Rain

 Max and Bob and I went to Tyrex last night. It rained so hard that we had to shout at each other to be heard and this made the meal hard going... poor Bob has a new hearing aid and all he could hear was very very loud drumming.
Back at the ranch the yard was ankle deep in water and the tortoise had to be speedily rehoused. Inside.

Variety, they say, is the spice of life; l prefer a blander diet.

end of fete

Back from Avignon where we had a great holiday with old chums and new art.

In Esperaza the town fete carried on without us; this morning, wetish, they are packing up.  I was very charmed by the cut-out pictures of mirrored balls hung over the bar...


Suns coming out:)

apero divine

 I'm awash with blanquette and Toby's fabulous cooking, the goodwill of friends and the pleasure of re-connecting; and new friends too, people you know you like who don't yet know that they should be living here :)

 sorry about the strange photo Dave, bizarre but charming  (like yourself guv)

and welcome, welcome back Max! Heres to the next couple of weeks. Bob and I train it to Avignon to meet an old art school friend of mine - last seen, I think, 45 years ago - for a long weekend. If we survive we'll be back to carry on where we left off tonight. xxx to all, thanks for a great night

good looking family

Etienne and his grandmama Lily; tres mignon:)

Thats all thats happening really, family stuff - I missed Lou's sewing night last night due to complete knackeration after a day arranging to sell my Toulouse appartment; afterwards Bob and I ate at The Gallery in Quillian, Jenny Schraggs old place.
Where is she now, anyone know? Last heard of in Port Vendre - but I digress.
The Gallery is a wonderful resturant, it was full and the food is terrific though its roughly the price of Gaydar's friday special so it should be good:) I had fresh salmon in blanquette after thin marinated beef and before homemade nougat icecream. Hmm.
Bob and I are trying to catch up with our various tasks after last weeks' extravaganza's.

Vide Grenier and camping

Irene, who has been managing the camping site here in Esperaza for some years now, has been given her marching orders- because shes not European. She's Swiss. And so can speak any number of langagues and has people skills that people normally train for years at vast expense to acquire but beacause shes not allowed legally to handle municiple dosh, must go and loose her home and livlihood...

She is extremely good natured about all this, dosent know where she will go or what she will do but awaits the new chapter of her life with her customary sang foid:). 

I photographed her at the vide grenier where she was flogging off old stuff. We got her curtains -

Tonights fun...

 This evenings entertainment is at St Gobain, Robins' gaff; its part of the festival du vin. The road is closed to accomodate the hordes and on my evening stroll everyone was heading there - heres our Sian looking glam:)

 Bob and I are tragically all food-and-wined out and are settling in for a quiet evening followed by an early night.

- Its the towns vide-grenier tomorrow, have to be fit for that.

Here is the railway line, looking in need of a trim. It does function, very well - just looks disused.

yesterday, Narbonne plage - today the world

Yesterday had a lovely drive through the mists, over the mountains to Narbonne and our favourite fish resturant, l'air Marine (//www.restaurantairmarin.com//) ; thereafter a stroll on Gruissan plage which was very windy. Great day of chatter and fun though, finishing in the garden with spag sans bol and chasing off the bees which we had woken with our candles.
Today to Limoux to collect the alarmingly charming Clive, thence  lunch at Gaydar  (http://www.domainegayda.com/fr)   - and so farewell to our friends who finish their time with us and go off elsewhere. Come back soon. Heart heart.

dinner chez nous

 Its ages since Ive given a proper dinner and last night was reminded why I enjoy them so much - the hubub and laughter of people meeting and getting on is such a delight!
Aleicias parents Lily and Phil are here from Washington, come to see their new (first) grandchild; our friends Rick and Clare are staying; Cathy and Kenny are in town.

Kenny is an amazing accomplished artist - heres his site
http://www.kennymckendry.com/

 -and the star of the show :)

Elly Bakker vernissage - too many artists

Below is Elly with Julie Soskin last night - terrific vernissage at the Tourist centre, Quillan, much enjoyed by us all. Elly made the classic mistake though - invited only artists:) They are too poor to buy. Spotted only two people I know who are not painters (Mike and Suzie). Great evening anyway, thanks Elly -

All Sunday's news

 GESSPE (acroynym for who knows what -) were singing in Occitian outside the church; lovely and probably very drole but my Occitan is a bit rusty;

 Cathy and Kenny were there, meeting many people they previously knew only by reputation... the dazed expression is a symptom, perhaps;
here is Richard outside the 8a8 with a new (second hand) electric bike which looks like just the job for local pottering. Takes hills easily too. Might try a test drive and see if its suitable for old ladies.

