Women who Lunch

Even though I was in bed for 11.30 last night, I read until my eyes drooped around 1.30; consequently, I was up late this morning. Dominique called with a painting an elderly Catalan retired school mistress had done for me. She'd remembered that I particularly like poppies and set out to paint a vase of them. Sadly, they didn't work out so she transformed them into "flowers". I was really touched by her kindness and as she said in her note, "real flowers wilt and die, at least these will be everlasting". Only problem is where to hang the painting.
Walked over to Maggie's for a salt-free lunch to accommodate Martine's diet. Started off with a couple of generous G and T's and lots of chat. Scuttled for home at 4pm as Rowena was due for a cuppa in-between appointments. She came bearing a couple of kilos of parsnips that needed dealt with tout de suite, a must read book and a battery powered rose that changes colour. Kitch but fun and cheery. It will be used!
Made soup from some of the parsnips and a huge stew with the rest. Late again to bed and read until the 9th "Skinner" crime novel was finished.
The photo is of the river on the way to Maggie's. I'll change it for one of the painting when I get round to it. Now there's something to look forward to. Never a dull moment, eh?

Lighting the Darkness

It's six months today since Christian went off to that great oil platform in the sky so it was good to hava a busy day. First there was an Moroccan breakfast in the square in aid of the Téléthon. The two Nicole's came along as well and once again we stayed on for steak and chips. Rushed home afterwards to bake some biscuits for the Swedish afternoon we were attending to celebrate St Lucia. There was mulled wine, good things to eat, songs sung by lovely young women wearing winter white, tinsel and one with a crown of candles. All very ethereal. The little ones were solemn with all the responsibility and just a delight .https://sweden.se/culture-traditions/lucia/ This link tells you all about the traditions and the video "for dummies" is fun.
There was even the nationally known pop star, Cali who was there in a private capacity. The link below is in French but at the moment on  the home page features  a song "On ne se lâchera pas la main" written in response to the attack on Le Bataclan concert venue. http://www.calimusic.fr/ It talks of lit candles in the window so as the French say "la boucle est bouclée".
Weather:
15°, Sunny

Recipe for a Quiet Life

Gave the market a miss as when Michel phoned that he wasn't well and not going after all. I was still in bed and couldn't motivate myself to leap out and rush to get the bus. Went over to see in him after lunch and hear about his trip to Mexico. Another quiet night at home, ruthlessly weeding out old cookery magazines. Well, the realisation comes even to the most optimistic of us that the recipes will never find their way to the table .
Weather:
14° Sun

Not so Golden Oldies

Had a cofee on the way to an end of year lunch. It was a club for seniors and as we all know, seniors like to  save seats  and won't move for whatever reason. Luckily, I don't fit that definition as I moved 4 times before my bum came to rest at the table where I'd started out!! Lunch was good but I had to leave after the main course to go to a funeral at the same cremtorium where we said our goodbyes to Christian. This one was an altogether different affair. Neither warmth, nor connection which was sad because Michel was a fun sort of bloke who Christian got on with well when they met up.
Came back for tea and some rather nice chocolate biscuits at Anne's. A quite night at home followed instead of going off to a bossa/jazz concert. Just felt that I needed to not to make any effort.
Weather:
14°, Sun, blue skies and very windy

Feeling like Winter Already

26.11.15:

Didn't want to get up this morning but had to as I was helping Maggie with the language exchange. Of course, there was a trip to the bar afterwards where Ann, Terry, Annette and I finally got to eat our soup and bread.  It came to the table piping hot in a huge two handled pan which was left there for us to just help ourseves. Full of veg, it was so filling that we had to make a real effort to eat the cheese that was part of the 8€ deal. Now we've had our way and got the soup, will be able to get them to do something other than veg soup. French onion, for example or minestrone or chicken noodle? Ann was talking about a plate of beef casserole but new ideas don't take on here as quickly as thar. Next winter's project, perhaps?
Snoozed this afternoon and caught up with "London Spy" which I'm finding pretty hard  to get a sense of. Otherwise, just whiled away the time until it was time to go to bed.
AND ..... the blog is now up to date!
Weather:
11°, icy light rain, strong winds in the evening


