what a catalyst you turned out to be

time zips along

it's been two years since I moved here

and in that two years

much has bubbled along

under the surface of the water

while sifting through boxes piled high in a room

boxes of my life before

boxes unopened for many years

a realisation that they are no longer relevant 

to this life

the French have a phrase

'avoir le cafard'

to have the cockroach

the Ariege blues

it could be easy to let that feeling overshadow

but then someone shakes you

takes you out of the room

from the boxes

gets you drunk

and tells you to F off

take a look

think about it

the boxes have been emptied

some remain

much much less

just real precious things

leaving space for more living

less owning

more belonging ....

this morning

a moment

a reminder of why I live and love it here

crisp ice on the windscreen 

see your breath morning

pink sky behind snow topped mountains

music on {loud}

white frosted fields

soul filled

eyes watery

yep

bimbimbim

officially here 

to stay

take that Brexiteers

****

**** flowers, fetes and friends

one thing the French love

is a Fete

they take them very seriously

plenty of effort is put in to set them up

there are fetes for everything

music, food, flowers, nuts, bears

you name it

and my village is no exception

so I took it as an excuse to escape the

four day 'feria' in La Bastide

a 35 minute drive from my house is

Bordebasse 

the home of Jimmy & Gill who very kindly

let me stay for three nights of quiet and calm

this lake is in the grounds 

and those grounds are full of wild flowers

campion

wild orchids 

orange blossom

and in the adjoining land

a field of linseed

with their tiny delicate blue

if you need a getaway

I'd thoroughly recommend staying here

it's a little piece of heaven 

in the hills

~~:~~ 

▢▢□□▣ fenetres

 I've lost count of the amount of times

people ask me

"how's the decorating going?"

I feel like saying "hows yours?"

who renovates their house within a year?

exactement!

at the top of my little house

is a superb space

potential studio  

two openings on one side 

and three on the other

as you can see there are no windows 

in those apertures

and all my winter heat goes out those gaps

but I want to preserve the ancient wood frames

hopefully by next month

these beauties will replace the plastic 

corrugated iron and gaps

and my house will be cosier 

** avelana

the French are big on community

and events

much effort goes into setting them up

and everyone visits

this weekend was the Fete De Noisettes

a hazelnut festival in Lavelanet 

no real squirrels

delicious cakes

praline covered nuts

and anything you can imagine that is

nut related

we didn't see the nut spitting competition

maybe that's not a bad thing!

there was plenty of music

and enthusiasic dancing

and a parade

castanets

and traditional costumes

a little game of boule for the gents

plenty of games and a funfair for the children

une bonner facon de celebrer

les noix

* 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!

atomic 47

some friends invited me 

to a silver clay workshop at

CouCou Limoux

a sweet atelier in a lovely cobbled side street

not only can you go to workshops here

she also sells really cool stuff

the owner, Merilees, made us very welcome

showing us examples of silver items

created from the clay

she talked about form and texture

revealing a selection of stamps, cutters 

textured templates and objet

first we experimented with some white clay

we played for an hour

pressing items into the clay

deciding shape and size

I took some indian wood blocks 

and made moulds which were dried

ready to be used with the silver clay

~

we quickly and carefully rolled out

the small piece of silver clay

to the thickness of 3 or 4 playing cards

and created our shapes

putting a tiny pilot hole in each

which were then dried in a halogen cooker

after which we refined the edges

and made tiny holes in each piece

then we used a small torch to heat each item

to a soft orange glow

for two timed minutes

dropped into water to cool

these little white triangles 

were buffed with a wire brush

and a polishing cloth

and magically they turn to silver!

Merilees has a box of findings 

to rummage through

jump rings, earring hooks

leather cord for pendants

and all the tools you need to attach them

after playing around for a while

I settled on long hooks 

with a more 3d look

with two little triangles left over 

to add to my silver charm bracelet

thank you Merilees for your expertise, calm 

and for sharing your space with us

for a cool afternoon

:-)

** no dollies

how are you getting on?

there all by yourself?

ah but I'm not alone

I've met some incredible women

funny 

generous

straight talking

strong

slightly crazy

and oh so very giving

with their time

ideas and support

new friends are always 

a welcomed gift

++ 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