Ob-La-De, Ob-La-Da - The Beatles

 Desmond has his barrow in the market place...
Molly is the singer in a band...

Another cold day backed by almost wall to wall heavy rain was not to deter us in our continuing discovery of Gascon and beyond. OK, we didn't venture too far from home but did manage to enjoy some of the local village goings on.

First thing on show this morning, this nifty
SHIELDBUG

joined us for breakfast but search as I may was unable to give it a name.

L'Ancien Presbytère in the rain.

One thing I enjoy, wherever in the world, are Local Markets

so was more than happy to take up Hugh's suggestion of where to go today.

Not surprisingly the first stall inside the Covered Market was
LE CANARD

perhaps that's why the village motto is
Ay Up Mi Duck

Of all the produce singularly my favourite is
FISH and all that is taken from the sea such as these OYSTERS.

Even better just a short way along the counter and something I
may have bought under a different set of circumstances, a fine
OCTOPUS - delicious!

Seems numbers of customers were low due to the prevailing
weather conditions.

FUNGI a-plenty.

OLIVES

and Chiefy who was at pains to tell us about his wife's
HOME-CURED HAMS.

A 'drop' of ARMAGNAC Sir? - hic!

NO thanks, we'll settle on the
PAIN (Bread) and

more CANARD but this time of the BEST kind - CONFIT.

Through the Main Door across the Square to the Church
which warrants more investigation later.

PAIN DEPICES

Still plenty of PAELLA left along with PIZZA

MOULES along CHICKEN and CHIPS

A few CAKES for tea before heading off to look at the

CHURCH
impressive from the front but little else going for it.

LA VILLE HOTEL and MONUMENT to the

FRANCO PRUSSIAN WAR

This tiny Plaque, looking like a later addition will be worthy
of more investigation when time allows.
By now the rain had stopped and a drive through the local
countryside was though well worth a go.

For 'starters' there was this interesting looking Church which like

the one before turned out to be a case of expensive

Fur Coat but no Knickers!! If you get the drift?

 

NOW! this looks more like it and promising.

A quick stop to investigate and found that all c16

were

CATTLE EGRET

 

Now that added a little more interest to the day, not to mention

another closer encounter with a

RED KITE

This GREAT WHITE EGRET was in a field with a Grey Heron but both took to the wing before getting the camera to focus from the car window. Time to return especially as the Rugby League World Cup Final was on late afternoon followed by Wales v Australia something Hugh was unlikely to miss.

An enjoyable evening spent 'at home' with a Cassoulet (Stew),

Pain and Fromage (Bread and Cheese) plus a local Wine - lovely

The Rugby wasn't bad either for a non-Sports Fan.

Entry	Pageviews
United Kingdom	868
United States	758
Poland	126
Germany	56
Russia	56
Estonia	30
India	27
China	22
Canada	16
Australia	15

River Deep, Mountain High - Ike and Tina Turner

NOTICE BOARD

1. With 'Christmas' rapidly approaching, it was though appropriate to publish a new Blog Header with a 'Seasonal' flavour. This brilliant bird was seen almost immediately The Three Fat Lads (Jim the Medic, Billy Crumble and myself) had crossed the border between Belize and Guatemala on our journey through all 7 countries of Central America back in 2004. A fantastic addition to the World Life List!

2. November Reader Statistics have reached an all time, incredible 'HIGH' of 10,500 for the month (average 350 per day) and I cannot pretend that this doesn't put me on something of a 'high' myself. If indeed you enjoy reading our humble production, maybe you would like to take just 2 minutes and share it with others. All it would need is for you to send the Blog Link The Bagsy Blog to all your E-Mail addressees, Facebook Friends, Twitter Followers, LinkedIn Contacts etc. Just a 'moment in time' and Thanks in anticipation.
3. I would also like to share something with you, that is this link to Gascon Holidays where we are staying at the moment. Peace on Earth, Glorious Countryside, Excellent 'Local' Food and Drink and a great chance to get away from it all!
Maybe surprisingly the weather here is 3-5 degrees cooler than on the south coast of England  and today, to make matters worse, the rain seemed to be set in. Never mind, we were destined for a day in the Pyrenees Mountains just a 90 minutes drive from the house.

 As we neared the rain bearing cloud slowly but surely rolled away

 leaving clear blue skies for the rest of the day.

 Although the higher peaks held good amounts of snow

 all the ski resort villages remained closed down

 maybe needing just that extra depth

 that may drag the tourist in?

 While we had formulated an 'Imaginary Bird List'

 including both Rock Bunting and Sparrow

 along with perhaps a far too ambitious

 Wall Creeper there was little bird life at altitude.

 Descending, we did find these rather interesting monuments

which we had not a clue about

 except maybe for this one dedicated to those of the 

Father Land who lost their lives in the Great War.

 Entering the tiny village of ARRENS-MARSOUS coincided with

 Lunch Time

so we took a punt on this local way-side restaurant.

 The fixed menu at €12 started with a Salsa style Salad with 

bread and a decent size carafe of local Red Wine.

Perhaps the photograph doesn't make the main dish look that appetising but believe you me the perfectly seasoned beans complimented with Lamb, Sausage and Duck made for a hearty and warming Cassoulet for such a day. The people here, both staff and clientele, were most welcoming and we completed out repast with a lovely egg custard. 

 

Before reaching the car we caught a brief sighting of a lone and

quickly passing RED KITE surely the forerunner of more to come?

but before that a 'must' visit to the Canard/Foie Gras Factory.

To see all this fabulous fare made it hard to put the wallet back into
the pocket. It was thought €60 would be enough spend for one day!
Returning to the village, high above and at some distance

were what could only be

GRIFFON VULTURES

We made as fast a progress towards them as we would dare,

and soon they were directly above us.
Thought this little 'montage' worked quite well?

Driving back to
L’ANCIEN PRESBYTÈRE
( The House)

we encountered another

RED KITE

News from Hugh's Gardener cum Handyman told of much larger numbers of migrating Common Cranes that he had ever witnessed here before. They all managed to stay out of our way - mores the pity!

THANK YOU ALL FOR LOGGING IN

and let's hope your friends enjoy the site as much as you do!

Entry	Pageviews
United Kingdom	840
United States	772
Poland	103
Russia	72
Germany	58
Estonia	30
India	24
China	22
Canada	18
Australia	14