A Year on La Lune – Photo Highlights from 2012

Not always blue skies like this

Another year has passed at a rate of knots. It seems hardly any time at all since I was burning my fingers on the hot oven last New Year’s Eve. At least they have recovered and that was still 2011 anyway. Here is a look back at this year on La Lune.

January

Mild weather enabled us to get out walking frequently. One of the nicest walks we did was around the Abbaye de Beaulieu, now a centre of contemporary art. Little did we know what was in store in February.

Abbaye de Beaulieu

February

February was characterised by Arctic temperatures for a fortnight (minus 19C one morning at our neighbours’) and a desperate struggle to keep warm. We didn’t venture out much.

Wintry view behind our house

Even Felix the cat was allowed to stay in at night.

Someone who knows how to keep warm

March

I finally managed to see a truffle market in action – at Limogne (Lot) – after nearly 15 years in France. Fellow blogger Evelyn and I were fascinated by this ancient tradition.

‘Black diamonds’

April

Dominated by the run-up to the French presidential election, April was one of the wettest and gloomiest months in all our 15 years here. On one of the only days it didn’t rain we made a sortie to find the phylloxera cross near Saint-Igne, erected in a vain attempt to stop the depredations of these nasty bugs on the vineyards.

Phylloxera cross

May

It rained quite a lot in May, too. On one of our weekly walks with our walking group we were amazed to see the normally tranquil River Bonnette in full spate.

La Bonnette – raging torrent

An advantage of all this rain was that the spring flowers were the most abundant and colourful I have ever seen here.

Spring flowers

June

We finally managed to get into the swimming pool after wondering why on earth we have one. The balmy weather encouraged around 230 people to turn up for the annual fête at Teysseroles, where we are helping to restore the 15^th-century church.

Headless chicken in the throng

And we put the finishing touches (quite a lot of those) to the newly-formed Parisot Choir’s inaugural concert at the end of the month. We performed a dozen songs in a variety of languages to a packed church.

July

The summer holidays. The markets swelled to three times their normal size, you couldn’t find a parking place in the village and sheaves of leaflets advertising fêtes, vide-greniers (jumble sales) and concerts fluttered in the breeze under your windscreen wipers.

Seasonal market stall

The Teysseroles team rewarded itself with an end-of-season party, where a good time was had by all, including the local priest.

Everyone almost under the table

August

A thunder storm in late July knocked out our Internet connection and caused us no end of bother. This is an occupational hazard at that time of year. However, we took advantage of our leisure time to find out more about one of our local villages, Caylus, when we went on a guided tour. It contains plenty of little curiosities if you know where to look.

What the Catholic Caylusiens thought of the Protestant folk of Saint-Antonin

September

Our singing odyssey continued with a performance of Mozart’s Requiem in the church at the hilltop village of Puycelsi (Tarn). This coincided with my birthday, which made it one of the best birthdays I have ever had.

Church interior

Les Journées du Patrimoine enabled us to extend our acquaintance with the plus beaux villages of Najac and Belcastel.

Dominating château of Najac – smaller Seneschal’s house on the left

Belcastel dominated by its château

Our fourth visit to Corsica combined walking with sightseeing. We stayed in some lovely places with the jagged landscape constantly as a backdrop. At one of the chambres d’hôtes, I discovered a true story which gave me an idea for a novel.

Saint-Florent, Corsica

October

Back to the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness in SW France. Sweet chestnuts were once an important staple food in the region and were later exported throughout France. We learned more about them and how to make a very rich chestnut cake at a local atelier.

This autumn’s chestnuts

The online expat writing group I belong to, Writers Abroad, published its third anthology, Foreign Encounters. A lot of effort went into the final product and all profits will go to charity Books Abroad.

November

November saw me chained to my computer for the National Novel Writing Month challenge (50,000 words during November). I chose the true story I unearthed in Corsica as my theme. No, I didn’t write it in French.

Church at Nonza – was Marie married here?

We profited from the final bit of good weather to continue working at the Teysseroles site with the team.

Teysseroles team effort

December

Our choir held two Christmas Carol services – at Cajarc (Lot) and Parisot (Tarn-et-Garonne). At Parisot, where we are the home team, our publicity was a little too effective. Some reckoned that 400 people crammed into the church but, judging by the smiling faces at the end, nobody minded too much sitting on the stairs up to the pulpit or behind the altar.

Original idea for a crèche at Cajarc

The end of the world failed to materialise on 21st December, much to the chagrin of those who had taken refuge at Bugarach. Never mind, I’m sure there’ll be another opportunity.

This brings us to New Year’s Eve 2012. Thank you to everyone who has read my blog this year and for your interesting and entertaining comments. See you in 2013. In the meantime, since it’s considered bad luck to give New Year’s wishes before 1st January, I will wish you…

Une bonne fin d’année à tous et à toutes.

Copyright © 2012 Life on La Lune, all rights reserved