Just to round things off, here is a charming shed and a cryptic door.

busy day doing nothing much

 Voila! DAWN breaking on the bridge. I woke up early and had a splendidly entertaining morning, before collasping into what will certainly be another early night and pretty soon at that.

By good luck I met Pete and we took coffee together (Kats away so I have to find other coffee partners) and Olle-Bendick joined us. Others chipped in and the floor show was hugely droll - mostly because the Rue Voltaire next to the 8a8 was closed for repaving as was the end of the Rue Republique so persons had to walk around past the Post Office or round the back near Roy and Jo's Maison de Riviere. The citizens right of passage was disrupted massively, as we heard from many sources - culminating in a jeune garcon Pete described as a 'character' insisting on independence for Esperaza, like Scotland.

By the end of play all had been completed. Roads are again open. The threat of a breakaway commune has receeded.

Its been very hot again, though with a pleasent breeze. Squandered some time this afternoon with Angus and Mary, back from holidaying in Spain; Tim and Yvonne, still here; Kenny and Cathy are here too, Cathy looking sensationally good and a few months off the birth of her boy child. (She dosent expect to be in Esperaza for then so I didnt offer my now-famous birthing pool )

autumn mornings, high summer days

To say that the weather is weird is to quack a platitude. Fortunately this has never daunted me. Today is as the last few; misty morning, hot hot day, and in past afternoons', rolling distant thunder followed by a return to go, without rain or storm. Bees unsettled; here they are, possibly cooling the hive (who knows?) They hang about en masse making bee noises. Oswald the intrepid tortoise is pretending to be a door stop while she decides if its near hibernation time yet

 The new reading room adjascent to my study is almost finished - heres the view from the sofa :) (You need one to read on)

 And Esperaza this morning. Not actually the mist but the stone dust as the little road at the side of Max and Andreas house gets paved.

Low key market

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20zSwmi285g&list=PLj-iPZo-Vu_vLoo0tR32zjAbQZQKx48hA

 

Now the tourists are mostly gone the regular stall-holders go off on their holidays - the butchers is closed - so the market isnt as packed as usual and we can hear the buskers. This is Lao Kouyate. Wonderful. Link above to see him on youtube

bad blogger

 Been much distracted with this and that -
forgot the camera at Toby and Leo's marvellous apero for the neighbours, a shame as the evening was a real delight. Three of the participants were 86 years old and in very fine fettle:)
Josette told me that she left school at 11 and a half after her father went to the war. He said that he might not be back and she should take care of things. Hat factory in Montazels for her - until her retirement. She loved it.
Insights into a vanished world abounded. As did the nibbles and booze; what great hosts our friends are -

Annie and Pete gave us lunch yesterday to say good-bye to Bob, who takes the train to London this morning. We met their friends Dave and Hilary and had a lively debate about Scottish dis-union plus a long and excellent meal - veggie lassagne, apple crumble -
I was charmed by the chairs which are ingeniously held together with bicycle inner tubes.

Hey ho. Off to help himself pack. The train to St Pancreas is taking 8 hours (allowing for an hours time change) So thats Carcassonne to Montpellier, Montpellier to Lille, then London. 150euros- odd with a Carte Senoir. Pas mal, eh?

good news and erm

 Yesterdays visit to Bobs specialist was a mixed pleasure.
Dr L is like a monochrome fox, an agreeable pointy man constantly smiling - as well he might, his snow-white teeth match his snow-white doctors coat and dazzle accordingly.
He beamed at Bob and screwed things into his eye, smiling the while. Aahh!! beam beam. Classique!! Ahh! Parfait! Mais Classique! Et le cataract!! Classique!  
Cataract?? Excuse me?
Alors.... Too stunned to find out if this was a reaction to the treatment for the detached retina. But as Bob can now use airoplanes, he will be going to his London eye people where no doubt more will become known.
Dr L says not to worry, seemed surprised at my alarm. Mais c'est classique!

Dinner with Annie and Pete, Ryan and Alecia and - star turn - Etienne. Here are pix of Pete who was thrilled to have a baby to hold again, his little ones being rational adults now (hohohohohoho)

Sur la Plage

The team bunked off to La Franqui yesterday. Bob drove me, Toby, Jo and Kat; we were delighted to have the beach to ourselves.  Once we were on it, however, we knew why - a brisk wind ensured that we were sandblasted though not too hard and not continually.  My book was good and sitting about with mates in the sun can't be beat :)