The Resistance

After we left the fair we went up the the Resistance camp, I can't remember how to spell it but it sounds like Maquee de Pecosell..I will look it up and let you know..it is so interesting..absolute silence except for the sound of  the aircraft that was pulling the gliders up today..after he unhooked it was silent..It is amazing to stand there where the original shepards hut was, where the young men met to plan the next step of their resistance to the Germans..It is even more so to look at the faces of the young men, ful of spit and vinegar, thinking that they could change the world, and willing to put their lives on the line to do so. Unfortunately they did not have the support that was needed and the struggle was difficult.

the tin in the middle has a spiral notebook, it is for people who visit to sign in.. I wrote in the book today that my Dad was there in Normandy , a young man doing what they did in those days...the two tins on the side of it have bullet casings that were evidently found at the site when they rebuilt, they are all melted, the Germans bombed the site when they took over the area...

This is a cool place to visit and Iwill take you there when you come..I think you all will enjoy seeing it..

More later...

Autumn Fest

We went out to Espezel for the fest today. Michael loves Espezel, it is up on a ridge that runs for quite a good distance about 20 minutes from us..but in the heat of the summer it is usually cool in Espezel, so that is where we head to cool off.. Today was Autunm fest there, very like the state fair..animals and farm equipment and food...not at all like the state fair..fresh made cheeses, sausages, aligot(mashed potatos with cheese), breads of every kind, pastries, jams and comfitures, ice cream and fruit...especially apples now..yummmmm.  We met Paulo and Didier there and had a lunch of sausages and aligot and fresh fruit juice

we then went to see the farm animals and farm machines..and the kids riding donkeys...they almost ran over me..

Didier  3 years older than  Jamie.....................................................................................................

Paulo 1 year older than my sister..................

great friends and such fun and both great cooks...good listners..

We all had fun and left at about 3 oclock...more on the next go round.. after the fair we went up to the resistance camp to take pics  then I came home and made MORE grape jam..this time it is a rich purple color  hope to bring some home..

 this one is for you Declan...tractors everywhere!!

More later...

Friday

We went to Carcassone with Pat and Mike,  Michael and I got new shoes, hikers for me and sneakers for him...only 12 E for him and 16 for me..and new red fleece gloves..1 euro  then we went downtown to a Tronc...consignment store..I saw an awesome table there that we could have bought with the money left from the sale of the cabinet..but did not get it...oh well...
We then went to the square and Mike went to buy us BIG Cookies and coffee...good coffee..and cookie.
Then we came home to Montazels..it was a good day and I am sitting down to plan out the next two weeks as activities are getting hectic and we want to do the things that we have planned and the things that folks have planned for us.. Didier is having cooking class on Wed..evening and I get to choose the menu..sure to be fish..he works wonders with fish...and who knows what else..
We want to make one more trip up to the resistance camp so that I can take some pictures, maybe film, Monday is market day a Mirapoix one more time...Jo and Stewart invited us to lunch on Sunday and the farmers fair is Saturday in Espizel...and we are to have a French lesson at home...hummmmm
I will miss my friends here and the activities that keep us busy all the time..I will miss my lovely garden that is still blooming with zinnias, and lavender and something else that I can't remember the name and roses, with the return of the rain the roses are in profusion...and in the big garden the last of the crocus are blooming and the last of the figs are on the vine..we trimmed one of the figs this AM to hopefully bring it down to a level that we can reach next year..the man is to come by and till the garden, he will do it for 10 euro..I am delighted. It is not a huge space but has not been properly turned for a while and I think it would be a lot for Michael to do by hand..though he worked at it in the spring...I am going to try to lay down the leaves from the fig that we cut today under the grape arbor to keep weeds under control next spring..
I will miss the trips out into the vast surroundings and place that we have yet to see...I will miss pizza on the plaza, and Angela's moms shepards pie and frites..though I did get some of the sauce Andalous to bring back to the States with me...
I will not miss French class!!!
I will not miss French drivers!!
I will miss the weather..though it is getting cool here now and seems much like Virginia..
I look forward to seeing my kids, and the hugs of my grandkids, and Pierces BBQ...
I look forward to seeing Sian
I look forward to being in front of my fireplace...and the holidays coming up.
I do not look forward to hauling all the Christmas presents that I have bought along the way, accross the ocean LOL
I have one whole BIG suitcase full of presents...I do have for each family an Advent calendar from Germany...the chocolate kind...
Oh yeah,, I look forward to more than one bathroom...oh yeah...of course I am grateful to have at least one...but more is better when it comes to bathrooms...LOL

Well I guess that is all for now...see you all soon...my pink rose...


