An autumn afternoon out with ‘the girls’.

The cooler weather is turning the leaves gold and red before they scatter over roads and fields. It won’t be long and the forests will be bare and we’ll re-discover those big houses that hide behind their gardens the rest of the year. Soon the days will grow dark early and we’ll spend more time at home.

a busy atelier

A friend of a friend is a potter, so we decided to visit her at her workshop out in the countryside.

Joanna’s poterie is at St Geraud de Corps, a small hamlet north of Ste Foy la Grande. She makes and decorates beautiful pottery and has a delicate touch with colour. She runs classes and  during school holidays, holds workshops for children. At this time of year Joanna is busy creating stock for the Christmas markets that are held in lots of local villages.

as Graham won't allow us to keep chickens, this may be as close as I get

the christmas robin

We had a lovely afternoon discussing life in France over coffee, and choosing our favourite pieces. I ordered a large platter with a red robin design to use over Christmas. I chose this , not only because the design is so charming, but also because a robin has recently decided to make a home in our garden, so it seemed appropriate.  In Australia, we only see robins on christmas cards !

our garden visitor - not something we see in Australia

Every Saturday morning we take a walk around the market in Ste Foy. This has been voted the favourite market in France ( by popular vote) and is always busy. You can buy food, wine, oysters, shoes, clothing, baskets, beds, have your chairs re-seated, your knives sharpened, just about anything you can think of. We always finish by meeting up with friends for a coffee and catching up with the latest news. Most of the time it’s coffee, but when the weather is really hot we choose sangria, and now when the weather is a little chillier the bar is offering vin chaud ( warm spiced red wine). Why not at 11.00 am !

the fruit makes this a health food , n'est-ce pas ?

It’s a glorious sunny weekend and we have friends coming for lunch tomorrow so there is food to prepare. Children have already started knocking at the door for their halloween treats. But first the Rugby World Cup final this afternoon. The world stops for this in our house, how about yours ?

Bon weekend mes amis et 

Allez les Wallabies !!