Triple Continent Blipmeet

It was a meeting of minds, hearts, and continents in a miniscule village in southern France on Thursday, with the added flourish of a massive thunderstorm!

We bonded with A (blipper BrodieB, journal Langedoc Daily, seen here in the kitchen) and L (blipper 5000vines, journal Another Languedoc Year, who took this photo) on two previous visits to this area, when we stayed in their wonderful B&B. One of the driving forces for our current visit was to see them again, and this time there was the bonus of meeting A's mum, P, who was visiting from Western Australia -- a journey that far surpassed ours! We had hoped to also see A's sister, blipper GlassRoad (journal One Crowded Hour), but she was unable to come, although we certainly felt her with us in spirit this evening.

And what an evening it was, rich in conversation, laughter, and amazing food: cauliflower and Stilton soup, garnished with chive flowers; a fabulous dish of thinly sliced potatoes, caramelized onions, smoked salmon, cream, cheese, dill from the garden, and other ingredients I can't remember (we enjoyed several local wines...); a lovely green salad from the garden; and a triple cherry dessert -- homemade cherry vanilla ice cream, homemade cherry sorbet, and some of the local fresh cherries from which the former were made. Bliss!

Watching through the large windows in A's and L's home the progression of dark, ominous clouds, followed by the most spectacular lightning I've ever seen, while sitting around the dinner table enjoying such a repast and such congenial conversation on a wide variety of topics, made for a very memorable evening indeed!

Friday was already a couple of hours old when Phil and I left, after many hugs and kisses. We saw only one other car on our half hour drive back to our studio flat -- and a wild boar (sanglier in French) at the side of the road at one point, a reminder of how thin the layer of modern life is in this remarkable, still wild area of France.

(Earlier today we enjoyed tea with more Olargues friends, S and J, who have a lovely house, extensive gardens, and a variety of animals very near our friends C and J. You can see a photo of Phil and S on Phil's journal.)