and I took two weeks off from writing, too.
Our little village has around 70 year-round inhabitants (not counting Walter). I thought it was more. The commune has around 250 primary residents, but I am reminded that while the village contains a lot of houses, many of them have become second homes while the rest of the commune is full of little farms, all of which are inhabited by families rather than the more elderly couples and widows in the village. However, in summer the population of the village swells two or three times and doubles the number of people in the commune. In addition to renters in apartments and the several gites, there are families retreating to their second properties or childhood homes for August; a widow who lives quietly with her dog in winter is surrounded by children and grandchildren in summer, their laughter echoing off the pool and over the plateau as the family sits on the terrace for supper extending long into the evening in the cooling air.
I don’t know about the farms, although I assume a similar thing is happening there. And I can’t speak in detail for the center of the village, but the pattern along the road extending from the intersection by our house to the trash/recycle bins just beyond Andrée’s may be representative. In the summer, and most particularly in August, the population increases from three widows to between 24 and 30 people, clustered in ten of the twelve houses. Of those twelve, two are pretty much permanently empty, three are occupied year-round, and seven are second homes. Four of those second homes are family homes that are now only used occasionally by people who grew up in them, but in August three of them and two other houses are occupied by extended families and two of the second homes owned by non-village people also tend to see multiple visitors. Walking to Andreé’s house from ours in August means a series of greetings with people sitting outside enjoying the evening, families out walking, and kids on bikes and scooters. Most of all, it means we get to celebrate the voices and laughter we hear extending well into the nights as the air cools and the stars fill the huge sky that arcs over the plateau.
Everyone has guests
We have guests at our place, too. For part of July and all of August one or both studios were/will be in use, mostly with one vacated the day the next occupant arrives. This year our summer guests are all Jacobsohn-related: three of Andrée’s children, one with partner; five of her grandchildren, two with partners; two of her bother’s children, one with his partner; some cousins, family friends, the children of family friends, a niece and her partner. In the Spring, our guests were mostly Drew friends, some here for the first time, but at one point this summer we had four guests at our house (a cousin and his wife, and an old friend of Guy — and now us — and his partner) and there were four more over at Andrée’s, spilling over to our patio once she went to sleep and the evening cooled.
We watched the eclipse with one group of family and friends (including Andrée), set out chairs to see meteor showers and a telescope to get a closer look, made endless tomato salads, and consumed a lot of duck and jam (not together). And this summer we even got to celebrate an engagement (we hope the first of many)! One of my lovely nieces and her partner selected a spectacular ring from Patrick Delaume‘s little atelier in Cordes and made it official. I think most females in the extended family have jewelry from him and a visit is a tradition for some, but this ring beats anything we have. It is understated at first glance, but when you look again you see how intricate, delicate, and absolutely beautiful it is. They are a perfect couple. Congratulations!
This life is lovely.
Most of the summer guests are familiar with the place and either rent a car of hop into the Peugeot and head off into the surrounding area. Sometimes we go too, especially to dinner and festivals. I generally bring someone to the Cordes market with me on Saturdays, sometimes the Wednesday market in Les Cabannes as well. And we wouldn’t let it be a visit to Mouzieys without proposing a trip to Le Bouiboui du Pays by the side of the road on the way to Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val for music, beer, and a choice of meat or vegetarian food. Also on the required list is Brasserie Auros, our own brewery on the edge of Cordes with a food truck serving burgers for the red-meat deprived (and falafel), energetic kids and dogs burning off steam as the evening cools, and sometimes music (including their own Tif Taf music Festival in August, named after their most popular beer).
This life is a lot of fun
This life can be a lot of work.
Everyone needs to be fed . . .
There are lots of restaurants for those who want to eat out, and they do good business in summer, but those who are visiting family for an extended time can’t do that every day, which is why we hear the sounds of families dining on terraces and courtyards across the village. But there are also cheaper ways to feed the guests. There’s the weekly “Night Market” in Cordes. And there are festivals. My two favorite festivals, Rock en Vère and a few weeks later Le festival L’été de Vaour (aka the Vaour festival) went ahead this year in spite of fears about fire risk with so many people in such an exposed place [see July 28 entry].
Last Wednesday was the second Les Cabannes concert, which brings out a lot of people from Les Cabannes and surrounding villages (see the featured image), but is mostly local people and families. I didn’t see many obvious tourists at either of them. Les Cabannes, like Auros, featured a foodtruck, and like all smaller festivals beer and wine tents. In contrast, Rock en Vère and Vaour offer more elaborate food, and considerable variety in addition to burgers. The Vaour festival is a tightly oiled machine of young people directing traffic, serving food and working the beer tents, and clearly owning the event. People come home to plan and work the festival, college students plan their summers around it, and the festival has expanded to sponsor year-long cultural events in Vaour and the surrounding areas. There are comedy shows for children and adults, clowns, mimes, music — live bands and DJs, and FOOD.
As we sat at one of the many rows of picnic tables and bench seats at the five day Vaour festival looking at the people around us and marveling at the inter-generational groups, I realized that when you have 10 or so visiting family members around the table to feed twice a day a festival is a blessing. Everyone can get what they want to eat. Most of them have a vegetarian option (and it is real vegetarian food, usually vegan). There are kid-friendly activities, a variety of music for parents and teens, beer and wine, and dancing. People always get up and dance when there is live music. I love that. When the festival is in your own village or close by, the returning family get to meet old friends and catch up on gossip, and when it is somewhere else, the same is often true!
This year I’ll miss our very own Mouzieys-Panens festival, as I did last year (it is August 22-24). But after the pétanque and belote championship games, the final “repast” is served on long tables in the roadway by the Marie. Last year and the year before, that meal ended with a comedian walking up and down the long tables to warm up the crowd, followed by a stage act that included can can dancing! In the past we have had other performers and there used to be a DJ and dancing, which I preferred. But the main thing is that the people of Mouzieys-Panens, the village and the rest of the commune, get together to socialize and eat. Old friends greet each other — and hosts are spared an afternoon in the kitchen.
Luckily sheets and towels dry really fast here . . .
