Friends and Fall

The village and countryside after a good rain

It's hard to believe this is my 2nd autumn here in the Dordogne.  The tourists and many part-timers have paid their bills or shuttered their houses and returned to faraway lives.  Just us hardy few now, donning our raincoats and trudging sturdily to the market on Saturday or out for a stroll, umbrella firmly in hand.

A rustic, amazing dinner in the countryside - we reach for table wine while our host tends the fire

The cold and dark and wet set in much earlier this year, but we are keeping our grumbling to a minimum as we watch other parts of southern and central Europe get ravaged by floods.  Practically wadable just a couple weeks ago, the Dordogne river has now spilled over its banks in many places, flooding the fancy campgrounds and canoe rentals that were just teeming with visitors.

Heron wades in the (then) shallow waters of the Vézère River

But fall has its own beauty, its own purpose and place, even here.  Fires are lit, books once again beckon, the hearty fare of the Perigord table makes more sense.  And those precious moments when the clouds part, for just a minute, and the sun takes center stage - magic.

Sun break