La Côte Bleue

Here they are, soaking up the November sun on the Côte Bleue at our favorite sandy beach: la Plage de Sainte-Croix. Surfers out in the water and glowing warm sand.

Romy in a basket

Autumn in our corner of Provence

Pruning the giants

We have giants who live in our yard. Soaring cypress tress in a succession; their proportions make us swoon while hanging laundry or lying in the grass. They need a hair cut every few years. We were all thoroughly amused watching the process. Patrice, jardinier extraordinaire (whose very local accent gets the better of both Xavier and me), started at their base and groomed the bottom-half of each coniferous cone with a hand-held trimmer. That part of the job was a day's work, so when he left that evening they looked so funny; perfectly coiffed on bottom and wild tufts sprouting everywhere on their top halves. The next day he came with a crane to attack the rest. The trees tend to grow thick and bulbous if they aren't trimmed...and we so admire their sleek form.

Halloween 2018

On any random day of the year Romy pipes up and asks, "Is it Halloween tomorrow?" (eyes big and full of hope). The French in our village may not celebrate Halloween exactly as we did in NYC, pumpkins may not be quite as easy to get a hold of and trick or treating is redefined, but we carry on the tradition...and I am pretty sure Colette will be an eternal Egyptian.