Hey Joe!

Old rockers never die, they just keep playing Jimi Hendrix! We celebrated Michel's 64th birthday chez nous last night with fizz, music, heated discussion, dance and a lotta laughs. I think that Kathy, Joséphine and I even thought about forming a backing group to accompany Michel on the 21st June otherwise known as "la Fête de la Musique.

Carnaval Mark 2

The weather forecast had threatened rain but in the end, it held off until the carnaval had finished. In his guise as local councillor, Christian was up and out early and I wasn't too far behind. In the morning there was a reenactment of an attack by the Trabucayres, " famous mountain outlaws, bands of individuals who, on behalf of social banditry, political or foul, robbed, kidnapped, and ransomed diligences, owners and farmers from 1837 to 1846. The name comes from the Catalan word "Trabuc" a short-barreled shotgun used at that time. Despite their cruelty, the Trabucayres were treated as avengers to social injustice. This feeling was strengthened because their crimes were addressed to the "bourgeois." In addition, Trabucayres preceded their acts with religious rituels to absolve them from all sin, thus reinforcing their popularity among common people. The legend is still alive and a source of pride among border populations." (description taken from Wikipedia)
a couple of glasses of wine and then it was time for lunch in the village bar. No sooner was that over than it was time to put on our Jimmy wigs and join the carnaval cavalcade. Went home feeling pretty tired after the prize giving to find that the giant penguin from one of the floats (the rugby team) was siting on top of the fountain.

Our Hotel

Being a modern golf hotel, our hotel was at the other end of the time scale. It was every bit, if not more comfortable with wonderful views over the countryside to the mountains. After our respective copious breakfasts we set off to wind our way up to the sanctuary, "la Mare de Deu del Mont". At 1,080m there are views of 360°. The binoculars came out which led to a mine-are-better-than-yours bit of banter between Christian and Joséhine. Coffee on the terrace in warm sunshine above the clouds was relaxing and revitalising and I even managed to order the drinks in Spanish!
Having gone up we then retraced our steps for part of the way hoping that we wouldn't meet much traffic coming the other direction. Turned off to Beuda and had lunch in a typical restaurant where the waiting staff were run off their feet.
Finished our trip with a visit to Besalú, a medieval town that once had a sizeable Jewish population until it was walled in and then driven out.
The trip was over but not the day. In the evening the four of us were invited with Kathy around to Linde's for supper and to watch "J'ai oublié à te dire ...", a film starring Omar Sharif that was filmed locally. The theme was moving and of course, it was fun trying to spot where the various scenes were shot.

Their Hotel

Spanish this morning put Joséphine and myself in the mood for our trip away over the border. Stopped off in Figueres for a look around before going in search of our respective hotels. At least we were only 3km away and we were able to eat together in their hotel, the reknown 16th century Mas Pau. The chef worked with Ferran Adrià of El Bulli. The "gastronomic" menu lived up to its name, so we enjoyed the experience of fine dining in a restaurant that we've wanted to try since we first came here.

A Kiwi Abroad

Thursday again and no walk for me as I had a committee meeting at 9am. Didn't stay for the language exchange but joined the die-hards for a drink in the bar afterwards and met James; he's a painter from New Zealand with an American wife. This is some village, isn't it? The guy was quite bowled over as in the space of about half an hour we were able to open several doors for him without moving from our seats! He was obviously pleased with our help as later on he emailed and told us to choose a print off his web site! That was the good news; the bad news is that we're not booked into the same hotel as Juste and Joséphine tomorrow as we'd thought. It seems our reservation is floating around somewhere in cyberspace. either that, or we simply screwed up!

Another Busy Day

Managed to get out of bed for our early morning walk and just look what I found lurking in the mist as it rose off the lake. The rest of the day was spent tryng to put something together for the English group that Maggie and I were taking this evening. Before that, however, there was another meeting about the visit of the Guadeloupian carnaval troupe who are coming. Much to everyone's frustration the guy running it doesn't seam to be very much more organised than the last time and Christian is getting crosser and crosser about it all.

