Score! at the village vide-armoire

a good haul

Turns out our village has an annual (or semi-annual) autumnal vide-armoire ("empty your wardrobe"). Not as good as a neighbouring village's where you can wander around with wine & sausages whilst you shop, but most of us tracked down a goodie or 2 - or in Sophie's case, 7! When I have a snap, I will point out the lovely jacket my sister snagged for me.

[We will be on our Italian road trip when this pops up].

'Twas great, Toulouse

Last week Auntie R stayed with the kids, whilst we got a grown-up trip to Toulouse. We had been twice before but never overnight or with our bikes. The weather was splendid and thus we walked, ran, biked, and sit and sipped in the autumnal sunshine.  We packed lots in to our 36 hours - eating in a vegetarian restaurant, staying out late for a buzzy, atmospheric drinks and dinner, and biking a portion of the Canal du Midi outside of the city.

our bikes from the hotel balcony

the main square

where one must stop for a drink

the municipal museum

Moore-esque public art

some of the pedestrianised shopping streets

Canal du midi

blurry and romantic

a final stop for moules et frites

Breaking news 2....

Sophie is cast-free!

(yes, that is is your 4 year old dress turned tunic turned shirt, Auntie Sarah, and yes, it is a bit chilly for light cotton, short-sleeves)

Breaking news.....

Jo cut her hair (and it's autumn)

Being Wednesday we walked and foraged 

spotted a field mouse (and also saw 2 deer)

yes, it rained and we got squidgy feet but we had hot chocolate to compensate

and thus ate tarte aux figues with creme fraiche tonight.

Games for all

Side-stepping the rain this Sunday, we headed to a "centre de loisirs" - or childcare centre - that was hosting a family day.

The children played a huge game of Connect 4

Soph contemplates her next move

There was archery!! And he received some great coaching, which may come in handy
because I always said I would only eat wild meat...

Like son, like father...

And we even finished the day with 2 rounds of Cluedo (yes, the British version) [On the 2nd roll of the first game, Seb made the right guess; the next game took so long we gave up!] 

Cloudy with a chance - no, a likelihood - of rain

We discovered a lovely trail around a local reservoir

The weather has been so variable this past week or so. But we haven't let it drive us indoors. However, it has left us drying loads of laundry indoors...

Cut

As you may remember, Seb was finally given a penknife for this summer's canoe trip. After the trip, it went into my drawer, only to be retrieved with permission and when the environment was appropriate (i.e. calm mood, no friends around, supervised, etc).

He has asked repeatedly for the knife since we have been going on lots autumnal hikes. He wants to whittle. So it came out yesterday for a trip the pre-historic caves of the Dordogne. Today he found a stick on the way home and his dad showed him a little bit about whittling.

Well, the almost inevitable happened, and Seb cut himself. Lots of blood, a very sore finger and an equally sore ego. It might affect his gymnastics class tonight but seems to me like a very 'good' way to learn to take knives seriously.

More about food...

It's autumn and thus mushroom season. The truffles are only starting to appear but cepes (like this enormous one) and giroffles are now in the market every week.

Making pseudo-Belgian waffles again, thanks to the cousins

Our to-do list

Seems like as soon as we tick off one item

we add another....

She has good bones

Another 10 days or so and she will no longer be able to clobber her bother brother.

Seb's contribution for dessert

Slice one loaf of bread, slather with nutella, sprinkle some freshly shelled and crushed hazelnuts
& serve with foraged apples now 'sauced'.

Everyone

and I mean Everyone, likes it.

Ain't gonna slow her down

This colourful cast has stopped her from swimming and pony-riding and gymnastics

but not her love of life

reciting her homework poem

bowling at Le Bournat

And we hope it will come off today for a lighter version.

{UPDATE: IT WAS TOO SOON AND SHE WILL HAVE IT ON FOR ANOTHER 2 WEEKS. SHE IS CHEERFUL THOUGH.}

Visitors!

This weekend, we had some friends visiting from our school community back home. It's been lovely to show them around and they were tops at foraging for wild fruit, so we ate very well!

We collected apples, figs, blackberries, quinces, tomatoes, green peppers, aubergines, walnuts and more!

Monbazillac for a hike

The 19th century reproduction village - Le Bournat

Bread-making

Bread-purchasing

Bread-consuming!

the bakery

Turns out Le Bournat also makes wonderful jams and that their windmill grinds wheat grown near our village - so we bought some of both!!

Being colourful

Every broken arm needs a colourful cast and set of fingernails!