Monday May 9 - Friday May 13

 Monday 9th May 

A very exciting morning, well, just for me really While drinking my morning coffee outside  I noticed a fossil in one of the limestone stones on the patio. With photo matching on Google, it appears it's from the Jurassic age!

It matches a Lumbricaria intestinum, or..fecal matter from an ammonite, but hey, it's still fossilized fecal matter.  Still blows my mind to see an artifact from 150-200 million years ago preserved in stone  

I had arranged to return to hubert and Christiane this morning, but for something different, for a one hour lesson completely  in French.  My objective was to walk in and only speak French. It worked ok, and I came away with a list of words I need to improve pronunciation. 

We walked into Castelnau in the afternoon to visit the regional museum on the Second World War resistance, a topic we find interesting. Two rooms with mainly poster board exhibits but we did spend close to 90 minutes reading and studying the photos,  

France and Great Britain in state of war 

The occupied and free zone 

Tuesday May 10th 

It's getting hotter, and we're walking slower...

A Short walk into the village to check out patios for lunch tomorrow, and more importantly, which ones have shade.  My friend Antoine will be coming tomorrow on his motorbike to visit.  We wanted to scout out the coolest shadiest terrasse. 

I have been thinking more about landscaping in France, and I have created a descriptor, "Studied Indifference" mostly plants are allowed to  grow where they want and spread into each other. 

But the colours still break through the thickets.  One reason gardens are allowed to just evolve is because of the intense heat and Stong winds the area is subjected to.  Its would be impossible to keep nutrients in the soil, and to constantly water so you see many more native plants here, in our part of the world we are always bringing in varieties from other parts of the world because we have the means to artificially fertilize and water them. 

Here are some more photos of the garden to emphasize the "indifference" 

There must be a half dozen different bushes and plants in this "hedge". 

All the bushes blend to form a thicket 

Irises stand out against the patchwork plant background. 

Rosemary thrives in the dry soil. 

A sage bush. 

Painted windows and doors and flowers..

A huge change  to the centre of town compared to  the bustling Saturday market. 

These  balconies facing due south have opted for natural shade rather than awnings.. we know from experience awnings are problematic for condo buildings, how do you maintain uniformity, and after a year or two they fade and look tattered. 

Another difference between Europe and North America, we buy our vegetables washed, by what means we are never sure.  French cooks prefer to see the earth and the roots or leaves still left on them.  In France They are also generally very conscious of the country of origin and the food regulations in that country, especially around pesticides.  And organic food stores are much more common. 

Lovely 'weeds" on this street 

Tree root growing in and out of the rock

Thursday May 12

Busy day ahead, we went to Christiane and Hubert for morning coffee, and also my friend Antoine was visiting  on his scooter from Le Castellet, an almost 3 hour ride. Fortunately he also has a brother near by, so was going to stay the night and drive home the next day. 

Further on my landscaping musing, I thought I'd take a photographic trip from the tramstop to H & C's house. 

We walk past this little trail, through natural vegetation. 

From this point on, every house is walled so you just see the plants that spread over. It's actually quite attractive in itsself, all the walls are freshly painted, and stark  in the bright sunlight, the plants sometimes make interesting sharp shadows..  here are some examples.. 

Standing at the tramstop, here's an example of the natural countryside.   The stop is called Via Domitia, it is right on the route of the original via domitia from Rome to Spain, built in 2000BC, if you close your eyes you might be able to imagine Romans walking by and sitting on these rocks for a rest.  We are a long way from the sub tropical rainforests of Vancouver island.  

And more examples of the desire for earth on vegetables....some posters in our local Carrefour. 

We met Antoine in the village square and had a delightful long lunch. He is of Sicilian descent and lo and behold, there was a Sicilian restaurant on a quiet street next to the square. 

Antoine lived in Castelnau and Montpellier when he was younger and wanted to see the changes so we hopped in the tram and walked the main streets.  Unlike our Sunday visit, the Wednesday streets were crowded. 

We came upon a small section where the architecture was elegant, very similar to Paris, so we paused for a coffee. I'm learning to drink my coffee small.  

Cathédrale St Pierre

Thursday May 12th

Christiane and Hubert drove us to a town, La Grande Motte on the Mediterranean, about 20 kms from Montpellier. 

It was built entirely in the 60s. They drained some land next to the Mediterranean that was marginal, mosquito infested, and sprayed away (and continue to spray) the mosquitos and created a resort town. There's about 10 miles of beach for the people from northern  France to come down and enjoy during their summer holidays. 

For anyone who experienced Expo 67 in Montreal which was all designed in the 60's,  the architecture is reminiscent of 60's Montreal.  Concrete but with some design patterns built in. 

Lunch on the promenade  by the water, and a walk around the sea wall and harbour. 

Town hall

This church is "so expo 67" pavilion-like!

Lynda happened to mention she was looking in supermarkets for the lemon salt that we had bought on our last visit when they took us to a village called Aiguë Mortes for a tour of the salt fields and it turned out we were close by, so we went there On our return. 

Not sure we'd pass through customs if we bought these bags of salt.

And they were advertising local wines of the salt farms.  Hmm. I'm sure they were excellent. 

Friday May 13 

Another coffee morning with H and C, which turned into lunch, and then a supermarket trip in the afternoon with Christiane that was one long French shopping lesson opportunity.  I can now weigh French vegetables,in French.  

Not a clear photo, but Look half way up the palm tree, there's an attractive pink flowering  "weed"growing on it. 

French collectors figurines. 

Another unique French cultural moment...they celebrate a saints day, every day of the year. This is an opportunity to sell flowers of course. At home I often watch the Paris TV news, the meteorologist has the job of reminding viewers of the saints day. And wishes viewers with that name une bonne fête.  I must find out which poor saint has been assigned to February 29th.