We are getting busy tidying up the garden, doing last minute cleaning and emptying the freezer and refrigerator as we get ready to return to Paris. The weather has been so spectacular here that I almost hate to leave. The weather is 70 degrees everyday, the sky blue, the air crystal clear, all so perfect that I almost hate to return to Paris where the skies are often gray. I guess I’ve become a country person somewhere along the way. I always miss our house when we are in our tiny Paris apartment. Soon the energy, beauty and rhythm of Paris seeps into my blood and I am happy again but I will think back to my last sunny day in Provence walking on the roads around our neighborhood until we return in the Spring.

If I head downhill from our house I always pass the home of some neighbors from the Savoie area of France. They come every single week-end and they work like beavers from morning to night. They bought the home of an artist that wasn’t finished and which needed alot of work. We are wondering what is left to do. Every week-end we can hear the sound of wood been cut with an electric saw or a cement mixer churning away. This square box is the water collector. We have one too but it was just an ugly plastic thing which we finally covered with some left-over wooden steps while this is a work of art with a stainless steel water collector on top. I hope I get to see the interior of their home someday. They’ve certainly done alot to the exterior that we can see each time we drive past.

 The leaves of a fig tree. I always pick a fig for Maurice when I pass it as it is wild. I got the last one last week. They aren’t my favorite fruit although I used to eat Fig Newtons. Maurice loves them.

Acorns are seen everywhere, mostly on the ground. We have an oak tree in our back and front yards and the acorns are scattered thick upon the ground. In the Spring, I spend alot of time pulling up tiny little oak trees.

 A road stained purple with grapes from the vendage. There are still grapes left along the side of the road. I’m sure the birds must love them. Needless to say, there is a very strong odor of grapes becoming rather vinegar-ish.

 I saw a sign for a pumpkin festival last week in the small village of Lauris and decided to drop in and see what they did. It turned out to be very small and the best part was some of the things they were selling to eat, including some sort of pumpkin casserole. A few vendors had their products out for sale and, of course, there were pumpkins for sale.

 I thought this was a rather artful display

I’m not sure what these are. I keep seeing them at markets and I suspect that they are some sort of squash. I will have to find out how to prepare them.

 As you can see by this witch, the French are starting to celebrate Halloween a little. It is new to them. They dress up in costumes-some of them-but they still don’t go trick or treating. Sometimes there are costume parties. The stores, especially the candy stores, have cute Halloween decorations and candies in the windows as it can be another holiday in which to make money. A couple of years ago Godiva had a candy which was dark chocolate with a pumpkin cream. My that was good. I will have to see if they have it this year.

 On the way home I stopped at a vineyard that was advertising a vendage festival. It turned out to be a lunch but, since the garden is so nice, I poked around there a little as there are always things to photograph there.

A little bird house with its bark roof curling

 This squash/pumpkin doesn’t look real, but it is

I’d love to have this in my garden somewhere

This photo looks like a painting to me

It’s always interesting to take a walk around markets as we enter autumn and see the new cool weather vegetables and fruits being offered for sale.

 Here is a long line of varieties of mushrooms

These look especially good to me-I love mushrooms

 There is almost always someone selling spices

 I love the garlic braided into little gifts

There is still alot of zucchini for sale. These are used for making farcie which is a dish stuffed with meat and baked. I liked the sun shining on them.