Life Through Small Surprises

Mike and I have enjoyed quiet days this last week. There have been no big events which mean there’s room for all those little miracles that happen in daily life.

As we move into June, the beauty of this area has started to change in small ways. The green of the hillsides are interrupted by clumps of scotchbroom with its yellow spikey blooms. We found a new trail up the hill to Notre Dame Sanctuary and we have to push our way through all the blooms. They are fragrant and leave their scent in the air as we walk through.

I also discovered a new trail on the opposite side of town that I explored on an early morning walk. The trail goes past houses and up to a stand of tall pine trees. It was a windy the day I walked it and there’s nothing like the sound of wind blowing through the pines. I was intently listening to the trees when I realized that I was also hearing the “cuckcoo” of a real cuckcoo bird! The little bird was very persistent. I was serenaded for a long way through the pines. What a nice surprise!

Mike and I also finally found the waterfall for which Cotignac is known. There are photos of it in the brochures but we had not found the right trail. Well, we found it and the falls are delightful. They are not big but the water falls into a clear pool that runs into a pretty stream lined with trees including figs.

That brings me to the vegetation. The jasmine which covers a stone wall on our terrace and honeysuckle are in full bloom. Particularly in the mornings, we can smell the sweet scent of the jasmine all the way into our bedroom. It seems to grow everywhere. It’s not unusual to be walking along and be hit by a wall of fragrance.

We met the owners of the house, John and Sandy Humphreys. They live in South Africa and were in town visiting friends. They came by the house and spent some time telling us about the property. Turns out, we have two almond trees, and a quince tree. That’s in addition to the apricot tree, olive trees and the grape vines. John tells us that we should be able to harvest fruit from all of them. The almond tree has large, fuzzy, green pods. According to Google, the pods will dry in July and we can harvest and dry the nuts inside. We have no idea what to do with quince so we’ll have to talk to the locals when the time comes. The grapes should be edible in the fall. And we can harvest the olives and take them to the local olive cooperative in November (green olives) or December (black olives). It will be fun to watch all these fruits grown and ripen. And that doesn’t include Mike’s tomato and pepper plants that are doing very well!

We have a new business in Cotignac – a glacier (ice cream store)! They also have a nice selection of teas and excellent coffee. It is the Paulette Cafe, owned by Monsieur and Madame Camus. There is much excitement about it. John and Raleigh helped the owners develop a new business line – “take out” ice cream! One night during their visit, they wanted to surprise us with ice cream for our desert. They had to communicate the concept of ice cream “to go”. It worked! John and Raleigh arrived with four coffee cups filled with boules (scoops) of ice cream. In fact, it worked so well we did it again the next night! This time, the owners knew exactly what to do! I’m not sure it’s going to catch on with the locals though. This is a wonderful example of how everyone here tries to help out and accommodate your needs. In fact, we were at Paulette Cafe another evening sitting outside and having tea and coffee. A very light rain came up - barely enough to leave drops on the sidewalk. Monsieur Camus immediately came out and erected an umbrella over us - just us. He was so nice.

We took a day trip to the Cote d’Azur to have lunch with Maria. Maria lives in La Cadiere d’Azur, a charming small village in the Bandol wine region and very near the coast. Maria helped us last year when we were considering places to live, but the day we visited was a mistral wind – cold and very strong winds. This trip was much better although still a bit windy. We had a nice visit in her lovely garden and lunch in the village. Maria told us story after story about local French life and politics. As she explained, the mayor of the villages are elected to five year terms with no term limits. The mayor of La Cadiere has been there for 18 years. It’s a powerful position with the authority to approve all permits for businesses in the village. For example, recently a new taxi license was available in La Cadiere. (They are limited to one taxi per 5,000 residents and La Cadiere just surpassed the 5,000 population.) It is a lucrative business in a small town. After much ado, the new license was given to the mayor’s wife. And there you have it – politics French style!

Our house with its view over the valley is so lovely, we have to talk ourselves into walking into town to visit with the locals. But we never fail to find something fun when we do. For example, this week, I went to Aix for the day to get my hair cut (my first French hair style!) and do some shopping that we can’t do in the village. Mike stayed home and in the afternoon, he started hearing shouts from the village. As we ate dinner outside that evening, there was more shouting. After dinner we walked to town for a tea and coffee (at the glacier) and Mike noticed an unusual amount of activity at the bars. That’s when we realized it was the World Cup which also explained all the shouting. That night France was playing Uruguay. The game was creating quite a hubbub. Well, there’s no way that this opportunity could pass us by so we walked to the Modern Bar. It was quite the scene. There were 8 to 10 kids on stools glued to the TV. The local Modern Bar crowd was there and lots of other soccer fans. To service the unusually large crowd, the new, young owners brought in a pizza truck. We’d seen the pizza truck in the garage on the Cours earlier that week. It was being painted. Now, it was parked on the street outside the Modern Bar selling pizza. (Keep in mind that there’s a pizzeria across the street from the bar!) Inside the pizza truck was a wood burning oven…yes, a wood burning oven inside the truck. They were hand rolling the dough and making pizzas as fast as they could.

Mike was befriended by one of the locals who began to explain (in French and pantomime) how he hunts wild boar with dogs. That’s about the level of detail we were able to discern – thankfully. A little later in the evening, the score tied, the taunting began which resulted in a fist fight among the patrons. It was quickly squashed by the owners and the Uruguay supporter thrown out. Nothing like local color! We now have the World Cup schedule and will go back for pizza and entertainment at the next game!