This will be a short post because we really did take it easy today. I wrote about our slow Sunday morning in my last post, so I will continue from there. I finished yesterday’s post this morning (Sunday) at around 10 and Cathy and I headed out to wander and make some art.   The photos will show you the three “studios” we found and the work we made at each spot. We also found some new little streets and alleyways and took some lovely photos and I’ll include a few of those. We came back to the apartment for lunch around 1:00 – our usual, you know the routine: cheese omelets, green beans, bread, cheese, cantaloupe, and chocolate. After doing up the dishes, we treated ourselves to a cafe creme at the cafe at the top of our hill. We sat almost an hour just watching people. Today is sunny, blue skies, warm but not hot, and only a slight breeze – perfect for sitting out on the patio of a cafe watching the world go by. Mentioning the breeze reminds me of something that I’ve been meaning to write but keep forgetting. The wind here is a force to be reckoned with. You may have heard of the famous mistral of Provence. I don’t know a lot about it, but I hear that it blows from the north and is a cold wind and can blow fiercely, nonstop for days – some say it can drive a person mad. We haven’t had that while I’ve been here, it is usually during the winter, I think. Perhaps I should have checked my facts before writing this, so don’t consider this an expert lesson on the mistral. What I am really writing about this time is just the regular winds that occur here. Last week we had wind every single day. You could hear it blowing at night, blowing in the morning, and it blew all day while we worked in the garden. I knew that it was irritating me, but I didn’t know how much it was bothering me until it stopped. I can’t remember the exact day, but the beginning of this week, most likely Monday, it was suddenly quiet and still. I said to Cathy, “I feel so peaceful today, I wonder why.” Cathy said, “The wind stopped.” And I realized that she was right. We have had no more than gentle breezes all this week and it is a different place. Well, that’s just a little aside. The weather today is heavenly. After our coffee-drinking-people-watching session, we walked up to the boules courts to watch a women’s tournament. Neither of us know all the rules, but we could figure out the basics from watching for awhile. It also became apparent after awhile who was particularly skillful. It was great fun to watch and I think I will look up the rules. I think I might even enjoy playing – but I don’t think its played anywhere in the U.S., is it? Maybe I should consider horseshoes – not that I have a whole lot of spare time where I’m sitting around wondering what to do with myself! I’ve included some photos of the boules tournament. After watching for maybe an hour, we wandered off to a park that specializes in Australian plants, found a semi-circle stone bench under a tea tree (where we were surrounded by the smell of tea tree oil, but subtle), and we did one more art work. I’ve included photos of this third “studio” and the works we did. I want to remind everyone that these works I show you are studies. We are experimenting and purposely being loose and free and unconcerned about whether or not they are finished works. I don’t say this in defense, because I actually feel that the works are interesting and well-done (in most cases), but I say it so that you will stay in this same spirit with us as you enjoy looking at them. We plan to have dinner at 6:30ish and it is now 5:30. I’m determined to finish this blog before dinner so that I can just relax this evening. It’s back to weeding and trimming and raking and…who knows?…tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. Hope you all had a marvelous weekend. And many thanks to all of you who are adding comments to this blog. I really, really love getting them. And remember that there is a lag time before they show up, since I have to approve them first. Have a fabulous week everyone!