It?s Party Time

The day of Vero and Xavier's 20th Wedding Anniversary party has arrived, so, it's off to their house in Leognan, south of Bordeaux. They have six children, at the moment, but don't be surprised if it's not seven soon!

There were about a hundred people at the party - mainly family - lot's of X's sisters and brothers came up from Toulouse with their children, so it was quite an atmosphere. Luckily, their garden is immense (compared to our's) and 7 marquees were erected on the lawns. They have some large trees there too which their daughters can climb like monkeys. No one else dare follow. They also back onto the Landes forest which is mile upon mile of coniferous trees. You can see it on satellite images - it's the bottom left-hand of France and the forest runs from Bordeaux all the way down to the Pyrenees and the Spanish border.

There was an awful lot of French being spoken (hardly surprising, eh?) and my brain was working overtime trying to keep up with conversations. It was easier to slink off and take pictures of the folks there. It did have to rain of course. Days of blazing sunshine and the one day you need it, it rains. Not for long though, so no real harm done. It certainly didn't dampen the barbecue which had 200 fresh sardines smoking away. They had also made canelles - hundreds of them! I've only ever had the home-made canelles, so the ones I've seen in the shops of Bordeaux at ridiculous prices have remained there, untasted by me, but I do wonder if they taste the same. In which case, as they are so easy to make and are delicious, I should be starting a canelles-by-post shop in the UK if I have any sense (which I haven't).

Anyway, halfway through the afternoon, Helene, their eldest daughter brought the gathered to order to run a sort of quiz past her parents - they remained puzzled, until their present was revealed - a brand new tandem, which they immediately hopped on and tried out.

After that, the entertainment got under way. They have many friends and one couple have two boys (now big teenagers) who have been training in gymnastics and also circus skills. They (and some of the cousins) put on an amazing show of juggling, tumbling, stilt-walking, gymnastics, body-towers and later in the day, fire juggling. The blip I have chosen is not necessarily the most representative of the day, but I rather like it.