juggling with old friends

I didn't actually watch the performance ( I was too busy chatting) but Sebastian assured us the juggler was pretty amazing.  Just a 5 minute walk from our place, made for a good meeting place to catch up with our friends from Alsace.

 Alice & Franck with their daughter Lucy. Missing them already!

Alice being Alice...

 Stef being Stef....

The kids being kids...

The launch....

They even cleared the trees...

Mamie....

Almost the size of the window itself, 

our neighbor shaking the ever noble cardboard box.

And here she is (she was there for a while, time enough for me to notice, go get my camera, take a few shots....) in her birthday suit. Well almost......

yesterday's workout

Yesterday we did 28 kilometers. 

No flat tires, scraped knees or melt downs. Only sore behinds!

Seb's thinking about lunch....

 My blue steele look.....

me thinking about Seb thinking about lunch.

One of the old bridges used by the trains.

 Fingertip graffiti....

And some penguin type looking bird who was watching us watch him. 

Fishing anyone?

I don't know how you function, but before we could even think about fishing we had to get some energy. A nice lunch. Yes, the wine was just that good.

And the pizza too!

Now that our stomachs were full it was time to get serious.

Choosing the best spot...

 Baiting 'er up.

And since we didn't get a single bite all afternoon, Rebecca and Bernard decided to let off some steam swinging on this rope. No one fell in the water and they sure looked like they had a good time.

my bike ride....

While the boys were away taking care of drywall business, I went for a 2 1/2 hour bike ride. Probably did 15 or so kilometers with lots of hills. 

I want this fence....

 and this charming river....

My second stop was at the town Tourailles.

Below is a shot of the town from way back when. 

The bridge pictured was built in the middle ages..

The same church steeple today....different view.

 As I was admiring the church from outside a nun came up to me (all out of breath) and said she would open the doors right away. Okay....it was 8:50 am on Saturday and apparently it opened "normally" at 9am. But seeing as she had an interested person.....

The statues out front of the church and the floor mosaic

 inside.

Some amazing glass work...

Then I chucked it up the hill to check out the cemetery.

Third stop was this charming little chateau I came across
 three km. further down the road.

Here are some images of the same chateau back in the day.

The postcards images really are something.

a few things....

Walnut shell boats 

(unfortunately they didn't sail, but they sure did look good)

Kept us busy during a rainy morning.

Grandpa Dennis' birdhouse (on the right)

finally has some company. 

The three of us all took a stab at it. It took more time than I care to admit, but I think the finished product is quite smashing.