Friday was deceptive. I picked up Pierre - my Citroen hire car from Carcassonne Airport and tootled westwards to Mirepoix and Les Pujols in gorgeous February sunshine. The land was green and I saw a gang of vineyard workers tending leafless vines ahead of springtime with confident expectation of another profitable crop.
Sometimes in the French countryside you drive through avenues of lime trees that rise like Grecian pillars from the verges. I would have stopped to take pictures of one or two of them but there was never an easy place to pull in.
It was so warm that I wound down the side window as I had not taken time to work out the car's air-conditioning before setting off. To the left, rising in the distance, I could see the Pyrenees dusted by recent snows.
At Les Pujols I turned left on the quiet lane that leads to Coussa. Puddles in the fields spoke of recent rain but as I say in that ethereal light, Friday was deceptive - as if summertime was just round the corner with its sunflowers bending their heads and maize fields nine feet high in sultry air all shimmery with August heat.
At Robin and Susi's remote property I again looked to The Pyrenees. This is the view from the front of their place at Floc...
Then I went to see Robin wielding his big chopper. He'll be sixty eight on Tuesday. Nobody in the world has known me as long as he has. We are the same but different. I love football and he loves Formula One, motorbikes and skiing. I dislike racing cars and motorbikes and I have no desire to ever go skiing. He has a conservative outlook but I lean towards socialism and fairness. I am a man of words and images while he is a man of axes and engineering. Still, we get along - we always have done. We are brothers with much in common. So many memories. So many years.
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| Robin with his big chopper. The village of Les Pujols can be seen to the right. |
Saturday was cold. Robin and Susi left just after seven - heading to Toulouse Airport and then on to Fez in Morocco. By midday the snow was horizontal and threatening to settle. It wasn't a day for venturing out so I stayed home the entire day and night with my nine "furry companions" - Bounder, Zorro, Daisy, Marko, Polly, Alfie, Treacle, Tinga and Tucker. One or two other cats appeared from nearby farms. Oh mon dieu! I'm residing in a French cathouse!
What a fabulous view from their property. Have fun with the puss chats.
ReplyDeleteYou can see they have good views front and back. They are on a ridge.
DeleteI'd love to see pictures of those moggies. It does my heart good that such a manly woodchopping, car racing man as Robin has 9 cats. I'm a slacker with only 8.
ReplyDeleteTheir internet speed is so goddamn slow here in the back of beyond that loading pictures into Blogger is like watching paint dry but I will endeavour to snap all the felines and post their pictures here...just for you Madame Vivian Vite!
DeleteMy goodness! What a beautiful place! And nine cats with a few thrown in for good measure- whoa!
ReplyDeleteKeep us informed of all and sundry. And stay warm.
There's no central heating Madame Lune and I have an electric blanket on my bed. Last night I kept it switched on all night.
DeleteWow, what a fabulous view! I would love to have an escape like that to enjoy...although the 9 cats would put me in the hospital with an asthma attack (I'm terribly allergic). By the way, watch out for the cat named Marko. He's bound to be troublesome with a name like that!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your stay in a French cathouse! Oui la la!!
Marko has the face of a parrot!
DeleteYour brother looks very fit for 68 - chopping wood will do that to a person. I assume the log fire burns real logs and is not an electric one as I first thought. Are you in charge of chopping wood while you are there?
ReplyDeleteDid the cats pile onto you to sleep? I too am hoping for a photo :)
I understand what you are saying about your brother and you being so different but still getting along. My brother and I joke that we can't really be related because we have such different lives and interests, but we are still good friends - actually closer the older we get.
I keep the cats out of my bedroom. I don't want my sleep disturbing. And yes it is a real log fire. There are plenty of logs in the shed. I don't need to chop fresh ones.
DeleteHa! I love that you're getting interloper cats from surrounding properties! It's amazing how different siblings can be, isn't it? My brother and I are quite different, too. That's a pretty incredible mountain view!
ReplyDeleteI hope I don't end up as cat food. Robin and Susi might come back to find a skeleton and nine cats licking their lips.
DeleteWhat a wonderful vacation! A beautiful view, warm fireplace and all those cats to keep you company. Many years ago we had 9 or 10 cats and we rarely saw them all at the same time except at mealtime. Cats have a way of disappearing at times. I look forward to seeing pictures of your room mates as well! This sounds like a perfect place to both read and write. Enjoy, and remember, long ago they only had the fireplace and no electric blankets!
ReplyDeleteWhat on earth did they do to keep warm Bonnie?
DeleteRobin is a bit of a daddy
ReplyDeleteHe's a lumberjack and he's okay. He sleeps all night and he works all day.
DeleteNow I have that song in my head - it will probably stay there for most of the day...!
DeleteThat's quite a dramatic view! Sounds like the neighbourhood moggies knew there is a new man in town & are trying it on for food & privileges. Have fun with your animal wrangling!
ReplyDeleteGood that both of you can be agreeable and live with differing points of view. I wish a few more people could manage that.
ReplyDeleteA beautiful place, but I don't know whether I'd be able (or willing) to cope long-term without central heating, I am so spoiled.
ReplyDeleteDid you take notes while Susi was explaining everything to you?