The village hall still cordoned off as a safety measure. The wasps are asleep at this time of the morning but from mid-afternoon until sunset they swarm around in a decidedly unfriendly way.
Sophie leads her master on a tour of the village. When he lags behind she turns and gives him that ' Do keep up !' look. She charges along the ox track and disappears into the sunflowers. Angus ponders the fact that females of all species give him the identical look.
Off in the dog car to the cafe in the market town. The owners, a 50 something couple, bought it in March. What a time to open a new business ! They don't have croissants but they do have two small Madeleines for Sophie. This saves the day. The coffee is Italian style good. We are changing our shopping habits to support those 'barely hanging on' businesses. There are rather a lot of these at the moment.
On our way back home on the motorway we pass a car pulling a trailer with a very wind blown sheep in it. The sheep seems to be enjoying the high speed cooling breeze.
Pilgrims making a comeback in the village. A father, three boys, mother and two mules wander through . The boys are at that 'studies in motion stage' , I'm guessing 4,6 and 8, and seem to be having a whale of a time. Father stops on the village green and opens cans of orange juice. Mother heads off with her mule in search of some peace and quiet.
So starts a quiet Friday morning in sun drenched France profonde. Another 40 degrees day forecast. The builder has gone on holiday until the end of the month.
Science as poetry : https://www.knowablemagazine.org/article/living-world/2020/life-springs-dead-leaves-streams
6 comments:
What an exciting morning between the mules, the sheep and the wasps. We have also changed our shopping habits. One of the most challenging aspects of the pandemic is the way it tends to enrich Amazon and starve local businesses. I would not want to live without Amazon, but I would even less like to live in a world where there is only Amazon, so these days, if we can find it locally, we try to make the trek. The restaurants are more difficult, but we are ordering in from some of our favorites. The interesting thing is that the cooking at some places has clearly become better, perhaps more to the chef's taste now that there is little opportunity for customer input?
Several of 'our' restaurants changed hands at the beginning of the year. So far they seem to be surviving.
One can imagine that the athletic looking pilgrim mother might be capable, despite being almost as heavily laden as her mule, of giving Angus that 'do keep up' look.
Everyone here is trying to support local independent businesses. With no overseas tourists, Kiwis have been encouraged to travel around the country and many tourist areas like the skifields have been kept busy over the past few months.
Smiling at Bertie's comment. And indeed, the Mum's legs seem to have been carrying some heavy loads for some time now. Enjoyed the link Angus. Just like the author and dear Sophie, I too have always enjoyed mucking around in streams. Some fascinating insight as to what's going on in there.
Appears that the builder came by yesterday just long enough to 'leave his mark' before taking off. I don't know how you put up with him.
Handsome looking mule.
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