Baking

I hope you're not bored with photos of sourdough. Today I made spiced apricot and cranberry spelt loaves, which are relatively quick to do. This left me time after lunch to go and visit an open studio: the regional government has sponsored an open day for artists, so the locations were all over the place and not necessarily close to each other. I already know all of the artists within a 20-minute drive of home, so I decided to go to Argens-Minervois, the other side of Lézignan to visit Sonia Martin's studio.

Argens is on the canal and has a port with lots of fibreglass boats for hire. But the centre of the village is a much older settlement, perched on a bluff for defensive reasons, with very fine views over the Minervois to the Montagne Noire (extra 2). It has a ruined castle which houses a large community of jackdaws (extra 1).

After a walk around the village I visited the studio; Sonia is currently working on watercolours of animals and birds augmented with litter, conveying an obvious environmental message. See her work here.

I didn't bother visiting anywhere else; back home, I have almost finished the book for my French book group tomorrow. I wasn't keen at first, but it has grown on me. I do still wonder why contemporary French novelists don't do dialogue though.

S, hiking on Pic St Loup, will be back soon, so I'm off to cook dinner.