THE MULTI PURPOSE VEHICLE

Here it is!

Our new useful and air-conditioned Opel left-hand drive MPV which we collected while back home.

Much cheaper that anything we could find in France and it does all that we need. We now look as if we belong here as every local person seems to have something similar.

JAZZ IN MARCIAC

We went to the Jazz In Marciac festival - JIM! (Why did they call it Jazz IN Marciac - in English - and not Jazz a' Marciac - JAM? much more appropriate!)

We heard some fantastic jazz - saw some great performers!

Concerts start at 9 at night. The first night we left around 1.30.

The last night we were there - our fourth concert - we left around 3am, and there was still an encore to come!

We kept going on ice cream and booze in the intervals - no matter how great the show it is still possible to fall asleep in the middle of it after 4 or 5 hours! (Not too much booze luckily. On the way home on the the third of the 4 nights we were stopped by the Bold Gendarmes and I was breathalysed - for the first time in my life. Naturally the verdict was "c'est bon". What would you expect?)

We saw Wynton Marsalis, the Buena Vista Social Club and Omara Portuondo, Milton Nascimento, Avishai Cohen, David Krakauer and Kletzmer Madness, Laurent Cugny and the Enormous Big Band - had a astonishing singer - among others- all really enjoyable. We should also mention Marcus Roberts an American pianist. Wynton Marsalis was right. He is a genius of the piano. You should hear him.

Go on line and check out the festival and come and stay with us next year!

AND THE GARDEN . . .

What a lot of pleasure -
and what a lot of work!

I look at the way things grow and quite unreasonably feel proud. It is after all a felicitous outcome of earth and climate rather than my green fingers though until John put in the pump on the well I did carry about 15 - 20 watering cans of water a day!
It wasn't for too long however.
John also made the raised beds which is without doubt the easiest and pleasantest way to grow veggies.
Homegrown vegetables taste wonderful - if they have enough sun and water.
Garden produce is still a gift - so much richer and more abundant than hoped for and also astonishing. Reminds of my babies at 6 months when you look at an infant sitting up and gurgling and you think did that miracle really result from breast milk?
I am being green and as organic as possible which is actually laziness too because trying to cope with pests is really hard work apart from killing slugs which must be done.
The climate does help. I have been able to grow and harvest plants from seeds which is a first for me but then again it is all about learning new and different ways of doing and growing things.
I am a "une debutante de le potager et de la jardinaire"

WELCOME TO THE GUEST ROOM - ALMOST

John has worked hard - even obsessively to get this room habitable. It probably is comfortable temperature-wise now but more work needs doing to make it smart.
It was a hot, tough and exacting job. It is likely the neighbours kids have inadvertently learnt a few old English words when John was. shouting at the wall.

Yes I know -
It isn't finished
BUT
it has come a long way. John is being very thorough and careful - about the measurements at least.

There has been some anxiety from family phoning me and asking if I am really sure that it is safe to be with someone who shouts at the building as John does.

It can almost be stayed in. It lacks a skylight and will have a dormer or a velux depending on planning and the mairie.

The thing is that the temperature should be comfortable all year we hope!

ISOLATION OR KEEPING THE KITCHEN WARM AND JOHN HOT

It was 40 degrees under the kitchen roof while John struggled to insulate it and do the wiring to the kitchen ceiling. He could not reach under the beams and could hardly sit upright in much of it.
Need I say more?

POT LUCK LUNCH ON REPUBLIC DAY

Okay - this post is jinxed! This it the 4th or 5th time I have tried to get it uploaded. We had a great time on Republic Day at a Pot luck Lunch in our village. In spite of our hastily gathered and inadequate contributuion we were met with hospitality food, wine, armagnac and songs! It was a great day! Watch again because I hope to upload the video of a nonagenerian lady singing local Basque songs.

GOOD NEIGHBOURS AND RIVER RAFTING ON THE GAVE DE PAU

We were invited by our generous neighbour, Roberto of Ecolorado Rafting, to try river rafting on the Gave de Pau above Lourdes. It was a stretch of 14 kms of river and took us just under two hours to do it. It was great fun. Not quite Sobek thank goodness. I haven't done Sobek - the white water rafting below the Mosi-O-Tunya, Victoria Falls from the Boiling Pot. I have just canoed down the middle Zambezi with family and friends.

It was the first time we put on the wet suits we bought for our campervan trip but did not pack. The day was grey which was easier on my eyes but as we got rather wet - it was just a little cool.

The countryside is beautiful and the river swift and cold and we spun around over rocks, rapids and eddies.

The images are of us on a narrow slipway that took us past one of the weirs and barrages on the river. Roberto was able to walk alongside us and take the pictures for me. You can see Roberto with John in the one shot I took.

There was some rough-housing by the paint-ball team in the first RIB.

It was really a good experience, interesting and to be highly recommended. We would both do it again.

Admittedly this was the easier stretch of river. There is a more exciting stretch below Lourdes if you are more daring than us.