 2010 at 5:16 am
…and y’know…this isn’t what people generally think of when they think of French postcards. Or am I just too historically aware (read: “OLD”)?
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September 20, 2010 at 7:12 am
Oh my gosh! Those blue pj’s with the new fly thing Allan is sporting these days would be hilairious!
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September 20, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Tres jolies, les fotos! Thank you Vicki and Justina!
Napolean built a summer home for Josephine in Mortefontaine, where my husband grew up. She was known to bathe REGULARLY in fresh donkey milk – it kept her skin delicately white!!
There was/is still a special trough from the dockey stable to her bath tub in the chateau.
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September 20, 2010 at 5:28 pm
Linda,
Thank you – I did not know this – how fascinating!
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