Happy May 2nd

For most places in the world, except for the U.S., May 1st is Labour Day. When it coincides with a weekend like this one, you are THRILLED to have an extra day to celebrate, whether it's the labor movement or the fact that it really, truly is now spring.

Here in Chalabre, it was also Carnaval weekend. Last year, Carnaval was much earlier and came with freezing cold weather and snow. I don't remember it being as big of a deal as this year, when the long weekend and beautiful weather brought out lots and lots of celebrants.

The village was packed with visitors, which gave it a really festive air. The partying started Friday and finally petered out yesterday after lunch, when most of the visitors started heading back to home base.

There were some downsides to all this festivity, though. First of all, the celebrating included a LOT and I do mean A LOT of drinking. I believe there are some people who didn't stop drinking for the whole weekend. Friday night, the cafés were filled and we got the first taste of what became a pretty hellish couple of days for poor Maggie, who never got into the carnaval spirit.

The band was playing in the Café de la Paix, and she decided it was too close to air horns/thunder for her taste. We put on her Anxiety Wrap, which stayed on for almost the whole time. It did help a small bit, but sadly, not enough.

The ones who really suffered were our baker, Philippe and his wife, Nadia. Their apartment is right next door to the café. I don't think they actually got any sleep until last night; they're definitely feeling sleep deprived.

On Saturday morning, it was clear that there was a certain group who were still a bit on the loaded side. One of the revelers started parading through the market pulling down his trousers and showing all and sundry his bare butt. Better to see that than be blind, but not much!

The real problem for Maggie came when the local kids started shooting off firecrackers throughout the day. We tried closing the windows, but unfortunately, that's a sound that carries through glass. During the evening, she found place of relative safety behind the couch and we kept the television on fairly loud to cover the noise. This is not an ideal situation, and I think I may need to start giving her some medication to calm her a bit, as the summer noisy season is just getting underway.

Still, noise aside, it was good to see so many people around. And, the stunning weather made it difficult to concentrate on anything but that. We spent an afternoon in the garden of our good friends Yves and Hélene, then yesterday, went to visit friends Michael and Jane in their "fermette," or mini-farm. Maggie got to run and play in the fields with Murphy the Lab and soak in the good rays of the sun. I think she somewhat reproached us for not living in such a cool place ourselves! But we don't have Michael's farming or renovation skills, so it would not be a practical decision.

Today, the cleaning crew is out trying to sweep up all the confetti and discarded plastic cups left behind by the revelers. Maggie is sleeping off the excesses of her doggie day out, and the village is returning to normal. Looking out at the still beautiful weather, you can start to believe that summer is just around the corner.

Ciao for now!

Randy