A Long Day

Up at the crack of dawn for our walk and after catching up with our respective work, it was time to head for the restaurant. Jean had organised another lecture given by a philosopher for the local secondary schools and we were invited to join those and such as those for lunch. The public lecture will be in a couple of weeks time. In the evening as Christian is responsible at the Mairie for the THT stuff we went alog with the Maire and his wife to a very heated public meeting in a nearby village. We were starving by the time we got out at 11.15pm and only managed to find a pretty basic place open in La Jonquera. Not sure that it was worth such a late night. Well, I don't know about you all but 1.30am is really late for us.

Spring in our Step

The first day of spring seemed like a good day to start walking again. Well, we did need something positive to tell the Cardiologist when we saw him in this evening. Christian needs to see a lung specialist about something that his last scan picked up so the Cardio will see him again in 3 months once that is cleared up. nOnce you start poking around, it never seems to stop.

Ups and Downs

18th - 20th March:
Much to my surprise I'm still going to my Spanish group; the problem is that I'm not very good on the follow up bit. Apart from that, Friday was a pretty non-descript day.
Yesterday the market called . The weather was sunny and we had "un verre" in one bar with Gaby and Chantal, newly home from 3 months in Thailand and another in another bar with Jean and Françoise. Lacking any motivation to cook we decided upon lunch out. Returning to the car we stumbled upon a group from the village who were getting ready for the carnival parade. Thankfully here, it was just coffee that was on offer. As it was the last afternoon of the six nations we went over to the bar to watch Ireland wallop England. There weren't many people in but the Irish woman there more than made up for it with her gleeful encouragement of her country's team. Scotland won too which salvaged a bit of their pride. There was also the annual parade to mark the end of the Algerian war and it was my Little Sis's birthday.
Today we've tried to be a bit more healthy. After a coffee in the bar we went to an "alternative" health fair that was taking place in the village for the first time. Then, I did my Postwoman Patricia bit around the village with Association letters and called in to Patrick and Nicole's for a catch up. Being Sunday, I came home hoping to find that Christian had cooked the duck breast but ...... no he hadn't ...... can't tell you what a bad mood that catipulted me into.
Managed to shake off my hard-done-to feelings by mid afternoon when we went for a walk; sun shining, birds singing, trees in blossom and several village people out collecting wild asparagus all helped to balance the old ying and yang.

Wearing of the Green

Being St Patrick's Day we focussed on all things Irish in our language exchange and then went to the bar for a glass of vino; Met up with Pepe and Viv who are over for a few days only to find their garden flooded after so much rain.
In the evening we were back there again, this time with Linde and Kathy for a glass of whisky ( sadly not whiskey). Finished the evening at our place over a bowl of soup and a pizza.

Dead End Job?

Lone and Jesper came around for an apéritif dinatoire when he unveiled his new project now that he's been made redundant from his job. After providing outside broadcast vehicles for Danish television, he's now going to provide environmentally friendly humanist funerals. Why not, I say?

Sad Times

After lunch at Juste and Joséphine's we went to pick up the impatient patient from the clinic; the surgeon thinks that it's more a question of the leaky valve than the pacemaker so it's back to the drawing board. devoted to duty, christian went for his weekly meeting at the town hall which was followed by a meeting about the visit of 40 dancers from Guadeloupe, two of whom will be staying with us.
Six days later and it's still raining non-stop. There's a lot of surface water and yesterday a motorist who tried to use a ford crossing was swept away and drowned. Our concerns, however, are nothing compared to the quake, tsunami, nuclear problems in Japan and the unrest in Libya and Bahrain which is in the process of being crushed.

False Start

It rained for most of yesterday and now we're on an "alerte orange". We've three lots of friends with second homes here in the village on holiday at the moment. Can't help but feel sorry for them.
You need to feel sorry for Christian too who went off with bag packed to the clinic yesterday and was told that he was 4th on the list today. This morning the surgeon said he wasn't sure that changing the pacemaker from one side to the other was the best course of action and he was going to reflect on how to proceed . That was at 10am and when I spoke to Christian at 6pm, the surgeon still hadn't come back to see him. Poor old Christian hasn't eaten since 6pm last night so he was feeling pretty fed up and you have to be really hungry to long for hospital food!
Friends have come to the rescue again with transport; Juste and Joséphine yesterday and Françoise today and several others have offered their services. There are a lot of kind folk about, aren't there?

