Visitors Part 2

Two of our visitors came from Ireland and two of them came from California, so they’re all a bit jet-lagged.

I gave them an easy day on Sunday and let them lie in until nearly 10am (apart from the YD who was dying to see Aero again). Then we went for a nice leisurely stroll around Reillanne market, followed by lunch on the terrace of the Café du Cours. Then it was off to Céreste for a brocante – a sort of flea-market.

This was a big brocante – traffic was diverted around the village, and the brocante dealers had their wares laid out along the street – but we were a bit late getting there, and there wasn’t great stuff on display. We had a quick stop at Scaramouche for ice-creams, and then had to head home because the LSH was leaving for China. (Did I mention the LSH was going to China? No? He’s gone to a city called Nanjing for three weeks – if anyone has been there and can recommend places to go, he’d love it if you visited his blog and left a suggestion)

The visitors had some quiet time while the LSH packed his bags, and, when he’d gone, I dragged them up to Reillanne forest for a walk, after which we had a light supper, prepared by the YD and her boyfriend, Ash – all sorts of yummy salady stuff from the market that morning.

So that was an easy day.

On Monday, we upped the tempo a bit. A flying visit to the horses to dose Aero with Thuja was the first thing on the agenda, then we went to Forcalquier for the market, arriving there just around 10am – a little too late to get a good parking spot, unfortunately, but it was a nice walk into town.

Last winter, Anne and I used to go to Apt market on Saturday mornings fairly regularly. This year, I discovered Forcalquier market – it’s bigger, brighter, less spread out, and, on top of all that, Forcalquier is a much prettier town. There’s a real bohemian feel to the market, with buskers everywhere, and stalls selling pretty much anything you can think of, from foodstuff to pottery, to fabrics and carpets. After a happy two hours browsing and buying, we had a quick coffee in a cafe on the square :

…before going home for lunch. On the terrace. Très Plaisant. It seems my hydromagnetology theory is being disproved. Or else the Californians seem to have balanced out the dampening effect of the Irish.

Then it was time to for a two-hour ride/walk! The YD was looking forward to riding Aero – the first time in over a year and a half – and I was delighted to be back on Mr Flurry!

Her smile says it all!

The dogs enjoyed the walk too, although Cookie barked at the horses a couple of times. Cinnamon seemed to deliberately duck out the frame any time we stopped for a photo opportunity (is that some form of inverse photobombing?) but the Bro-in-Law managed to catch her tail in the one above, just to prove she was with us.

By the time we got back, we had to get dinner ready, and the evening passed in a blur of cooking, eating and drinking – we had a Californian Rosé to compare with the Provençal equivalent. “Lighter” was my immediate impression…

We have a later start this morning. It’s raining (further HibernoHydromagnetology research required, methinks) and we’re heading off to do some serious dégustation of some serious Côte de Rhone reds.

It’s the last full day for the Californians, but the YD and Ash are staying for the whole summer. Yippee!