Appendix: Carnac

Valerie and ajonc at Carnac

These big stones are called menhirs (a Breton word, not French). Aficionados of Astérix le Gaulois will recognize their delivery as the occupation of the massive Obélix. Nothing thorny about my sweetheart, but she displays (with care) a bouquet of ajonc—Winnie the Pooh called it “gorse”—the famously-stickery co-national-flower of the prickly Breton nation, sharing that distinction with the milder-mannered bluish-purple bruyère, which goes by “heather” in our Anglophone world.

Both local blossoms (not the imported flower) appear in the photo at right. We brought home a fair amount of wonderful country pottery (faïence de Quimper) bearing stylized resections of both flowers in traditional patterns.

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