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| This was taken New Years Eve in San Francisco
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I’ve been back in France for one month (exactly today) – but this time as part of a couple. John was one of my neighbors, when I traded houses, the last two summers. Towards the end of last summer we became a couple. So now I’m back in our little village of Abeilhan where I’ll be staying for the six months.
I expected spring would be here when I arrived in early April but it was more like winter. The South of France had record cold temperatures this winter and it has been slow to warm up. Although I would have been more comfortable with warmer clothes it was actually nice to experience a different kind of season here since before I’ve been here for summer and autumn, but never winter or spring. It has been nice sitting in front of a cozy fire at night but will spring/summer never come?
John told me the weather was quite warm here as I was preparing to leave San Francisco. However, the night I arrived it was a cold and we drove home in a heavy rainstorm. In the month I’ve been here we have had exactly 3 warm days. Yesterday it was absolutely lovely and we enjoyed sitting out in the garden – but today it is overcast and cold again.
With the cool weather we did do some local sightseeing. We went to Beziers (mainly for lots of shopping) and also to Narbonne.
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| John hanging out in old Beziers |
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| This is the Beziers cathedral where the Catholic crusaders slaughtered thousands in an early example of genocide where they saught to eliminate all Cathars (a Christian religious group that disagreed with papist chrisianity and were living peacefully in what is now Southwestern France. |
Of course we went to Bouziques - the place that farms the most delicious oysters. These oysters were probably under water just a few hours earlier. The little restaurant (if you can call it that) where we ate is really just a big old stone building with no cooking facilities. They just shuck shellfish and also provide wine and bread.
Update May 7th
I've been having trouble getting my pictures to load onto the blog - very slow and very frustrating. Probably due to the Internet provider here in the rural parts. As a result I will probably post every week or two.
Weather is much improved now. Bright sun and pleasant temperatures. We've been having a very good and very busy time. I think our social life here is busier than in San Francisco. Here is how our past week has been.
Friday - dinner here in the village with a wonderful British couple who have lived here for 15 years. They are very, very close friends of John's and now mine too.
Saturday - went to dinner at friends who live in Lespignan - about a 30 minute drive to the west of here. A lovely evening with wonderful people. Great conversation (in English) and delicious food. I feel very at home and think they are going to be very good friends!! All British expats and one other American who lives here part time.
Sunday - Appertifs with our good friends and neighbors - Roger and Suzette and with their daughter and her two beautiful children who are visiting from Paris.
Tuesday - stopped in to say hello to our neighbor Ricco and his wife, Helena. They live just a few houses away - people who visited me when I was here the last two summers will probably remember this house as it has a huge garden with lots of vegetables and flowers and then the fence is covered with many unusal obje cts e.g., toys, a bizarre statute, etc. It was 11 am. Ricco insisted we come in and sit down in the dining room. Helena joined us and Ricco brought out his bottle of Pastis and insisted we join him for a drink of it. Pastis is a licorice tasing liquor popular in the countryside in southern France. It is clear when you pour it in your glass, then you add water and it turns white. Not our favorite beverage, or time of day for imbibing but we needed to be polite. Then Ricco brought out munchies - homecured anchovies, popcorn, nuts, whole raw garlic cloves, and then homemade (and locally shot) wild boar sausages. Ricco and Helena speak no English and our French is very bad but we had a great time with them and were able to communicate quite well. It was like a scene out of "A Year in Provence". When we left Ricco insisted we take two of the sausages home with us. Such warm and nice people.
Friday - Casual dinner here with a very nice British man who is "on his own" here in the village.
Saturday - A very big party in the village as it was the 60th birthday of a woman whose family is one of the oldest here. It was quite the event. As I looked around I was amazed to realize how many local people I now know. There were several "celebrities" in attendance as well although I have no idea who they were but was told, for instance, that one middleaged man dressed entirely in black is "a famous singer who is on TV". We left the party early and went to have a lovely paella dinner with Roger (who can't stand loud music). We later heard the party went on till the wee hours with lots of loud music and dancing.
Sunday - We were invited to a wonderful party at the home of the American woman we met last Saturday. It was her farewell to friends as she is going back to America for a few months. It was a wonderful evening with many very interested people, great conversation (French and English) and wonderful food. The crowd was about 1/2 French and 1/2 English/American. Her home is a show place - from the street it looks like just a high wall - inside it is simply beautiful architecture (the main living room used to be a stable). There is a large swimming pool in the center. The house is available to rent and sleeps 12 - anybody interested???
So that about covers our social life. We leave on Friday for 5 nights in Paris. I think we need to go there to get some rest!!
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| Here we are in the garden, enjoying the sunshine. |
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| We've been really busy planting flowers, herbs, and vegetables as well as trimming trees, and putting up bamboo on the back fence. Here are some of the vegetables - aubergines, courgettes, peppers, haricorts, cabbage, tomatoes, and brussell sprouts. |
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| John feeds the local doves peanuts and stale bread. This pair are so tame they have even walked through the open back door into the kitchen. |
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| A very buxom Venus in the garden. |