25.11.15:

French conversation this morning though it was somewhat one-sided with Françoise, the workshop leader "enlightening" us about a load of different cultural aspects of French life and personal anecdotes! Then in the afternoon went with Maggie to see Michel (no, not the one I often eat with but the husband of the association's treasurer) lying in the funeral palour. I couldn't help but think of the times that he and Christian shared a joke and a good bottle of wine. Did a quick shop at the supermarket and then had a cuppa at the nearby bakery. OK, OK, I hold my hands up; I did have a mini danish but as there were only a couple of bites in it, it hardly counts.
In the evening, there was another fundraiser. So, for the second time in four days I had the pleasure of listening to good music. El Mariners del Canigó who sing Havaneres and Catalan songs who I've written about before were on stage. Even though they're getting on a bit, they still have voices that do justice to the melodies. Sat with Michèle and Henri, drank Punch, ate chocolate brownies, la, la-ed, and waved a paper serviette with the rest of the audience. No, I've not gone gaga; it's called joining in and hoping that no one is looking on laughing at you behaving like an OAP!
After remaining to help tidy up, Nany invited me to stay on and share the champagne that she'd brought to celebrate André's birthday. Came home about 11pm and I finished off the work on the computer I'd started before going out. Got to bed at 2am. This really is a habit that I should break.
Weather:
13°, feeling colder in the wind and the on/off icy drizzle. Brrrh, feels like winter.

24.11.15:

Managed to get up a little earlier today and tidied the drawer stuffed with, paper, bits and bobs. Can't for the life of me think why all that  useless stuff ended up there. Still, I guess every home has one. Coffee as usual at the bar where there was a lot of speculation about why things were being moved out of the hairdressers. Doesn't take much to excite us locals.
This is Canigó in all it's glory taken on my home. 
Spanish this afternoon and a quiet rest of the day with a cup of tea and the last bun. Come again soon, Hortense.
Weather:
12°, sunshine and cloud

23.11.15:
Having read until 2am, I slept longer than usual only to be woken by a call from Hortense who wanted to come over in the afternoon. Went for my usual coffee at the bar and took this photo on the way back. Yes, it is as cold here as it looks as the winds are still quite strong.
Hortense did indeed come; the caht was fun as ever and what topped it off were the "pain aux raisins" that she brought. What a delight; pastries without the guilt. Well, it wasn't me that bought them,, was it?
Weather: 
11° but feeling colder in the wind, sunshine.

"Le Temps fuit sans Retour"

22.11.15:

Had a longer lie in this morning though not as long as I would have liked. Coffee in the bar with Nicole P and Nicole S. A lazy afternoon catching up with the Scandi crime drama  "Arne Dhal". Just the last two to go and then I can move on to "The Bridge" with the wonderful women cop"Saga Noren".
This evening there was a concert in aid of the Téléthon. Piano and flute. Lovely music and appropriately it's St Celia's, patron saint of music and musicians, feast day  Left the church with the music of Offenbach's "Bacarolle" in my ears and the memory of "Oh, Babuska" from Christian's favourite Fureys albums. I couldn't find either a decent clip of it or Phil Coulter's lyrics so have settled on this classical version with a video of the sea instead. The title of the post comes from the original.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8yenFBRNAI
Glad I did this bit of research; learnt a few things while wrapping my thoughts of Christian in beautiful images, words and music.
Weather:
11° Cloudy with sunny spells

21.11.15:

It was a chilly one this morning; temperatures have plummeted. Still managed to go to the market and during a brief sunny spell have a coffee on the terrace of the bar where the Brits hang out. There were only 4 to start but when others rolled in, Nicole V and I beat a retreat to Lidl. Did some early Xmas chocolate shopping ready for my young visitors.
Could have gone chopping veg this afternoon for tomorrow's Téléthon meal but I gave it a miss and didn't move far from the settee. Well, that's until 7pm when I headed over to Jean-Jacques for supper with him and Alain who's here on a visit. Lots of interesting tapas and of course cava and red wine
Weather:
13°, feeling colder in the strong winds. A few light rain showers. Snow on Canigou.

