The month of October, I had an amazing adventure in Provence. Instead of sitting my ass on the beach, I volunteered for a castle restoration project. It was the most grueling work I've done since my Dad used to make me cut and stack fire wood when I was 11. We were all strangers upon arriving in Saint Victor la Coste
, all there for one reason or another. I was just following the constant messages of the universe. After a two year discussion with Marc Simon, the program director at La Sabranenque, I decided 2007 was the year.http://www.sabranenque.com/
The village at Saint Victor La Coste has a population of roughly 600. After one day there, the famous yellow bar, see Leon in the photo far right corner, shut their doors for good. Oh well, we certainly enjoyed the one night there and of course we did not drink French beer. That night at least. I'll never forget the visual of the bartender's boyfriend sitting at the bar chain smoking. There are no ashtrays in the yellow bar!!After the yellow bar closed their doors, are only other option in town was the red bar. Given the state of the euro, we chose our own evening parties at the main house. Leon taught us all how to play spoons. We tried the game, name the car. I was smoking fresh French rolled cigarettes. Well, that's what I think I was smoking. Only Sarah and Pascal really know. We drank wine until the wee hours of the night and ate olives. Leon and I got kicked out of Abbey for laughing too hard. Our alter egos of Baron Bernard and Baroness Bambi were imposing the giggle factor.
Sarah and Pascal were are leaders. Pascal is a passionate 30 year old French Stone Mason who transforms into another being when he talks about stone. When Pascal told me the first English book he ever read was Keroauc's On the Road, we shared a moment. Pascal wanted to make sure everyone knew he was "free" and he does want he wants. Sarah is from Scotland and she is the coolest person I've ever met. What an inspiration she is. She's back in the states now, not by her choosing, the Department of Immigration mandated she return to the states. Hopefully, she's enjoying a Fat Tire in Colorado, planning her return to France. Pascal, I'm sure is walking through the villages yelling at the encroaching developers who are putting up box houses where thousand year old vineyards were once rooted in the soil . He would yell out "Trash" everytime we would drive by such a place. I share this same feeling here at home on Fidalgo Island.
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