An Anniversary to Remember

Summer finally arrived in Provence just in time for our 11th anniversary. The days have been filled with sun and warm temperatures. The figs are ripening, the grapes are growing (they are the size of peas) and new flowers are in bloom – pale and dark pink oleander, and the slender, orange blooms of trumpet vines. The sounds of summer fill the air in a new and sometimes not so subtle way. Each morning I wake up to the humming of bees as they buzz around the blooms of the Linden tree. Birds are chirping and bells are ringing. Now we’ve added the chirp of cicadas each afternoon, and, of course, the frogs at night. We've eaten all our meals outside where we can watch the blue, metallic dragonflies zip by. One of our favorite foods, Cavaillon melon, is at its peak. These are small melons – a little smaller than a cantaloupe – that are sweet and soft – perfect with paper thin Parma ham. We’re having them for almost every meal! It’s the perfect summer treat.

Cotignac is also in full swing for summer. There’s something going on in the village almost every night. We walked into town for an evening cup of coffee and tea (our new favorite pastime) and discovered a band playing on the Cours. Performances have started at the outdoor amphitheater at the base of the rock cliffs. We’re looking forward to our first experience there next week.

The other weekly event, every Friday night, is mussels and fries at the boule courts. It’s put on by the group that organizes the local tournaments. We checked it out last Friday. We got there too early (When will we learn? - When it says 7:30PM it really means 8PM or later.) and had to mill about until the mussels were steamed and the potatoes fried. It was worth the wait. For 6 euros, we each had a big bowl of mussels and a basket of fries. Both were yummy! A bottle of wine was 5 euros. The wine is from the local cooperative and everyone returned the bottles so the cooperative could use them in their next bottling. This was definitely a local event. We loved it!

Sporting events are center stage in Europe now. The last four games of the World Cup are coming up this week and next. We watched the Netherlands defeat Uruguay with several cheering fans from Northern Europe. We talked with a man from Denmark who was vacationing in Cotignac with his family. He was keenly interested in the game. Turns out he had a wager that the final World Cup match would be all European. This match was likely to be the deciding one. He had 10,000 euros wagered and a 3:1 payoff. He was a very happy man when the Netherlands won. He even bought us a drink! And the Tour de France started. On the first day of the Tour de France the news stands were filled with newspapers and magazines about the Tour. It’s on the news and in the papers every day. We’re looking forward to seeing part of the Tour when it comes through northern Provence next week. The World Cup final is also next week. We’re already planning for pizza from the wood fired pizza truck!

And the events just keep coming! This morning, we went to the Pouillard Boulangerie (7AM this time, thankfully) to watch them bake croissants from scratch. Unfortunately, we missed the mixing of the dough but we arrived in time to see them rolling it out and making it into croissants – plain and chocolate. This is the boulangerie of Monsieur and Madame Pouillard. Thierry is the baker along with his son, Donovan, and their young worker, Jean-Baptiste. Aline runs the shop and manages the customers. They were most informative and gracious. When we arrived, they were rolling out the pastry dough. It was chilled and in a large flat square. Thierry explained that the dough is made with 24 layers of pastry and butter. The pastry puffs up into the flaky layers that make croissants so yummy. Rolling pins have been replaced by a machine that flattens the dough through several passes into a long thin strip. First they cut the strip of dough into squares for chocolate croissants. Two bars of chocolate were placed on the pastry before it was rolled up. Next, they rolled out dough for regular croissants and cut into triangles by hand. Each triangle was stretched and rolled into a croissant-to-be. The croissants rise for two hours and bake for 15 minutes. Yummy! They make between 150 and 200 croissants each time. And the bakery is tiny! The two boys were in the middle of it all. They explained that they are off from school and apparently have a program where they go to school for a week and work for three weeks. They had English in school and were able to help me out with some words. This boulangerie also makes beautiful pastries. They were generously gave us samples of an apple tart and a wonderful raspberry tart. We love having first hand knowledge about some of the things we get to experience in Cotignac. And, Mike wants one of their hats!
















July 3rd was our 11th anniversary. We talked about many options for celebrating and, in the end, decided to stay home and enjoy a local activity. We got more than we bargained for! The Cotignac calendar of events listed something called a “Bodega,” but there was no description so we walked into town to investigate. Sure enough – there was an area at the far end of the Cours with tables, a DJ (Frank, our local hardware man), and food for sale. Once again, we were too early and had to sit outside at a café enjoying the wait. Finally, all was ready and we went back for our anniversary dinner. There were paper plates of sliced cheese, thinly slice ham, chick peas cooked with onion in olive oil, and – grilled sardines. (One thing about living in France, there’s always an element of surprise with every event!) We tried one plate of everything. The cheese was great and the sardines were – well, sardines. These were whole fish (with the heads), not the little icky things that come in a can. Frank was playing music while everyone ate their sardines. Most of the music was American and, obviously, in English. All was going fine – kids dancing to the music – when we realized that the words to one of the songs was risqué – to say the least. I won’t repeat it here, but I was blushing. No one seemed to notice, the kids continued to play, and everyone enjoyed their meal. I guess ignorance is bliss in this case!

But that big event wasn’t the end of our anniversary celebration. There were posters all around town for a circus – Cirque Alexia- and Michael LOVES a circus. I swore I wasn’t going to the circus on our anniversary but – what the heck! This is not a circus like Ringling Brothers. It is one tiny tent in a parking lot with an assortment of travel trailers scattered around. We were a few minutes late and there seemed to be no one around. But when we walked up, a woman came out of one of the travel trailers to sell us a ticket. We were in the front row! Of course, there was only one row and a couple of bleachers behind us.

There’s no way to adequately describe the circus. There was a comedy routine that had the kids rolling (which we couldn’t understand), and a juggler (who dropped balls). Then the animal acts started. First up was the donkey that trotted around the ring and did a couple of tricks. Then – one of the stars – a goat who climbed a tower and knelt for a cube of sugar. The kids loved it! Finally, we saw the star of the show – Alexia. Alexia was a four year old little girl. She strutted out in her leotard and pigtails to spin hula hoops around her arms and waist. After each feat, she’d strike a pose for applause. This is not a circus that we’ll soon forget.

On the way home from our big night out, we stopped by the Modern Bar to watch part of the World Cup Quarterfinal match. So – to sum up, our anniversary consisted of sardines, ham and cheese, a circus and World Cup match. Now….I ask you – what can be more memorable than that?