jwg

from an old journal
Conques: Sat, 7 Oct: Sunny! Walk up into the village - prune tart, "coffee cake", baguette - post cards - into the church. The sun through the stained glass was casting colored splotches all over the place. Then to the trésor - all that gold and silver and jewels - tapestries - the super cross with the apostles or epistles on the sides of the cross.

Walked up the hill behind the village up d7? to the top ridge. A farm up there with no-one present except a bunch of chickens. A nice sleep in the sun - could hear chansons de bonheur over the loud speakers from the church,

At night after a delicious supper (veg soup - thick with veg) Gerard, the brother of le patron brought over a bottle of pear liquor with a pear inside and talked with us for 2 hours. He works in a tube (pipe) factory in Decazeville. His mother came from Argentina before 1940. le patron's husband is a "functionaire". He owns the new house next door to the kitchen house. He never heard of Boston or Majorca. Never went to Paris... He "puhed" everything in the establishment and ridiculed his sister and her airs with great motions.

the photo is from 2000 - I haven't gotten around to dealing with my old slide collection...