A few favourites

France is so photogenic, around every corner is another gem just waiting to be snapped at!  If we lived here for longer, or if we grew up here, would these images be normal and mundane I wonder??
It certainly doesn't pay to leave home without the camera.

Last week was a combination of playing the tourist, the host, and the worker.  We are suddenly aware that we have just over two weeks left here, so we are attempting to see and do a few things before we leave this area - who knows if or when we might be back.  So, off to Moustiers, a village built into the side of the hill up near the Gorge du Verdon.  Very famous for the faience pottery, it is a bit on the touristy side, but at this time of year its not too bad.

The French love to put chapels in rather inaccessible places, often at the top of a mountain with foot access only.  Obviously the devout were a determined and hardy bunch in those days.  Moustiers had its chapel strategically placed on the side of the gorge, but at least there was a well worn pathway to the top.

For those of you hanging out for more net curtain shots, Moustiers didn't disappoint, with two more classics to add to the collection...

I still think there's a whole un-tapped market for net curtains like these in New Zealand.......

Next picturesque village - Correns.  For a tiny, fairly ordinary village in the Var, it seems strange that none other than Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have got a house here.  Of course, when I say "house", I'm talking multi-bedroomed-pool-and-tennis-court-closely-guarded-chateau-complete-with-full-vineyard type of house.  Always optimistic, I went dressed in my best, fresh lipstick applied, in the hope that Brad might be popping into the boulangerie for his baguette.  He must have been having a gluten-free day when we visited, as the boulangerie was disappointingly empty.
However, plenty of other things to look at...
The best piece of street graffiti we have seen for some time ....

A sign on a hotel door - "full"....

And a sure contender for the title of Best French Knobs and Knockers...
I love the way her tail (?) has worn a hole in the door - this resident is obviously a popular person.

Our friends from Nelson, Karen and John, arrived for the weekend, so we spent several happy days showing them round our favourite haunts.  Villecroze is definitely our number one village in the area, not just due to the best pain au raisin...

Villecroze is an arty little village, with evidence of serious effort on behalf of the villagers to entertain the tourists, as well as keep them out!

Karen and John were able to join us in a very enjoyable evening of boules and Pastis with the neighbours.

The French take their boules games very seriously, especially when its a 'social' game with the neighbours

The evening continued with more Pastis, dinner, wine, more Pastis, a little wine, and finishing off with Limoncello and Cassis liquers!

During the course of the evening we noticed something very interesting.  There were seven children aged between 13 and 4 at the gathering.  We arrived at 4.30pm and left around 11pm.  The children greeted all the adults with kisses when we arrived....and that was pretty much the last we heard of them: they had some cake in the kitchen at about 5pm, then ate dinner at the same time as us, about 9pm, again, inside in the kitchen.  They played together for the rest of the time and never once came to the adults complaining about anything, or saying they were bored/hungry/tired, and there was no fighting at all.  When we pointed this out to our friends as being very impressive, they couldn't quite understand us, and said that was normal behaviour - if the children drew too much attention to themselves the adults might realise the time and decide its time to go home!

And just to round off the week....a little bit of work!

Oh humble fig, how do I love thee.....

How many figs can you eat in a day?

That depends on the consequences you're willing to pay!

They hang from the tree, so plump and inviting,

The thought of eating them is oh, so exciting!

But how to obtain them?  Herein lies the problem,

High walls and fences are there to protect them

So at dusk and at dawn, two shadows are seen,

Cycling the neighbourhood, looking for trees

Lew is tall and athletic with a physique to boast,

If I stand on his shoulders I reach higher than most!

It doesn't take long to collect up our loot,

Silently, quickly, off home we scoot

We gorge on the flesh, so purple and fruity

In a matter of minutes we've demolished the booty

Well, to leave them to rot would simply be rude,

And it always feels good when you're eating free food!

(Egg) breaking news......and other stories!

You can tell we've had a fairly quiet time recently, as I'm starting off with an egg story!  But this is not just any old egg, this is a potential record-breaking egg in the making!  One of our chickens has always laid a super-jumbo sized egg, so for obvious reasons Lew named her Kiwi, in recognition of her efforts.  However, the other week she excelled (or should that be "egg"celled?!) herself and laid a whopper.  The egg was so big, she couldn't fly up into the nest, and had to lay it on the floor of the coop.

Checking in with the Guiness Book of Records, we found the world record for a domestic chicken egg is 180 grams.  Average jumbo egg is around 60g.  Kiwi's effort?  154 grams!!!

Only another 27g to go and she'll be famous!  Whilst there were no signs of discomfort, she had a couple of days off before getting back into laying again, and is obviously training hard for the next record attempt.  You'll be the first to know if there's any "egg"citing news!

Still on the home front, Lew and I have been making a few attempts at clearing the river of tree debris which was still stuck in the river after a huge flood 18 months ago.  Lots of tree trunks and large branches have lodged themselves at various points, providing traps to snag any other debris and rubbish that gets washed down the river.  So, having cleared as much as possible from the banks, it was time to launch HMS Unsinkable.
I was the self-appointed Transport Manager, so with aspirations of a place in the 2016 NZ Olympic rowing team, I was soon handling our sleek streamlined boat with ease....

With Lew finally satisfied that I wouldn't tip him out, I came back to collect him and added Operations Manager to my CV, while Lew took on the role of Chief Labourer and Dangerous Equipment Operator....

At one point it became obvious that the boat was a bit superfluous to requirements, so we had a man overboard - entirely voluntarily of course - and I continued multi-tasking as Team Photographer...

Luckily neither of us had accepted the role of Occupational Safety and Health Officer, so the underwater use of saw....

and chainsaw....

was judged to be acceptable and within the job description!
Our timing was just right, as we've had the most enormous storm this morning.  The rain should raise the river enough to wash away all the bits and pieces we managed to release.

We've just had my parents here for a week, so we've spent some lovely days showing them around the favourite places we have got to know during the year.  The weather was perfect, although perhaps a bit hot for mum and dad- even though its September, we're still up at around 30 degrees every day.

Inevitably re-visiting places means that we don't take many photos, as we've already taken them earlier in the year.  We're finding we take fewer photos anyway, as things which once seemed unusual or noticeable, have now become more normal or ordinary.  But there are still some sights that are just irresistible to the camera....

On the food front, we are now into the fig season.  This is very similar to the asparagus season in New Zealand - they're only around for a very short time, so you have to go into overdose mode and consume as many as is humanly possible, as tomorrow they will be gone.  That's all very well with asparagus, as, apart from the bizarre effect on your pee, there are usually no real adverse effects. Figs on the other hand......well, lets just say you have to go carefully to work out the safe daily consumption!

Lew has never really seen the attraction of figs, but he has suddenly become a convert, as they are so beautifully ripe, and there are so many different varieties within a 5km radius of the house.  He has therefore taken on the hunter-gatherer role, and has been spotted in the early morning light, taking off on his bike to relieve the neighbours of their excess figs overhanging the road!  So far he has got away with it, but as the hunting season has started up again, he needs to make sure there isn't a gun-happy Frenchman just around the corner!