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Patrick and Carmen’s granddaughter (our tobacconist and newsagent in Menerbes). Seen at the Coustellet market.

In the age when all we seem to read and write about is the imminent demise of the newspaper, this mornings NY Times reports on a heart-warming tale from France:

Mon Quotien (My Daily)

When Elisa Cammarota gets home from school, she tosses off her knapsack and reads her newspaper from front to back. Anthony Azoulay does, too, though he focuses on articles about soccer and large photo spreads. Both Elisa and Anthony are 10 years old and entering the fifth grade in the fall. And both are regular subscribers to one of the most popular daily newspapers in France.

On a recent morning, the two children sat at a large rectangular table with several of the newspaper’s editors. The paper, Mon Quotidien, or My Daily, invites several of its readers twice weekly to help edit the paper, except for the front page, choosing stories that will be featured in its seven other pages.

The national editor, Caroline Hallé, was proposing an article about a school in Britain that had bought hawks and falcons to drive off a plague of seagulls that were dirtying the premises.

Alternatively, she proposed news of how divers had recently found bottles of French Champagne that King Louis XVI had sent to the czar of Russia, but had gone down when the ship transporting them sank in the Baltic Sea. “How did Louis XVI end?” asked Olivier Gasselin, 40, the paper’s deputy editor. “Guillotine,” Elisa shot back, without raising her eyes from the notes she was making.

“We propose, they choose,” said Ms. Hallé, 34, who joined the paper nine years ago after working at an Internet news site.

In an age when many children are addicted to computers, iPods and iPads — and when newspapers are feeling the pressure — Mon Quotidien appears to be an anomaly, all the more so in the journalistic climate of France.

Despite great journalistic names like Le Monde and Le Figaro, the French read ever fewer newspapers. On a per capita basis, only about half as many papers are sold here as in Germany or Britain, and readership is especially low among the young. Only 10 percent of 15- to 24-year-olds read a paid-for newspaper in 2007, the last time the government took a survey, down from 20 percent a decade earlier.

In fact, so concerned was the French government with the decline in newspaper readership that it detailed plans last year for a program called Mon Journal Offert, or My Complimentary Paper, to offer 18- to 24-year-olds a free yearlong subscription to a newspaper of their choice. Though the program quickly reached the 200,000-reader limit the government had foreseen, there was little sign that readers continued their subscriptions once they had to pay.

The papers, which appear every day but Sunday, are lively and colorful mixes of news, photos, cartoons and quizzes. A recent issue of Mon Quotidien featured a front-page photo of Paul the Octopus, which successfully picked the winners of 2010 World Cup soccer games. Another featured a tiny new car at the Berlin auto show that folds up for easy storage in tight spaces.

[news source - NY Times]

                                       We can’t turn our backs on Provence after such an amazing Spring and Summer of 2010 without a look back at some pictures of memories, places, smells, sounds and senses………..

[the field of lupins, or was it ???]

[the amazing lavender season]

[our garden - really coming into its own]

And then let’s not forget the characters in the markets and the piles and piles of nature’s bounty that we are so blessed to taste and smell….

[our 'new' 300 year old olive tree]

[experiencing and learning about French traditions from crowns on cakes to lucky charms to lily of the valley for Friends' Day]

[finding our way around the new baggage restrictions - trust a Schneeb to show the way!]

[let's not forget that little matter of the world Cup!]

[the de Chevaux - about which a book will be written one day!]

Signing off would not be complete without a mention of the wonderful friends and family who have blessed us with your presence. We’ve had special times…… we can’t publish pictures of you all but this doesn’t mean that we don’t appreciate your visits and friendship.

to: Rachel and Dave; Judy; Charles and Janet; George and Julie; Ray and Sandra; Chris; Dennis; Francis and Veronika; Jannie, Cath and Jonno plus HJ and Sno-P, and of course Sam and Will, Richard and Emma! Naturally no thanks would be complete without mentions of the Le Renard trio (Vicks, Daviiid, Robi and the much decorated Max and Blitz), and the Montpellier mob (Jean-Pierre, Genevieve, Robert and Sylvie). Let’s also not forget our intrepid, loyal and so happy partners in construction and maintenance: Jose and Nicola; Manu; Gilles and Julien along with Veronique and her team.

Merci bien!

The sun beats down mercilessly and one of the quirks of Provence is that peak sunshine temperature is only at 17h00 so just when you think it is cooling down, the ice carries on melting.

The last week prior to our encampment to Camps Bay was spent packing, preparing, trimming and generally getting things in order.

Well, that was the plan!

The last week was a blur of - looking after the Fox-Duncan’s dogs as they made a second sortie up the autoroute to Switzerland; a snap visit by George and Julie en route from Melbourne to the UK; a few lunches (why not?); some marvelling at the lavender and the appearance of he sunflowers and…….

