a concert in rasteau

figs

here are some field picked figs nestling in the shade of our square foot garden 'lay me down' tomatoes.

Spot the Michelin Guide

With the falling dollar and the rise of food and petrol prices, the Michelin Guide to France had been relegated to a resting place on the window sill. Meanwhile, we are beginning to experience the pleasures of making do with the six mange-touts and one courgette that grew to maturity that day. Plus the odd glass of Chateauneuf, of course. If this is the way the world is going, perhaps it's not such a bad thing?

Blues

From fifteen degrees to thirty six in twenty four hours.



The last of the blues...



The first garden salads....



And peppers, beautiful peppers still up for auction

Happy 900th Birthday Julian!

Today Julian will post his 900th daily painting! There is an awesome new link on which you can see his entire opus here. What a guy! Here he is in a grump trying to see some snaps taken in the Tuscan hills. Little did he know a delectable lunch was minutes away.

Meanwhile, I know I'm not blogging much but, well....it's still really pissy weather and, more importantly, there are exciting plans afoot. Firstly, we have finally committed to the idea of making the hayloft into a gallery from which I will sell prints to passing Dutch cyclists and write a gallery blog. Secondly, in anticipation of the thousandth painting which should be in October or November, not long before Julian's 50th birthday, we are in the embryonic stage of making two books of the Postcards. One will be really posh - leather bound in Avignon, possibly a box set of the four seasons, on cotton rag archival paper and a limited edition. The second will, if we find an agent or publisher, hopefully not be self-published on Lulu. I am redesigning and translating my website into French with the hope of building more home based teaching and workshop stuff, and on it I will have a more musically oriented blog. One day I may even may even finish my own book!

Stormy

There are still storms in the Vaucluse. The cherries are out but our roadside seller is staying home, probably with a good hearty stew in front of the fire.

dancing

And there was dancing at the trulli....