L'équipe de la Paillote

I promise this is the last time I'll mention the Paillote Team 2009 but I couldn't resist sharing some of the 'official' photos with you plus a couple taken by mi' old cock sparra Tom.

Grapes and a fence

Yes, you can believe your eyes: these are OUR grapes which taste very sweet. We've a much better crop than last year - delicious.

I mentioned last time that Pete had been busy in the garden. Well here is the evidence: fencing all the way down the side which makes the garden look much better. A big thankyou to Pete and Matt for their hard work. Now would anybody like to give us a few tons of good quality earth? The vegetables planted lower down the garden have been less successful this year although we have managed a few smaller pumpkins and not a bad number of courgettes.

Goings & comings

As I type this Tine and I have had a week to ourselves with wonderful weather, feeling really on holiday!

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It's been a hectic (but great) summer with many, many visitors now sadly all gone home. Hugh & Jeanne of course were here since May sharing many a Happy Hour with your faithful bloggist. We invited them to a last luncheon here. As you can see Hugh has got VERY fit this year. Hopefully they'll come to see us for a winter break again.

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H&J overlapped with the arrival of my brother Pete who had most fantastic weather for his stay. He also helped us with a great job in the garden, but more of that next time. The beach photos were taken at la Plage de la Mine.

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Pete left on Saturday and back to the airport on Sunday to fetch Brenda & John. Brenda and I did teacher training back in the 70s but we've kept contact over the years with occasional visits so you can imagine how pleased we were to get the call that they were coming over. Sadly the weather was disappointing but it didn't stop John's daily Guardian and pastis chez David or enjoying far too many restaurant meals.

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Photos here taken at les Puits d'Enfer near Les Sables and at the top of the church tower at St Martin de Ré.

Sea shore & restaurant

I'm still catching up on a backlog of photos and thought you might like to share these showing how it doesn't have to be red hot with blue skies to enjoy a dip in the sea, especially with my favourite daughter!

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The next three photos are courtesy of Phil and his trusty phone (just think what he could do with a REAL camera). We don't get very many jellyfish but this was a good example next to my delicate feet.

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Finally Tine at her workplace (now finished for the season) and the two of us having an after-work drink in the bar.

Plage de la Mine

From le Payré we motored on just a few kilometres to the end of the road and walked through the pine forests to this beautiful beach that we were very happy to rediscover after a few years. (Jim & Les: this is where we had a beer at the beach café when we had a sneaky holiday in May four or five years ago.)

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The colour of the sea was amazing but sadly we didn't have our swimming things with us. We returned the following week and ventured in with Pete, but the waves were tiny and the blue was grey!

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I'm not sure what the priest was doing on the beach, but I loved the group. I'll need a better camera if I want to be a member of the paparazzi!

Le Payré

Just before Nadine's return to the UK after her major stay this summer we had a lovely drive out to our favourite Abbé de Lieu Dieu (already posted here several times!) and onto the Payré estuary where the very high tide made it all very interesting with only a narrow sand bank between tidal waters.

We were curious to see a couple picking some of the plants there and found out that they were salicornes (known as samphire in English apparently) which grows on salt marshes and is used in cooking. Apparently their preparation is very long-winded so perhaps not for us!

End of season do (3)

And so, on into the evening. We ate (courtesy of Matt) at Nico's, and as usual we were treated to wonderfully cooked food and an excellent ambiance. That's Matt & Nad before the meal!

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Then to the Casa Blue where DJ Call was in da house and a GREAT time was had by all, well into the small hours.

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I don't really need to point out the stars of our group, enough to say we had a fantastic time even at our age!

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Let's hope Jeremy, Mousse, Floppy, Benji, Charles & Malice return next year to make La Paillote THE place to be!

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Big cheers to Matt for a fantastic day!

End of season do (2)

So, onto Pedro's to enjoy further drinks in the early-evening sun - what an idyllic spot.
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I've obviously perfected the traditional French pose in the first photo and Tine is in her element in photo 2 with her entourage around her. Then we have my two favourite girls looking very sporty after their afternoon high in the trees. Finally Jeremy, Gaz (old Uni mate of Matt's), Matt and moi. That's Mousse's long shadow giving clues to the time of day.
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Final instalment next time.