Recovering slowly from a triple-festival-weekend, I suddenly realised it is the last day of July and time to write my blog. July has passed in a flash as summer is crazy here. In the last month, we have had more than 60 people to stay, ranging from the usual pilgrims and camping families, to 18 underprivileged city kids who cycled down from the mountains and a group of young women and their horses. We’ve had up to five workaways staying at once and a 16-year-old French boy for a week to learn English. All this as well as working full-time and ‘looking after’ our kids, who’ve been on holiday since mid-June. As I said, crazy.

If that sounds busy, it is. But we are not looking for sympathy. We choose this life. Admittedly, the sheer volume of things to do can be overwhelming, and the tension of walking such a tightrope can lead to either Chris or I needing to blow off steam, which we do. But we quickly get over it, do what we can to sort the issue, and move on. There is just no time to be grumpy during fête season in southwest France…

Friday 6 July – our village Moules Frites night and dancing till 4am
Sunday 8 July – Montaner Medieval Festival
Tuesdays 10 and 24 July – days at the water park
Saturday 14 July – Retrovintage fête at Lahitte
Monday 23 July – India horse-riding for a day for her birthday
Wednesday 25 July – canoeing down the Adour river
Thursday 26 July – Tour de France passes by
Friday 27 July – Festival Equestria
Saturday 28 July – Jazz in Marciac Festival begins
Sunday 29 July – Tempo Latino Festival in Vic-Fezensac

And that’s just July. Now August begins, which means most French people are on holiday for the whole month. Our August is starting perfectly, with a visit from my darling mum, who is coming over for the first time in 18 months and is here for her birthday! Then it’s on with more fêtes, festivals and parties (Medievales de Tour de Termes d’Armagnac, Festival d’Artagnan, Santana at the Marciac Jazz Festival, Maubourget fête, Montesquiou on the Rocks) culminating in our summer shindig at the end of the month 🙂

Filed under: Happy Coulson

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