Day 08 – Into the Countryside, Then on to Another Stone Village

We have enjoyed several Medieval cities, but it was time to head out into the countryside to find flowers, old buildings, and who knows what.

First, we looked for lavender fields. We know of one right near our Mas, so we met early to catch the light before it got harsh.

There were tiny white snails galore and what our family has always called “zumble bees” (zzzzzzz) flitting about, not interested in us at all.

The fragrant lavender was what attracted them. Rows upon rows, but having done that before, I concentrated on just one.

I was encouraging some of our participants to really look at backlighting and showed them this image as an example.

While they were doing their assorted assignments, I found a blade of grass and gave it a high-key treatment.

We returned for breakfast … fresh croissants, lovely kiwi, confitures (jams), yoghurts, café, thé, slices of local cheese and ham. Delicious!

Later, back in the classroom, when our participants were looking over Arnie’s and my shoulders to see what we had done with the same subjects, they asked me, “Where did you find that?”

“I looked the other way,” was my simple response and a lesson for them to not get locked into one scene.

While everyone was working on imaging, I joined Françoise in la cuisine (kitchen) to make my infamous Sauce Chocolat Décadent. She still had the ingredients from last year, as we had run out of time. She and Pierre approved of the final results, and presented it to us for lunch with strawberries and ladyfingers.Members of our group begged for more strawberries so they could have more chocolate. At the end of the meal, there was hardly anything left of the chocolate sauce! Yummm!

Those of you who have followed this blog for some time know that I have a thing for Deux Chevaux, what most Europeans call those funny little Citroëns that often had baguettes sticking out of the top of the car. Instead, this one had a frequent-napper guest absorbing the warm sun.

Some of our group climbed up to the moulin (windmill). There were no interesting clouds as last year, so our group worked on other interpretations of the scene. A father and his two sons were heading up in the same direction, and I asked permission to photograph the younger one, ice cream across his face. He looked at me until I asked him, “Ou est Papa?” He turned toward Papa, and this is what I got.It captured the charming, slight impishness of his character.

On the way back down the hill to meet up with the rest of our group, the light on this window and its shutters caught my eye. I have long been a sucker for windows and doors, but I always try to give them a different look.

And then, there was an old door, dust and dirty windows giving it an almost Chardin look.

Next: Notre dernière journée en Provence …

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