W.I., Here I Come

20.11.15:

Qi Gong this morning. How quickly things come around. "The Swimming Dragon" is a particularly pleasing exercise to do.  Hearing the river flowing in the background just added to the experience and if only I can keep it up, it'll do me good.
Of course I went to the bar for a bowl of soup before lunch to fortify myself for more jam making.
Walked over to Ann and Terry's for dinner and temperatures were dropping. We had a typically British roast chicken meal with just about every vegetable you could think of. There was even gravy too. Mum would have loved (she does stretch to garlic but otherwise can't be doing with anything mildly different!) and I have to say, it was pretty good. Maggie, Annette and I all went for second helpings.
Weather:
20°, sunshine with cloud later and dropping temperatures

19.11.15:

Actually participated in the Language exchange this morning after which there was the usual glass of wine at the bar. Had a hurried lunch at home before going back to continue with the jam making amid the heady smells coming from several huge, bubbling preserving pans.
On the way passed the bar, Jean-Louis said that been soup available but none of us had ordered any. How could we? He didn't tell us! sometimes I despair about certain folks organisational skills. Once home, I stayed home and caught up with loads of admin and computer stuff, finanlly getting to bed at 2pm. Yes, I know, it's far too late.
Weather:
23°, sunshine

18.11.15:

Went to French conversation after quite a long absence and it was my lucky day. One of the Belgian members was celebrating her birthday with cava and macorons. Mmmm. It certainly helped lubricate our tongues.
In the afternoon, the Téléthon jam making began. Melon, orange and lemon. Loads of it; there was enough for 500 pots. It was good being involved in a team effort cutting, chopping and chatting. all part of village life.
You give some and you get even more back.
Had a pleasant evening at Jean and Françoise's where I got to know Hélène and Mohammed better through  lots of interesting conversation. and there's more to come as we're invited to theirs for a tajine in a few weeks time. See what I mean.
Weather:
22°, sun

Art and an Apéro

The morning started late enough but as usual ended with a coffee in the café where I met Nicole P and her grand daughter. The day speedied up after lunch. Spanish group and then up to see James (the palette knife artist who did the life-like  portrait of Christian) to talk about his forthcoming exhibition over a glass of red. Scooted back home to get ready for the apérobio with Ann and Lynn. Nico did some excellent soup so little by little our suggestion that there's homemade soup and crusty bread on the daily menu may just be taking root. Another good platter delighted us but this time I thought you'd be fed-up with a photo. Instead, I thought that this painting by James would fit the bill. it's a bit more original, at any rate.

Time Stopped

There was a minute's silence at midday outside the Maire. As we stood lost in our thoughts, the "glas" or death knell sounded slowly and with solemnity. For those who wished there were candles to light before we dispersed. I found it particularly difficult not to let the tears roll as my on personal loss was touched by the collective emotion.
I was glad not to be going home to an empty house; instead I joined Sophie, Eve and Karine at the bar for a bottle of champagne to celebrate the end of Eve's radiotherapy. Solidarity between women who've had to confront this damn challenge but who know  it's possible to come out the otherside.
Weather:
21°, blue skies

Café Society

It had been arranged that Annie and I would go for a day out but she called off yesterday so I fell back on my well worn plan of coffee at the bar where I was joined by two Nicoles. Really pleased that the second Nicole came and is the fruit of the women's group which I'd encouraged her to attend. Of course our conversation was initially about Friday night's attacks but then we moved on to other subjects. We ended up staying for lunch in the sun, finally going our seperate ways to be home alone.
Weather:
22°, sun and blue skies