Ca va swinguer

Tonight was the annual visit of the Santandrea Jazz Band, as part of the summer entertainment. They are hugely popular, and the amphitheatre was packed. Special guest this time was saxophonist Daniel Huck. Most people hadn't heard of him, but we had because when we went to see China Moses a few years ago, he was playing saxophone. He is a very good saxophonist, but during that show he suddenly burst into scat. China Moses does scat too, and he was better than she was :) So we knew we were in for a treat.

Unfortunately the wind made for a cold evening. I wore two long-sleeved tops and a fleece, and I was still cold. And this is August, in the South of France! But human warmth made up for it. Daniel told an entertaining story about attempting to learn to play the trombone when he was 14. After many months, the only sounds he could get out of it were elephant's farts. He played in a band, and when the first day came when he would have to do a trombone solo in public, he was mortified, thinking of how he was going to let down his companions. The moment arrived, the band leader nodded at him, and suddenly, instead of playing the trombone he started singing scat instead. At the end,, "Give up the trombone!" cried the other players. And the rest is history.

I didn't blip yesterday because a) I was too busy, and b) the four photos I took were so bad that I deleted them from the camera without even downloading them. We had our annual "4th of July" party. It's rarely on the 4th, and nowadays it usually isn't even in July, but it's the thought that counts -- marking the day we moved to France in 1997.

We decided to keep it simple this time. But somehow we still spent most of the day shopping and cooking. For the first time in years, we held it in the garden. Luckily it was a warm evening, and our garden is very sheltered. Fifteen of us ate, drank, and talked till after midnight. For the record, so I remember next year:
Soupe de Myriam
Escalivade
Salad
Apricot-glazed chicken
Sticky pork ribs
Cheese
Tarte au citron
Tarte aux pruneaux à l'Armagnac