After the preparation mentioned inmy previous post, today I was finally able to tackle painting my entry. Above is the nearly-finished product!

There is still more to do. The entry was done oddly by the previous owners, leaving astrange section to fill inabove the WC door. I also need to get better-quality paint brushes in order to finishsmaller areaswhere a roller won’t work. The cheap brushes I had worked all right for the primer, but left enough marks that I’d rather wait to buy nicer ones before putting on the finishing blue coat.

I’m very happy with how the main wall looks now. To think, it used to look like this:entry in May 2009, before I’d started removing tile and the textured paint. The main walllooked like this with the textured paint off.

By fraise

Vinon-sur-Verdonis a small but active village,  located between the Luberon and the Verdon Gorges, and sits astride the Verdon river. Sitting at the junction of 4 departments,Vinon-sur-Verdonhas for a neighbor the Cadarache nuclear research center.
By Russ Collins

We've just addedCucuron, one of our favorite villages in the Luberon, to Beyond. A lovely walled village, welcome cafés and restaurants and a very pretty pool (bassin) add to the attractions here. Our first visit to Cucuron was in 1997. Our most recent was a couple of days ago.
By Russ Collins

We've added a Beyond page for the 12th-centurySilvacane Abbey. Located in the wide Durance valley of the Vaucluse, northwest ofAix-en-Provence,Silvacaneis known as one of the Three Provençal Sisters, three Cistercian abbeys built in the 12th century. The other two areSenanque AbbeyandThoronet Abbey.
By Russ Collins

The photo here is the front of the 12th-centurySilvacane Abbeyin the autumn, one of theThree Provençal Sisters of Provence, along with theSenanque Abbeyand theThoronet Abbey.

We visited here on Beyond's 3-day weekend, this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Since Beyond is 7/7 job, we take our rare  1-day, 2-day or 3-day “weekends” whenever time allows. 

Day 1 we visited Rians, Saint Julien-le-Montagnier, Vinon-sur-Verdon and Peyrolles-en-Provence; over-nighting in La Roque

By Russ Collins

We had a good 7-hour loop hike yesterday in the Maures forest, beginning at the edge ofCollobrieres(in the Var department). Thickly forested hills, not as steep as the Alpes, but we still did over 900 m vertical.

The loop took us through woods of cork oak, chestnut and even the small cedar forest of Ragusse.

The highlight was a short visit (external only) of the Chartreuse de la Verne, an impressive 12th-century  Carthusian-order monastery – now an active monastery of the Congregration of

By Russ Collins

A few weeks ago I became one of the many “lucky” folk to catch the H1N1 flu (”swine flu”). For the first time in my adult life, I understood how someone could die from the flu. Not to sound alarming, mind, just that on the fifth day of a high fever, bad cough, and exhaustion, I was so sore and tired that I barely had the strength to cough well enough to clear my throat to breathe. And that waswithmedication, and I was in pretty good physical shape before that. Flu vaccinations. It hurts less to get one than to get this flu.

While I was ill, the French national police knocked on my door. At first I wondered if I were in a movie, seeing the plain-clothed gentleman present himself with blue-white-red-striped official ID in hand and firm look on his face:“Bonjour madame, police nationale.”He was looking for one of myupstairsneighbors (the eldest son of his parents, who also live there, along with their two younger sons and the eldest son’s daughter)

By fraise

We've added new photos for ourSaultpage, a village at the foot ofMont Ventouxin the Vaucluse department. Not only a bunch of new photos, but we improved the size and quality of the previous Sault photos that we put online in 1997.

By Russ Collins