Journée de Mistral

The Mistral brings lots of wind and lots of wind means a good day for hanging the wash out, lounging around the house, collecting up all our stale husks of bread and feeding the donkeys who live in a paddock on the edge of the village. 

 And then a lazy afternoon reading the Jack Reacher novel Ben gave me in London.

Roaming farther afield

AND

AND BEST OF ALL

La brocante à Jouques

A time of crazy weather everywhere! In Montreal it is 8 C while here it is only a little warmer, with fierce winds blowing and everyone bundled up in woolens like the brits, though being french they have alot to say about it...même à Aix il fait froid! The crowds were sparser this year and, in a reversal of fortunes, those who usually sweat it out in relentlessly sunny spots were the ones basking comfortably today.

 

 

 

There's always one in every crowd

 

 

Amazing. Was he a family pet or was an apprentice taxidermist practicing his craft?

 

 

Aix on market day

Some more photos from our day in Aix at the beginning of the week, as we whiled the time it took for the motorcycle to be repaired.

the nougat seller is new to the market this year, at least I think so, it's the first time I notice his table

Vintage records and vintage record seller

 

 

Café life is for everyone in France

so are baguettes

 

First things first

The garage for a new battery for the motorcycle

then to buy some bread from our favorite Aix boulangerie, Farinoman Fou (run by a Quebec native)

then the fabulous Aix market

and the Cours Mirabeau

En vacances

Robert taking his vacation very seriously

Figs on the branch

One of Rians' finest

Love these pocket gardens! If the french have two square inches of free space, they make a garden

We are always officially en résidence when we hang up Sol's windspinner

Terrasse hosed down, apero time

Arrival

 

good old AirTransat

 Our first wet arrival in Provence, but some union or other who was staging a protest strike in the main entrance hall provided everyone with distractions. It poured through much of the day until just at day's end, then, in the way it does here, the skies cleared miraculously so that at the top of our hill it was still drizzling and from the other side of the Porte St.Jean a ray of sunlight came out illuminating the yellow ochre walls.
Today we strolled through the little fair set up in the center of the village along with all the other curious village flaneurs.

from our front window

half the street had rain, the other half was bathed in evening sunlight

Robert in Place Posteuil, Rians