Comings and Goings

Yesterday Christophe, Valérie and the three kids arrived which was nice as they could meet up with Sam who leaves tomorrow. The last time they met, Sam was 12 and he's now nearly 24! As the Normans were fleeing two months of wet weather, a bbq on the terrace in the sunshine was much appreciated.
Today we drove Sam back to the airport where his plane was late coming in. There was no question of having the roof down, it was far too hot.
Other news - an invitation to Bogata in October and to Ukraine anytime. Sadly the altitude rules Columbia out for Christian.Ah well!

Sunday Lunch

Another day, another invitation. This time to Gaby and Robert's for lunch and a swim. We said yes to lunch but no to the swim, Sam who's feeling better said yes, to both.

Piling on the Kilos!

Sam came to the market with us but was obviously not on form so he spent the afternoon resting and gave the communal paella a miss which is a shame as it was good. Joined up with Gaby and Robert who came back to the bar afterwards for a drink. How much longer can we keep this up, I ask myself?

A Sorry Sight

Took Sam out today and did the "Retirada" circuit, passing through some of the area where the fires had raged. What a horrible sight ... charred trees and all very spooky looking. Went to Mas Saleilles which had fires right up to the limit of their property.
There was a musical evening in the bar but Sam gave it a miss. think that the heat and the wild life in the village is wearing him out!!

Soirée Flamenco

Sam has been spending his time chilling out in baking sunshine and working on his portfolio. Apparently he's doing pretty well in his new job as part of the design team with JCB.
This evening, there was an outdoor Flamenco show which Christian organised. We ate with the dancers beforehand and they came along to ours afterwards for a nightcap.

Playing Taty and Tonton

An early start yesterday for Christian who was up at the village hall for 6.30am to help organise breakfasts for our firefighters. In the afternoon we went in seering heat to Perpignan to pick up my nephew, Sam at the airport.
Today christian was at the GPs and finalyy he's been told to lose some weight!!! Sadly I think the message has fallen on very stony ground.
The fires are still not out.

Duty Calls

While we were happily enjoying ourselves yesterday, forest fires broke out (it's thought as a result of a dropped cigarette end)just over the border with catastrophic results. Fire crew from over the south of France were mobilised to come to the aid of the Spanish authorities and 50 or so "pompiers" were stationed on alert in the other village of our commune in case the wind changed direction. 14,000 hectres were destroyed and 4 lives were lost.
In the village the Mairie opened up the foyer where Christian and I did a shift in case there were any evacuees. Fortunately it didn't come to that but arrangements had to be made to feed our fire crew (who ate on the job)and to welcome resting firecrew. At one point an ash cloud came down over the village which left a smell of burning in your nostrils. The BBC have footage on their website http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18949400

Eating around the Village

Breakfast chez Michel to say "goodbye" to Sylviane and Daniel who were heading back to Picardie on their super duper 1600 BMW motorbike. As usuaal, on the last day of the festa major there was the sardane which of course we felt duty bound to watch for a while. Afterwards an apéritif at the bar was called for where we met our neighbour Jacques who has finally become a member of the association. He invited us to lunch which gave us just enough time to get ourselves together before dinner at Diana and Robin's.

Chips with Everything

The family left this morning and we went to the market and started to put the house back in order. in the evening we joined 50 other people from the association at the communal meal at the recreation ground. As ever year since I don't know when, it was pork, red peppers and chips!

In the Bad Books

Elsa and Frank went on an association walk early this morning while the rest of us just pottered about. The latest village bulletin for which Christian is responsibe, came out today and the poor thing, he was taken to task by the local hunters in the bar for an article written by an inhabitant of the commune who said that at one time the hunters shot anything that moved .... they were not pleased! A
storm in a tea cup that will no doubt fade from the memory of most but the real diehards.
The village festival started this evening but we didn't go to either the communal meal or the disco.

Chocolate Overdose

After the language exchange, Frank treated us to lunch at the new restaurant. Celebrated Elsa's birthday in the evening with what else but lots of chocolate. Chocolate cake decorated with chocolate shells and chocolate mousse. Well, that's what Grannies (even step grannies) are for!

Where is Everyone?