Madame was cutting some salad on the chopping board and - bzzzz - a hornet bite! Evoking memories of a violin spider incident some years back which necessitated a week in the Monash Hospital in Melbourne, we visited our new Menerbes doctor with trepidation but a few antibiotics and a jab later, all was well.

[The medieval wash-house in Menerbes has been refurbished and the water is running again! Each village had a wash house and was a great meeting/gossip place. Another bonus for the onset of the season has been the general upgrading and fixing of snow damage on the village roads and garden tidying up.]

Our final lunch at the Verandah was highlighted by Chef Graca preparing a gambas salad ‘par excellence:

Walking the dogs we marvelled at the lavender fields - this year seems to be so much better than last. Harvesting has commenced and we wait for the prognosis as to the level of the harvest.

Then, on Wednesday, the TGV deposited George and Julie Meiliunas on to the Avignon platform for a whirlwind 48 hour visit. We sped around the valley and had a great lunch at Cuceron mainly to see some sunflowers and for them to experience ‘le grand bassin’ - and Patrick’s food. of course!

[George and Julie shelter from the heat with a welcome glass of rose. Lunch was a fabulous avocado, melange of roasted pine nuts and melon salad followed by roast salmon laced with a spicy tomato and basil sauce accompanied by pumpkin and roasted potatoes.]

[The Salmon etc!]

Then on to the sunflowers - bashing through the fields the Touran managed to get us close enough for a pic:

And, then the farewells. We joined the Fox-Duncans on their flag waving finale first a dinner with Pierre and Sylvie and then a lunch a La Bergerie with Lars and Anne from Sweden.

[Lunching at 38 degrees at La Bergerie]

The final Sunday arrived. Coustellet market in scorching conditions. Even the local children huddled in the little bit of shade to listen to the music.

Then, to sign off Provence in summer and leave it to the lobster coloured, bare chested tourists, some local colour:

July 4th was celebrated rather calmly in Menerbes - the US flag was flown!

[We had been noticing how many farmers had been planting fennel. The markets were groaning with the herb. Some serving suggestions are - Healthy sautéed fennel and onions make a wonderful side dish. Combine sliced fennel with avocados, and oranges for a delightful salad. Braised fennel is a wonderful complement to scallops. Next time you are looking for a new way to adorn your sandwiches, consider adding sliced fennel in addition to the traditional toppings of lettuce and tomato.Top thinly sliced fennel with plain yogurt and mint leaves. Fennel is a match made in Heaven when served with salmon.

Perhaps, though the reason why the French are so fond of it (and so are the Italians apparently) is that it is the base for absinthe.]

As we left our driveway, a last peep at the blue hibiscus -

Sigh. Our travels take us to the UK for a few days and the on to another Cape Odyssey.

Au bientot Provence - Lovonne and Simon xx

Number plates. A veritable United Nations of Number Plates. Go to the supermarket, drive down any of the roads, pop into a few villages and you will see them everywhere: Poland, Spain, Belgium (terrible drivers), Great Britain and the list goes on and on.

Of course, the majority are the ones where the number ends with either the dreaded ‘60′ or equally dreaded ‘76′ (which mean hire cars) or - the worst ‘75′, which means Paris!

The valley is alive with tourists, clutching maps, GPS, and all getting pinker and redder by the minute in the intense heat and humidity. The locals have this bemused expression on their faces as they try to decipher some quite incredible varieties of French, cope with the heat and the intermittent wind and then weave their ways around the cars all lost and confused.

While it is now not possible to get any new developmental work done as the local labour is full tilt on fixing everything around the villages in preparation for the August holidays, we had Jean-Pierre and Genevieve around for lunch to help us get Jose’s mind off Spain’s progress in the World Cup and make some sort of commitment to fix a rather bad damp problem we have in the lounge.

[Jean-Pierre and Jose pondering the solution to our damp problem. Jose tells us that his red shorts - and shoes! - are for 'Espagna']

[It would appear that the project team had found a solution]

Part of the reason for the descending hordes of tourists has been the amazing lavender displays all over the Luberon. Here’s one near to Roussillon on our dog walk. The vines are starting to swell with fruit and look their best.

[That's the village of Gordes in the background]

 

[The main entrance to Menerbes with its lavender display.]

Our garden is a picture as well and is showing the benefit of no builders and some real TLC. Madame is snapping away continuously! Morning cuttings take on a new complexion with bay, rosemary and lavender also so prolific.

[Would love to know the real name and how to spell it too! This creeper we only know as 'sharery, or charery']

And, even the hibiscus shrubs are lavender!