Menu for Two

The weather was glorious yesterday and today being the carnival, it tipped it down with rain. The parade and street theatre had to be cancelled but has been rearranged for later in the month however, we still went as planned to have lunch with about 13 others at the bar. The patron offered us an apéritif on the house, the food was good and the price reasonable so Jean-Louis is back in our good books.
Looked in on the kids entertainment briefly in the afternoon; you know, the usual stuff - clown, magician, confetti, squidgy foam, a lot of noise.
In the evening there was the fancy dress dance with disco and tapas. We managed to put something together at the last minute. There were more elaborate costumes and there were also people who weren't dressed up but it was fun to make at least a bit of effort. Called in at the bar on our way home where we met our Danish friends but were home by 11pm. Well, with Christian's admission to hospital tomorrow, it was the most sensible option.

Photoless Week

We've been pretty busy again this week but sadly, I've not taken any photos to brighten up the post; so, all you're getting is a catalogue of events.
7th March: Early morning appointment with the Cardiologist and as a result, Christian has to go back into the clinic to have the pacemaker moved from one side to the other. The surgeon had only been unable to pass a line into the upper chamber of Christian's heart and as a consequence it's not in synch. In the evening there was the monthly surgery up in the mountains where there were two visitors, both paying a social call. The restaurant is still on it's winter break so no duck breast; however, the owner did invite us up for an apéritif. We were also invited up to one of the Association's new members for another apéritif and interestingly, her husband plays "bluegrass" which isn't very common hereabouts.
8th March: International Women's Day Centenary celebrated with lunch at the village bar!
9th March: A trip to Figueres but we resisted the temptation to have lunch out and settled for a coffee in the sun instead. In any case Christian's corn was giving him gyp; feeling tired and breathless he was happy to get home. Dinner at Maggie and Trevor's where we met their daughter and son-in-law who were down for a few days and had supplied the fresh venison that we tucked into.
10th: Christian's corn was dealt with and is no more, well, at least for the time being; the little blighters have a habit of coming back.
11th March: Woke up to the news of the eathquake and tsunami in Japan. Dreadful pictures of the devastation and fears for the state of the nuclear energy plant. Madeleine was here for lunch, Trevor and Judith called in ..... and of course, Mairie and Association stuff all through the week.

Lunch in the Sun

As we were half way to Limoux, we went over to see Marie-Christine and Pierre for lunch. It was a beautiful day, warm enough to have lunch outside on the terrace.
With nearly a two and a half hour drive back we were glad to get home and slump infront of "Killing", ( Denmark's female equivilent of Wallander) on the TV.

Birthday Boy!

Another full on day spent celebrating Christian's 67th birthday. Although we went to the market there wasn't time to look around as we were meeting Joséphine at a vernissage. Photos featuring her Flamenco teacher who also danced at the opening were on show. A real treat. You may remember at another vernissage in the town, three women turned up and intruded on the entertainment, well, two of them were there again but only one pranced around. Grrrrh!
We then had a surprise invitation to Juste and Joséphine's for lunch which included Lasagne , tiramisu (via her Sicilian origins) and champagne (via her French upbringing). Isn't the tree in their garden a real picture?
Christian managed to get in a wee siesta before it was time to leave for the Auberge du Cellier which is fast gaining a reputation for good food. We were joined by Patrick and Nicole as it's her birthday tomorrow. The food didn't disappoint. Sensibly, we'd booked an overnight there though the rooms were no where near the same quality as the food. We'll go for lunch the next time and save a fortune into the bargain!

On the Go

There were fewer of us at Spanish this morning with all the grannies being on duty over the school holidays and I have to say that it was more fun especially as I found some words in the recesses of my brain which produced a "¡ muy bien!" from Maria Carmen our teacher.
Lunch was a " Three Musketeers" get-together before Jean-Jacques had to head back to Paris. All very tasty, if I do say so myself.
In the evening there was the vernissage of one of the Association's members which went very well, so all in all it was a pretty full day.

More Meetings

As well as the usual Mairie stuff, Christian had three evening meetings in a row this week, two on recycling and one full council meeting. I went along to two of them and of course had the weekly Association committee meeting. There was some light relief however with a trip to Figueres on Wednesday where it was warm enouh to sit out for a coffe. stopped off for a very good lunch on the way home. Doesn't the starter look appetising. This evening we were invited to dinner at Jean and Françoise's and very good it was too.