La Rhune

One of the main tourist attractions in the Basque country is the Rhune, a Basque sacred mountain that rises 3000 feet above the surrounding countryside and gives a 360 degree view of the Pyrenees mountains and the Atlantic coast from Biarritz all the way south to San Sebastian. We took the Petit Train - a cog railway - to the top.

The climb to the top of the mountain is steep - as much as 25% grade in some sections.

The mountain is inhabited by pottok a semi-feral breed of pony native to the Pyrenees of the Basque country. We also saw some impressive birds of prey but they are much harder to photograph.

 Time to say goodbye to the Pyrenees and the ocean - it's time to return to the city. Sigh.

Moto

On Sunday we decided to head south along the coast into Spain to have a picnic. Gerard and Flo rode their motorcycle and we did our best to try and keep up with them.

It's easy to find Flo in a crowd

And her bright red hair makes it easy to identify her on the back of the motorcycle

Destination: San Sebastian

St. Jean de Luz

Having grown up in the land-locked Rocky Mountains, I am always thrilled by the sight of the ocean. Our trip to the Basque country included visits to Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Biarritiz. It's high season on the beach. Hard to find a place to put your blanket.

Biarritz

Patrice and Flo

Elaine - wishing she had her swimsuit

Sunset St. Jean de Luz

Fireworks for the 14th of July - St. Jean de Luz

Ustaritz

We've just returned from a visit to Ustaritz, a village in the Basque country where Patrice's daughter, Florence, lives with her Basque husband, Gerard Iturria. Ustaritz is in the southwest corner of France in the Pyrenees mountains - just a few minutes from the Spanish border, and about 15 km  from the Atlantic ocean.

Gerard's grandfather went to live with an uncle in California as a boy in 1912 following the deaths of most of his family during the great influenza epidemic. He worked as a shepherd and returned 20 years later,  purchased land, married, and had several children. Here is a picture of the home built by Gerard and his father:

The house is on top of a hill with an extraordinary view of the surrounding mountains. Gerard mows the field with an ancient tractor.

On Friday evening we participated in the local festival which included lots of food, lots of wine, and lots of singing traditional basque songs.

 
The language is ancient, unintelligible, and unspellable. Here are a few verses from one of the best known songs:

Hegoak ebaki banizkio
Neuria izango zen
Ez zuen alde egingo

Bainan horrela
Ez zen gehiago
xoria izango

Want to listen for yourself? Click here.

Weekend in Normandy

We've just returned from a weekend in Normandy at my friend Odette's house. On Saturday afternoon, we visited the ruins of an XI century benedictine abbey in Saint-Evroult-Notre-Dame-du-Bois.

It rained all day on Saturday. Who would believe that we'd need to build a fire to keep warm in July?

The sun finally came out on Sunday afternoon when we visited Honfleur, a picturesque port on the estuary of the Seine. We ate a traditional dinner of mussels and dreamed of sailing away.

Paris in July

More rain in July, temperatures in the low 70s. Is summer ever going to arrive?

Paris Writers Workshop

I signed up for the Paris Writers Workshop for inspiration, encouragement, and for technical tips on the craft of writing and publishing. Morning sessions were led by Writer-in-Residence: Mimi Schwartz, author of five books and Professor Emerita in Writing at Richard Stockton College in New Jersey. Afternoon sessions included panel discussions ranging from the Secrets of Getting Published to the latest trends in self-publishing and e-Books. 

I have been working on a writing project for a couple of years now. Not just blog posts; something more substantial. The blog has been a warmup, a sandbox to play and to try on the sobriquet of "writer." However, it's relatively easy to scribble down 250 words as I tell stories about my daily life. Even easier if I substitute photos for the proverbial 1000 words. But it requires much more discipline to come up with a manuscript of 80,000 well-chosen, tightly-edited words. I have a plot sketched out on paper, but to bring it alive and to people it with living, breathing characters that you can see and hear is much harder.

How do you put the reader inside a location where they've never been? How can you transform sights and sounds and smells so that the reader can hear the voices in your head, mixing logic and fantasy?

I was thrilled to receive a positive response from an agent during the workshop.
"Call me as soon as it's finished," she said.

80,000 words.

Whew.