Health and safety gone mad

Last night was the meal at the Puylagarde summer fête.
On the menu - Moules à la paille - (smoked mussels).

Don't forget the herbs - this is France after all

The  event is quite a spectacle, huge quantities of mussels on trays buried under piles of straw which are set alight (secheresse - what secheresse?).

                                                                    Now THAT is what I call a barbecue!




It attracts quite a crowd and no wonder - its great fun to watch and the mussels taste just great.

Even better this year we didn't have to take refuge on the "English table" as we had invited some friends.

they tasted superb

c'est la saison

It's summer and that means it's fête season.

Every village, large or small, prides itself on it's fête and I am sure that it would be quite possible to eat at a village "repas" every Saturday and Sunday throughout July and August. Some fêtes attract huge numbers of people. Espinas for instance, which is a village of only 150 inhabitants, attracts thousand to its weekend of old style harvesting demonstrations. The meal regularly feeds 1000 plus 200 volunteers from villages all around who come to help.



Because there is so much going on it is always impossible to fit everything in and we always end up missing things because we forget about them.

This weekend is when both Puylagarde( where we live) and Salles ( where we go to a weekly  dance workshop) both  traditionally hold their fêtes leaving us with a choice. Puylagarde is home to a large horse stud farm and it's fête had a very horsey theme - good for those who like displays of horse riding but not really our style. We will be at the moules à la paille meal tonight though.







Salles on the other hand is a village with a strong traditional music tradition and we like to go to the evening dances. On Friday it was an Irish group with a caller who did celtic dances and last night was the meal followed by a traditional bal.

So that's where we were last night. Salles is almost a second "home " village to us now - we have lots of friends there. Last night there were even people there who live near us who we have introduced to the village who are attracted by the traditional music and dancing.

One unique feature of the Salles bal is the "buffatiere" at midnight. Nothing quite prepares you for the first time you see it - people of the village disguised and clad in long white nightgowns and bedcaps invade the dancefloor and during a strange dance use bellows to cover bystanders in talc. Very bizarre but fun!

 

playing

Well all 85 stitches plus two alphabets have been used at least once!

I think I know what all the buttons do - now to get making.

new toy

My new toy arrived today - tomorrow I play!

marché gourmande

Our first marché gourmande of the season last night, this one at St Projet. I love the atmosphere at these events - the whole village plus visitors turn out enjoying the summer together. Local food and drink producers set up their stalls and everything bread, grills, cheese, desserts and wine is on sale for petits prix.






Its the sort of atmosphere England saves for Royal wedding street parties, here they do it all the time just because they can.

French friends tell us the marché gourmande  "tradition" is relatively new ( about 15 years or so) this one at St Projet was the 30th ( so maybe two a year?). They are certainly very popular now and you see lots advertised throughout the summer in the villages around.






Last night we went with some friends who had not been to one before and we had a lovely evening. There were some storms threatening at the start but it all blew over quickly to leave a very pleasant warm evening and we didn't leave until it was starting to get dark.

missed it

We missed the harvesting while we were away - Pity as I like to watch the monster machine bearing down on the garden. Now we have the straw bales . They always remind me of family holidays in France with the children but they won't be there for long - the farmer collected one truckload this morning

a rosy thank you

No rain for weeks and the garden is in a sorry state - there will be no photos of the flower garden this year! Many large shrubs have now started to wilt too. The new rose garden was nominated to receive the washing up water and has responded in fine style - the roses are giving us a second flush of flowers just when everything else seems to have given up - even the geraniums are looking pale !

5 years ago today

events dear boy - as someone said

ie the reason for lack of posts. But couldn't let today go by without a mention

5 years ago today we moved out of our home in Stoke on Trent - a happy family home for 24 years.

We were following our dream to our next big life adventure - so glad we did!  Aici sén pla.

true friends

A French friend has made me so happy, hearing we were going to be away for almost a week and how worried I was about the garden with no sign of a break in the current heatwave,  he has insisted on coming to do some watering at the weekend - I feel truly emotional

our poolside garden

Swimming pools are not always the most attractive features in a garden. We saw many houses on our house hunt where the pool dominated the house and the terrace - OK if you're on holiday but not so good all year round.

We are lucky with the contours of our garden that from the terrace outside the house the pool itself is hidden and the garden around it has now developed to create a distinct "beach" area.

bamboo and banana plants for an exotic entrance

the beach hut

a place for a few fanciful touches

planting kept to blue and white here

no boundary needed behind the pool

the lavender hedge separates the pool from the rest of the garden

We haven't spent much time sitting up here in the last few days - way too hot in the sun even with the umbrellas up - plenty of swimming done though.

read on

Its just like being on holiday!

I know some would think that's every day but not what I mean this time. In years gone by I would measure how good a holiday had been by the number of books I had read. In recent years I haven't read quite as much as I used to, mostly because sitting for any length of time leaves me stiff and immobile afterwards, but the last few week it has been so hot I have found myself seeking out cool spaces to sit and have been working my way through a pile of books which have been awaiting my attention.

This corner , although on the south facing end of the house , actually escapes the direct sun in the summer because of nearby large trees - thank goodness for them. I have been alternating between here and in the pool all afternoon - far to hot to stay by the pool once out of the water. What a life!

Feu de St Jean

 As we come up to the fifth anniversary of our move to France it seems only fitting to reflect on some of the things which have made it such a good move for us. Many of them involve our love of traditional music and dancing.

In June 2011 we discovered the tradition of the midsummer fete of Feu de St Jean which happens in many villages on weekends around 23/24 June.

I remember that first with particular affection as it was at Salles where we had been going to a traditional dancing workshop and had met lots of other musicians and dancers. Our welcome that evening to the village celebration ( Salles is 50kms away from where we live) and the great atmosphere of the evening made us feel so much "at home" in our adopted new country.

Trevor is now seen as a key member of the musicians de Salles

We went to a couple of feu de St Jean evenings this year, both with traditional dancing, and last weekend it was back to Salles - this time as "regulars".




When we first moved we had lots of vague ideas of the sort of things we might fill our time with when we lived here but, although we had heard and seen a bit of traditional music on our holidays in the area , we did not realise quite how strong the Occitan tradition is. It has been for us they key to making friends, learning new things, and living a very busy and happy retirement.         Aici sén pla

canicule

Not much else to say - its HOT!

Cloudy all day but still over 30 degs. Late night swim still a great idea. Trevor has fitted the new pool light today so I can swim in the light again tonight.

busy busy busy - hot hot HOT

June has been a very busy month with a succession of family and friends visiting. We have had lots of airport runs to do, lots of sightseeing trips and loads of lovely meals out. Its been lovely seeing everyone and spending good times sharing our "vie en France". Between visitors  the summer means there is loads going on, so much so that it is inevitable we can't fit everything in.








This in turn means that jobs in the garden have been sorely neglected. Today we have at last had a day to ourselves at home to get some things done - trouble is we are in middle of a full blown canicule with temperatures staying in the twenties overnight after really scorching daytimes.





For once today we have been glad of the Autun blowing to give us a bit of a breeze and we have at last got our drip feed watering system set up in the veg garden ( we bought it about a month ago!). That will save me from filling and carrying heavy watering cans for an hour every day!