Papa and I have a busy life here! Mostly, we love it and are having a great time! This week has been a bit sad, as we’ve lost two friends. One was mostly healthy. She called me the day before and I had planned a dinner for 12 friends last week, so we had seen her just five days prior. We are going to her funeral this morning. The second friend passed yesterday morning, 5-6 weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She was Vietnamese French, with a twinkle in her eye, and a generous spirit. She had friends from all over the world that came to Lectoure to spend time with her through the years. She often brought friends to our house for dinners, so we’ve met and spent time with her large circle. We will really miss her.
We’ve had a busy week, starting Sunday, after our late Saturday night at the wedding. We had a picnic with friends, Rachel and Sid, on Sunday afternoon, at Flaran Abbaye and went to a flamenco concert together. On Monday, we had lunch at our favorite neighborhood restaurant in Lectoure, L’Atelier d’Auria’s, with our friend Judy. I also picked figs at a friend Susan’s house and visited with her. On Tuesday, I met with a pâtissière to choose pastries for our wine and chocolate party on 7 October, followed by lunch with friend Annie, and our friend Jean-Pierre came for dinner. Papa borrowed a jacket and tie from Jean-Pierre to wear to the wedding last Saturday, so our payback was dinner as his wife has returned to Canada for the winter. They are retired from the UN we always have interesting conversations about politics and conflicts around the world.
On Wednesday, we had our friends that invited us to the wedding, Agnes and Raymond (owners of the garden I worked in for two months) for lunch, along with a friend of theirs that we met at Saturday’s wedding, Jean Francoise, his wife Mariane, and their son Clement, visiting them for a few days. Another interesting lunch! Jean Francois, spent his career with Seagrams, living in several countries and spending 24 years managing a Seagrams plant in Spain. His son is an oceanographer with the Oceanographic Institute of Monaco. After they left, I raced to a meeting at the Mairie for the volunteers for Patrimoine weekend - will take place the 20-21 September. We were invited for apéros that evening at our friends/neighbors house, Rosette and Gerard. They are French speaking only, which was difficult for Papa, as he doesn’t speak much French. Rosette prepared a very large spread of charcuterie and cheeses, desserts… Their home is beautiful, a family house several centuries old with a grand staircase. I spoke French with them over two hours and was exhausted by the time we left at 9:15.
Yesterday, Thursday, we were invited to lunch at the home of new friends, Olivier and Kate. He is French and she is British, married about 35 years. Their two sons joined us, one recuperating at home with a messy broken ankle, and the other lost his job a few months ago, with USAID in Lebanon, after working for USAID several years. They also invited a friend from the tiny village near their country house, that lived for 10-15 years next door to friends of ours from Boston. It is a small world! We enjoyed seeing Olivier and Kate’s home - an old stone farmhouse that they renovated, with a contemporary interior, a pool inside the old stone walls of a crumbled barn, put a new roof on part of the barn but left the doorways and window openings free and made an outdoor dining area. We had lunch there - it was beautiful, overlooking their garden. In the evening, Romain and Dominique came over to play games. They brought a rummy tile game. We have fun playing games with them, all of us are competitive!
We’re going to a funeral this morning. We’re having lunch with our friend Deirdre, rice and beans, a favorite when we eat together. Another interesting day for us! We love our life here!
