Haven’t blogged lately as we were away in France for 10 days.  It was quite a whirlwind and we manged to do so much in ten days.  We first went to Les Vans which is in the Ardeche region of France.  It is south of Lyon and North of Aix en Provence.  The town is situated in a valley.  Millions of years ago it was a seabed.  One can notice the layers in the rock on the side of the mountains.  The first weekend we were there we had a friend named Brice visit us with his wife and son from Marseille.  We also caught up with the Roches, Olivier and Nathalie and their two kids who came up from Marseille as well.  It was still cold and not quite spring out and we went up for a walk in the mountains but soon noticed we were under dressed and were very cold.  We had a picnic anyway and then walked some more.

Following their visit we spent a day with Vincent and Violette who own a Olive mill and rent one of the shops under our house in town there.  They sell olive oil, soaps, tapanades, all from the olives from the mill above town.  We spent the day at their house and then walked.  Ceci had come down with a fever and stayed with Violette and helped her package some of their soaps.

On subsequent days we enjoyed eating out, trying to clean the house out and even got to play tennis.  We also spent a day with friends who have a vineyard and beautiful property in Vallon Pont D’arc.  Their house was spectacular and we enjoyed one of the best home-made meals I have had in awhile.

Here are some of the photos

James trying out the tractor at Dominque's house

James and Alain

Walk on old road with abandoned church and house

Ceci tries the tractor

An abandoned house on our walk