Yesterday evening we went for an after dinner drink to the bar. It's strange but in comparison to previous years, the terrace at the bar is quiet in the evenings. Where have all the clients gone? Jean-Louis is even closed one day a week.
This afternoon, while I made a dessert, the Parisiens went to Juste and Joséphine's for a swim. We joined them later for a BBQ. It's really hot at the moment, so it was pleasant eating out and of course, not having to cook.

Rules, What Rules?

The rest of Elsa's family arrived today so we made the most of the calm and stayed for lunch after what is becoming our regular habit of a glass of rosé at the bar.In the evening Lone and Jesper, two Danish members of the association arranged a game of softball which was a completely new experience for 90% of the players. Throw in a referee (me) who didn't know the rules and only had one pair of eyes, players who were there to have fun and Danish beer at the end all contributed to a successful evening. Juste and Joséphine joined us for something to eat afterwards and so ended another varied day.

A Slower Pace

Weather is still lovely and sunny so we went to the bar fro a lunch time drink and a dose of vitamin D. Had a little walk in the afternoon and an apéritif at the restaurant in the evening with Michelle and Jean-Jacques.

Vivre la France!

Another Bastille Day and another early start for the first of the two ceremonies in the commune. Today it was special as one old soldier was decorated with le croix de chevalier de la Légion d'honneur for his resistance and deportation to Dachau during the 2WW. Michel, Juste and Joséphine joined us for lunch after the apéritif républicain infront of the mairie. In the evening there was a splendid firework display and rather than bop the night away, we retired to the bar for a wee glass of wine.

Automatic Pilot

Today, it was time for Elsa to have a bit of a history lesson so we drove our usual "Retirada" circuit up into the mountains, stopping off at significant spots to explain about the Catalan culture and the Spanish Civil War. Ended up at the lake in Darnius and then our favourite restaurant. We contented ourselves with the "menu del día" while Elsa went for the most expensive meal and dessert that she could find!
Once back home, it was time to prepare for the arrival of our Ukrainian visitors who are part of a folk group touring France. There were 6 in the group + their manager to feed and accomodate - we took two charming young women and in return had free tickets to the concert in return. Juste and Joséphine also had two staying with them so we combined forces and all ate at ours.
The concert was just wonderful .... beautiful voices and haunting music played on the 65 string "bandura". Afterwards it was all back to ours for a nightcap. Sadly for Natalia and Nasdia, there was no nightlife at all to be found in the village at 1am, so there night away from the beady eyes of their manager didn't come to much!

Entente Cordiale

Due to a mix up we ended up going to a BBQ at Geneviève and Alain's instead of to David and Laura's.The dominant language was English but it was all very pleasant and once the ice was broken, Elsa and our hosts' granddaughter passed the time happily enough together.

So Far So Good

9th July
Thanks to David, Laura and Martine, Elsa had a day's kyaking on the Costa Brava which left Christian to go to his second home across the road and me time to catch up with the blog, do some ironing and prepare skate wings for dinner from a Rick Stein recipe which I served warm rather than cold. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj2YasVVGaY
Oh yes, and we did manage to fit in a glass of rosé at the bar.
10th July

Had a tapas lunch at the wine bar and then in the afternoon went into the town for a coffee and then to see how Benoît's house was progressing.
11th July
Set the alarm, dusted off the walking shoes, prepared a picnic and set off for a "rando" with one of the other associations in the village. if it hadn't have been for Elsa, I would have been doing something less energetic but it was a lovely day, the walk wasn't difficult, the views along the way were superb and lunch at the end there were apéritifs, tablecloths and plenty of good things to share was good fun. Christian, poor soul was left to fend for himself.

Playing Papy et Mamie!

