The Scottish Daves party

Some of the cast of thousands at the Scottish Daves' last night....thanks to Toby for taking the photo which is why Im in it .... et voila, Mr and Mrs S.D themselves:)

-and its welcome back to the Captain, (above, seated) and Clare and Pete with his new hat from Uzbekistan. 

Ah, summer..... August tomorrow.

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may or at any rate geraniums.

Alecia has another birthday

 How this year has flown!

Alecia, Ryan and I celebrated the birthday at the exotic Tyrex- in the car park by the station - where pizza and ice cream were the order of the day.


Which is how l know that dairy and asthma really are immiscible, alas. Worth it though, lovely to pass an evening with the youngsters.

Will do a posher meal when Bob gets back (tomorrow, yeah!)

Mornings here are amusing as Jessica 'le chainsaw' Rabbit , an early riser, seeks Oswald the tortoise to get her out to play.
By the time Oswald has stumbled forth Jessica is asleep again, the sun being too hot for her.

She has to play alone in her sand pit. Its very amusing...

Leo and Tobys party

 Leo and Toby chose a great evening for their party, baking hot with a bit of a breeze and then a distant electrical storm, the aurora borealis only in black and white with a bit of forked lightening. Superbly done.


None of these photos caught any of it, alas.

 Here's a fairly random selection of snaps of the guests.  Sorry if I missed you - was busy, chattering away and delighting in old mates. Though perhaps the apologies go to those I DID snap -

Both Leo and Toby have amazing skills as hosts. If I give a party I forget to look after anyone rapido and expect the guests to entertain me - ouch, so bad - but Leo and Toby float amoung their guests, attentive, feeding and fueling them with booze and good conversation.

 Scottish Dave was illustrating some optical devise for measuring the proximity of cameras, I think-

Dermot was going incognito and Kates new haircut was due to her kitchen scissors. Excellent job; new career?

 Billy got signed by Olle-Bendik, as in 'just signing my bill' hoho

curry night in campagne

Voila, an arty snap of Clare and a less arty one of John - we went last night to that Lilac coloured restaurant in Campagne sur Aude which has reopened. It was a curry night; John M organised us - John, Clare, me, Max and Chrissie.



John being asthmatic and Clare being a prescribing nurse we had a wonderfully indulgent time swapping vital info:)

Heres Chrissie, girlfriend to Max, Johns son. She works for an incredibly famous gallery in the hopes one day of curating her own. If I had any money I'd back her. Max got a first and is part-time working whilst carrying on being an artist. Then Daisy turned up, daughter of Sue and John in Fa,  working part-time as a waitress before going off to Goldsmiths having excelled in her foundation year at Brighton. I got rather emotional at the sight of these emerging artists having to go through all that stuff - an artists life is never easy, even when it is (if you see what I mean)

Kevin and Charlotte, Yvonnes daughter, were there - nice to see them.
Kevin being a curry expert wasn't too impressed with the evening but our table were well pleased, the food was delicious and Im heading back ASAP


The only trouble with these engaging and charming young persons is they make the rest of us look like tortoises.

Below is a late birthday pressie from John. Hes known me since I was 17 and knows me well -- thanks darlings, will put it in water soon and let you know what happens:)

book worm

 There is a glow worm in my study ceiling:) - above the speaker - its 9.30 in the  morning but the room is dark. Poor little trollop, she is signaling to passing males but I'm guessing there aren't that many in here.

e

unusual silence

My uncharacteristic silence entirely due to the fact that I have nothing to report. Been sitting in cool rooms, wet towels over the slightly opened shutters, managing my new-found asthma.
Yesterday, however, I went for a walk. Discovered that the Rue Victor Hugo and the road to the station - the main artery through our metropolis - have been coated in tar and studded with stone chips. I attribute my recovery to the presence of hot tar. Thank you, Mr Mayor :)
Whilst wandering about ran into darling Edith, our potter and co- founder of the creperie. We went to the new patisserie by the church - its the one that used to be a florists, then was something these involving alternative life-styles, then was a t-shirt printers. You know the one. New incarnation is very good. Had an ice cream cone of deliciousness, hoping it was sorbet (dairy bad for asthma) and admired his cakes and pastries which are all made there.  
Today the Thursday market is in full swing and many friends are out and about, its so good to feel well enough to enjoy this place. I'm guessing the pollen has done its thing and that I'm going to be normal soon.

fine friday

 Friday night was moonlit and beautiful, dammit - no sudden storm to dust off the pollen, which means today I'm gasping. Its Sunday, there are worse things than lying quietly reading whodunnits and dozing but there is a vide grenier in town - I could weep.

Anyway.... here is old friend Richard, visiting between his home in Italy and his London base. Jolly good fun to see him. We dined at the Creperie and then joined the entire town who were partying at Lucs, between Plan B and le Tyrex. There was a band and dancing and joyful liveliness.

Below is Stuart [Don], Scottish Daves brother (he loves being called that) with what is evidently his astral body -

 and introducing Sam, who is staying with our dutch friends - he is visiting with Jim -

Le Captain has gone to London to catch up with some essentials, poor man; missing him and feeling outrageously sorry for myself.

