The Serious Smell of Summer!

1/ A Spring Lunch on the Deck

Ever since we arrived back in Araches, the weather has been sunny and balmy. The long hot summer days don't seem far away as we watch the last snow drifts melt away and the grass literally jump from the ground. Another lazy day today, getting through some of those little jobs we have neglected in the social whirl of the last two months!

We joined Marie, Louie, Diane and her friend Louise for lunch on the deck in the sunshine. Marie's youngest, Cami is here too, but she was visiting with friends today. After lunch, Marie and I settled into the deck chairs and it was extremely difficult to get motivated again as we soaked up the relaxing warmth of the sun.

2/ The "secret french custom" - eating fruit!

Apparantly there has been some misinformation given in my blog. Contrary to my earlier comments, after observing a sample of one - the Teste Family luncheon today, the french do eat fruit and vegetables. But I still stand by my original assertion...it's a private thing. You won't see any flagrant fruit or legume munching at restaurants or cafes.

After lunch, Marie was kind enough to ring UPS for us and check on the price of sending our ski bag to NZ. A positive bargain ...only E1700 Geneva to Queenstown. Marie was laughing after she hung up the phone. "It's a joke!" she said. "It would be cheaper for you to buy a seat on a normal flight for your ski bag!"

So it looks like our skis will be coming with us, after all. Plan B is to mail home all the other stuff we won't need. What a hassle. But on a brighter note, we heard from Drive Away Australia this morning and we don't need to have our car serviced! Thank goodness. Trying to explain in french to our local Peugeot dealer that we want an "unscheduled scheduled service" was too traumatic to contemplate....for everyone involved!

Eventually the sun went behind some clouds and it was time to rouse ourselves from the comfort of the deckchairs. Our welsh friends Gavin & Sue have gone back to Cardiff for a flying visit to their family. But they've left their wee doggy "Winston" with Rick and Liz. Winston is a delightful border collie. He loves a walk and so we thought we'd help R&L and share that responsibility. Winston is still very definitely a "boy" so we were a little shy about letting him off the lead lest he chase the girls or pick fights with other boys. We would hate to have to explain Winston's disappearance or injuries to his parents.

To end the day, we were back at Yoga with Antoinette after a 2 week absence during Dana's visit (we didn't have the energy) and our trip to Livigno last week. It's hard to tell, but we actually think she was pleased to see us. We're not sure why. We are the worst students in the class by far. And we have no idea what happens in the last third of each session which is dedicated to breathing. This evening she gave us a Chakra map...all in French. She handed it over to us very reverently. It's obviously important. Unfortunately, we have no idea what we do with it, but we'll have a go at translating it this week in the hope that we can at least try to make an intelligent comment next week. [That'll be interesting!].

Finally just before we were leaving Antoinette went to her car and asked if we wanted some leafy herb that she had been growing. Thrusting a great big bag of green leaves at us, Antoinette explained that it was a good substitute for garlic and onions. We couldn't catch what she called it, but graciously thanked her for the gift. I guess we'll have to try it in our salads and hope that there's no hallucinogenic reaction.

Aaah there's never a dull moment for the Oxleys in Araches!!