Paris...hummmmm

Mirapoix market day

If it's Wednesday....

Very often I find that I have no idea what day of the week it is...but if it is Wednesday it is Market day in Quillan..
Today was cool and cloudy, but Paulo had coffee on and conversation to keep us entertained..
We took a quick trip to the Pachemin where I purchased some knitting needles..got another project to try...Oh help!  Then on to Limoux to the Lidl to get a lot of yummy junk to bring home, lebkuchen from Germany for a treat, tiny stollen, yummy .. It is Greek week so there were many Greek goodies as well..then on to the Pachemin in Limoux where I purchased a picture frame to put my Declans foot butterfly in and a few household goodies for little or nothing..then to L'clerc to get absolutely nothing...then to the super U for a few groceries...are you bored yet?  anyway then I came home to make dinner.Pizza and salad and little cheese and ham crepes...yummmm
Now I am making chicken chili for tomorrow night dinner with Paulo and Didier..Next week Mike and Marion are coming for Potato soup and Virginia ham biscuits...and pecan pie!!
Enough about food...
Friday we are going to Carrcassone with Mike and Pat to go to a Trok...a big second hand store..that should be fun... this week end is harvest festival and study with Joa, the French. LOL Sometime we are going to go back up to the resistance camp..to take pictures and I am going to write in the book about Dad...Monday we are going to Mirapoix for Market there...busy busy busy...
Note to self:  get a very short haircut next time...haircuts here are about $80...yuckkkkk
I look like a witch..long hair...and baggy pants
.  Last night we took a walk after dinner, down the Antugnac road and around to the tracks and up the very long steep hill... at one time it would have defeated me, but now I am the victor!!! I will need some type of activity to keep up the leg action in VA..
.I am going to get Michael to do a film of the house and neighborhood before we leave, maybe go to all our friends homes and get them on film so that you all can see and we will have to remember all by..
I am getting excited about returning and the cruise ahead...stopping off in Alicante to see Pete and Aury..
.I know that I have not done the Italy thing...willl try again tomorrow...needs time to copy pics and such..and I am tired now, going on 10pm...Thanks Bonnie for the school site! I will not let the language barrier defeat me either, though I always will speak French with a southern accent...but after all I am in the South of France!! More later

More more about Italy

You will note that More about Italy is quite blank...well after 45 minutes of catching you up on the travels and posting several pictures I was about to hit send, and the whole thing disappeared...the minute by minute save drafts were also gone...at that time I felt it prudent that I turned off the computer and moved on..so that I would have a computer the following day.. I have yet to have the heart to start over..I will try tomorrow..when I have recovered further...LOL
French class today..frustration...but have met a villiage woman that has offered to come and sit with us at the table and talk in French/English conversational...and teach from the beginning.. Unfortunately it comes at the end of my stay, but as she has been here 20 years, I imagine that she will be here in the spring as well!!
Very interesting person, built her own house on the mountain above us, not electricity, by choice..she lives simply, but has a cell phone..I look forward getting to know her.. many interesting characters here..
Yesterday we went to the hat museum in Esparaza..found out that the factory is just below us on the mountain and they still make the hats..very interesting will be sure to take you all when you come, well worth the visit and it is free.. I even saw some of my neighbors on the film about the factory..
Am tired now almost 11 so will sign off...More later...

more about Italy

Winding down

driving into Italy is  AWESOME, I am sure that if you look awsome up in the dictionary there will be a picture of the French Alps there. This is a little church by the road just as we came into the mountains. very sweet and there were a number like it along the way. This area is a feast for the eyes.

We stopped along the way, after about 8 hours at a little place by the lake in Sevines du Lac, it is a nice family run inn with food!! The views are wonderful and in the summer I bet it can't be beat. The price was right at  29 euro a room..they have a pool inside but none of us had a suit so...next time .

 

you will have to use your imagination on this one.. my photo shop will not let me flip at this time..we stayed at the same hotel on the way home and there were parachuters jumping from the mountain above..floated down to the lake and landed in front of the hotel..cool   really cool if he had hit the water!!

This photo was taken on day two at Mont Dauphin..google it..it is a fort that has been around for a long time...

There are still folks living and working there. There are a group of Artist working there and some nice shops to buy there work..and I did to some degree...Christmas is coming...oh my gosh...

