Calvinet in April

Last weekend, we did a quick up and back to Calvinet to bring the girls to Guy & Andrée for their 2-week vacation.  We pulled the girls out of school on that Friday (12th) and were on the road by 7:30 a.m. to begin the long drive.   By early afternoon we had reached this village below, Entraygues.

 Soon after our arrival, since it was raining, it was time to play card games with Manou:

 This darling darling photo is Léna (wearing what was Heather's old favorite sweater), playing with Guy (already wiped out from 2 hours with Léna) and this vintage Lincoln Log set that had been Guy's as a child.  They were precious.

 We saw a lot of Uncle Riri.  Here's he and Thomas engaged in some intense philosophical discussion.

Friday evening the rain stopped and we went for a little walk down to Riri's, just down the road.

 The girls immediately jumped the bikes of their 2nd cousins, Annaelle and Hugo, Riri's grandchildren.

 This valley was beautiful in the falling light that evening after the rain.  You can see  the church steeple, where Léna was baptised and where Guy & Andrée were married!

 Saturday we had nothing but sun and blue skies, so here's a photo of us down below the village, checking out a friend's garden.  You can see Léna is carrying a large bouquet of yellow daffodils, cut by friend Christiane.

 On the right, the rather "modern" house with the white paint belongs to Henri Ouillade, Guy's cousin, who has been in a retirement home with his wife for a few years now. Their house sadly sits empty as they had no children.

 It was a lovely morning walk.

 After lunch, Thomas and I went for a quick walk/hike up to Puy Majou, a lovely scenic viewpoint just above the village, probably a 15-minute walk from their house. 

 At some point the BoyScouts or somebody put up 3 crosses.

 Maybe 2 summers ago, a local couple married up there, and they had a log altar built, which still stands.

 There's a bench and a picnic spot too. 

 These photos do not do this scene justice.  It was like looking at a painting - so many colors of green, it didn't seem real.

 Sunday morning we pulled up stakes to make the long drive back.  Here are the girls looking out the kitchen window.  30+ years ago, this building had been the barn, and they converted it into their vacation spot.  4 years ago they did the major renovation/addition with the glass cube and the mezzanine.  Now, the "old" kitchen in this photo is about to be re-done.  This door below was the original split barn door, except last week Guy has a mason come and "stone over" the bottom half of the door as part of the renovation. Soon this will be where the kitchen sink will look out!

 When we were on our way out of the village, we saw the lunch pit stop for a bike rally.  It would have been a great ride for sure - I was jealous!

Now, back in Nice a week later.  We had a busy week - I was teaching a week-long immersion course for adults and it was tiring, plus had a translation to do at night.  This wkend has been relaxing with a lot of socializing and today we went to eat in Italy with 3 other couples.
Our girls are having a great time in Calvinet!