Early Summer

Le Feu de la St Jean

I think the summer proper has at last started. It certainly has officially as the Feu de la St Jean took place as planned on the 24th June. It being a Monday, Roberto was there with his van but offering mussels and chips rather than pizzas. The weather was good, if not as warm as usual, and there was entertainment of a sort, a Basque band that marched through the square rather than staying and playing in it. However, it was a quite enjoyable start to the summer and the weather has since stayed summery, with temperatures well into the 20s and beyond.

Street Party

Our annual street party took place on the first Sunday in July as usual and was once again a thoroughly enjoyable affair. This time I met four people I hadn't previously known and whom I hope may become friends in the future : a Dutch couple who have bought a house at the end of the road and a Franco-American couple who are in the process of a gradual move into a house 50 yards down from mine. They are from Dallas and, it seems, already readers of this blog; I didn't know my readership had got that far!

Stuck In A Rut

I keep thinking I must read more French fiction and keep reverting to re-reading books I have had for years. I asked Mana for some ideas for more recent fiction but the only ones she could come up with were a tranlation from the English and another that didn't appeal. Daniel could only suggest Michel Houellbecq and, in any case, I'm not sure his taste in fiction corresponds to mine. Houellbecq I have already read and like somewhat, although he tends to concentrate on some of the more perverse aspects of human nature.

One problem is that I have found it difficult to define my taste in fiction, since I have liked crime novels, political novels, science fiction and many other genres but don't like any genre as a whole in particular. What it comes down to, I think, is that I like novels that provide me with insights into human nature and the human experience; encapsulated in fact a single title, La Condition Humaine (Man's Estate is the English title) of Malraux. Hence my fixation on, apart from Malraux, Camus, Gide, Sartre, Giraudoux and the other existentialists. I had thought that this fixation was because those were the authors I read in my teens and early twenties when I was studying French but now think it may be more than that. The existentialists were, after all, preoccupied totally with ruminations on human experience. So maybe I'll just have to find some modern existentialists.

Garden Colour In July/August

This year I've had another go at producing a decent floral display at the back in July/August and failed miserably again, though in part due to snail damage to my dahlias. I didn't go for a snail carnage this spring and paid the price. But, having thought about the problem, I may give up. I've concluded that I'm fighting against nature and that's a battle I'm unlikely to win. Looking around, I can't see much colour that is not lavendar, oleanders, hollyhocks or hibiscus. Hollyhocks I have, also lavendar though not in such profusion that it stands out. I also have a small oleandar. The problem for me with oleandars and hibiscus is that they take up too much room in a small garden. And the problem with smaller plants is tha they generally do their blooming earlier. It makes natural sense: if you want the best conditions for blooming, water and sun, it makes natural sense here to do that in the April to June time-frame. In July/August, many plants get scorched and so die back. So maybe I'll just concede that nature knows best.