Friends in Paris

You've probably noticed that my last couple of blog posts have been from Paris. I'm home now, but spent the week there in the capital city. The woman on the far right is the reason I made this trip. My friend, Marie (aka Mickey in our high school days) was there for a visit, and what a perfect excuse for a trip to my favorite city. We had such a good time! And over dinner this night, we did the math. We've been friends for fifty years!! How can that be? This photo was taken on rue Christine outside the restaurant, La Rotisserie d'en face it's a wonderful place to eat, by the way. I had my first taste of sanglier...oh yum! You'll be seeing more of Paris in the upcoming days, but Paris this time was more about friendship. And I wanted you to know that!

Bells and Books

More from my 'neighborhood' in Paris. Bells and books...a lovely combination. You did guess that I'm in Paris, right?

Guess Where I Am!

I'm not at home. Can you guess where I am? This is the view from the window of my hotel room.

BEHOLD: Abundance

I was walking along the road by the cemetery in my village trying to practice contemplation as Christine Valters Paintner describes it in her book "Eyes of the Heart."  I thought I heard whispering behind me. I turned and BEHOLD...all these little wildflowers raised their tiny voices in a single word: Abundance! How joyful they were, and they begged me to be joyful as well. Receiving their blessing, I continued on and spent the rest of my walk pondering the abundance in my life and offering up gratitude for it. Thank you, sweet wildflowers, for reminding me that my life is truly overflow(er)ing with blessings.

If you want to know more about Christine's book and the practices she offers for deepening your spiritual life through photography, you can find information by clicking HERE. Who knows what might whisper to you on your next contemplative walk!

Sunday Morning 9 AM

Not exactly what I expected to find on Sunday morning at 9 AM along the Cajarc waterfront!

Printing on Stone

Friday evening's vernissage was held  in the Salle Capitulaire of the Abbey ruins in Marcilhac-sur-Cele. This is also where the five artists representing England, France and Germany created their beautiful prints on stone. We were intrigued with the lithography process of painting designs on flat stone with water-repellent drawing tools and then treating the design with chemicals to allow ink to adhere to the stone and then transfer onto paper. The drawings and designs were lovely, and it was fun to visit with the artists and learn their stories. This lithography print course is a yearly workshop given by Peter who owns the Galerie ApART in the village.

Jean admiring some prints

The ambiance in the vaulted room of ancient and sacred stones adds an aura of mystery to the works of art created here.

The Goat Farm

Things are already beginning to gear up for the busy summer tourist season here in the Lot. My week has been a perfect example of the variety of things to do in my neighborhood. Last Sunday I explored a medieval village full of pilgrims walking the chemin towards Santiago de Compostelle, photographed a beautiful 10th century castle, and took loads of pictures of the most magnificent wisteria. Wednesday was our village WWI commemoration. Last evening I attended a vernissage with friends. Monday I leave by train for Paris! And Thursday evening found me here at Ferme de la Hulotte, a local goat cheese farm.
We arrived in time to see that goats being milked. The herd gathers here in the goat barn and the girls wait their turn in the milking room. It was open house day, and the barn was full of visitors watching the goats and feeding them handfuls of hay. The girls have done this enough that they know the drill...they wander up a ramp into the milking room....

where they line up in stations at eye level with the goat guy. He attaches an automatic milker to their udders. He feels each goat's bag to determine when it's empty, detaches the milking device and the goat wanders down another ramp back into the barn to be with her companions. It takes only a few minutes to milk each goat.

Through a series of plastic piping, the goat milk is delivered here into a large stainless steel vat. It can then be processed into the lovely goat cheese the producer sells every Saturday at my local market. It's very yummy!

This farm is part of an association of produces who are "AB" certified and have banded together to market their special local products. Each producer will hold an open house at their farm this summer where they will all have their goods on sale for visitors. We bought walnut bread, sheep cheese and little pie pans of stuffed snails ready to heat and eat. There were also sausages, crepes, wine, honey, and couscous on offer The "AB" designation that these farms hold means that they adhere to a rigorous set of organic food production standards set by the EU. It stands for Agriculture Biologic, BIO (bee-o) for short. I've already marked my calendar for a visit to the snail farm. Maybe I can learn how to turn my garden pests into dinner there!