young again

Yesterday was Phil's birthday. There was celebration and carousing. He and Lily leave tonight for America and the house will saddened...

wanders return

Annie and Pete are back, with Gus - much joy abounded as they met Phil and Lily and re-met Ryan and Alicia.

Gus is old enough to take his place at the table now. Hes taller than me, inexplicably - maybe Ive shrunk.

The end is nigh

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/19/bugarach-french-village-survive-mayan-apocalypse
-for the Guardian newspapers' take on the E of the W;  fantastic sunrise this morning which was very apocalyptic. (The reason I saw the sunrise is that Steve has gone off to Zurich and I've got over his farewell dinner.)

If you plan to  survive the E of the W and the attendant invasion of sensation seekers, see Jenny's new site, http://wildorchidsfrance.com/  Lovely.

La Pierre Lys

Steve took me and Kat to dinner last night at Pierre Lys - excellent, really excellent, as ever - have some amusing photos of Kat eating the langues de chat (that came with our lime, apricot and blanquette-soaked sorbet coup) but they're obscene.


Steve leaves tomorrow. Phil and Lily are here another week.

Dieting starts some other time.

Steves back:)

 Et voila! Ex-Esperazannes  Steve is here for a few days; together with Ryan and Alicia, Phil and Lily, Andree joined Bob and me for a stupendous meal. Shes only looking suspicious because shes tasting carefully; smoked salmon - the fish caught, cured and smoked by Phil in America- ; brie and herb pastry cake by Alicia;  tomato and coconut milk soup by Ryan;  pork and jeweled rice with pistachio by the team; we decided against the cheese course and finished with ginger and pear and squash crumble;  plus, hey ho, chocolates from a vast selection bought by Steve from Switzerland.  Everyone is staying till Thursday by which time I shall be as a barrage balloon.

another rainy sunday

Market wet but not rained off.

Voila! An apple theme; here is Zara from Le Fripp with her breakfast,

and here an apple cut by another stallholder - who was obviously bored.

Le Carnozet

Dinner at Le Carnozet in Couiza, thanks to Alicia's Ma and Pa - here is Mama Lily snapped later - an excellent evening and food to remember. The goats cheese and quince jelly pasty was highly original and dead good; all of us appreciated the care that went into our food. If I wasn't so full of it and the delicious Pinot Noir from Domaine d'Autignac, I'd list it all - alas, the flesh is very very weak.

american visitors

Alicia's parents are visiting from America; here is Phil, clearly Alicia's father:)  Haven't snapped her mama Lily yet but expect to see her on this blog soon -

Back in the real world

I'm back, hurrah, though l find London rather nice in the autumn. No time to see any of our friends, sadly.

The photo is of The Unknown Artist  and the caption reads Don't clap, just throw money.

Nothing to  report yet - only been back two seconds and am doing domestix - except that Eddies Uncle Martin, the photographer, has a vernisage at the Cafe de Fa tonight. There will be the usual shenanigans and music. See you there, from 7 .00 pm.

Big news -

The Big News is that the Cafe du Pont is closed for three months, due to some electrical disaster.
Needless to say, this is a catastrophe for the riff raff that used it - me and Kat, mostly.

The Good News is that Obama is back; *Phew* can be heard all over Europe.

I'm off to Blighty to check out some art. Heres a painting called The Dream of the Tortoise, just finished.

Andorra

 To Andorra with Alecia for the duty-free shopping. The bus now has little drop-down screens that show the road ahead - Puylaurens chateau can just about be seen on the monitor here.  They also play jolly music and people who know the words sing a long. Enormous fun. The mountains are spectacular though the shopping centre itself is at best dispiriting; the sprinkling of snow helped make it less ruthlessly commercial.

Vina and David

Vina & David came for a Ryan & Alicia special:) Poor Ryan has an extremely bad back due, we think, to an excess of mushrooming; Vina demonstrated her back exercises on the sofa.

Sadly she wont let me publish the photos.

Gruisson plage

Took the day off  with the team - here are Leroy and Lily pausing from racing about the beach. It was great.

morning by the river

OK not a good photo but normally they're on their toes and off before I get the camera out, so rather pleased with myself to have snapped this mornings heron... the dippers were out in force too.

too cute to hold a candle to

Theo was here to dinner last night with his Mum Margo, friends Anne and Monique,Ryan and Alecia... sorry guys but no-one else worth photographing, lets face it:)
I missed Richard and Vanessa's Halloween party the night before due to a ringing head cold which has still not quite left me. By all account the party was a gas; anyone want to share photies?
Today the captain is here, exhausted from a pre-dawn flight.Only here for the weekend alas. We will be joined later by London friends, then all decamp to England for a week or so.
Delighted to report that though the American weather stories are a nightmare our old friends Larry and Barbara (see www.tilling-sur-aude.blogspot.com s passim) are safe. Some of their family have experienced difficulties but fundamentally OK.