Poppies

Haven't had much luck with poppies yet this year. I went to Carcassonne this morning, thrilled to have finally snagged a boob-squashing appointment after only 6 months of trying (normally you can easily get one in 2-3 weeks, I guess there must be a backlog for the usual reason). All good, nice to be able to forget about it for a while.

On the way back I detoured via last year's magnificent poppy field, which only has a few this year. I saw a brilliant red field in the distance but couldn't figure out how to get to it. Then an olive grove full of poppies but nowhere to stop. So here's a small clump on the edge of a vineyard. I'll keep looking!

This evening we went to the new wine bar in Montlaur with G and Ingrid, since it's Ingrid's last evening here. I've heard good reports of it, and it lived up to them. Aurélien, the owner, is passionate about wine and has a list of over 100 bottles, including wines not from here!  We were very modest, just a glass each, but we'll be back to try more. Locally produced food -- S and I had grilled lamb from the woman we normally buy our half lambs from, and it was as delicious as ever. And home-made desserts. I meant to blip from there, but as usual we were so busy chatting I forgot to take any photos.

Anyway, Aurélien is a smart guy. He has had plenty of coverage in the local paper and has an excellent website that has his opening hours, phone number, and email address on the home page. You'd be amazed how many fancy restaurants don't do that. When I emailed him he replied within 10 minutes. He was attentive throughout the evening and, as I'm backblipping on Thursday morning, I can report that an email has just popped into my inbox saying what a pleasure it was to serve us and would I like to leave a review. Montlaur is a slightly awkward place to get to, but with this attitude he will go far.