Leos Last Supper

Leo is leaving to skate the Amsterdam canals. His friends will miss him and HE WILL MISS US. Cant imaging what Amsterdam has to offer that beats Tilling. Here is a group photo of his dinner last night taken with a dodgy automatic timer without flash - me, Leo, Kat, Chris, Ian, Pete.






The food was brill, Leo is such a great cook; he gave us crudities with the blanquette and oil and herbs to dip 'em in, then a thick salmon soup followed by warm chevre, honey and walnuts, see pic., then a sturdy spag bol followed by cheese.

During dinner the Captain rang up from a restaurant in Elizabeth Street (behind Victoria Station in London) where he was dining with Annie and Pete. Managed quick chats - lovely to have dinner together again :)

















The last picture was something to do with testing Leos new sound system - we were using bread as a treble dampner, I think.
Leo doesn't actually leave till Sunday so there may be more opportunities for excess before he leaves.

french edition

Here are Claudine and Kat working on the french info for Kats expo - which as you know is on Friday, 11.11.11 at her gallery in the Rue de la Republic




-and here is this mornings mist, clearing slowly - rain over and no harm done to Tilling (though other parts of the south haven't been so blessed.)

sunday lunch

Margo and Theophile joined Claudine and me for curry this lunch time - Lily looked after us all.
Hysterical fun; Claudine and I were wrecked when the others went, its brilliant to play but knackering:)
Off to T Rex tonight... when we are recovered enough.

albi; tops for theology

Went to Albi with Adrian and Maggie, seen here in the street of priests;

Ostensibly we were there to see the paintings of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec but theology was in our face all the time. The local church, seen below, is a very aggressive refutation of Albigensianism.See what I mean? That last image, BTW, is sideways but it matters little - you get the drift. Woe and worse to heretics.

H. T. Lautrec is a genius, of course, but really - really - he is. Magic. Every piece was a masterpiece. The early work was an eye opener, he never had an off-day. Always original, always fresh. Still relevant. The museum itself is also beautiful - here is a window by the portraits of his mother, with two doves sheltering from the drizzle.

The drizzle was slight but the Garonne, the local river, was in high flood (see below) and other parts of France are having a very wet time...

We took refuge in the Saturday flea market, what bliss, though our vide greniers are better. Not very good stuff and jolly pricey. Back home in Tilling, it is raining - warm, not much more than a drizzle, but no market worth mentioning and few people loitering.

tresor public dontcha love'em

Merry afternoon in Limoux at the Tresor Public. following on from the merry morning yesterday ditto in Couiza. All because the powers-that-be have sent me a bill for something already paid and documented as paid. In Couiza they said, ooh voila une error and in Limoux they said, we shall annul this debt (=their mistake) But on Tuesday I have to go to Couiza to claim back the money they have taken from my account to cover their error.

OK I know. Paradise has its price. But without sweet darling Andree, her car and her calm, I would be an expense on the public purse in the psychiatric ward in Limoux.Here is an irreverent and deeply spooky photo of Knights Templar's up to not a lot.

Today Claudine turned up with tales of Madagascar - shes here for a brief visit - and tonight Max and Andrea took me to the Pierre Lys for dinner, which was totally brill. Vraiment. Salad with country ham and walnuts, delicious; duck, yum, with this'n'that including pastry shaped like a smiling moon; frommage, in my case a bucket of Roquefort which with red wine is the nearest I can recall to sex; lime sorbet, fresh, with calvados and blanquette.

Tomorrow I'm off to Albi.... today, its happy 110 birthday to Andre Malraux, famous for having a road in Tilling. Or an avenue, I forget.

Diary date - 11.11.11.

Kats gallery is the place to be on the 11th of Nov this year,

Boulangerie Pâtisserie de L’Art
5 rue de la République
11260 Esperaza France

6.30 onwards... she has some lovely invitations which I have failed to download and transfer to this blog so if you know her ask to see one. If you don't know her come along anyway and introduce yourself.

All Saints

Its a holiday to remember the dead of the family - later today the French will be in their graveyards with chrysanthemums. The mist is lifting and it'll be a beautiful day for it -:)
Last night we celebrated Max and Andrea being here, albeit only for a couple of days - Kat and I, Jo and Roy. Forgot to take snaps so heres a picture of the Halloween plant that Roy and Jo bought, classy eh?? Love it!
Andrea remembered sweeties for the Halloween kids and so did I so when the avaricious little critters arrived we were ready for them. Cultural divides showed up as our Canadian friends were appalled at the treatment the Brits were prepared to mete out. Its a question of time, probably. The Americas have had this stuff for ages whereas when I was a kid Halloween was sitting up late at night and telling ghost stories, not hassling for tacky sweets without charm or grace (the kids, not the sweets)
I missed the perfect photo opportunity a couple of days ago. As there was a party for Halloween in the Centre Culturelle lots of kids and young adults were flocking in, heavily costumed. There were a couple of splendid tall and elegant vampires, dribbling slighty, standing under the banner across the street that read : offrez votre sang.