Your Very Own Canal Du Midi Moment - Images et Réflexion Vers le Sud du France (French Reflections)

Bonjour Again Dear Friends!

Single Click to Enlarge

Thank you for all your kind emails and words throughout the last series.  Yes, I am still writing, but it is taking a lot longer at the moment and I'm only halfway through a large manuscript.

So, instead of a slowly grinding out a new series of short stories here, I decided that for a while I will simply post some favorite photos and share a few reflections (both literally and figuratively) on the south of France with you.  The title of this series translates literally as "Images and Reflections Toward the South of France"  which sounds fine in French but seems bizarre in English so I will also call the series "French Reflections".  Such is the nature of personal translation!


 For those of you who complained that there were no photos of me in the last series - I include this one complete with heavy camera bag!

You can see how I hate smiling for the camera... is that pain in the eyes?  Very probably.  That wan smile tells you I'm thinking, "Just hurry up and take the shot!"  So with that request out of the way, onward to some photos that I like.

     I carry a camera most days out. (This explains why my purse has to be so big!)  One day, it was with me on a long drive in the Aude, a department adjacent to my own, the Pyrénées-Orientales.  The drive was heavenly and I was glad to have taken a picnic for it.

     Here is some beauty for the eyes and soul.  Come with me and share these few calm images of the Canal du Midi taken on an autumn's day in 2014.

     The little roads are quiet and rich with colors once the tourist season is over. It was a bright November day with only a scattering of high clouds to accentuate the blue skies.

      The mornings and evenings are usually cool at that time of the year, but the afternoons tend to warm up enough to enjoy sitting out in the sun,

     Best of all were the little villages along the way.  They were sleepy little hamlets, no supermarkets, no fast food, and no traffic.  The busiest scene I saw was two men on a bench watching the water flow by.  But they smiled with true feeling and said "Bonjour,"  when I got out of the car to snap the bridge in the distance.  I have never found the French to be aloof.  Everywhere I go, the people are friendly and kind.

      It makes me believe that to be a myth or maybe it just applies to tourists in Paris who don't speak any French?

     The canal meant seeing double vision.  First in plain view and then with everything along the banks creating new Monet-esque paintings on the water at every turn.  Very fun and satisfying for those who love taking photos.

    If I have time this summer, I hope to get back over to the Aude and see what it's like in the tourist season.  'Till we have more time to share a few reflections on the south of France, here is one last shot of a chateau along the Canal du Midi.  À la prochaine, mes amis! (Until next time, my friends!)  We'll visit Perpignan then, to see it now, Click here.