Too Much Good Food

Hello, encore! The last few days have been wonderful. On Friday, before going to Caussade, Christine gave me a driving lesson in her car, because unfortunately, I have never had the means to really learn how to drive standard. Her car is a Renault Twingo. I think that Twingo is the most ridiculous name for a car I have ever heard. It sounds to me like a combination of the words twinkle, pringle, and dingo. Anyways, I was O.K. at driving it.... and that's being generous. I think I'll wait until I have a few more lessons under my belt before I attempt to drive in a city, considering that French driving laws seem a little counterintuitive to me.

Once in Caussade, I accompanied Christine at her gym, which has some of the most archaic and rudimentary workout equipment I have ever seen. She's really into calisthenics and weight-lifting, and because I am possibly the most weak human being on earth, her workout EXHAUSTED me. It feels good to be active, though, certainly. I think we're going to do it again tomorrow.

After the gym, we grabbed a ham sandwich on baguette at a boulangerie (delicious), and then shopped for the dinner we prepared that night. Something about France: they have shitty vanilla ice cream. I don't really know why. On the way back to Saint Antonin, we stopped at a lovely viewpoint from which you can see the winding Aveyron river. Here is a terrible representation of that view:

We returned chez Christine and prepared dinner, for which I prepared the dessert: "Katharine Hepburn Brownies." Yohan, the fellow who picked us up from the airport, joined us for the meal. He is a character, to say the least. He makes a joke about every three seconds. A couple funny things he said included the phrase, "Cheers! burger," and the suggestion that instead of Grace (which sounds terrible, in my opinion, in French: "Ghhrrrhhhaaaaahhhssss"), I be called Robert.

Yesterday, we returned to Caussade to pick Shane, Christine's son and my friend, up from the train station. I met Shane in preschool, when I was three years old. Not only were we good friends, I was madly in love with him. Our mothers befriended each other easily, so when I was four, they took us on a trip to Disneyland and Sea World. It was dope. Over the years, we continued sporadic contact through Thanksgiving dinners and birthday parties. When Shane was twelve, Christine decided to leave the United States (~2000... you do the math), and consequently moved to Saint Antonin. I've only seen Shane twice since then, so I was super excited for our reunion. I was pleased to discover that we still get along very well.

Grace and Shane- 1995

Grace and Shane- 2011 (a terrible picture... better to come)

Yesterday afternoon, Shane and I took the dogs for a walk, and I was able to get a pretty good shot of the town from across the river:

Today, I woke up with a bad cough. I hate being sick away from home. I couldn't fall back asleep after seven for the hacking. I managed to pull myself together enough to go with Christine to the Sunday market, which is awesome. There are people packed into the tiny streets buying fresh produce, cheeses, sausages, meats, bread, and of course, wine. Most of the locals bring large water bottles to be filled with wine. We brought two: one for vin rouge supérieur and one for rosé. The man with the "wine van," as I'll call it, also loves to sing, and he obliged us with a love ballad, for which he accompanied himself with a music box.

vin rouge dans une bouteille de l'eau

Singing from the heart.

Since it was a beautiful, warm, sunny day, Shane and I decided to go on a hike. We met up with his friend, Henri, and started off up le Chemin de la Croix, or the trail of the cross. Along it were thirteen wooden crosses to represent the stations of the cross, and at the top was "resurrection." From the top, there was also a beautiful view of the entire town and valley surrounding. Unfortunately, it looked pathetic through the camera lens.

"I am the morning star."

This evening, Christine is making green chile stew with chile she brought back from New Mexico. The three of us are all feeling sick in one way or another, and thought some down home comfort food might help. 'Til next time, this is Grapes signing off.