deviation...

This post not really anything to do with Esperaza except that me, Kat and Margaret absented ourselves to visit Jean-Pierre, seen here, plus his remarkable cat Jolibert (actually spelt Julivert in Catalan, Im told -), ditto. 

Had an amazing time in the mountains.

Many thanks to J-P for hosting, Kat and Margaret for driving. :)

Farewell to Corrinne - till April

 Corinne is leaving us, with feeble excuses about family in the UK; she'll be back for the spring. She held an apero to say goodbye and made her own cheese straws. The perfect hostess.
Below, Toby can be spotted admiring the roof, see above - a traditional ceiling, tres chic - at the bottom is Corinne herself (clutching at a cheese straw.)

Its dark because the hour has changed. And its a week till halloween, here called Tous Saints - still the feastday of the dead. Wouldn't work if it wasn't dark, eh.

crawling

Sunday afternoon and Anne from Coiza dropped in - on fine form - followed by Ryan and Etienne (and Alicia but she is out of shot) We were hugely entertained by Etienne as he furiously tries to crawl.
Its HOT here - t-shirt weather though not shorts. Market was small but charming and nothing happened. Lovely Sunday.

Saturday morning at the potterie

Spent the morning pottering at Ediths - here she is, holding a portrait of daughter Titas' partner (Kevin) made by her grandchild. Its lovely and makes a good claim for the genetic transmission of talent.

Can't recommend the calm good-humoured amosphere of Ediths atelier highly enough; got stress? Go pot.

This morning -

 This mornings' views  from Chez Rushton as the sun began to rise...

...and Ann at coffee in the new patisserie proir to quitting us for the airport.


Mad or what?

John R and John M birthday party

 Spent last night at Rushtons chateau at St Julia Le Bec celebrating his birthday and that of John M. Above is Clare, aka Mrs R., bringing in the cake -

  Here is Rushton flanked by Susan and Alison. Oddly I have no pictures of the other birthday boy, John M., proabably because he was seated next to me at the table and its a bit hard to snap up someones nose - ditto Mark, who was the other side of me. Jude was at the bottom of the table (not under, at least not all the night) and so was Richard.
One of the others snapped Rushton and Eric sharing some profound experience.

Wonderful magical night.... thanks to the birthday boys and the tribe for making it happen

Silver wedding anniversary

new plans for Esperaza

Francine - she who lives in the house wherein Andree was born and used to work in the post office, that Francine - was outside her place this morning with a petition.

Our new Mayor is starting work in early 2015, to close the car-park outside Luc's bar and make it exclusively for the use of buses; the buses will turn in the foreground of the school opposite where the plane trees will be cut down.

The new car park will be by the childrens playground, behind the school -  the road to access that will be opened along the river front to the cafe du Pont, cutting down the plane trees in the way (picture shows one of them), taking down the little park and all other obstacles.

The children will use an entrance to their school that involves a little corridor and a staircase. (?? Francine thinks this is bad for the kids.)

There will also be a new speed bump by the school to slow the traffic on the Rue de la Gare.

I asked what the use of a petition is, since the Mayor is King. Francine says it will be sent to the funders - the regional councils and the locals boys - asking them to withdraw funding.

Should you want to sign it, it'll be in Lucs cafe for a while.

Tea time

 Living in France dosent preclude tea, though its a ritual I often forget. Not any more. Margaret invited Kat, Hilary and me to join her and Ann in dinky cups of Dargeeling and lemon, smoked salmon and cucumber sandwiches, cakes. We were forced to complain about the heat of the day whilst sheltering under a sunshade. 

sunday 19 oct

John M kindly send this snap from this morning - captured a certain je ne sais quoi - cheers John :)

wildlife

 Everyones on holiday so I'm in charge of the chickens for the weekend. And I caught a mouse in my kitchen. There are lizards in the studio and a dragon fly in the dinning room. The weather is still glorious so the bees persist in their heavy humming. Actually, the real wildlife was in the market today where all the tribes seemed to have gathered to sing and dance - sweet:)
Now to catch the brother of this little chap...

Trade-in

                                                         Heres Andree - ready for an upgrade :)

Bouillabaisse at St Gobain

Eileen Agar made many ceremonial hats and one of my favorites is for eating bouillabaisse - its in the Victoria and Albert Museum now. Heres an article on its restoration...
 
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/journals/conservation-journal/issue-14/ceremonial-hat-for-eating-bouillabaisse-eileen-agar-1936/

Surprisingly, no hats were worn at the Bouillabaisse event at St Gobains last night.



There were other surreal moments - normal when the tribe gathers. Heres Olle-Bendik surveying his table of women; Toby and John M; Robin, being magisterial after hurling blanquette hither and yon. Highly entertaining evening :)

honeytime

Ryan and Alica, heavily disguised, bought the honey combs down from the mountain to be bashed up to make honey - no-one was stung, I baby sat and Etienne didnt wake up, I predict excellent honey :)

stop press

There are new chairs in the cafe du Pont!!!! 

