Bonjour
The other day we visited Menerbes, about 40 minutes drive from here. It's the town where Peter Mayle wrote his famous book " A Year in Provence". It was absolutely beautiful, your classic rustic, chic, French village. We had a lovely walk around its streets. Here is Jane and Soph, looking out over the Luberon valley from its ancient Place de l'Horloge square.
Connor loves a picnic, as you can see in the photo below, when ever we get the esky out, he's a happy man. Even though it's getting colder it's still nice to have the odd picnic in the great outdoors, especially in this beautiful part of the world.
This was our first "picnic" in Provence, just after we drove through the gorgeous villages of Bonnieux and La Coste. This was the area where a lot of the movie, "A Good Year" directed by Ridley Scott and based on another Peter Mayle book was filmed. It was a cold day, and the day we experienced our first Mistral, which is the infamous strong, cold winds from the northwest that this region of France experiences. The upside is it's usually followed by fresh sunny days. The question is how long the Mistral lasts.
One fine day we visited the village of St-Saturnin-les-Apt, only about 20 minutes away, fantastic view...
Sophie, while she has her off days, as we all do, loves school. Looks like she is well liked too. I took the photo below after I dropped her off one day. She and her new friend, Noahlly, came up to the fence to say goodbye. Noahlly invited Sophie around to her home last Saturday for a play.
Have been enjoying my morning walks here. Very different to back in the The Lot, both are spectacular in their own way. Some mornings I head out before the sun rises. The photo below captures that moment just before the sun moves above the horizon, magic time of the day. That's a plane's jet stream across the sky you can see.
And then looking back across the valley....
The other day we visited Menerbes, about 40 minutes drive from here. It's the town where Peter Mayle wrote his famous book " A Year in Provence". It was absolutely beautiful, your classic rustic, chic, French village. We had a lovely walk around its streets. Here is Jane and Soph, looking out over the Luberon valley from its ancient Place de l'Horloge square.
Here they are again enjoying Mernebes....
And here I am on the other side of the village with the Luberon mountains in the background. Connor is looking a bit serious, not sure why. That back pack has been so handy, especially considering our pram is due for some tyre repairs. Connor gets a much better view from up there too.
Here is a cute photo of the two kids standing in front of the door of the 14th century Eglise (church) Saint -Luc which is at one end of Mernebes..
Connor loves a picnic, as you can see in the photo below, when ever we get the esky out, he's a happy man. Even though it's getting colder it's still nice to have the odd picnic in the great outdoors, especially in this beautiful part of the world.
This was another picnic we had, just outside of a place called Oppede-le-Vieux. We just parked on the side of the road and picked a spot amongst an olive grove. In the photo up on the hill are the ruins of the 13th century Oppede castle, what a spot, so peaceful and the backdrop wasn't bad either.
Sophie, while she has her off days, as we all do, loves school. Looks like she is well liked too. I took the photo below after I dropped her off one day. She and her new friend, Noahlly, came up to the fence to say goodbye. Noahlly invited Sophie around to her home last Saturday for a play.
Have been enjoying my morning walks here. Very different to back in the The Lot, both are spectacular in their own way. Some mornings I head out before the sun rises. The photo below captures that moment just before the sun moves above the horizon, magic time of the day. That's a plane's jet stream across the sky you can see.
And about a minute later...... the sun has made its grand entrance...
And then looking back across the valley....
That same morning, as I was walking back down hill, I cam across this snake, right in the middle of the track. He wasn't going anywhere so I went cross country in order to get around him. I have seen more snakes in France than I have in many years in Australia.
As I walked into our village that morning I took a photo (below) of the 17th century castle which is now the town hall, or the marie as they call it here. The teacher at Sophie's school told us about a "new residents" meeting at the marie so we went along. We thought it was going to be purely a sit down event to hear heaps of info (in French of course so we would understand bugger all as they speak so quickly) on the village. But no it was a meet and greet with the mayor and councilors there along with some wine and snacks, a fun night.
At that new residents meeting a nice young French couple invited us around to their place for dinner the following night. Martin and Roxanne have two little girls with one of them in Sophie's class. They are renovating this huge old 18th century mansion a few kms out of town, selling their little flat in Paris to come down here to do so. They're architects, what an exciting project!
Sophie and Connor had a ball playing with their daughter, Sophie dressing up in a ballerina dress..
This is the old village of Maubec which sits at the foot of the Petit Luberon mountains ....grape vines in the foreground showing their Autumn colours....
I would love to be able to paint some of these scenes. I came across this great, colourful painting titled "Maubec Vineyards" by a talented artist called Karen Walker. You can see that same church on the left hand side of the photo above.
Thought I would finish off with this photo of the two wee ones. They're at such a gorgeous age! Really enjoy spending so much time with them.
Bonne journee or bonne soiree, what ever is appropriate :).
A bientot et meilleurs vœux
Jane, Sophie, Connor, et moi
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