water

This weekend was wonderful... as its hours were filled with water.

On Saturday morning, Melanie and I spent an hour or so wandering alongside the Brague river. We talked and talked, but we also saw small fish dart away from a falling orange leaf, the way leaves on fir trees dash upwards in streaks of green paint, and how stone arched bridges lean over pretty streams of blue water.

Returning home, we thought our exercise for the day was done, but - oh no! Our boys (Benoit, Simon, and Ivon) had other ideas. So, after a great lunch of steaming spaghetti and lardon, we crammed into Ben's laguna and headed for the hills. The joke was we were interested in 'swimming in the loo' ... but really we were interested in the Loup river and particularly the part where it carved its way down the gorge toward 'Pont-sur-Loup.' After scrambling down to its limestone banks, Mel and I sat and gossiped as the boys swam...and then had our turn. Plunging into the water was cold, cold, cold... but also incredibly refreshing as our breaths were swept away and downstream!

Today, we awoke at 7.30am and met Vincent to go snorkeling at the calanques. Reaching our usual place, we were pleased to see we were alone and that the water was calm. We had a wonderful swim... watching shoals of larger fish shimmering silver and green as they fed from the seaweed... as smaller fish pecked at the thin underlayer of the waves... as Scottish, tartan fishes darted along the underwater caverns. Ben and Vince even saw a Moray eel and an octopus!

Needless to say, the rest of today has been spent relaxing... but then there is still tomorrow...and soon thereafter Wednesday when Graham arrives :-)