OOh been meaning to write about Daves battery. This info might matter to you - certainly impacted on poor Dave. He parked on the free bit of wasteland parking by the Carcassonne airport since he was only going away for a couple of days, came back, battery flat - rang Annie who came out with jump leads  like the dear girl she is. Opened bonnet to discover that the battery wasn't flat; the battery wasn't there.  Nicked.
If you are leaving your car unattended and unprotected better take the battery with you:)

welcome new faces

Dinner at Aileen and Olle-Bendick's; himself announced magisterially that it was to welcome new faces as well as to feed the usual boring old ones...

so welcome to Dick and Jill and Clare from America, here till the end of August, second time in Europe though very familiar with the rest of the world - Dick thrilled me to the marrow by revealing that he has a piece of kit on the moon, what with being a physicist and and engineer - just like Howard Wolowitz:)


They are fizzing with ideas and  have a long history in computing and AI - looking forward to spending some time with them. They are staying with Ferren or thereabouts.

And in the interests of balance we have three artists staying with me, working on a fascinating project which with luck you'll get a link to upon completion.

Beatriz, Annie and Emma can be seen below, plus a shot of Emma and Kai - Kai was just running to check the rice. Turns out he's a brilliant chef, we are so lucky:)

My asthma is receding with the pollen and the side effects of the dreadful drugs are gradually leaving me. Kids; leave steroids alone! Apparently there is something called 'Roid Rage which is the irrational fury that envelopes users like a cloud. If I've offended anyone lately please blame the pharmaceuticals  and forgive me.

 

 

drinks with the neighbours

 Here's Leo looking very happy with three generations of Scottish Dave ladies... below, Anne-Marie, a friend of Tobys who is visiting. Also spotted Elaines sister Debs and other friends; clearly having too much fun and forgot to take photies. The storm stayed off till the end of the party...
The storm of the previous night arrived just as we were sitting down to dinner under the walnut tree at Annie and Petes mill house. Dave, Dennis, Kai and all our dogs were forced indoors - much conviviality ensued.

post bastille

 

Many people  seem to have hangovers today:)

 

 Claer and Rick have just left for Blighty where it seems it is very hot

and our Iain has written from Edinburgh;

 

It is always a joy to send greetings from a warm and sunny Edinburgh. A rare joy certainly but the last couple of weeks have been splendid and it is set to continue throughout next week. The flowers in the garden are offering an Halleluiah.  after the coldest spring in living memory it is both surprising and welcome. Of course temperatures of 28 are the norm down in your part of the woods but here they are worth mentioning for their rarity. Sitting outside until 9.00pm takes me back to Esperaza.  The smell of honeysuckle and roses in the evening makes me think of my open bedroom window.  Another week and it could feel like autumn but make hay etc. It has made me a little lazy. Every time I think of something I should be doing I decide  I can’t be arsed and make a bee line for my lounger. The city is looking splendid and really achingly beautiful.

 

Life of course goes on as normal and nothing much changes which is not all bad. The city is as full of tourists as ever and is gearing up for the festival. Rehearsals have begun for our festival concert and although the venue is nearly twice the size of last year it looks like being a sell out again.  Steve is just back from a week in Greece with an old friend. He seems to have had a relaxing time which I suspect he needed.

 

 

I hope you are all well and having fun and frolics.

 

We do our best Iain! Nice to hear from you xxx

July 14th celebrations

Much eating, drinking, twirling and firework watching! Vive la France!

diary

Goodbye to Poo and Mark who left on the 8th, kiss kiss till the next time; Bob, Claer and Rick (above) arrived on the 11th. I'm still being asthmaticky and not quite sure whats going on but here are some pictures that indicate activites various and fun...

Here's Ryan wearing this seasons bandage (don't ask and anyway hes fine) at the Poulet au Velo where we enjoyed a very relaxing evening - the night before that Ryan and Alecia had cooked a stonking meal featuring spicy prawn and melon soup (oooh loverly) sag aloo with home made flat bread, vegan coconut icecream, apricot tart and cassis coulis. Vedg home grown.

Here, more food - a quite astonishing restaurant in the mountains, totally unexpected and arrived at by luck. They use local bio materials and cook to availability - so for me, crab cake and crudities, pork in honey and rosemary, chocolate mousse and an extra because they gave me one and I'm greedy. Was making sure the coco was locally sourced, ahem. We all chose different main courses and were amazed at the quality and deliciousness of it all. Cheap ish too - 20 euros a head. Run by the local mayors wife. If you want to take friends off into the hills this is a veritable destination...
Resturant Mon Grain de Sel, 23 rue Neuve, Soulatge  (0468 27 06 34)



Then to La Franqui where we sat on the sands and watched the sun go down while tomorrows crab cakes were being caught-

Tonight is Esperaza's Paella fest followed by fireworks and  dancing in the square

birthday fest

 it seems there comes time in a womans life where, if she hasn't died, she has a birthday that equals 3 x 21 years. This has happened to me yesterday ; celebrated by being diagnosed with asthma. As Captain H had to go to England, and  was gasping for air, a very low key event accordingly the day befor. Ryan and Aleica make a meal of great splendor followed by chocolate and banana and coconut cake, shared by Annie and Pete and their Helpx Kai.
(We are thinking of starting a union for the Helpless)

 Yesterday Margaret and John hosted a lunch party which we all enjoyed - Poo and Mark had arrived and were invited - all the photos are lovely  and show most of our friends, so I have posed at random. They gave me a cake! Over and beyond the course of duty and I was very chuffed - Have enough puff to get by but the other drugs I'm on are causing me to behave like a very stoned art student. Its great :)

 Many congratulations to Leo and Toby for raising enough money at their sale the other night to send a teacher to India. There are bits left if you would like to take a look and contribute further. Toby says this will become an annual event. .