let it snow, let it snow..?

snow is forecast for tomorrow morning. Oh heck.

happiness is.....

No comment

peace and quiet

not much happening right now. November dead calm has hit. I am being courted by various village councillors and mayor hopefuls for next year's municipal elections. They want me on the council. Am still undecided as it will depend who would be on the council with me. So I am letting them proposition me freely for now. Yesterday was 11th November. Serious day across France. Standard bearers representing veterans from all wars since the WWI were here, long church mass, speech by the mayor, minute silence, la marseillaise, free drinks at the mairie, then all over to Papillon to say a quick hello and down a rapid kir.

happy birthday to ya....

Jean Charles is 80 on 18th November

Monique Charles (née Fabre) was 75 on 30th October

so the Fabre-Charles family decided to have a big party to celebrate. Very nice, very full on, lots and lots of candles, lots of champagne, lots of chit-chat. Slept in stable block. Got squiffy and ate too much. Talked far too much. Giggled for hours.

chateaux - medieval and otherwise

Just returned from a fab few days in Montpellier. To blow away the cold damp dull Normandy autumnal blues, we took some time out and drove down to Montpellier to stay with some friends in their wine domaine. Domaine du Rieucoulon. Very beautiful, old France, shabby chic, tres posh, posher than anything we have experienced before in fact. Visited the wine cellars (wine production is so impressive and so very unromantic) then got down to some serious tasting. Mmmmmmm. Then drove over to the Camargue and went horse riding. Well, Scarlet went trotting across the Camargue flats and I sat on a horse and got bounced around. The horse - Gringo - seemed to enjoy himself. My bottom and thighs slightly less. Visited Montpellier and fell in love with it. Modernism meets Hausmann - wonderful. Took a trip to various walled villages, towns and cities - the most impressive being Carcassone, where we had the obligatory cassoulet of course :) Aigues Mortes -which means dead waters - was a town we particularly liked. A little medieval walled village - quite delightful central square and some gorgeous shops all around. So more visiting required at a later date - and who knows - maybe we will end up down there in the future...?