Epiphany Galette

Tonight;s dessert--galette, nuts, and a clementine

One of the (many) reasons  that I love living with the French is their adherence to traditions.  We get lily-of-the valley on May 1 because one of the Louis received a bouquet of it a couple hundred years ago. We revel in long lunches.  We celebrate Epiphany with the Galette des Rois, and I dutifully bought a little one for myself.  Believe me, it's no hardship....they are layered pastries, usually with an almond paste filling.  The bigger ones come with a crown, and whoever finds the "charm" in his/her slice gets to wear the crown.

I certainly do not need to eat an entire full sized galette and really, I don't need a crown.  This little pastry will do just fine.  

Until I moved here, my Epiphany tradition was to take down the tree and at church, we always programmed and sang the carol, "We Three Kings."   That hymn was always hard for me to get through, first because the organists always wanted to play it as a dirge. But in all honesty, the real reason it was so hard for me to get through was that the "alternate words" kept running through my head and I would get a bad case of the giggles.  Those alternate words involve a exploding rubber cigars.  I smile even now, just thinking about it.  As an antidote to that old, tired carol, I always insisted on "In the Bleak Midwinter."

My tree has been down for a couple of days now, and I don't think there is a French version of "We Three Kings."  My Christmas hyacinth is perfuming my living room, especially on days like today when the light streams in. 

My window "garden"

I don't know that I have experienced any sudden "revelations,"  as I try every day to be open to what the Divine wants me to know.  I have made a start on my "book," and it's every bit as hard as I thought it might be.  I am frightened that I am not equal to the task, but I must try.  The chores are done, soup is made, the sun shone all day and life is very, very good.

Maybe I will save the clementine for breakfast tomorrow