Hi Everybody. Hope you all had a good 4th of July!

Le Foot: Friday, July 4, 20014

We almost forgot it was July 4th, since obviously it's not a holiday here. Too bad, we had some silly costumes we could have used for watching the quarter finals of the World Cup. France's "les Bleus" were playing Germany Friday night, July 4. After 2 unsuccessful attempts at locating a good venue to watch the match, we found a perfect place. But alas, the French team lost. As we say in Chicago, "maybe next year!" As a matter of fact, they called their loss a "malediction", a curse. We were wondering if there was a goat involved, like in Chicago.

Les Chiens: Saturday, July 5

Saturday was our "exploring villages" day. We started off in Lodeve, at a lovely little museum, which was featuring an exhibit by Bissieres, a man who worked from the 1920's (Picasso style) through the 1950's (much more abstract, although he insisted he wasn't an abstract painter.

From Lodeve, we headed to Lunas, our very favorite mountain village, then on to Bosquet sur Orb, where they were holding an unusal festival: part dog show, part market, part kiddie playground. We loved the dogs, all lined up according to breeds mostly totally unfamiliar to us. They had a "grab a pole & fish" place that was quite popular.

Then on we went to a little chapel we love for a guitar concert, then home for dinner on our terrace.

Le Tambourin: Sunday, July 6

Sunday was our village's "Vide-grenier" (flea market), held annually. Last year we got a cocktail table that sits now on our top floor in front of our sofa. This year, nothing lept out at us, except for pizza from the pizza truck guy.

The afternoon found us in a small village for the international tournament of tambourines, a sport that looks a bit like tennis. There are 5 players on each team, & it's scored a bit like tennis is. We saw the women's finals, & enjoyed the passion of these gals who can really hit that little ball quite far with something that looks like a musical instrument.

In the evening, we headed to our favorite movie comlex for a movie & dinner.

Not as exciting as last week's journey to Tuscany, but we do love exploring, wherever it is.

This Friday we leave for a weekend in Malta to see friends from Les' international CPA group. Malta is quite an intriguing place, & we can't wait to do some exploring there.

A bientot!

Elise & Les