Yesterday was fairly quiet with only a leisurely trip to the market in the morning, women's wimbledon finals in the afternoon and a trip at the end of the day over the border to collect our new computer tower. As it is the first day of the French school holidays, we had feared that there would be traffic jams but there weren't. Continued in a lazy vein and gave the first open air disco of the season a miss though we did drift off to sleep to the sounds of Queen coming through the open windows.
This afternoon, Elsa arrived at Perpignan Station from Paris. Dali called it "le centre du monde" and the new TGV station to which it is joined is called 'el centre del món".... bah humbug! It took me 10 minutes to find the toilets in the attached shopping mall (where there's a C & A, by the way) but they were closed and then when I traipsed across to the old station I had to pay 50c (about 30p) for the priviledge of having a pee!We also went to have a coffee but as only one of us was buying something we were asked to leave! Welcome to Perpignan.... is it any wonder we hardly go there.
Anyway, Elsa arrived safe and sound if 30 minutes late, having paid nearly a fiver for a sandwich. Same the world over, aint it?
Once we dropped off the baggage and had a free pee, we went to Maggie's who'd invited us to lunch. It was by now 4pm but as it had been a buffet, there was plenty left over and we were able to catch up with the rest. Men's finals were on so as there were a couple of Scots and an enthusiastic Welsh tennis player in our midst, there were half the folk watching the tv and the others either in the pool or in the shade chatting and tucking into cheesecake and then there were those who went for a snooze..
Came home around 6pm and watched the sad end of the tennis ... talk about not a dry hankie to be seen.

Three in a Row

Joséphine at our house this morning to sort something out with Christian and then when he went off to the Mairie we toddled over to the bar for a coffee. Weak willed that I am i couldn't say "no" to the croissant that Joséphine went and bought at the bakers. Feeling in a holiday mood we decided that the four of us should eat at the restaurant. Needless to say, a siesta was the order of the day afterwards for a least three out of the four.

Around teatime, Daniel and Sylviane, Michel's cousins from up north arrived on a huge BMW motorbike which we were lodging overnight in our garage.Then it was a quick change and off to the latest vernissage. There was mand an apéritif afterwards and for one, we didn't buy anything ... not because there weren't some nice paintings but because they were a bit out of our price range.
Next stop was at Michel's where we were joined by Sylvian and Anita for supper accompanied by Michel on the guitar and so ended another busy day in retirementland.

Our Turn

As usual, the association this morning followed by a glass of rosé at the bar afterwards. The afternoon was spent preparing a chilled soup (made up from what I had in the fridge)and lots of bits and pieces for an apéritif dinatoire this evening.For dessert, I made a killer chocolate fridge cake that uses mars bars. Normally it is made with rice crispies but as I didn't have any, I used the last of the chocolate museli left from Mary's visit and some biscuits that were in the cupboard. You can find several recipes for it via google including one from Nigella; mine came from one of those lovely cheap and colourful Australian Women's Weekly cookbooks. While looking on the net, I came across "Rupert's Kitchen",food blog at http://fromrupertskitchen.wordpress.com and it looks to have some interesting stuff on it so you might like to have a look.
Believe it or not, there was even some of the cake left over so that will go well after lunch with a cup of mint tea in the next few days to come.

Dead to the World!

Well, the last couple of days passed quietly enough and to start off with, I thought today was going the same way; that is, until Joséphine turned up on the doorstep after her 10 days away. We tripped off to the supermarket together and were then invited back to her place for lunch. She'd made a riberito by way of an apéritif. I'm not sure of the spelling nor the recipe but you can be assured that I'll ask Joséphine the next time that I see her.Maybe it was that or maybe it was the heat but all four of us ended up having a good siesta for about two hours.

For Sale

If you know anyone who is interested in buying a house with a view like this, it's just come onto the market as I leant when I went up to visit Annette. Christian and Michel were busy doing their civic duty so I had a couple of hours to swap news and munch pistacios. Was able to say "no" to a drink but not temptation in a bowl that was within too easy reach.
Annette joined us for a drink at the hostal as did Sylvie and Alain who also ate with us.Duck of course for me and trout for Christian.

Curry Night

Not in the best shape today but there was no time for slacking as Michel, Sylvie and Alain were coming for a curry.It seemed to take for ever to prepare even though the Lamb Patia (Shish Mahal cookery book)was already in the freezer along with the mango ice cream that Christian had made.
Also on the menu:
Pakora (sadly a pale shadow of the real thing as I was out of chickpea flour and they were done in the oven rather than fried), chilled pea,mint and yoghurt soup, raita and poppadoms.
Creamy Aubergines, Chickpeas cooked in tea (Madhur Jaffrey)and of course there was lots of fresh coriander everywhere.
Alain was glued in front of the tv watching Spain play Italy in the European Cup and was over the moon when his team, Spain won 4.0.That's one down and two to go (Wimbledon and the Tour de France) before normality returns to the schedules.
Oh, and we finally had a bit of rain during the day and the temperature has dropped.