* summer in the 'stide

many villages have fetes and markets

in the Summertime

July & August sees many events 

Thursdays bring the night market

tables and chairs are set up under La Halle

food stalls begin to be set up

along the river

in the late afternoon

people arrive from 6pm 

with picnic bags carrying plastic plates

glasses, serviettes, cutlery

bread, wine

to enjoy with the food they buy

it's a big community thing

other evenings bring dodgy euro disco djs 

who never seem to play a whole song

and talk over most of the medleys

a variety of acts appear under La Halle

Magyd Cherfi ~ La Trempe

the story of an artist

Teatro Golondrino

string puppets without word

a truly charming show

called The Bucket of Death

had the children and adults laughing

we have a Village Vacances in La Bastide

which is for the employees of EDF

some of these events are arranged by them

they are random, sometimes strange

but strange good!

++ visites

Spring brings guests

family & friends

all curious to see the the region where I live

I take them to a market

there's one most days

somewhere

the newest lunch hotspot

Relais De Mirepoix 

three courses of heavenly food

a rummage in a brocante or vide grenier

a breather by Lac du Montbel

or local artisan beer on old lady bench

this is brewed 10 minutes up the road from my house

people ask me ~  

how's the house coming along?

there is no rush

and there's lots of distractions!

all good 

;-)

SaveSave

++ if you want to know the things we see

the "Dread Room"

has gradually been transformed

the lower section of the wall 

had been painted in a very old

oil and earth mix

which proved problematic when painted

as it kept bleeding through

we scrubbed it with a solution of this

then carefully rolled a thin coat

of oil based matt paint

and prayed

it worked!

then the task of scraping off years of paint

from conduit and sockets

and finding a match for the skirtings and doors

it pains me to tosh over these beauties

on top of all the really bad paint already on them

but time and budget won't allow for now

all I need now is furniture 

and a lovely light fitting to replace this pathetic bulb!

now it's The White Room

like that scene in Bruce Almighty 

when he meets God

"we spin, we turn, watch and wait
as the world just creeps on by"

✦✧ village life

every Tuesday morning 

three men arrive in La Place

outside my house

 this chap sells grapes and vegetables 

he has grown 

this man makes a huge paella

from scratch and sells it

for €9 a portion

by midday he has sold it all

then there is the knife sharpening man

this is him yesterday in Mirepoix Market

on Friday nights a little Pizza van arrives

a good sized pizza freshly cooked for €6

I like how people rock up, set up and sell things

in the Summer months 

there is a night market in La Place

with music and stalls

something to look forward to

:: history

there isn't much I know about this house

despite it's age

La Famille Jammy

lived here for many generations until

fairly recently

a little story I was told

when GrandPere Jammy died

they held a wake in the dining room

all the family gathered in the room

to say goodbye

then they heard one of the hall stairs creak

since then it is called "Grandpere's stair"