Natural symmetry

I haven't pointed my camera at butterflies much this summer, largely because I haven't seen that many. Here's a painted lady, a relatively rare sight here ... sadly it would not pose on a more attractive background. See here for the delicate tracery on the underside of its wings.

This morning I went to the market in St Laurent, which is a shadow of its already limited former self; there were more stallholders than customers, and there were only half a dozen stallholders. The two vegetable stalls had a handful of vegetables each. I ended up with a spaghetti squash (never tried this before), some Pyrenean cheese, and a basil plant from organic herb grower and my former OU student P.

I actually talked to S on the phone this evening as opposed to Whatsapping each other. They are having a lovely time, and here is today's scenery. Stevenson passed through the forest here fearing an encounter with the Bête de Gévaudan, but there's not much chance of seeing it today.