The sun is out at last…

Quince blossom from our garden

The temperature is around 20 degrees everyday and the sky is blue.  We now understand why the English get so depressed in winter. Everyone tells us it has been ‘unseasonally’ warm ,grey and wet here for the past three months so we are relieved it appears to be all over. We’ve turned off the central heating, opened the windows, hung the washing out in the sun, cut the grass for the first time since autumn and are now working on our new vegetable patch. What a difference some warm sunshine makes to our energy levels.

The plum trees along the river are in blossom...

The petanque players are out enjoying the sunshine...

The magnolia trees have suddenly bloomed...

The first daffodils have popped up in our garden...

We’ve potted up our first geraniums of the season...

And the slugs have arrived in the herb garden...

Now that the ground is drying out we have returned to our walks along the riverside. We have four bridges over the Dordogne river here at Sainte Foy....

some are beautifully built in old stone and some are modern steel. Following the water's edge underneath all these bridges has given us a better understanding of our village and a different view of all the properties along the river. We've found some very attractive houses tucked away and some are even for sale.

4 bedrooms and a riverfront garden

The children from the school along our street made a procession to the mairie (town hall) during the week.

Don't know what it was about but they looked great all in fancy dress - everything from spanish flamenco dancers and princesses to cowboys and superheros. They were led by a car playing very loud music while the teachers threw confetti about and the local police closed the roads and redirected traffic. Then they all walked back to school for lunch at the Restaurant Scolaire ( school canteen).

First marché of the year last week at Montpon-Menestrol , a small town to the north of us. Not a very big market but some interesting displays...

There was also a 'bourse des collectionneurs' which is a fair for collectors - of anything. There were comic books and toy cars, postcards and posters, dolls and medals, miniatures ( of anything at all ). But the strangest collectable and the most common as we see them often at marchés, is the little metal cap on the top of a champagne bottle. People here spend ages going through every cap on the stand looking for  just that special elusive one. You can even buy magazines about them and special display cases for them. C'est bizarre .

Had another interesting 'french' experience this week.We went to a jazz concert with friends at the Chateau de Monbazillac near Bergerac. It was a beautiful fine evening and we all queued to pay for our reserved tickets, and the french all pulled out their cheque books ! The concert was half an hour late starting. 

Bon semaine à tous nos amis