Un bain avec Romy

Halloween

When we first moved to France, Colette’s biggest concern was that there wouldn’t be Halloween. We found a celebration last year at a nearby chateau, but it turned out to be a bit too scary for little ones. So indeed, this year we were all a bit anxious to find the right Halloween party. The night of Halloween one of Colette’s classmates invited us to his neighborhood in our village. It was about 15 French kids in a pack. They were quite menacing, roaming the dark streets approaching the gated houses shouted “des bonbons, des bonbons” - all in unison. I wanted to correct their approach, but I felt like it wasn't my place.



Thankfully, there is a large anglo-community in a nearby village in the Luberon that celebrates Halloween in its true sense. Our friends in Lourmarin invited us to come there to treat the girls to a proper Provence Halloween. The whole town was in the streets, everyone was saying trick-or-treat and candy was overflowing in every doorway. No dark gates or windows. Costumes galore. All three girls were just delighted.

Iles du Frioul

Babes in the sea. The sun has real staying power through October in Provence. We are lapping it up like dogs. We go to hard-to-get-to swimming holes and have a proper bath celebrating school break. I like swimming in anything real, despite its temperature. Want my girls to grow to do the same.

This was a ferry ride from the Vieux Port of Marseille, the Frioul Archipelago. Wild islands - bare lunar rock, turquoise water.