Summer is quite definitely on the wane although autumn is
not yet properly here, if the night-time temperatures are anything to go by. At
present we are wavering between lighting the wood-burner and saving wood, with
saving wood winning. Instead we have a gas heater in the lounge but it doesn’t
have the same effect as a glowing stove does. However, it does make warmth
which is the main thing. A few days ago I happened to see the forecast
temperatures for Hermanus and Ols, one after the other and they were identical
at 19 degrees!
We started the week with a bang by inviting the neighbours
over for a drinks and snacks party. Tilly did all sorts of clever thing with
snacks and we ended up with a really attractive table. It looked like a lot of
food to me and I had visions of eating sausage rolls and other snacks for days
to come but once the guests started thawing out a little, the food disappeared like
fog on a sunny morning
After that it was Wednesday before there was more action.
This was when Pieter, Tilly and Jack all left. Jack was meeting his grandmother
in Toulouse and the two of them were flying off to the UK to go to Legoland – excitement
itself! So Pieter and Tilly dropped him off at the appointed time and then continued
on their tour of the French countryside, arranging to collect him again on his
return on Sunday. Meanwhile Jenny had arrived in France a couple of days
earlier and had gone to visit her aunt for a short stay. We all met up in Auch
where we had a lovely lunch before brining Jenny back here. She and Ryan were
here about this time last year and she was pleasingly enthusiastic about the small
changes we have made around the house since she was here. The next morning we
had a few chores to do and then went off to show her the dolmens that are to be
found around in the woods. The origins of these strange structures is still
mainly unknown although the general consensus appears to be that they area
burial mounds. Two long stones form the sides with a huge flat stone on the
top, and we believe that the whole was then covered in earth and grass to form
a mound. They are alleged to be about 4000-5000 years old, and in the
intervening time, the earth, grass and any small stones have been blown away or
washed away, or perhaps, even dug away by wild animals. From time to time, archaeologist
have tried to dig below the stones but there is nothing to be found and the
thought is that a body would have been laid on the surface and the stones
erected around it. A prehistoric mystery!
On Saturday with Courtney home from school and able to take
a bit of time off from studying, we all went to Conques. This town is and
always was, a major stopping point on the Route de Santiago de Compostela. It
has an enormous cathedral whose windows were badly damaged during the war, but
which have been replaced by a very well thought of artist, Pierre Soulages. Personally , I don’t care for them
as I prefer the rich colours of stained glass and his windows are in shades of grey
and clear glass, but people rave about them so they must have some merit. Behind
the cathedral, stands a massive stone-built building which is now pilgrim
accommodation, , but was previously accommodation for the monks. There are still
a few monks in residence but only a handful. The houses which surround the
complex are quaintly medieval and make a charming back ground to the views one
gets around the town. We spent a very enjoyable couple of hours wandering
around the town hoping to be able to get into the cathedral, but there was a
very long wedding service going on there and by the time we left again they had
still not finished. Also, by the time we left, the clouds had come over and it
was just beginning to spit with rain, so, as the parking area was a short
distance away from the town and we would have got quite wet, had we stayed, we
decided to leave that for next time.
On the way out of town, we passed a small bakery and bought a
‘Gateau a la Broche’ which Jenny had been wanting to taste. This is a regional speciality,
and is a type of cake-on-a-spit. It is made by pouring a type of batter mixture
on to a tapered rod that is held over a heat source and ends up forming a
hollow, conical, pastry like delicacy. We really need more information about it
as by itself it is a bit dry and we all felt that the hollow par should perhaps
have been filled with something like whipped cream or thick custard. However, on
its own, it was fairly tasty.
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