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| Chilling like a cucumber with my cat on the couch... |
This summer is finally winding down. And it's been busy. It's amazing I've found time to write, let alone blog! The season started off with a trip to Colera, Spain for a little scuba diving with Jean-Luc's club.
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| Diving in Colera, Spain. I'm now certified with a PE-40, which allows me to dive 40 meters (around 120 feet) with a monitor). |
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| Our friendly Catalan dive masters. |
Then, Jean-Luc and I went to Paris
for a quick weekend. I'd love to say that it was a romantic getaway, but
we were painting an apartment. On the plus side, we did make time for
some fun.
Perhaps we retraced the steps we first took together in 1989.
Perhaps we recreated a new memory...
A few blinks later, it was off to Rome, where we rented a car to get to my sister's gorgeous wedding in Ravello, Italy.
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| Seesters... |
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| The lovely bride and her groom. |
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| The Best Man and Best Friend. |
On the way back to Rome, we toured the incredible Pompeii.
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| Pompeii. |
And spent two nights in Roma before returning to Toulouse.
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| The Spanish Steps in Roma. |
Elvire turned 18 this year and she asked us (politely) if she could have a party. One caveat: she didn't want us there. So I found a beautiful, reasonably priced gîte in the Gers– about an hour and a half away from our house.
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| La Dame de Courties, beautiful bed and breakfast in the Gers. |
We visited an Armagnac distillery, a beautiful abbey, and the town of Condom. Yes, condom.
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| Armagnac. |
In July, we spent ten days in La Ciotat – Jean-Luc's home town, staying at his sister's house.
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| The husband's hometown of La Ciotat. |
We dove into the waters off the beautiful island of l'ile Verte...
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| L'ile Verte– a natural island off the coast of La Ciotat. |
And took a day trip to Rousillon, stopping to have lunch with author Elizabeth Bard and her family.
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| Rousillon– in the Luberon, known for its ochre trails. |
On the way back to Toulouse, we took a different route home, thoroughly enjoying the Camargue region of France, where pink flamingos and wild horses roam...which I'll be sure to photograph on our next visit.
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| St. Maries de la Mer- in the Camargue |
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| Aigue Mortes, a lovely village in the Carmague. |
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| Music, love, and laughter. |
I cooked a lot this summer, hosting more than a few dinner parties for our families and friends.
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| My new plates were put to good use! (I found them at Carrefour Market- a set of 18, three different sizes, for 15 euro!) |
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| Homemade Vichyssoise. |
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| And gumbo – with fresh okra found at the Asian market! |
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| A feast. |
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| And, thanks to my neighbor, we've been eating lots of fresh figs! |
Elvire left for university in Montreal a few weeks ago. Prior to that, we were getting her ready to leave the nest, me sobbing more than a few times. The house is strangely quiet without her.
Yes. I miss her already.
sob.
With all that said, we have one last adventure ahead of us, where we'll be diving again in Spain with JL's club, and then summer officially comes to a close.
I've been plugging away on memoir book two (60k written/25k to go)...and I'm taking a blog break until it's finished. BUT I will be active on my Facebook page, so please head over there!
Per my usual methods of madness, comments are closed on the blog.
xox
Bisous from Toulouse,
Samantha
