fev 2-4: Valbonne introductions

It's finally gotten sunny here today after a morning of serious rain. Apparently there has been a drought for about two years here, so soaking rains like that are uncommon. I had a drive to the supermarket with Rose, one of the women who works here, in the Kissins' VW Golf which was fine, a good practice with my stickshift driving. One difference about French supermarkets that I didn't learn til we were at the cash register is that you weigh and print out your own label for produce! Whoops. And even though it was just your average grocery, there was an astounding collection of cheeses and butters. I can't wait for the Valbonne market which is Friday...

My introduction to Domaine la Sylviane, as the farm is called, has been a hodge-podge. I arrived here via the bus from Cannes and was met by Rose in the village. The house is about a 10-minute walk from town, up into a more country-like area. The house where I eat my meals and Lesley lives is beautiful, well, all of the buildings on the property are. The Kissins have owned the place for about 40 years I think, but it was a former monestary and even has a tunnel from the main house to the church in town! Lesley's mother-in-law lives here, too, , and is a ripe old 97 years, though I've not met her. There are four Filipino live-in workers including Rose who's been with the family more than 10 years here.

I had a great Filipino diner last night in their house with a bunch of their friends. Food plus a kind of video karakoe which was really entertaining. Lots of American songs that they all knew that I'd never heard of! The all sounded remarkably similar, though, with a kind of elevator music feel, no matter whethere it was Elvis or Elton John.I did myself proud on Zombie by the Cranberries. Not as fun as Rockband...

Lesley arrived last night from London and we had a nice chat and glass of wine before heading to bed. It looks like one of my main tasks is going to be to label the olive trees with last year's harves. I'll also learn a thing or two about pruning from the French guy who takes care of the trees, a true "chasseur" or all-around man-of-the-earth type who does things like hunt game and pick wild mushrooms and know about things that grow. I'm excited to have more French countryside interactions.

Yesterday afternoon was quite French country-ish, though, with a walk into town to go to the Fete de St Blaise. It was a weekend-long festival that included a blessing of the local products by the parish priest, sales of produits du terroir from honey to jams to sausages, plus the parade that I witnessed. I could hear the music all the way up at the house (sound travels here where there is no traffic to compete), and it sounded Klezmer-y. Indeed, there was a marching, more like walking and dancing, Klezmer band as part of the parade. They were fantastic and periodically would run up stairs inside houses and play out the windows! For some reason, in addition to the musicians, there were also two women dressed in 1940s-type clothes who danced and carried suitcases.

The parade consisted mostly of floats, though, pulled by tractors and made by local children, each representing a different activity group from the karate club to the music school to the club omnisports. The theme of the parade was culinary (how appropriate) so each float, regardless of the group, had kids in chefs outfits or something else to do with food. One urged kids of eat their fruits and vegetables, and one was Ratatouille (the movie)-themed. The kids also threw flowers off the floats, so everyone was walking around with big bunches. Quite the scene.

Once I've done some work here and taken more photos of the property, will update on where I'm actually staying. With the slow internet, photos forthcoming...