Friday, April 09, 2010

PROVENCE: CHEZ LOUISE-ANNE ET EMMANUEL

There is a house in France, south of France, Aix en Provence, more precisely in Luyne, that became MY house whenever I have a chance to come by. And it seems to be happening every year. Hope this luck will continue....
It' s a two storey house with a huge garden with cherry, nispero, figue trees and a swimming pool.

A table tennis for Victor. Cherry trees in bloom are magnificent!

Lots of newly planted vegetables, herbs and flowers. Some green fingers there...

Terraces to have apperitives ( digestives and meals) or stretching in the morning.

But my definitive favourites are apperitive rituals. In great company of ours hosts and friends: Louise-Anne and Emmanuel.

My provencal no one is PASTIS. No two is Cap Corse. Accompanied by a French selection of cheeses, bien sur!
No house is a real house without a dog or a cat. Our provancal house has a DOCK. He is a HUGE contribution to the family life!
Our provancal family also has two kids: Batiste and Joachim. The first one is a time measure of my friendship with Louise-Anne and Emmanuel.It's his birth, 14 years which marked our meeting point in time.

However it was BRITTANY, Brest, where we met and from where and when I keep the warmest memories ( dont' believe in what they say about the Brittany weather. Tonner de Brest!) and my best French education.
Their life ways lead through Australia ( mind you, both kids are bilingual) to their new residence in Provence.
As our welcome to Provence dinner, Louise-Anne and Emmanuel organised
a splendid barbecue in their garden. One has to take adventure of the newly arrived SPRING! Three men tried very hard NOT to burn the meat.

The guests were very colourful: most of the the ' birds of passage', changing countries every couple of years and speaking many languages. Some were French-Australians, others defined themselves as ' citizens of the world, even a neighbour turned out not to be just typical provancal, but half Swedish. Here was my opportunity of speaking svenska. My best bit was speaking English or Spanish with a French accent. Sorry, friends, it' s just soooo sweet....Thus we had a melting pot of language combinations: French, Spanish, Portugese,Italian, Irish, English, Polish, Japanese and Swedish and the professions from musicians to inventors...
Next day was our DAY IN AIX EN PROVENCE. And here is material proof of it.
Victor found me very French wearing my beret ( a gift from Switzerland, by the way)













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