A Day Out, Continued

Dear Friends and Family, When I last wrote, I was relating the experiences on our day out last Friday. After touring the Josephine Baker house and having a lovely lunch in the sunshine (amazing how many others chose the shade on such a beautiful day, at a time of the year when sunshine is becoming rarer), we strolled the ground of the Chateau de Milandes. And most surprisingly, we came across some birds of prey, mostly some lovely owls

In addition to this fellow and some others, there was a rare white owl

They were magnificient birds, but the best thing about them was how close up you could get. These birds seemed to enjoy the company of people. So often, the birds at the zoo are tucked in some back corner. Here the cages were relatively small and you could get up close. The most impressive of the birds was the Eagle

There were actually a couple of them and, as you can see, there was no screen between us and the bird. They were, instead, chained. This allowed us to get a nice clear shot of each of them. After some more strolling, we bid adieu to this most wonderful of places.

I know that I shall return to the States and look into more about Josephine Baker and perhaps get a CD or two. From there, is was back into the car for a short drive the very nice village of Belvès. We got out of the car just took a short walk through the town. It had a lovely church

And a lovely main street that looked down over the valley

From there, just out of the village, we stopped at preserved spinning mill, used up until the 1990s for carding and spinning the wool of the area for blankets, and the stuffing of mattresses. It was fascinating to tour the old factory

Just the ingenuity to arrive at these complex machines that did the work that was for so long done by hand. Currently, there was also a exhibition of fabric designs made from felt. They were absolutely beautiful and took felt to a whole new dimension

So many of them had a wonderful lacey quality that I didn’t realize was even possible

After following the colored footsteps through the factory and the exhibit, we again took advantage of the lovely weather and strolled their garden and wetland preserve.

It was so peaceful and, while it was still relatively new, it had begun to draw birds, butterflies, dragonflies and other native species of the area. A tour of their gift shop and a new wool sweater for me and we headed home, tired, but also enriched by the new discoveries Ann had revealed. It is one of the real joys of coming to Ann’s. She knows every féte, every marché, every restaurant and village. Any time with her is always a peek further into French village life.