Joy at night market

Perhaps because it wasn't rammed, the night market last night was a real joy; some of Bobs family are here and they loved it, as did I. 

Bob is limited by a wasp sting which has inflated and blistered his hand, causing a deal of pain. He has the right meds. They will take three days to work, alas.

Many of our friends were out - see Gert and Elizabeth, below - and wonder of wonders, the karaoke man was terrific :) (Our mayor sang us a song)

 Chatting with Charlie, Bobs oldest niece, about the sort of songs that are sung in England and those that are sung here, a geezer started to sing a love song to one Natalie - set in Russia and referencing the October Revolution! The screen had the words and pictures of the Tzars winter palace... I found the song on you tube. Here's a link, if you are curious -
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBRxZ27qozE

And here is William, totally knackered by the days' travelling. Ha! We made them all stay up late (Charlie joined in the dancing) and today they are akin to zombies. Way to go.

cool evening, hot day

 In the cool last night Le Capt and I went wandering.
Its perfect here.
Today was roasting and the market packed - saw many friends and remembered to photograph two, Antonia and Steve, see below; obviously in great shape.

The Family arrive tomorrow. See y'all at the night market :)

bloody moon

This beauty fell dead on the garden table yesterday... which is all that's happened, except that Bobs old car is under dire threat by the garageman.
And it was too cloudy to see the blood moon last night. We went a-wandering to take a dekko and met friends and strangers doing the same, bewailing the cloud that has wrapped us after days and days of clear skies. Bah.

Last couple of days -

 -have been VERY hot! All our keeping cool skills have to be deployed. Jean manages by fishing and having caught more than he could deal with came round with Claudinne bearing half-a-dozen barely breathless trout. Shared with Ian and the neighbours; fried ours in herb butter, best trout I've ever eaten.

In the meantime  LouLou has been establishing herself so well that we have been forced to rename her LUCIFER. Suits her much better.

This mornings breakfast at Luc's was enlivened by the arrive of young Sam, Grandson to  Father John ( and Margaret)  and son to Kathy (and Kenny).  And lo! James  turned up with his father Andy - hugely grown - James too, see below. Louise is joining them shortly along with loads of other family.

Heres  Sam, addressing a parrot - or a 'pirate' as he prefers to call them.

Dreadfully tiring, the young.... our crop arrive next week.

Much heat

 Heres Jutta watering this morning, before it got too hot - and Tango, below, interfering with my diary.
Its very hot. Didn't make the Night Market last night on account of old age, heat and fatness. Plus there are houses to prepare; guests tomorrow, family a couple of days later. We evacuate Bobs house so they can huddle up together:) So looking forward to seeing them - the sage oldies, the mad littles.

Moonlit dining

The view from Gert and Elisabeths terrace last night, where we - me and Bob, Filip and Lone and Kat -were treated to a splendiferous dinner in entertaining company. Idylic.

Bob has pointed out the pleasure of watching the day turn to night, the stars coming out, the moon rising. Magical.

Heres Elisabeth, our host 

- and Lone and Filip. Both Gert and Kat seem to have escaped the camera...

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Sad this morning to hear that Julian Petrie, an artist who lived in Quillan, has died. All of us who draw with the Arthe group at the MJC knew him. It seems that he had a routine op in Carcassonne on Friday and didn't come though.

We had used some of the same studios in London (though I didn't know him then) and had a handful of contacts in common. As Aileen Hennes has pointed out on the Arthe site, he was an enigmatic man with few friends -  art was the centre of his life.

Fresh

 I'm actually cold but there are those in today's market who claim that it is 'fresh'. Not unpleasant; though weird not being able to make plans, as the days may hail, storm, bake or take any combination of weather imaginable.

Our guests left us a couple of nights ago and we missed the Festival of Wine at the Relais Occitan in favour of a quiet night together in the cafe formerly known as the Ty-Rex. There we caught John and Margaret who were possibly hoping for a quiet night too - not a chance and what fun it was to catch up in relative peace.
Since then we've done nothing but lie around.
The Festival du Vin was apparently a triumph with dancing in the square - before the rain came -

Hazy

Another hazy picture of friends eating and drinking... last night it was Toby and Leo, Richard and Eva, plus residents Ric and Clear and me and Bob.  Interesting menu somewhat spoilt by me burning the main course, hey ho. (Smoked salmon terrine and salad, anchovy tart with charcoaled  tomatoes,  new potatoes and runner beans, mango and vanilla cake with licorice ice-cream)

Fascinating late conversation drawing on our talented and well-travelled guests' experiences.


Ric and Claer leave us today and I embark on the housework, sigh.

Weather wierd

Toby drove us to visit Andree yesterday... she sends love to all and is well though (we suspected) rather bored.This let to a debate in the evening - at Kats apero - about what would be good in a maison de retrait to keep the old folk frisky. Prize goes to Toby who suggested young men on roller skates delivering cocktails.

