Ceret - off season

There are photographs of crowded festivals, crowded streets, crowded bars in Ceret but at this time of year it is particularly uncrowded. In fact quite a few businesses are closed and taking their vacations now.

In addition some of the restaurants are not open and some of those that are have very restricted opening hours ie just for dinner on Friday, lunch and dinner on Saturday and lunch on Sunday, or only 12:30 to 1:15 for lunch. Some businesses, like the butchers and bakeries, are taking turns being closed on the different days of the week. The rest of the businesses are open 9am to 12 noon and 3pm to 6pm. Everything is closed on Sunday except some of the restaurants and bars.

The little clocks for the hours of opening mean there is no concern about communicating in the
different languages.

I did the Ventous walk again today, Mum and Dad did a stroll around town. Since last week, some kids had been born in the little farm yard I pass. And while I was trying to take pictures a woman in a van drove up and threw some pruned tree branches in. The goats were quite enthusiastic about this as were the horse and the donkey who all ran to the gate to partake.

Book end kids.

Milk bar, there wont be any left for that delightful chevre cheese.

There were clouds snagged on the top of Canigou and there is less snow than when I last took
pictures of it, on Sunday.

I only sketch when I am on holiday and I am always disappointed with the first sketch. I seem
to have to learn all over again how to look at something and transfer the image to paper, how
to utilize the pen and techniques. So I decided today to get that first sketch over with and
focused on an old grape vine, twisted, rough barked and pruned. It was warm enough today
to sit on the ground and draw, nodding "bonjour" to other walkers and stroking their dogs.

Most of the mimosa is in full bloom now and it is abundant up in the hills around Ceret.
I broke some off and bought it home. As we don't seem to have a vase we have some in
a wine bottle on the table and some in a milk jug on the hall table.

A young woman pruning vines, a painstaking job.

Finally, another in the series of sun worshippers: