July 23, 2006
Durfort: Time out
We spend 11 wonderful days in the little village of Durfort, for centuries a center for copper work. Three years ago my sister, Gwen, fell in love with a house here. It was then more a ruin than a house but she had a vision. She saw the potential of the setting and the old stone walls. In front of the house a tiny stream runs down the center of the street, behind the house a larger stream rushes its way down from the mountains. Now the house has been restored: a beautiful house in beautiful surroundings.
My sister is an artist in more ways than one. In the course of her life she has painted, designed and created leather apparel, is a recognized expert in the field of polymer clay ... I could go on for quite a while. Let me give you her address: www.gwengibson.com
Gwen spends her summers in Durfort along with other teachers who have been invited to teach classes in painting, book arts, mixed media jewelry, and polymer clay. But August is reserved for family. It's not quite August yet when we arrive, we're a week early. We just didn't know how to take our time on the way. We are happy that Jerry (I mentioned his accident a way back in my journal) is at home and making good progress. We also meet the students of the workshop that is just coming to a close, an interesting and fun crowd. When the other guests leave, we have good sister times together as always: we spend our time reminiscing, going to the food markets and flea markets, exploring the area, cooking fine dinners, enjoying our wine. Not a bad life.
Janos and I take a few bicycle outings in the surroundings, we even bike back up the mountain to les Cammazes, just for fun! Without panniers, needless to say. We have attracted a bit of attention in the village. People approach us and ask if we are the German cyclists who rode from Munich. And then "chapeau", we take our hats off to you. We're kind of feeling like celebrities.
Eventually the road calls. We want to get back on our bikes. The trip thus far was planned, we knew the approximate distance and had the necessary maps. Now we are taking off for an improvised ride. The only detailed maps we can buy here are for this area, we'll have to buy our maps as we go along. For a start we'll continue along the Canal du Midi.
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