 Kat has been renovating her place so the impromptu apero was for nearest and dearest to take a peek at the works. Pretty impressive. And views of the surrounding rooftops are beautiful and its easy to see her street -

 storms came and went all night.

Which made life hard for Bob, Claer and Ric who had headed for the coast.... they made it home safely, finally.

DIY Dinner

The successful dinner party requires guests who appreciate good food enough to bring their own; Elisabeth brought the first course ( gazpacho and trimmings) and  Clare brought a delicious whiskey meringue and cream thing which was outrageous by any standard. I did the middle bit - roasted walnuts with a variety of non-dairy cheeses and pasta and, most importantly, blet from the garden. And there were fresh tomatoes for the salad.
Gert and Elisabeth, Fran and Clare, Ric and Claer, Jutta, Mary, Bob and I made a fine noisy evening.

cat whispherer

Since Lily's death, Ian is rarely seen in the streets as he no longer has a fine dog to walk - questions have been asked after his well-being.

Et voila!

Rain stopped play at the night market last night, to everyone's disappointment. Most of our friends turned up at the ex-Ty-Rex, the only open resto in town and where we too were dining.
Actually they are very good, for what they are.... vedg ain't out of a packet, they are carefully roasted, my confit de canard was delicious and there were no complaints from the rest of the table.

Photos rubbish.

Historic Sunday

 Last nights dinner chez moi - Bob, Clare, Pete, Claer, Ric, Brenda, Nigel and Kat - all looking rather glum in the photos. I put it down to the heat rather than the cooking.

It was 36 degrees. The storm broke with fervour this morning and all is fresher here.

AND FRANCE WON LE FOOT!!! Much rejoicing in the town.

The vide Grenier was just too hot for me though I did a quick rekkie - everyone I spoke with was threatening to jump into the cool and  inviting Aude.

mates apero

Peter Dunn

 Peter and Clare hosted an apero for the team yesterday evening. Nothing like the calm chatter of old friends, surrounded by the delights of nature, high in the mountains. Invigorating.

Nel looking naughty with splendid designer jewelry made by astonishingly talented artist, ahem.

Peter Gregory, Father John Matthews, Leo - sorting the world -

El (Mrs Scottish Dave) Surveying the immense landscape

Eva, Margaret, Leo...

Afterwards I tottered off to see the band and the fair, both carefully designed to exclude the elderly.  Gert and Elisabeth found me wandering and took me home for a restorative chat about literature and the state-of-the-world. 

                        When I got home everyone had gone to bed :)

A bas les prisons, toutes les prisons...

We commemorate the storming of the Bastille today in a small but perfectly formed procession that passed the end of the impasse just now - there are more celebrations to follow.

Last night we missed the rugby club dinner and party but heard it loud and clear until 2.30 am.

Ric and Claer ('don't photograph me') are here and we are having a quiet time, though we managed lunch at the Auberge du Faby at Rouvenac yesterday. Loved being back there; such a pretty place and re-organised by Sabrine, Gunter and their daughter-in-law. Tighter menu, most excellent - the four of us had nothing but praise for the meal afterwards.

Hectix

 Its a busy time and I keep forgetting to take pix.... but here is Margaret at breakfast this morning flanked by two lovelies. She's been on Granny duty; now back amongst us. Below is some stuff happening in a field - that was yesterday and the clouds have gone.  Party-time is looming.

phew le foot

I was rather supporting Belgium the other night as their Captain Hazard (really!) is a Chelsea player and it seems that their manager is English. The French were the better team and dutifully won. Last night the English team were beaten by the Croatians in what became a last minute exciting match, small reward for enduring hours of lacklustre play. This means that the Brexit lot are not playing France in the finals, which is a huge relief.

It is obvious that I know nothing about le foot but I used to enjoy watching it; young men with rippling thighs belting about, whats not to like? Nowadays I just see the terror in their eyes as they walk on, the fear of what might happen. It ain't fun anymore. Hope the excluded teams are getting a decent nights sleep now.

-Ric and Claer arrive today, many amusing events are planned including the Bastille commemorative celebrations :)

Attention....

 .... the 8 a 8 is closing early for le foot -

Monday social

Night market was preceded by apero with Gert and Elisabeth - blest if I even know how I got there after quantities of an orange fizzy drink designed by our Danish friends who are good at this sort of thing.
Their terrace overlooks the river and the market and is the perfect place to sit and chatter about world affairs before joining other friends... my camera was missing, so we took lovely pictures on Bobs. I can't download them.

Tottered home for my machine so here is Eva, getting stuck into les escargots - debate was, are they factory farmed? You don't see them being collected in the mountains anymore and these seemed a standard size. We all have bigger in our gardens.

 The debate with the Captain was simple... Boris! Whats he up to then??

Dunno what Gert and Pete were talking about. Looks serious. Perhaps the moules frites Pete was eating. Gert took charge of our meal (thanks Gert xxx) and asked for three pieces of pizza since non of us were very hungry. He found he'd ordered three pizzas - which we woolfed.