There is so much to tell that I will continue tomorrow..I am beat. moved dishwasher into the kitchen and put the washing machine into the storage in place of the dishwasher..makes better sense to have the dishwasher next to the sink in the kitchen I think...and the washer works just as well in the back room...but all had to be removed from the cabinet surrounding the dishwasher which was also moved into the kitchen, much like a chineese puzzle..move A to slot c to get B next to A...and so on...so I have been moving stuff alllllll daly... so I will shower and get ready for bed..will take some time tomorrow afternoon to give the skinny on the rest of the trip..

Three weeks to go so have much to get ready..and get the house ready to leave..

More later 

Off to Italy

this will be quick, it is after 1 am and we are off to Italy  at 6 am...we had Jo and Stewart over for a pancake supper tonight..I really like Jo, but we have not had time to spend this summer as we both have had guest and such.. I hope we can spend more time when I come back..
I am looking forward to Italy, but am not feeling so good right now.. maybe better tomorrow... more later

French Class

Note to self:  don't try doing your French homework on "translate this"...it could be a disaster!! Each word changes the translation....her barber became her hairdresser with just the addition of one simple word, then she worried that her hair was too long, because her clothes were too big and on and on...oh nooooo!
It does not help that I am starting out in a moyen(middle) class...no beginner...so when the teacher says "bla, bla blaaaa, comprendez"...it is all Greek to me!! but I am muddling along...it is very like sign language , you have to be careful of the use of words so as not to insult...interesting

Steve, I saw your comment about the back roads...I would not care if I never used an interstate, autovia,auto pista etc  ever again, and here there are back roads sometimes very tiny, but always the way to something spectacular...when Adam was here we took a road and went up into the clouds, couldn't see 2 feet in front of us for miles and miles and the road turned to dirt at one point, but we plodded along, hearing the cow bells on the side of the road as we passed the fields and came out of the clouds above Allet le Bains on the top of a big white chalk mountain...really cool...We will be taking the "road less traveled" on the way to Mandello de Lario this week end..the cost of the autovia one way was about $100. so we felt it would be less expensive to get rooms for the night and take an extra 2 days to go and come home...we will sure see a lot more...will send pics of the travel...probably won't go over the Alps this time as it will surely be snow. there was about 10 feet of snow when we went over in May...

This is a picture of the crocus blooming in the garden..bright yellow and lots of them under the grape vines...up at the chateau there are hundreds of them on the terraces..

Steve I thought you would like the still life with my telephone table  LOL      you always liked the Victorian furniture..and I had to put the fruit somewhere while we were eating dinner!!

Car is in the shop, Micael and the tiny bridge down at the bottom of the hill had a little meeting...bridge 1 Michael 0...we will be foot bound for another day or so...but that is ok too...great exercise...and I can pull that hill now like it was nothing...amazing..my shoes are too big, my jeans are a joke( yesterday I was helping Michael take some shelves out of the room in the back and as we made out way out the door, my jeans were sliding ever downward...oops almost mooned the total of Couisa below!), I have had to change rings as my fingers shrink...but where I would like to loose...do I? I think not...ugh...keep on walking!!

I hope you all will make it over next year...I will have to make arrangements to be back for August when Andrew and Raelynne tie the knot...but will be here from May til then...already have passage booked for May and Nov. of next year...I will have to fly home for the wedding...and back again in Sept...I reckon...

close for now....more later

Sunday

Wow, I am tired..didn't sleep last night..not til 3AM got up at 7:45. We went to the store to get some things as we will be without car for a couple of days while it is repaired.
Michael and I went to collect rose hips for rose hip oil. It is supposed to be great for your skin, and very expensive..I know now why..took about an hour to get a half gallon collected and many sticks!!  then we went down to La Serpant, a town not far from here, where the purple figs are plentiful...came home and I finished off the making of the last of the grape jam,and made fig preserves..
The cool fall day gave way quickly to a very hot afternoon!! but it is cooling now and looking like rain.  I have a pan of root veggies roasting in the oven and pork chops to cook for dinner.
We went out to the orchard and got a 5 kilo bag of Canada Grey apples...yummmm..and finally got the stuff from home...just in time to go back..ha ha
It sure is nice to have my good knives for cooking and the measuring cups and such with dual measuring. I have to do a lot of guessing when I am cooking..can't read the labels..if I ever get a handle on this language I am going to write a book about shopping in France and reading lables... who knew that a cuillere a soupe is a tablespoon?? a cuillere a cafe is a teaspoon...oh well, we are all thriving so no worse for the wear!  next Sunday at this time we will probably be stopping for the evening on the way to Italy...see you all soon...