The Social Whirl

When JM broke his tooth in August, we were lucky in our discovery of a wonderful dentist who has since become a good friend. He is also very active in the Rotary Club of Limoux.

This past week, he invited us to an aperitif that he was holding in a beautifully restored mill down by the river in Limoux. We met about two dozen of the local Rotary members and had a swell time.

We talked about it on the way home and compared it to some Chamber of Commerce functions we had attended in L.A. It was odd, because at the ones in L.A. we often wound up not talking to anyone but each other, whereas in Limoux we spent the whole evening talking to a wide variety of other guests. Honestly, we couldn't come up with why that should be. I don't know if we have changed or if the crowd is different. Certainly one would think that it would be easier to find a variety of different subjects to discuss in a big city than a small one, but that was not the case at all.

Then, we've had lots of interesting local visits as well; part-time Chalabre American residents, the Clintons (no, not THOSE Clintons!) are back for their semi-annual stay. We had breakfast and fun conversation with them yesterday. And, we've been spending time helping our friend Les deal with artisans and planning permissions on his house on Cours Sully. Plus, neighbors Yves and Hélène are here for most of the week, as both of them have taken a couple of weeks of vacation. I'm sure we'll get to play some Tarot while they're here.

The big social event of this week is planned for Saturday. It is the awarding of prizes in the first, Chalabre short story competition. This year's theme was the Cathars and we had a whole slew of great entries. The collection of the top 18 stories just came in from the printer and everyone is quite excited about the whole thing. Four of the entrants (two of the winners and two others who made it into the book) are coming to town for the ceremony and we're expecting a crowd of around 40 people for the dinner.

It should be lots of fun and we're already planning next year's contest; this one will be on the theme of Carnaval. Anyone out there who writes in French, get your thinking caps on. Details will be available in January.

Ciao for now.

Randy

The Equinox

For some reason, when JM and I used to come to France for visits, our trips had a tendency to coincide with either the Spring or Autumn equinox. Whenever we would have bad weather, JM's dad would say, "Well, what do you expect? It's the equinox." It has always cracked us up and has become a bit of a family joke.

This past weekend was the dreaded Autumnal Equinox. And, although I do like to laugh at my FIL's ability to find a dark lining in every silver cloud, perhaps he knows something about this.

Last week was mostly lovely, until Friday when it got windy and unpleasant looking. Saturday, because it was market day, was cold and rainy. Yesterday seemed a bit overcast in the morning, but then the sun came out and it got quite warm and wonderful.

We were having lunch with friends Philippe and Bernadette in Pamiers. We were joined by a couple of other writers, one couple of which now lives in New Caledonia. We all had a wonderful time, including a delicious lunch and aperatifs in the garden. It was sunny, warm and beautiful.

About 3/4s of the way through lunch, Bernadette and son Michael ran out to bring whatever remained in the garden back into the house, as it started to cloud over. But, 20 minutes later the sun was back and all was right with the world.

Somewhere around 5 pm, we decided to gather up Maggie and head back to the Possum Kingdom. As we got in the car we laughed about having taken our jackets in case it was cold, because by that point it was really quite warm and summery.

Now, Pamiers is about 30 miles away from Chalabre. As we drove, we noticed the sky in our direction was looking a bit ominous and as we hit Besset, just north of Mirepoix we drove straight into a curtain of rain.

It was one of those amazingly weird weather things that happen occasionally; we were still in bright sunlight, but the rain was pouring down. As we drove, we headed in and out of the sun, but the rain continued. At a few points, it was so heavy that poor Beanie's windshield wipers (luckily replaced last week by M. Hervas!!!) were just unable to cope. I came close to stopping on the side of the road because there was simply no visibility whatsoever.

When we turned at "The Prancing Tractor" on the outskirts of La Bastide de Bousignac, which is the far edge of the Possum Kingdom, I felt as if I was hydroplaning on the road, which had a deep layer of water over most of its surface.

We seemed to be driving in and out of the worst of the rain, although I think we were outpacing the storm at certain points, but it kept catching up to us. Then, as we got to Sonnac, massive claps of thunder were practically shaking the car. Normally, Maggie is not afraid of thunder when she's in the car, but this was really too much for her. She tried to dig down under the floorboards, poor girl!

As we hit Chalabre there was a loud bang as something hit the roof. I thought it was a chestnut being blown by the wind. But as more of them hit we soon realized it was hail! The road was covered in it, making everything a bit slippery.

We got home, unlocked the door, got inside, and as suddenly as it had all started, the storm was over.

The equinox reigns supreme!

Ciao for now.

Randy