PICASSO

We got a Picasso............

No, not a Picasso drawing, a car ......

A Citroen Picasso, with a 2 Litre Diesel, 5-speed manual gear box, this vehicle is larger than we would have preferred (thanks to Kathi's luggage).

Follow for more stories about the car...the lanes and streets and even some of what they call highways are very narrow. We have a GPS called Molly whom we hope will get us where we want to go.

It will service us well with style and economy.

Gardening in France

We have been busy; every time we are out, we are on the lookout for plants.

The flowers that we have purchased and planted so far, the pansies, primroses, some ranunculus and some variety of violas and a few perennials…the hollyhock, lupine, monkshood are all growing well in the southwest sun.

In the rue Marsis garden, you will also find a couple of miniature willow trees, a lovely old rose bush and a hydrangea bush (colors unknown at this time), two large lavender plants and some other unknown plants that have not announced who or what they are yet.

In addition, Graeme planted a lovely honeysuckle (that our landlady

delivered) along the back fence.

Today, we went to a Plant Sale and returned home with six small Blue Bugle Boys plants and a surprise lone Iris rhizome…which I planted in the narrow strip along the fence.

We have been looking for hostas but we are not sure that this plant is available in France.

Positioned fifteen feet higher than the neighboring gardens gives us a commanding view and total privacy.

The herb garden is near completion; the owner has a large sage plant planted in the bed and next door in an unattended area is a huge bay tree reachable from our yard.

In terracotta pots, we have planted lemon thyme, parsley, rosemary, and this weekend at the market, we purchased basil and chive plants that we will pot this week. 

This is wonderful for us as we are both avid gardeners and this year by the time we get back home to Canada, we will have missed the daffodils, tulips, iris’ , poppies and all the early perennials…plus the selection of  annuals for our container gardens will be far and few between.

Dépêche Mode or La Dépêche du Midi (Lot)?

Actually, it’s La Dépêche du Midi (Lot), the local newspaper and we made the paper!

A week ago Monday morning, we were chatting with our neighbor, Guy-Antoine when the local journalist arrived to take a photo of him for a story about the Wine Fair he was busy organizing for the upcoming weekend.

Here we are in the photo, the caption reads “Guy-Antoine… avec Patricia et Gareman, couple de canadiens amoureux du vin francais” translated literally as a Canadian couple  lovers of French wine.

Mid afternoon Saturday 31 March, we went to the “2e Salon des Vins” which was held at the salle de Parguemniers (a large hall below the Cinema).

Our neighbor, Guy-Antoine, greeted us and we paid a half a euro each for a wine glass to allow us to taste the wines. (By the way, the glass is yours to keep).

This fair was organized by a local association to promote Gourdon and the lesser known, unrecognized wines from various regions of France.

We travelled to these different regions by sampling various wines from eight different wineries; there were approximately 15 vineyards represented …some from Bordeaux, Bergerac, Cotes de Gascogne, and Loire Valley, Provence and of course the Lot (Cahors) and many others.

There were other producers selling their products; such as walnuts and oils, we sampled some saffron liqueur produced by a saffron farmer and purchased a jar of homemade ketchup from Les Saveurs d’Emilie.

We had an enjoyable time, sampling and chatting with the producers and gathering information for a vineyard tour and a tour of the Saffron farm.

To sample our purchases, you will have to come for a visit!

As it was Saturday, we also did do our weekly shop this morning at the Market, followed by a coffee at L Orange Tree Restaurant on the main Blvd.

While sipping our coffees, Graeme spotted these two beauties.

By the way, it is not a dream, we must be here….today, we got mail; thanks Kathi!