A big storm just poured tons of water down. When the thunder shouted, the grasshoppers went all silent. Now it's over, and the sun is shining again.
Since last week, summer is finally here! Gone the cold feet and the fire at night, here are the sun burns and the explosion of green!
Yesterday afternoon I walked to Ste-Croix Volvestre through the path in the forest which starts behind the house. It takes two hours to reach Ste-Croix this way, and these were among the two most exhilarating hours of my life. I don't know, perhaps I haven't seen many forests until now, but this is really the most amazing forest I have ever seen. I defy anyone not to become peaceful and happy after walking a bit in it. Part of it is called 'forêt domaniale'. They say on a panel over there that this is one of the only forests of a special kind of fir tree growing at low altitude (300 m) which remains in Europe from the last glaciation age.
Halfway between here and Ste-Croix, right in the middle of the forest, I went through an extremely beautiful hamlet. The old stone houses had been renovated with tasteful discretion and the modern comfort of large windows, and were surrounded by small and well-kept vegetable and flowers gardens which made you want to sit under a fig tree with a good novel. A woman was sitting at a table in her garden, to whom I asked my way.
Ste-Croix was still amazingly beautiful. After going around the area a bit with the car, I think it is in fact one of the cutest villages around, although some others which names I of course forget are not bad either. But Ste-Croix seems one of the liveliest (!)... Always these goddam shut shutters...
In Ste-Croix, music came out from the patio of the bar-restaurant. On the other side of the street, boys were playing tennis on the tennis court, and soccer on the soccer field. The library, in front of the tennis courts, was still open.
I went behind the courts, to the artificial pond which is nested between the roads, the forest, and the stream. I could hear the stream, the cars, and the boys playing tennis. Nobody was at the pond, although it was a perfect day and time to swim. Nobody was there, but many fishes were. The pond was literally filled with tons of red, black and brown huge fishes which weren't moving much, as if they were enjoying the last rays of sun of the day. I sat down on the edge of the pond. Swimming in there? I pondered. In the middle of all these huge fishes? The thought felt not much different from that of getting into an aquarium. And what are they going to do with me, these fishes? Will they simply let me go by, or think that I came there to make their supper? For a while I thought back with regret of the great, nice, pure lakes of Canada, and I consoled myself by reminding that as great as they are, they are almost only reachable by car. Oh well, this pond might seem more like a soup than anything else, but at least it's right next to where I live!
I finally went into the water. It smelled nice. I didn't see nor feel any fish around me. I passed by some sort of duck, I wish I knew the name of this beast, it's simply the most beautiful bird I have ever seen.
After swimming, I hitchhiked back to the house. A young couple with two kids in the back took me. Seeing their clothes, they obviously all had been doing painting during the day. The kids were gently playing on a video game. The parents were discussing the further work to do. They didn't talk to me except at the end, and when I told him I was from Quebec, the guy asked me if it didn't feel strange, to come from Quebec to such a lost place. Lost??? 50 km south of Toulouse? With nowhere to go where there isn't a house within a thousand meters?? So I said that hm, well, it didn't seem so lost here to me. He was surprised.
This well-known feeling, of being somehow of a different world, came back to me.
