Bordeaux and Palmiers

The more time I spend in Paziols, the less time I have to write.

My first year, all I did was write: this blog didn’t exist yet, but I kept a journal, I worked on novels… I didn’t do much of anything else as Anne-Marie and Alex drove all over the region, signing papers and applying for insurance.

Last year, the second year, was the year of my attempt to blog every day. I fell into bed every night around two after documenting everything we had eaten and everything we had done and had to be dragged out in the morning to start yet another day. I found time to write when dinner was being made by Patricia, so I still managed to work on my other projects as well.

This year, though… this year, it was impossible.

What with making all the meals and planning all of the daily activities with Anne-Marie, not to mention running a morning French atelier and the afternoon club cuisine all by myself, there just weren’t enough hours in the day: I had to choose between blogging and sleep, and while the decision was difficult, I chose my bed.

I’ve been back in New York (on Long Island, to be precise) for nearly a week now, and I’ve spent much of that time blissfully doing nothing. But this morning, I got a pang remembering our active days in Paziols, and I decided to get back to documenting all the days I was too busy to write about when I was actually living them.

Peyrepertuse is my favorite of the Cathar châteaux and one of my favorite outings we do in Paziols. We usually only go with the older kids, because of the five sons of Carcassonne (Aguilar, Quéribus, Peyrepertuse, Termes and Puilaurens), it is the most perilous to climb.

This year, the gusts of wind that have (either in truth or in myth) carried small dogs off the steep precipices had abated, and so the climb was relatively easy, with only the portion that takes you up slippery rocks with only a rope to hold causing a few tumbles and a near-missed serious camera injury.

We climb Peyrepertuse, not only because it is the most complete of the three châteaux that we visit (Aguilar and Quéribus being the other two, which have slowly been taken down over the years by townspeople looking for material with which to build their houses), but also because every day there are falconry shows that take place in the center portion of the château.

The shows, which are either run by this young man or his father, show off various birds of prey and their ability to gerer le vent–to figure out how to use the wind that blows through this valley to fly.

One of our counselors (fondly referred to on my other blog as manouche #1) was selected to have a vulture walk all over him–mostly to demonstrate the fact that vultures do not attack live beings (fun fact: vultures can see from a mile in the air whether an animal is sleeping, resting or dead), but also because the vulture was attracted to his shiny chain necklaces. No counselors were harmed over the course of this demonstration.