Camouflage

I couldn't resist this cat which looked so comfortable, curling its paws in pleasure as I approached. Sorry ... I was at the biennial art exhibition in Peyriac de Mer and I can offer you zero photos of the art. Admittedly I usually do try to avoid taking straight pictures of art, and try to focus on the environment. There are some colourful extras, a couple of which could be considered art forms but they weren't in the official exhibition, which is spread around houses, barns, and courtyards in this extremely beautiful and chic village on a lagoon near Narbonne.

It was a glorious sunny day. S is still suffering a bit with his knee, but although we had to park far away we had an easy and pleasant walk into the village on the boardwalk over the lagoon (extra 3). We had an initial wander, paused for a beer, wandered some more, then decided to look for lunch. All the restaurants were heaving ... no chance, if you hadn't reserved a table. We ended up at a food truck, where we shared surprisingly good cod and chips -- the chips weren't great, but the cod was excellent -- and then delicious ice creams made on the premises from the ice cream shop.

We then walked up the main street as far as Siobhan's house -- she's in the Facebook photography group I'm a member of and was exhibiting photos of hands. We visited more artists on the way. Works I would most like to take home with me: this cat. More seriously: Eric Sala's ink drawings of very typical local landscapes blew us away. I'd love one (or more) on my wall, but will have to wait till my Premium Bonds come up better than they ever have done (400 euros for my favourite). You can see his work on Instagram, but it doesn't do justice to the large-format real thing. We also once again loved Francine Jaumes' exploration of the natural forms in wood, perfectly displayed in her beautiful house (picking up interior decor ideas from here too). 

You can see my few previous blips of this event here. It's always worth going to -- we weren't quite as thorough as we have been previously due to heat and S's knee getting too tired to walk further. I walked the kilometre back to the car in the blazing sun while he sat on a wall in the shade -- got to get my steps up! Back home we rested, and the early evening was so lovely that we took a simple apero down to the garden and enjoyed the greenery and the twittering of birds.