Camon Village of Roses

Bonnie I finally got around to this one..

This is the village of Camon the village of roses, everywhere you look there are roses.. It is a small village along the way to Mirepoix(for us at least because we always take the back roads)
Actually most anywhere you look there are roses in the south of France..I have 5 varieties in my small garden. One white that has a lovely fragrance and a red/almost black with beautiful smell. The rest are just beautiful..that is enough for me. I sit on the terrace each morning with my coffee and enjoy the view of roses and morning glories. and carnations and the rose of sharon..there is a blue rose of sharon here, very lovely.
Now how does my garden grow? I will take new pics tomorrow.. everything has grown a lot, but I am still behind schedule as the garden was planted so late, but better late than never.,,,,,.more later

Last thursday we were tired of the rain so we got in the car and headed for Perpignon and the coast where we found the sunshine..we were headed for a domain that Didier had told us about but made a decision to go to Rivesaltes to visit the concentration camp that we had stumbled on last year.

the above pics show only a very small section..a lot of it has falled to the ground, but it was used to house Spanish Republicans, then Jews, then Algerians, and very last was abandoned in 2003 I think..

The broken tiles were made in Limoux very near us.. where we shop for groceries..etc

It is a somber place, lots of barbed wire, now abandoned and neglected with blackberries and flowers growing among the tiles, and wire...

We did go on to the domaine, though we did not go all the way to the chateau, we did drive through acres and acres of vines, some so old that the "trunks" were huge. We will go back when Michaels friends John and Cissy Lennon come in September.

The rain has come to stay, we have had small amounts of sun in the last 2 weeks. The up side is that the garden is doing well. Tomatos, cukes, cantalopes, pumpkins, zuchinni,peppers and grapes. I will take some pictures tomorrow if the sun shines!

Saturday we are having the neighbors over for a Virginia style picnic supper. about 15 I expect. I cooked a 14 pound Smithfield ham today and will make some potato salad, and such..Marion is going to bring strawberry shortcake..yum..

We have met a couple that have rented the gite up the street until August. Chris and Helen. they go to French class with me and apero on Wednesday. They came for a visit and now are thinking of relocating here.. They like the warmth of the weather and the people..

I will close with this picture, it is a purple pond ..it is purple because it is wine...in a retaining pond...waste..I will add that there was a very happy duck floating on the water...More later..

Bonnie I haven't forgotten the roses... next time...

Sunday May 29

coming over the hill always takes my breath away, there is no picture that can show the wonder of this place. there are about 6 mountain ranges stacked one behind the other and the land looks like a huge patchwork quilt laid gently down on the earth!

the broom straw, butchers broom, everywhere right now making the mountain sides yellow for as far as you can see.

Sunday: Vide Granier in Couiza, Marche in Esparaza, and Vide granier Esparaza

We started off the morning with a trip down the hill to Couiza for their vide granier. I bought a couple of bowls and some books from an English woman that had sold her house and had none to go to yet so she is quickly downsizing..there was a lot of good stuff but none that I really need at the moment..onward to Esperaza and the marche...yumm also to the boulangerie for bread and pasteries..she is the busiest baker in town, especially on Sunday morning. Fresh bread and lots of yummies makes a line out the door everytime! We had the bread for lunch with a nice salad with black tomatos( Jamie they were quite nice), cheese, ham and delicious yellow peppers.

I also got 2 kilo of wonderful "eat over the sink" peaches, for E2,25.

Vide granier Couisa

Me at the vide granier Couiza..looking at books for Unity..so many

Esperaza Marche   little fishies...

dried fruit

all those shoes...everywhere

fake legs with sequined leggings and hello kitty bras! anyone want one?

yummies

aww well I guess that is all for today... more later

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the beginning

Sunday May 1, 2011

submarine races..really

Carnival party ship passing us...Boy Howdy were they already in action!!!!

Bye Bye Ft Lauderdale

Got up at 5:00 got on the road about 5:30 headed for Ft. Lauderdale. The road was uncrowned that early in the AM.. Arrived in Ft. Lauderdale at 9:30.

We waited in the holding area until 11:30 ish..boarded the ship and went into the dining room to wait for the room to be finished at 1:30.

The room is nice, but small. Not too much room for all the luggage..nice balcony,

While we were waiting we saw many “small” yachts and fishing boats coming and going, A huge Carnival ship passed very close going out already partying hardy!

We were held up a while due to a “military maneuver” a submarine being taken out at the time we were to leave. The wait was not long and the Captain so good that we were underway,backed up and turned out to sea and I did not know that we had moved! I am glad that I did not miss the going out of the harbor..it is lovely there and I like waving to the folks along the way out.

It was a long day..so tired that I really did not want to go to dinner at 8:30. We got a table for 4 this trip and no dinner partners, which is a bummer as we always enjoy the new people that we meet and look forward to sharing our day over dinner. More later

Tuesday May10th


Lisbon! I love Lisbon..it so stinky, and so beautiful! We took the bus to the center of the city and walked around the Alfama..hundreds of stairs..up, up, up opps dead end down, down, over one and up some more.and looking out across the roof tops to the sea is so beautiful. The jacaranda trees are in bloom, all purple against the white plaster of the houses.. in the squares there is much life, many people in cafés and walking about, many shops with so many things fabric shops and notion shops with buttons and trim and ribbons, Oh My! We were an hour late getting into port so our day was shorter and we did not have time to do all that we wanted to. The weather was sunny 84 degrees..very warm! Tomorrow is Cadiz Spain at noon…of course all the shops close from 1-3 for siesta..so we will not have a lot of time to shop!! More later

Monday again

May 9th, At sea,

Not too much going on today, read, went to art class and dinner with the group! So much better now with this group. Played trivia with Susan and her group, lots of fun. Cloudy/sunny but cool. More later

Sunday Ponta Delgada, PortugalLand HO  Azores

Landed at about 8 AM..went ashore and bummed around for a while. We had to be back on the ship by 3:30 so we did not do too much. We walked around to places that we had been a couple of years ago, bought pineapple and came back to the ship for late lunch. Formal dinner tonight for Mothers Day, all the ladies got a rose..even those that were from other places that don’t celebrate Mothers Day.

Sunny while we were on the island, but back to cloudy when we are at sea.this has been the rockiest trip yet! More later

Sao Paolo

the old Fort, closed of course!

Gorgeous Hydrangea