Mayday

 Last nights' fest at Tout-la was a blast - Jean-Luc ran out of food and draught beer and must be a wreck this morning. 

Here he is with his muguet, before the crowds packed in. He had warned us and reserved a table for the regulars whom he served first so most of us we're OK for the fish'n'chip special, though I spotted several mates who couldn't get in/get served.  

The main thing about the chips here is that they are served with aioli, mayonnaise packed with garlic - which delighted Emmy, who is staying with us and is Dutch. Here she is;

Emmy is a life-long friend of Nel but Nel has been ill since she arrived, poor love; hoping she'll recover in the next week. 

The muguet  (lily-of-the-valley) thing is a custom in France for May 1st. You give a bunch to your co-workers, family and friends - kids pick and tie bunches for sale in the streets.

And its ages since I posted a pic of the frog so I feel its permissible today. Here s/he is, on a lily pad, communing with a fish:

Pizza and red wine

Here's Jamsie and Masher, bringing with them the beautiful weather. We had pizza and red wine.

Hot sun out there. The frog is basking.

Jamsie is checking out my book (-which he played a fair part in directing) 

If you haven't read it yet, it's on Amazon in most countries. Worth a read. Brace yourself. 

 

thinning crowds

 Our Gracie has left us for the summer, sniff, and Gert and Elsbeth are away for a while, as are John and Margaret. In the meantime, the weekend has been overcast and grey if not actually wet; frightful, since today was the first vide grenier of the season. 

A parochial event. No dealers out and just the Esperazannaise having a routal. 

I'm bewitched by my find, Tableaux de la Vie Arabe written and illustrated by Etienne Dinet and Sliman Ben Ibrahim.  Here they are though I can't tell you which is which... I am informed however that the critter that is being cuddled is a dessert fox.

Spent the afternoon with new friend Hugo Soder,  inventor and  creative geezer of the first water. He's leaving too, back later in the year. 

------But Jamsie is back in his chateau, all is not lost :)

Once a year, often

Here is yesterdays birthday boy, John Matthews, a slip of an 80 yr old...

I took this at breakfast at the Pont cafe, where blanquette and cake set us up for the day. The family went off to the Cafe de Fa for lunch and after that there was a surprise party at the Matthews lair. The evening flowed into the bar, Tout-la Apero.  I've lost nearly all the photos.

I'II bet that not many of the English-speaking community are feeling quite the thing this morning.

News

Our Gracie fed us last night - wonderful cooking! 

Here's a round up from town...

Ronan, our computer go-to wizz, is closed

The epicerie opposite the Chaparie is taking in washing - might be handy -

and le Chapaire is closed. Sigh.

Life goes on.

 

Easter sunday at Savs

 Saveria hosted an easter Sunday party, full of youngsters being energetic. We admired them for a while and then went home to bed :)

Lovely day for it... many thanks to Sav and tribe for a creative and entertaining day xxx

The weekend so far

Elsbeth and Gert shared the traditional easter fest with Kat and Roland, Bob and I - and as custom dictates, we had a lovely evening which was much appreciated! 

Here they both are and here they remain for another week before returning to the better weather in Copenhagen. We'll miss them xxx

and here's Roland, looking endearing... other photos pretty bad, which talks well of the quality wines that Gert insists on :)

The next day, somewhat early, Kat and Margaret and I went to Carcassonne to visit the exhibition in The Mason of Memories in the Rue Verdun. They were showing a small part of the collection left to the city by Ceres Franco, and very nice too. Outsider art with big heart. She had an unerring eye.

Thence to lunch :

This is the Ukrainian chef at Freaks, also in the Rue Verdun. Lizzie Jackson took me and Bob there a while back and we loved it. They only do lunches and you must book, so I did and we were very happy... 3 hours! A three hour lunch, just like the old days. They were understaffed of course but even so - we really enjoyed the food and the ambiance and chance to chatter.

Got caught in the hail storm, with attendant thunder and lightening, on the way home.  

Thence to Nels birthday party at Tout-la, where all our friends were cavorting. Here's the birthday girl who doesn't seem to have changed since we met some forty years ago - we've some great memories!

Here is Antonia with our resident immortal Ole-Bendik -

Below is John Morley with a friend he hadn't seen for forty years. They roomed together in college days. Below them, a photo of Tim begging for a caption...

The other snaps are too mixed a bunch, truly - but many thanks to our Nel for a splendid knees up and wishing her many more xxxx