As Thursday was Ascension Day and a public holiday, the
French being French, take advantage of the only Thursday holiday in the year
and ‘make a bridge’ between Thursday and Saturday giving almost the whole country
a four day weekend The schools are always closed on Wednesday afternoons and
although Courtney usually spends those afternoons with her friends, shopping
and generally walking around town, this week she came home on the bus which got
her here before lunch and with a lovely long holiday ahead of her.
Our friend Liz left by train from Villefranche on Monday afternoon
which gave us time to rearrange the room for Andre who arrived on Wednesday
from a conference in London. Needless to say his daughter was over the moon to
have her Dad here for the whole weekend. I must say we were also delighted to
have him here. It seems like quite a long time since he left in January. While
he was here, he helped out in a number of ways such as knocking my little
computer back into shape and helping us to plant up the rockery which we would
never have got done. He also dug some beds for the tomato plants which we
bought at the flower market on Thursday. Before he arrived we had acquired a
whole patio full of plants which Carol had presented us with, especially for
our rockery but then had had to leave before anything was planted. Neels and I
had eyed these plants with something like despair as neither of us are
gardeners at all. However, all the bits and pieces that Carol had pulled out of
various gardens, together with some bought-in-pots plants were all in soil and
we knew we could keep them going, but now they are all planted where they should
be and I think, are going to make a good show.
The flower market was held at Rinhodes which is the other
half of our village and is about 3 kms away. They have a very ancient eleventh
century church which needs a lot of TLC and all proceeds went to the
maintenance fund. We hadn’t intended to get any more plants to care for but……. It
is our sister village so we felt honour bound to buy something. We left
eventually with six tomato plants and two bottles of strawberry jam! It would
have been rude to have gone to the market and not bought anything, anyway. So
now we have a bed of mealies (sweet corn) and a bed of tomatoes, and a rockery
full of plants. Who is coming to stay next??
Courtney had declined the invitation to join us but was very
secretive about what she was going to do. However, midway through the afternoon
I got a call from her asking if we could stay out a bit longer. Always ready to
oblige, we took a scenic drive down to Cajarc and stopped off for a cold drink
and spent (wasted) a good half hour just sitting and talking. When we arrived
back home we discovered that she had been slaving away making a special dinner
for Neels and myself, as a romantic dinner for two while she and her Dad
watched a movie upstairs, and ate off their laps. We were very touched and the
meal was delicious..
On Friday, Andre, Neels and Courtney went off to buy some
new clothes for Courtney who has been seriously growing out of what she has
here. They stayed in town for lunch and continued shopping afterwards but I am
pleased to say that were eventually successful and I was treated to a fashion
show when they got back. Would you believe that they are allowed to wear shorts
to school? Things were never like that in my day.
Saturday was given over to some sightseeing. Our destination
was a lovely little village perched on the clifftop above the Lot River, known
as Saint Cirq Lapopie. It is a quaint little place with narrow winding streets
leading down a steep hill to a church about hallway down the cliff. As is
always the case with us, we only arrived there a little before midday and decide
to eat first and explore afterwards. What a good decision that was! We had
hardly sat down when the rush started and before long there was a queue of
people waiting outside. Service was rather slow with such a lot of people to
serve so while Neels and I waited for our coffee, Andre and Courtney went to do
the tourist thing. As I am still not walking with ease, I was quite glad not to
have to make my way all the way down the hill, only to come back up again, and
then go even further up to the parking place. We returned home via the scenic
route along the river bank, looking out across the river to the fields beyond,
all the way down to the next bridge that crosses the river and then all the way
back along the other side to Cajarc and then up the hill back to Ols. It was
after we had got home again that all the gardening was done, after the day
cooled off a little. The last few days have been very hot with temps of 29 and
30 degrees but today there was a slight breeze which helped to cool things
down. They say we can expect a thunderstorm or two in the next few days.
This morning we went to the weekly market in our nearest town,
Villeneuve, bought some cheese and bread, and a cooked chicken for supper and
then sat at a table in the shady square and enjoyed some delicious coffee. And
then had some more while we people-watched. What a delightful way to spend a
morning. The rest of the day passed in a relaxed way until it was time for
Courtney to go back to school.
We are so glad that Andre was here while the weather was
good. The last time that he was with us it was mid-winter and very cold with
bare trees and barren fields. Now he has seen it at its best and I think he is
impressed with our area. Everything is so pretty now and this seems to be a
good area for roses as almost every house seems to have a garden full of them.
It is all very beautiful.
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