summer bliss

It's really here, we've passed the solstice and we're right in it -- glorious glorious summer. And that of course means beach time and at Mas Blanc, that means driving down to the Mediterranean. For years, I've had a favorite spot, the long stretch of dunes at a beach called Espighette, about half an hour from Montpellier, which is itself an hour's drive from here. There are several kilometres of nothing but sand and sea and sky....


This is my idea of a perfect beach: uninhabited

So that's where I wanted to take my niece Katie who was visiting recently, and we set off last Sunday for Espighette. On the way I told her how beautiful it would be, absolutely serene, just us and the sea... and assured her that we would not venture down to the section designated as "nudist". Besides, the water would likely still be too cold for swimming, we'd just sit and have our picnic lunch on the dunes.... However, several thousand other people had the same idea, and a traffic jam kept us on the highway for nearly an extra hour in the noon heat... I began to fume and curse, and in frustration gave up that route and turned off to Stes.Maries-de-la-Mer, where I knew we'd have to settle for a more public beach. And yes, it was quite a different scene from the one I had described -- and oddly enough, a whole lot of fun. It was like being part of  a joyous impromptu street theatre production in which we were observers and participants at the same time... music, colour, laughter, such a mix of young and old together: the French DO know how to have a good time.


The French take on Beach Life -- NOT Lake Huron.

Here at home, there is continuing work in the garden, and as it is quite windy these days as well as dry, I've been watering my potted plants early every morning. Today, round about 7 am, I spied a little shiny eye peering at me from the edge of a large clay pot... I waited, and eventually this lovely little fellow came out to greet the day -- I'd heard his sweet voice last night but didn't know where he was hiding.


Some days you just get lucky...

I water the fruit trees in the evening, and yesterday, as I stood down in the field with the hose -- a small pump brings water from the river -- and watched the moon come up, I remembered that I'd read earlier in the day that it would be a particularly enormous moon, something to do with where the moon and the earth are vis a vis each other... and that this would be a PERIGREE moon. And it was... The universe provides such treats for us, whether or not we know the terms... all we have to do is pay attention...  and be grateful for unexpected pleasures.

Okay, it's only the moon... but still... isn't it just divine?