- and Patrick Modino and Jean Tirole win a Nobel each - literature and economics, both Frenchmen; not bad for a country often assumed to have a moribund culture.

Sunday....

 Young Etienne continues to prosper, getting plumper by the second. Hes adorably good company, begining to engage and curious about everything. Including himself now.

The market was small, lots of traders off in other paradises. There was a vide-grenier in Couiza that I didnt get to; Bob left for London today; l went to the mountain and photographed figs; also went to the church and snapped the window that commemorates the first european war.

The list of the dead is long. Our little commune was hard hit. Was thinking of my great-uncle, a much-loved gentle hearted man, perceptive and intuitively kind. He was in this war, fighting on the Somme. He told me about it as he smoked his pipe one night, his eyes twinkling. He's been sent out to no-mans-land to check on enemy movements and he was wriggling along as the dawn came up. He said, I was ashamed to be on my belly like a worm in the face of the dawn. So I stood up. [lit pipe, puff puff] And they shot me.
He was hospitalised, patched up, returned. Lived to be over 100 years old, full of wisdom.

nice life...

 http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2014/10/09/1968523-maison-arts-artisanat-plus-300000e.html

The Big News! - our Mayor has bought the old presbytry for 80,000 euros and it will cost 300,000 euros to tart up into a centre for arts and crafts. Mercifully for the local tax payer 80% is being met by taxes from other regions, central and regional funding. So actually a decent deal. There will be three appartments, one for the concierge and two for visiting artists; who of course are filthy rich and delighted to pay to stay and exhibit in Esperaza - who wouldn't?

This will probably have quite an impact on the lives of us artists here. Kats gallery is nearby and will profit from knock-on trade. We will probably use our large garage, also nearby, to establish some arts events too. And who knows what other creative forms will emerge.

Other big news -

Last night we high tailed it with Max to Quillan to the excellent Cafe de Fleuvre; sat in the little square and marvelled at our good fortune. When we got back to Esperaza it had been raining. Weird, these micro climates.

Max is off again, alas. Come back soon :)


Below is a familar Esperaza sight - the old chimney at the side of the building on the way into town if you are coming from Montazels. It is still standing, defying all  Newtonian laws.

Below that, waterboatmen of the Aude. They too seem to defy a bunch of natural laws. Dead clever.

trite autumn

Dinner by the river

 Gert and Elizabeth, our Danish friends, have a house on the river Aude where they fed us last night. We have many ideas in common and the conversation was terrific - we sorted out the world (reminds me of the poem by one of my favorite poets Mr Social Control, called The night we changed the world by drinking)
They are not in Esperaza for long on this visit but will be back anon.
Why don't people just settle down, all this restlessness can't be good -

KAT WINS!!

So sorry this is a terrible photo and even this had to be jiggered about with - the fact is, as soon as Kat got up to be awarded her prize for being a great artist, a sea of people flowed over the stage and I couldn't get nearer. But she won! Many congratulations to her xxxx

vernissage at Magrie

Somewhat unnaturally the vernissage for the Magrie art expo was at 10.00 am - that is to say, in the morning. Notwithstanding, it was a beautiful day and the group Arthe settled down happily outside our garage of art with glasses of Blanquette. In the sunshine.

I left around lunchtime so I could pass out at home but the team remains - and again, tomorrow.

 Heres the obligatory brass band - very nice too - and below, part one of the spot-the-bum competition.

Given that all the nudes in the show are sourced on local bodies, this could be a lomg-running quiz

Below is the hanging of the show, yesterday, helped by the good Bob; below him are Andree and her smashing niece Alexia who treated us to dinner at the Creperie- where we also saw Mary's daughter having her hen party; Elizabet and Gert just back from Denmark; friends from nearby Alet-les-Bains. You still have to book to get in, wonderful place.

Hanging in Magrie

This time of year the little pretty village of Magire devotes itself to art. Esperaza group of practical artists, Arthe, are showing together and began the hanging yesterday. We hope to finish up this afternoon because the whole thing starts Saturday morning. Its active for the weekend and the forecast is good. The bar is stocked and the fountain in the square is tinkling away.
Perfect for a trip out ( three kilometres above Limoux, turn to the left before you get to Limoux from Esperaza, follow the signs)
Arthe meet to draw from the nude so you may recognise many of the subjects in the works. You may guess some of the others- like the many-penised man in pink stockings.
See link for the full shebang http://art-magrie.com/edition_2014_artistes2.htm

Max shared supper with us last night. Feel as if Ive been set about with a hammer; must have been something I ate.

Silver lining at last

Its been horrid for friends, this last bout of heavy rain. Max had a flood, everyone has a water story though most are merely inconviences. OB and Aileen have been hardest hit - flooded out of their home - they are determined to stay and watch their beasts and try to salvage what they can.

Here is the afternoon sky, clearly brightening. Much love to them.

On Saturday, before the rain, Susie was burnt out and lost everything. Her life and the lives of her children were mercifully spared. There is a fund to help them; heres the link, do what you can :)

http://www.gofundme.com/phoenix_rising