Nyons

Today the planets were aligned and the world was as it should be. The significance of this comment will become clearer later. It was another beautiful, hot Provencal day - October 9! We headed off to our second favourite market in the area, Nyons, after posting my box of goodies to Canada. Despite my efforts, it came in a little overweight, so we'll see if that has an impact later. We discovered, thanks to a discussion with Lilian in Nyons, that it is cheaper to purchase your own box and have it priced at la Poste, than the way we did it with their packing materials - good to know for another time. Live and learn!

The drive out the back road from Cairanne over the switch-back roads and along the edge of the L'Eygues Valley to Nyons is my favourite drive in the area. I like the way the road hugs the hillside and gives you regular vistas of other great wine towns like Visan and Vinsobres. It was apparent that the vendange continues from this shot just outside Cairanne, but there aren't nearly as many tractors on the road anymore.

Within minutes of arriving at the Nyons market, Jackie had made her first purchase, a nice leopard jacket. She's not making her packing challenges any easier.

Once again, we discovered a lighter market, vendor and buyer-wise. I thought it would be interesting to see how many vendors show up in the middle of winter. One vendor we were very pleased to see today was Vivian. Within seconds we snapped up her unique sundried tomatoes. I guarantee you that this product is one of a kind - we've searched high and low for alternatives. It turned that the weather had kept her in bed the last two Tuesdays. It's such a French thing - don't show up when it doesn't suit you. In any case it will be our one and only visit with her this year, so we will savour every delicious moment of her tomatoes, done with just the right seasonings and oil. Sounds like an ad for KFC.

We've been visiting her stall in various villages since 2002. We hope she continues next year.

After returning to Cairanne, we walked down to the Tourne au Verre, now also calling itself the Bistro of Cairanne since it's new management. We were happy to fit in at least one visit and are also happy to announce that the food and service is as good as ever. As we sat on the terrace, Dawn and I had our second beef while in France and it was actually very tender and juicy. I guess the Revolution in France continues, because now it appears we can count on their beef, avoided at all costs on previous trips.

To take it easy on our new arrivals, we had a slow remainder of the day and with the heat we didn't feel like doing much anyway. Fortunately, the breeze continues. Tonight we had to retreat to the courtyard to escape the heat for cards and aperitifs. We were very nice to the guests this evening as both Tony and Jackie won games. While we were playing cards, the "Boys" from Orange Air Force Base - might be girls - in their Mirage jets zoomed us on a regular basis. Sorry Claude.

While all the zooming was going on, the sun was setting in a unique manner. I'm not sure that this picture totally captures the effect.