Kate and Dermot move house

 They can move house, they can move communes, but they can't escape les Esperazannaise. We all came to the housewarming and warmed it good. Above is Atmo doing his bit...

 Heres Kate from a new angle and below Kat, Ian, Lionel -

and many other folk.

 Lovely house, lovely cremaillere -

As the party progressed people were telling tales of weather, having driven through a lot of it. Some had to pull over because the hail was so fierce, On the way home we saw many signs, the river was way up and the almost-dry Salz was gushing again (we'd been swimming at Rennes les Bains yesterday and noted how low it was)
Back at the range there are bits of waterdamage but nothing dire.
 Sunset bodes well for tomorrow.

quiet life

 We are being very dull and pottering about... here are some late night photos of me peering into other peoples windows.

Did go to Carcassonne a couple of days ago, that was exciting - needed to get toys for the parrots :) And had a massive delicious meal at the Wok place by Geant. Loved it. Erm... thats it.
--Except that I'm waiting to go to my friend the dentist, hopefully for another installment on the theories of Western Philosophy rather than actual grinding and glueing of the teeth.

Summers' end

The last of the night markets - held on the field by the river, grass underfoot and trees above, all most agreeable.

Real life is steadily encroaching.

Esperaza vide grenier...

 ...is the best :)

The frame underneath was 2 euros and has already been perverted into contemporaryish art.

 Thence to lunch; The Rushtons, the Norbert-and-Louises with their friend Cliona who entertained us for most of the afternoon.

We had eggs Mimosa, courtesy our hens; courgettes and onions from the garden baked with Rouget fillets; most excellent cheeses from Verdie et Fils (up the road here); tarte and ice cream courtesy Louise.

It was a noisy and laughy event - the best sort :)

Fridays sensations

 So its goodbye from them, sniff.... took myself off to Carcassonne for a spot of consolation and found the city decked out for summer.

 The station has a row of sculptures by the square - here's one - no sign of the sculptors name but all quite stunning, I thought -

HOWEVER nothing beats Msr Courbet; this one from the beaux arts is entirely painted by palette knife. Cor.

                                   Lunch was taken.
Visited the resturant next to the health shop where they not only do decent food for not-too-much but in their garden there is a tortoise and a rabbit :)

Will take the kids there next year.

Thursday market

 -had a definate air of  end-of-season -

our visitors leave today after treating us to a mega feast at the creperie last night. Will miss them.

Now for the diet.

Stan Latest

Here's Stan with Bob, a few years ago - Miriam has announced that Stans funeral and reception will happen in London at the Eltham Crematorium on the 27th of this month at 3.30. If you are in London, get there. There will also be an event in France in September.

Catching up -

-since I've been away Roland has built a dance floor in the garden :) Very nice... 

and here is Bieke sitting under the walnut tree, enjoying the sun-after-rain moment.

The garden is amazing, all the hard work of spring paying off.

Here's Lynne, wrestling with mega chocolate cake at dinner last night; dedicated to Shirley whose birthday is next week. 

Shirley has just left us - bus to Carcassonne, train to Toulouse, flight to Madrid - pause to see the Prado if she's lucky-  then home to Vermont.

And Charlie, keeping on top of world affairs.

night market verdict

 So it rained :)
This suits me very well because no-one can smoke and I can breathe, hurrah -

It did dry out enough for the fags to come out so I had to quit. When I left everyone was dancing and the family and Shirley didn't come home till late, when the rain started in earnest.

Shirley is from America, a student of mine in the very old days in Paris- she is briefly stopping with us before shooting back to Vermont.

Today we did that tourist thing - here is the view from Rennes le Chateau. It rained all night and all morning but the stories of Rennes le Chateau, Rennes les Bains and Alet les Bains can take a bit of damp.

And here the Captain and Shirley are at lunch at La Perception des Saveurs in Couiza, where we ate too much.

Arts Centre Developments

 Our Mayor George Reverte presided over a small but perfectly formed group of artists yesterday morning to talk about the new arts centre and then took us on a tour...
I have to  to decode the notes and reconstruct the event into coherent minutes, which may well take a while.  In the meantime, if memory serves, there is nothing new. Except it will open one day :)

ADADE Presidente  Kat with Jean-Lin and Marie-Clare

sombre reflections

 A small group  met last night at Kate and Marks to reflect upon Stan Alder, who has abandoned us -

our hostess in pensive form

Le Captain recalling ancient times... 

 - we shared our stories - music was performed - we ate and drank.

There's no getting away from the fact that hes gone and we'll all miss him.

galloping days

 Here is Esperaza's mighty viking, Olle-Bendik, contemplating the horizon no doubt. Angela and I dropped in on him last night to be entertained and in my case to drink his port.
Missions accomplished :)

Bobs family had volunteered to cook dinner so they fed us all plus Angela - Here is Charlie getting used to Blanquette and below is William with his grandfather. Are they perhaps related?
Don't know what they were doing. John has left us this morning for Isle de Brexit so whatever they were up to may remain a mystery.

Moonlight became us

 Moonrise last night; breathtaking.

We (= Douggie and Regina, Ken and Annette, John Harris, Diane Dunn) were treated to a banquet on the terrace by Pete and Clare. Gorgeous evening of  food and friendship, overseen by a speedy moon whizzing through the heavens.


Regret that I forgot to photograph breakfast in Lucs this morning. Most of Bobs family were there plus Hilary and Mike - and John and Margaret who leave us today until October. Bah.

But I snapped Shuff yesterday lunchtime, seen here with Angela and Bob. Not brilliant photos but mnemonics non-the-less.

Speed update

Breakfast with James, Louise and Andy ... not a great photo but it shows they are alive and very well :) (Small photo so they are not cross with me for publishing such a bad one)
And last night in the creperie, here are Richard and Lynne and William and Hannah on their annual mercy visit to the elders... John also here and of course Charlie.
Good to be back. Feels safe here.