The "bizarre" adventure?!

The tooth fairy/mouse came to visit the other night in Pernes! Maya is staying with us for a few days and she lost her front top tooth...we were relieved that the fairy/mouse was able to locate her leaving a coin and a game! To celebrate the event we went to the Thursday market in Isle sur la Sorgue.

The water of the Sorgue was just pouring through town where ducks and this lone swan were swimming around waiting for tossed bread crumbs.

Thursday is a smaller market day than Sunday which is packed.

It was really quite cold and windy outside ....

...so we went to the Café de France for warmth.

This is what we ordered...two chocolats chauds and one café au lait!

The café is in a perfect location across from the church which has been spruced up. In warm weather the tables outside are filled.

Thursday, however, the streets were not so filled as in summer time and most shops do not open until 11 am or later but I did get some photos anyway.

These meringues are the speciality of La Parisse...

we were wondering if Gaetan Paris is related to us??!! I love the baguette on the window.

This nice lingerie shop appealed to me because of the long sleeved wool undershirts on the left which I wished I was wearing!! The Mistral wind is really penetrating and goes through most layers of clothing.

Here is a shop selling olive oils and all sorts of herbs and things to help you through the winter...

and this one with candied fruit! Pretty to look at but not really my taste. Too sweet!

Several other shops I thought looked attractive...bakery and pastry

 this is a row of lollipops in the window!!!

On the way back to the car I saw this colorful shop. Everything is knitwear in beautiful colors. I plan to go back and shop a bit...looking for something in burnt orange myself.

Back at the studio the almond trees on the property are budding out and we'll see the blossoms soon. They are the first to bloom and the whole countryside will be pink. I can hardly wait!

We went for an afternoon walk in the woods nearby since the wind had stopped blowing. On the way we met this elderly woman and her little dog who do the hike everyday.

Maya followed them and so did we!

We saw some interesting houses and farmhouses along the chemin on the other side of the forest trail:

We gathered some wild thyme for our dinner omelette

Time to draw before dinner...Friday's forecast is for rain! 

Maya says that our place here is merveilleuse and that we had a very bizarre adventure in the forest!Hence the title of this post! A la prochaine!

Settling in to Pernes les Fontaines

We have been busy around here. The sky is clear and blue. Temperatures are pretty nice but we do have the Mistral coming around every few days so it gets chilly. I am wearing many layers and sometimes I look a bit like the Michelin man. Here is a shot of Maya getting ready to hit the park and the "manège." She always has some creative ideas for dressing!!!

Notice the painting on the left of the picture...it is a bus which we did during our "painting" session the other day!

We walked over to the park so that Maya could practice more biking tricks. She is a good cycler and knows how to use her brakes on the downhill slopes!

The "manège" we go to is near the Marché de Provence fruit/vegetable store and has some really nice drawings of regional spots on the ceiling...Martine is the lady who runs the "manège" and she is really pleasant to talk with while the kids have a ride.

I found this really interesting Lay's potato chips bag...it is the "winter edition"(!!!) flavor of tartiflette which is a type of flat quiche one finds in Picardy in the north of France. There is bacon flavor in it and really it makes a tasty potato chip! Always gastronomique in France!

Speaking of gastronomie...I created a really delicious Minestrone soup in Emmanuelle's Thermomix machine.(Well...the grownups liked it but Maya was not so sure.) I followed the directions in the book and used only a knife to chop vegetables to medium sized chunks and that was it...all the rest is done in the machine. It weighs everything so you don't even have to use a measuring cup!It sautés and cooks the soup and you can add pasta and it does not grind it up. Is this like the Vitamix machine??? If not I want to figure out how to get this machine in the USA!!!

JC went to Marseille to pick up the car!!! A peugeot something...color "bleu marine!"

We drove over to Pernes to move into our little studio apartment on the Chemin Sanmontane...such a lovely spot!

Here are some photos of the inside of the apartment. Living area...

Kitchen...the door on the left leads to the bedroom and bathroom with a huge shower...

Here are some views from the windows out onto the property with olive trees, almond trees

...and these darling little visitors to the bird feeder!

I'm settled in and having breakfast while I watch the weather forecast...we'll have more wind today!

We are down in that bright orange area that has 70 (which means wind speed).

Have a good day...I'll try to find something interesting to write about for the next post. Now I am off to prepare lunch...risotto in the Thermomix! (I think I am hooked!)

First weekend in Provence

Our first few days here have been great! We picked Maya up at school in the afternoon and went over to our favorite fresh fruit/vegetable market to buy some fresh things for home. I also bought a jar of citrons confits for a recipe I want to try in the coming days.

On Friday night for desert we had this delicious chocolate cake (almost no flour in it...but lots of chocolate) as a post-birthday celebration for me.

The candle on top was a number 4 which makes me feel pretty youthful! Maya helped to blow out the flame...thank goodness for that!

Saturday we went to see a play at the Espace Auzon.

Pinocchio.

It was the perfect way to spend a rainy afternoon....and when I say rainy I mean pretty much a downpour with thunder and lightning (hey, we are not in Portland anymore)!

The play was done by a small troupe from Paris:Théâtre de la Mordoré ...two actors played the parts with unique costume and scene changes.

Maya was hooked from the get go and at the end of the play the actors invited the audience to come talk to them and Maya wanted to tell Pinocchio that her top tooth was very loose. Pinocchio was very interested!
The city hall of Carpentras provided a snack for everyone after the performance and while Maya enjoyed her juice and cookie,we shook hands with the Mayor who was present for the performance.

This morning, Sunday, the sky was clear blue and Emmanuelle and I went out to get some missing stuff for the tagine for lunch. We toured a bit around Carpentras and I took some photos.
This chateau is in a rose garden and has a libraries for children and rooms for all sorts of activities...something like the Southwest Center at Gabriel park.

From the street above the chateau there was a clear view of Mont Ventoux and of the gorgeous Dentelles.

We drove around town and looked at some of the new things...whole inner city neighborhoods that are in the process of being renewed. This is part of the walled city whose stones have been put back to how they used to look in medieval times. They had been covered over with cracking, unattractive stucco replete with graffiti.

At the end of the street is the entirely redone building which seems pretty grand to me very different style and period too!!

I love how this olive tree has decided to grow up out of the pavement.

This square is the location of the ancient bird market...in the distance you can see a wrought iron bell tower...made open like this so that the Mistral cannot blow it over.

I love this color combination on the building.

This unique building is the indoor swimming pool built in the 30's.

Here is where Maya is going for swimming lessons and JC and I will help out! This means I have to wear a swimsuit...not too anxious for that! Although it will be fun to see how the swimming will go.

This street is rue Raspail...some of us know the Bd Raspail in Paris n'est-ce pas?? No Palm trees there though!

In the summer it is filled with cafes, tapas restaurants and tables with awnings and lights across the street...we drove down the street but only because it was Sunday and everything was closed. Actually several people called our attention to the "sens interdit" sign. Good to know the French are on duty!
Raspail came from Carpentras incidentally.

A few posters of Carpentras from the museum...do any look familiar?

The platanes were given a haircut this week.

Not sure if these are awaiting their turn soon.

Can you see the blue sky in all these photos? It almost hurts your eyes it is so blue!

JC and Maya are busy looking up stuff and doing Frozen word searches.

Yesterday Maya and I watched the whole of Kirov ballet Swan Lake...we discussed all the possible outcomes for Prince Seigfried and the Swan Queen Odette. This is a great conversation to have with a five and a half year old! I hope you all get to have one of those conversations with someone this week. See you later!