Weekend activites - July 9-10; - Pierlo's in the Pryrénées

It is Saturday and we have the weekends free.  Joe is writing some notes in his journal as he waits for Ana.  They are planning a hike to see a nearby castle and must to leave early as there is a family invitation in the afternoon to pick Jules up from a 4-day camp he has been attending.  Also, it is the arrival date for Marion's horse.  She is very excited, as are we all!  Although I had many animals as a child, I always wanted to have a horse and my parents said "no" to that one.  After all, my father and mother both worked full time and more at his typesetting business, and I can understand why one more animal, an animal that takes a lot of time, care, and money, wasn't something they could afford - from many standpoints.  I am very happy for Marion and I know she will enjoy having her mare.

The morning hike will be too strenuous for me and I don't want to hold back the others so I wish them well and go off to read and later take a short walk.

I ask Joe to take pictures of me feeding the chickens.  Since Ana has been here at Pierlo's, she has taken on this morning chore.  But she is leaving next Tuesday to check out a couple laps of the Tour de France (Joe and I are a bit jealous of THAT).  Anyway, I ask Ana how much to feed the chickens as this was one of my morning chores every day before school until we gave up our farm in Vermont.

I'm turned away from the larger group of chickens as there are two roosters here.  I'm sure you can imagine having two rooster could create a problem and it does.  The first rooster is smaller and dearer to the family than the larger, dominant rooster.  I think what happened is that the larger one was hatched on the property and grew large.  The smaller rooster "lives" (sleeps) under the Wwoofers' "residence" and serves as an unwanted wakeup alarm clock in the middle of the night.

So, if poor Kalid is to have any food, at feeding time, one must stand in the middle of the small flock and throw some food in his directions.  The larger rooster pays more attention to keeping his rival from getting food than he does eating.  Nevertheless, he is bigger and stronger.

Caligne (not sure of the spelling of the new horse's name) arrived earlier today under difficult conditions.  Apparently she was in heat and Robert, the donkey, found her quite attractive.  He paid for his interest with a couple of kicks in the head and chest, but nothing too serious.  So, for the moment the mare has locked inside until things calm down.  For animals as well as people, a major life change like changing "residence"  is quite stressful.  All are confident that she will be happy here.  Marion has met Caligne on a couple of occasions and finds her quite approachable and even affectionate.  Marion has taken riding lessons and Pierlo is working with her to help make the bonding process a successful one.

Sandrine returned late last night from Paris and will meet us for the walk up to Jules' camp.  Here we enter a higher elevation in the mountains and will be climbing even higher for the ceremonies at the camp.

The parents are gathering for the walk up to the top.  I find the climb a little steep and am quickly left behind with a few more slower walkers.  I go at my own speed knowing I will eventually make it to the top.  As I begin to get a bit discouraged, Joe returns to see how I am doing.  He always looks out for me and of course I hate to impose but appreciate his kindness.

Here we look down on the little village.  I decide not to join everyone down another hill at the spring where the children meet every morning during their time at the camp.  But I enjoy looking down on the scene.

While everyone else is at the spring, I chat with a couple of the camp "counselors/facilitators."  Apparently the land belongs to one person and then someone else owns the buildings.  The "camp" group rents the space to run short camps for grade school and junior high students.  Jules' camp introduces the children to different simple instruments and they also play games and make bows and arrows.  In the following pictures the children seem to be having fun telling their stories through books (readings of stories done by one of the facilitators) and music.  

Jules is in the red shirt.

When the ceremony is finished, we return to the car, but another flat tire greets us.  Pierlo pumps it up again but this time knowing he has a hole that will need repair.  Joe gives Pierlo a hand in finding some blocks of wood to help the ailing jack.

As children usually do, they find some distractions while we wait for the tire to be "fixed."

When the kitten indicates she's had enough, other activities are located and soon we are on our way home.

In the evening the family has a commitment to visit a sick friend.  Another of their friends is hosting a young Wwoofer from Japan.   The "mother" suggests that their au pair join Ana, Joe, and me for a night out in Bourg.  After we ate the delicious quiche that Sandrine's friend sent along, we drive to the tiny town to check out a "local festival."  Unfortunately, by the time we reached the "party," they are just closing down the "keg."  What to do?

It is our first time driving a strange car, and I quickly passed the buck to Joe who does splendidly and become our driver for the duration of our stay at Pierlo's.  We decide to go to the nearest "real" town (Bagnères-de-Bigorre to have a drink.

We are just leaving when a cell phone rings to ask us to please return as our guest's "family" is waiting to return home.  We manage to make most of the turns (we had to back up once) and when we return "home," everyone is sitting around eating the blackberries we had picked.  I actually like picking them but don't care much for eating them.  It seems to me they were all gone by the time we arrived.