At last Spring seems to
have arrived with a vengeance. After three days of pretty miserable weather,
Thursday managed a half-decent day and we managed to finish up the whole mountain
of washing that we had been accumulating since Leigh left, which was when, in a
rush of madness, we changed ALL the beds and towels on the same day. If you
have any idea of what the weather has been like around here lately, and you
should know if you have been reading the blog regularly, you will realise that
nothing has been drying very fast for the past few weeks and doing something
like that really was madness. But thankfully, all it needed was a few hours of
decent sunshine and it was all done.
The beautiful sunshine stayed for Friday too, so after doing
our weekly shop, we decided to return home by a different route and went to
visit Foissac, which is very close to us but in a totally different direction
to the road we usually take. All we knew was that there are caves there which
are open to the public, but after the Cango caves, Sterkfontein and Sudwala, we
are no longer interested in caves. So we went to see anyway. A delightful
village greeted us as we rounded a corner, with a charming medieval look and
feel. Several houses appeared to be constructed of a number of rooms built on different
levels with a separate roof for each room. I was so taken with it that I completely
forgot to take any photographs of them. I am sure we will go back soon and then
I will get the pictures.
As our planned route was a kind of circular drive, we left
the village by yet another new road and soon found something we had never come
across before – a pigeon farm. Rows and rows of coops, rather like over-size
chicken coops, raised off the ground and housing at least 1000 pure white birds.
A notice at the gate confirmed that the birds were indeed pigeons and invited
the passing public to take one (or two) home to cook, or even purchase ready
cooked birds. We could hardly believe our eyes. We really thought that eating pigeons went out
with King Louis and Marie Antoinette, but apparently not. I will look at the
dozens of pigeon lofts scattered all over the country with new eyes in future.
Courtney came home again on Friday evening, bubbling with
all that she had done during the past week and it took her at least an hour to relate
it all. At least she seems to be enjoying life as a boarder.
On Saturday it was a stunningly lovely day. Blue skies, no
clouds, no wind and 23 degrees forecast. The beautiful white-flowering trees
which herald Spring each year have made a wonderful showing this year, going
from bare branches to full blossom in a week to ten days. Soon after, the pale
and dark pink blossoms start to appear and we now know that a short while later
the green leaves will be on the trees and shrubs. It is a really magical season
and possibly our favourite time of year.
As Courtney had been away visiting a friend when we took
Leigh and Andre to Najac, we went there again to show her what she had missed.
Too early for the colourful window boxes on all the windowsills, the village
was still showing off its best. And our favourite little café was still there
and open so we could have lunch there again. The road through the town is very steep
but has narrow pavements on either side so the café owner has made good use of
what there is by arranging three little tables up against the building on the
pavement He has had to build a deck to accommodate them and to level them,
which projects out into the road which makes walking on that side a bit awkward
if there is traffic but the whole place is so delightful that everyone makes
allowances. Before leaving for home, we stopped at a most exciting-looking
second-hand shop further down the hill. It is a bit like going into Aladdin’s
cave but without the jewels. This man’s jewels are the throw-out of the rest of
the world and we spent a little while there being amazed at what he had. I have
been wanting a front door bell for some time now – not an electric ding-dong
bell but a real brass bell with a clapper and a piece of chain with which to
ring it. Well, we need look no longer! We found the ideal bell and a bracket
for it too, even though the two were not one piece when we first noticed it. The
shop-owner very kindly took the bell off the bracket that we like and replaced
it with a beautiful little bell. Pictures to follow when the bell is up.
All in all a good week and long may the sunshine last.
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