A fancy pony

We were due in Castres today to see our friends: morning meander round the antique market, lunch then a walk. So I was up much earlier than felt wise, baking brownies for lunch. And, despite the best efforts of Katherine getting filthy climbing trees in the five minutes they had to play outside before we left, we arrived just a couple of minutes after 11 am. To be greeted with a cheery "Bon apres-midi". Sigh. The clocks had gone forward so we were rather late.

Regardless, the day panned out as it should and we duly wandered down to the main square to look at old things. This fancy pony was a key attraction (and at a mere 4000 euros was quite a bargain...) But this couple simply would not get out of the way for me to take a better shot - no matter that I stood there ready until my arm ached.

Lunch was the fabulous spread I have come to expect in this house with the ever popular lamb tagine. And then - full of food and wine - we toddled off for a walk along a mercifully flat path, with dogs and children bounding around and us grown ups staggering along. Later the decision about whether to go straight home or back to our hosts for just one more drink was resolved when we chose the third option: go back to our hosts for enough hours of chat that we were late home and the kids didn't get to bed (with no dinner) until after nine.

(Notes to self: fleshy receptacle (strawberry), tiny toenails. I know that'll mean nothing to you but it will make me laugh for reasons that I can't go into.)