Bonjour all
We just had a great weekend, French style. Played proper Pétanque for the first time ever on Saturday. It's very similar to boules, but it's the Southern version of it. It was pretty eventful in that the old French guy, Bruno, that I was partnered up with ended up being taken to hospital because he was overcome by the heat! He played Pétanque well, but we didn't make it to the second round. Actually he would not have made it physically to the second round. At one stage I felt that I had to stand next to him as he threw his ball, just in case he fell over. Bruno insisted on continuing.
The pétanque game was for a trophy and all and was part of the Payrac fete, or annual year party. The game was to commence, as per the fete flyer, at 2pm. That's when I rolled up, but no, that was when you registered and had a beer. The game actually started at 3pm so by then I had already drank two beers, as I tried, with my limited French, to have a pre match chat with my new partner. Below is a shot of the meeting point at about 2.30pm. That's me in the striped shirt.
Here I am taking a shot. Bruno is the one next to the tree trunk in the white shirt.
Here is me being of assistance to Bruno as he took his shot. We hung around with him while the ambulance headed our way,........ as the ambulance doors closed Bruno gave us a reassuring wave.
Yesterday was a hoot. We went to a village feast for lunch at Reilhaguet. The atmosphere was great, everyone was so friendly, music was playing, and the food was lovely. This photo was taken just before the food rolled out. We all needed to take our own plates and cutlery.
This is a photo of the traditionally made "mique", which is like a huge steamed pork dumpling without the pork.
Later in the afternoon they asked if anyone was up for a game of Pentaque, so with my new found skills and a few drinks under my belt I was up for it. Then from there we went home for about fifteen minutes and headed back into Payrac to catch the last half of the second day of the fete. Looked like there was about 1,000 people there. We hung out with Denis and Celine and there two kids for most for the time and then saw the 11pm fireworks display, they were up there with the best we've scene. It was Bastille Day, so the French were definitely up for a party. Huge day!
Last week, we had a couple of mates, Matt and Arron, as pictured below, stay with us for five nights on route to their mate's wedding in Scotland. We had a ball over the week they were here, with our alcohol intake increasing significantly.
I took them to see the sights including Rocamodour and Beynac Castle which I had not see before. Wow, now this is a castle. Below is a photo taken on the approaching road.
Way back in the late 12th century legendary Richard the Lionheart, who was one of Eleanor of Aquitaine's sons, scaled the walls of these cliffs with his troops and took it over. Here is a list of the castle's occupiers around that era. From then on most of the time it has been occupied by the French.
Here is a shot looking out from Beynac castle, amazing view hey. The French and the English were eyeing each other off across the Dordogne river for decades, particularly during the Hundred Year War.
Here's one looking in another direction from the castle. Some of these photos were taken using Arron's fancy Nikkon long lensed camera. It's made me motivated to upgrade one of these days.
Below is a shot taken inside the Beynac Castle...
Here is another shot of the castle. Aaron's a mad Kiwi, which explains a lot right..
Below is a shot of Beynac-at-Cazenac which sits just below the castle. It was definitely time for a beer stop by this stage.
The following are some favourite photos that the fellas took using the bells and whistles Nickon....
Connor loves looking at pictures of babies, particularly those of himself..
Here is good photo of the back of the house taken later in the day..
What's interesting here is that low set section of the house on the right hand side is where the pigs used to be kept.
Here is a photo of Connor and I out near the pool where we all have dinner sometimes..
Here is a photo of the dinner tables after some duck has been served. Those chunks of meat on the plates on the big table are the roasted duck breasts.
A cute photo of Sophie and her special dolls.....
And here is Sophie, obviously in trouble, as she runs off from mummy. It also shows the chicken pen up the back where I venture (sometimes as late as midnight on those nights I forget to do it earlier) to lock up the chickens each night, and the table and chairs setup for dinner that night.
Hope this finds you well.
Just a note, it looks like the feedback ability of this blog site does not work properly. If you would like to give us some feedback, which we appreciate greatly, or you just want to let us know how you are going, which would also be great as we feel, and obviously are, so far away,......... just email me on mjscott117@gmail.com or Jane on jane_wyndham@yahoo.com.au.
Hope to hear from you.
Bonne santé et a bientot,
Jane, Sophie, Connor and me.
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