Wine, Women & Song

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POST  #  6  --  July 15

THE WINE!

THE WOMEN!

THE SONG!

Ziggy

He's Got Hair . . . Down . . . Below . . . His Knees

Joe Co-kerrrrrrrrrhh

Kezia Jones

I've been driving from music festival to music festival -- Joe Cocker in Albi, Ziggy Marley in Montauban, and last night the Cahors Blues Festival where I heard Keziah Jones from Nigeria (along with opening acts The Cheesemakers and Mellow Blues Duo, and closing act, The Hamsters.) I'm sure you're all going, "Oh -- I LOVE The Hamsters!" 

I had planned to go back to Albi for an organ concert in the cathedral, but the roads were full of a bunch of crazy cyclists who were in a very big hurry, and I was detained for three hours and missed the concert. Le Tour de France finished six kilometers from where I had planned to stay for the night -- so I got to see part of a 6 kilometer sprint after they had ridden about 125 miles! It was very exciting when the six leaders came blasting through, but even more so, 4 or 5 minutes later, to see the rest of the pack all bunched together. Beautiful colors, legs -- WAY better than a concert!

My new travel companion, La Petite Grise, and I are in Cahors, France, home of a most amazing -- nearly black it's so red -- malbec wine. We are finding the long way to get places because driving is SO MUCH FUN! She's cute, reliable, and steady. Unlike the rest of the drivers on the road, she and I are not in a hurry, stopping to photograph cows, chateaux, walls, farmhouses -- there is so much beauty here. And because Grise is so cute, and because so many French people have fond memories of the Deux Chevaux -- their first car -- or the car their dad drove -- they don't seem to mind too much that we just put along (by the way, Deux Chevaux is two -- TWO horsepower!!). I'm very happy that she does not like to go fast and that others do not expect it of her. And she's very photogenic!

Her Gearshift comes straight out from the dash and she shifts with various combinations of halfway or all the way out. Tricky at first!

The Dashboard -- She's almost ready to start over! (I don't think it's the first time, nor will it be the last) -- We plan to celebrate.

I will confess that my car and I have had a couple of issues -- all of them my fault. Once, I left the lights on while I visited a beautiful medieval city, Conques. I came back to a dead car -- how very sad. Fortunately, she is so light, a young boy in the parking lot was able to push her backwards so I could get turned around. I coasted down the hill and she came back to life and we were on our way. Secondly, same day -- a Sunday -- we were getting low on gas. That is when I found out that gas stations are closed on Sundays, and that the self-service pumps don't like American credit cards. We found a likely station, waited until a nice man came by, and gave him cash in exchange for him using his credit card to fill the tank. And he even filled it for me! Grise likes an additive, which he knew about and put in for me as well. I suspect unleaded gas, for her, is like me drinking decaf. And the third issue -- still the same day -- the turn signal came off in my hand. Fortunately, La Grise's owner had told me how to put it back on!

I happen to think France is an amazingly beautiful country. Everywhere I look are sunflowers and haystacks waiting to be made famous by the next vanGogh or Monet.

The music festivals are in every little village this time of year and it's impossible to hit them all, but I've gotten a good mix of music from old rock 'n' roll to Reggae to Blues. The "facilities" at last night's event were a bit rough. The bathroom was unisex, with the men standing behind a half wall to do their thing, while we ladies had to walk past them to get to our own private room with this:

At least the two foot thingies are raised a bit so we don't end up with wet shoes!

Speaking of toilets -- I now have the BEST bathroom EVER! 

I have so much more to say -- I miss you all and I miss not being able to talk and laugh with you. However, they're about to throw a little blues festival in my hotel and having someone pounding away at a computer is not conducive to the mood they are trying to set. 

So, au revoir!

Love, Mom/Sissy/Gaylie