We’ve been house/dog - sitting for the Fox-Duncans this past few days as they had driven up to the land of cowbells and Roger Federer. Max and the Blitz have been enjoying their walks but the heat has really got to them. Max has developed a ritual of trying to lap the pool dry while cooling his paws!

Another plant that is in profusion is the so-called ‘Russian Sage’. You see it everywhere and especially used on roundabouts and the side of public roads.

This is what you so after a long French lunch - crouch in the lavender - enuff said!

We’re busy preparing and packing up for the start of the rental season on Saturday. Leaving the beauty behind will be tough, leaving the heat will not!

Au bientot: Lovonne and Simon xx

 

Just outside Menerbes on the road to Oppede, is an old disused blacksmith’s workshop - picture postcard perfect.

Wednesday is market day in St Remy-de-Provence. It’s hot and the village is packed with hordes of Barack Obama’s finest. In fact, it seemed as though the only French spoken was by the stall holders.

We popped into a shoe store and lo and behold!

 

Here we check out our hamstrings ………

 

 

and some back bends

               Je suis tres desolee. These French words - give or take a few accents - mean far worse translated literally (’I am terribly devastated and disappointed’) into English but sums up the karma within France this week.

Knocked out of the World Cup was a humiliation. The end of the world was how L’Equipe put it. It was so bad that Patrick our local tabac and news agent merchandised the paper upside down.

We decided to watch the game from a small cafe in the tourist village of Roussillon. After a less than memorable lunch (the food not the company!) at a bistro in Roussillon we adjoined to the pub alongside - we were bedecked in Bafana/SA colours. The French support? A Canal + movie was on and only with strong prompting did the barman change over to TF1 for the match. Hardly any other patrons watched the game, save for a few Uruguay - no French. Terrified of losing, they though they should rather carry on as though it was not happening!

[A little patch of Bafana, deep in the heart of Provence - out of view was a French hat, flag and rosette pinned up on the wall, desolee]

 

The previous day June 21 was the summer solstice and the day in which over 85% of all people in France participate in some form of musical activity. From 20,000 people on the banks of the Seine in Paris to all the tiny villages, music filters through the ethos of French life.

Menerbes was no different. The village turned out in full force and the local school put on a delightful concert; there was a jumping castle for the little ones and the for the older, a French version of a sausage sizzle with ’special’ sausages. Naturellement, wine and beer as well!

Being Menerbes we had to wait quite while to move from acoustic music to electronic - our notorious power fluctuations had their say!

[The stage and a local technician trying to find the source of no power!]

[How it's done in the village.]

On Wednesday a panama hat accompanied by Chris Savage popped in on a most welcome sojourn from the Cannes Advertising Festival. Chock full of ideas and expressions (’clutterbusters’ was one), we had a delightful evening catching up and showing Chris how the property has been developed.

Naturally, Madame spoiled us with a pork chop - not quite as large as Donovans but just as tasty. Chris rather enjoyed being introduced to tartiflette and a fine Gigondas red.

After a stiff walk the next morning, Chris returned to his day job.

[Old friends are true friends]

We had heard from a local that there was a great non-touristy restaurant in the muscadel capital, Beaumes de Venise. Just outside the picture perfect village is a great little restaurant Cote Vignes where for just 11 euro you can start with a delicious mozarrella and tomato salad, followed by a salmon dish covered in a scallops sauce and vegetables. A 50cl of rose tips in at 6 euros. Coffee and dessert followed and we were on our way.

[The entrance area to the Cote Vignes restaurant and terrasse]

We drove through a little track in the Dentelles mountains surrounded by magnificent broom bushes and vines. The massif Dentelles is serious hiking country and we passed numerous hikers on the way.

 

[Surrounded by aromatic broom]

We left the mountains behind to reach the villages of Gigondas - centre of a prolific wine producing area and on the fringe of the Rhone Valley. Gigondas rivals its better known Chateauneuf-de-Pape for red wine.

The village is peppered with wine-tasting centres down the lanes and each one tries to outdo each other in their marketing.

[A superb display of Gigondas wine]

In the village square is a famous restaurant - L’Oustalet. Take at least two credit cards with you.

On the way home we passed a spectacular display of red lupins just outside the settlement of Velleron.

And, the lavender said that anything lupins can do, I can do it better!

We returned home to find that the previously neglected front road area outside our house has been further enhanced with mowing, plantings and general care and attention.

We’re happy about this!

Au bientot : Lovonne and Simon xx

       [A dazzling field of what we think is either red lucern or red lupins. Situated mid-way between villages of Velleron and L'Isle sur l'Sorgue on our way back from a little day outing to Beaume de Venise, Gigondas and the Rhone Valley.]

Lunching with friends at L’Etang. Jan in full cry!

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