Kelly Kathy and Kenny

 Heres our Kelly, about to go walkabout to foreign parts - concluding in Cambodia in five weeks. Will miss her; expect postcards and updates regularly:)

Here are Kathy (John and Margarets' daughter) and her fiance Kenny - with Alecia and Ryan we had a lovely summer dinner in the garden. Fortunately Ryan kept an eye on my cooking so it wasn't totally overdone.

Thoroughly enjoyed everyone's company... thanks to all x

dining on the clouds

Could be that I've drunk too much today but eating with Pam and Janie was very like sitting on a cloud up in the mountains - the view from their house is amazing, Tilling directly underneath, then swathes of mountains and a whole bunch of sky.
Bliss.
Wonderful meal and quality conversation too, can't believe my good fortune:)

lunch with the queen

 Lunch at Chateau Rushton, St Julia le Bec;
done with all the Rushton style and panache. Don't think anyone was really waving the flag - the principle was anything for a party - but a great excuse to see Max (left) who has just finished his degree show. Plus his mates and family, friends and neighbours. Cheers John:)

goat night

 Evenings with Aileen and Olle Bendick are always memorable... here is himself, godlike in the last of the sun, dispensing blanquette. Below are the two donkeys who had calmed down after Leroy (dog) tried to play with them.

This is the remarkable spit designed by Mike that cooked our sacrificed goat.
The weather hung on till dark so we enjoyed it in the garden. After dark we tipped indoors for coffee.
Here is Ferren, on fine form  -
Not on such good form is Cedric (dog) the one who was hit by a car recently-twice, actually -
he may just be badly bruised but he cant walk and is in pain so we are are crossing our fingers for him.


Many thanks to all for the evening - what delights, including something hitherto unknown with a Norwegian drink of some force - and to Sabrina and Gunner who took many of us home, late - we were  uneasy about crossing the main road with our dogs.

triumphal arch

 Here's the glorious arch emerging from the side of the bathroom in the little house - which will open onto the gym. Honest. Stop sniggering.

And here is dear Sian taking photies at her Mums expo last night. Jill is in Carcassonne hospital and Tony is in Quillan hospital - not fair - but the show must go on and go on it did, to great acclaim. Despite the sudden turn in the weather there was a very decent turn-out.

 Regulars will recognise the garden of the Artoteque in Rennes-les-bains where many an interesting conversation has taken place. It is rumoured to be the very spot where the Abbe Boudet wrote Le Vrai Langue Celtique. 

After enjoying that event me, Ryan and Alicia, Ian, Kat and Pete were invited to dine at Leos. I have some lovely photos of him and he wont let me post them so here is a lovely photo of Pete about to burst into song, or something. Leo did his classic meal in the garden and was as ever the perfect host though his taste in music continues to , erm, lack something. 

goods cooks good company

Olle-Bendick has style!! Love this picture of him looking mythic. We had a dinner superbe* thanks to Ryan and Alicia, thoroughly enjoyed the evening, went for a walk with Aileens five dogs plus my Lily and R and A's adorable Leroy, settled down to chat some more... and everyone went to leave in the early hours, about 1.30. Which is when some fast car stormed through Tilling and hit Cedric, one of Aileens beasts.
She spent a horrid night at their house on the floor with him and got him to the vets first thing. He's OK (thats the short version)
Can we get the mayor to install sleeping policemen? Or pedestrianise the town?


* watermelon, mint and prawn soup; pork in ginger and blanquette butter; cous cous and salad; tarts of pureed avocado and honey with roasted nuts. We drank Blanquette, Chardonay and Rose (gris) only.

Scotland the brave; Iain reports in

Delighted to have heard from Iain and fairly astonished that he has written nothing libelous and I can copy in full, here below. Further Scottish news is that Steve may be coming to stay... watch this space:)

Well that was all very nice. Edinburgh suddenly turned into a southern European capital. Relentless sunshine and reasonably high temperatures for a week. Sadly seems to be over now but it is good to see Edinburgh people find that they have a neck rather than a head pushed in to their shoulders. Of course it could be that that was summer and we have to wait till next year for it to return but no matter it was fun. That is the pessimist in me but to be honest I’m not feeling particularly pessimistic even though the news is filled with the start of the pro independence referendum campaign.

I have this deeply depressing fear that the SNP and Salmond in particular are going to run the best campaign by far. His appearances have appeared measured and he looks as though he is in control. The pro unionists have been caught on the back foot again. The problem is they are a coalition who don’t really like each other. The labour party should be taking the lead but they have a new leader who is virtually unknown and she is unlikely to raise her profile any time soon. The worst thing that could happen is for Westminster politicians to look as though they are leading the campaign. There is talk that Alaister Darling could lead them and that would probably be the best outcome but I suspect he would need to move out of the Westminster Parliament to do it. I’ve been looking to see what I can join but not found anything yet so I am as bad as the rest of the noes.

Our choral concert was a triumph and was sold out. I found the whole thing quite uplifting, whatever that means. Never joined anything before so it was a first for me. We have another concert late in the summer during the festival so I expect there’s a lot of new songs to learn. I’ve even started singing in the shower. Perhaps I’m going through some sort of change.

Life here is much as ever which to be fair is good. Went to see Danza Contemporanea de Cuba last week which was brilliant and rather exciting and not only because the men were blessed with thighs that could choke a bear. Going to Tosca on Saturday with Steve, Rudigore next week and Porgy and Bess by the Capetown Opera the following week. All great fun and all the better because I’ve never seen Porgy and Bess.

Great exhibitions this summer, Van Gogh to Kandinsky: Symbolist Landscape in Europe, Picasso and Modern British Art and the Edvard Munch, Gundersen Collection. The city seems as busy as ever so hard to see many signs of tight budgets. The pound rising might make it a bit more expensive but they still seem to be coming. Steve runs one of the city’s top restaurants and he seems busier than ever.

The bloody trams are still not here yet. To be honest I’m not bothered about the trams I just want the work to be finished. It is a nightmare to get around the city by car.  I only use the car to collect the dogs but they keep on digging somewhere new and redirecting us.  Sadly it has all turned into a great farce, particularly as it is now only go from the Airport (nearly) to the east end of Princes Street.  They spent two years digging up Leith for bugger all.

I hope you are all well and basking in glorious sunshine.

Thanks Iain, its clear that you still miss us, hurumph.
Don't forget Tillings cultural event tomorrow, everyone - Jills expo in Rennes-les-Bains -