Flying children!



Noah and Peter ~ no parachute needed!

 Year after year, the pool remains a huge draw for grown-ups and children alike.  Whether it's to cool off after a day spend exploring the nearby villages and lavender fields, or whether you fancy spending an entire day resting in one of our lounge-chairs, the pool is where everything happens at La Petite Gardette in the summer. 

The pool deck offers plenty of space for everyone to enjoy some privacy, and the surrounding trees and awning provide are a shady alternative for those needing a break from the sun (temps got to 39 celsius just yesterday!).

Max, Nina and Clara - big splash coming up!

The deep-end of the pool is surrounded by massive rocks and a wall on both sides.  The water there is over 6ft deep, making it the perfect spot to practice your diving (or cannon-ball!) skills.  The rocks are a good way up, but the wall is the perfect hight for our younger guests.

It's fun to watch as games get invented and played out.  Last year one game had kids jumping off while acting out Harry Potter characters that the grown-ups had to guess.  This year, as Harry delves deeper and deeper into the dark side of adolescence (when Harry takes off his shirt and is, well, hairy, I say it's time to move on!) I'm lobbying for a shift to the Kung Fu Panda II cast:)

Love is in the air...

One day this week I woke up feeling particularly peaceful and connected.  Those who've stayed with us before know that summer is a particularly busy time of year around here, and that the notion of "peace" and "connection" tends to fall through the cracks as we bustle around welcoming guests and delivering on our promise of delicious vegan eats...

This one morning though, I didn't feel the usual urge to rush through my to-do list. Instead, I took the time to notice the first rays of sun coming through the open window, the song of the dozens of birds who live in the cypress trees right outside my bedroom, and the restful silence of a household still asleep.  In short, the day felt special. Full of possibilities. 

One of my early morning habits is to go check on the vegetable garden, not to work necessarily (although I do plenty of that this time of year), but just to take in the slow but steady growth of our various plants and flowers.  It's reassuring and grounding to watch nature do its thing.  And when you think about it, it's all effortless.  Salad either grows, or it doesn't.  Tomatoes either ripen, or they don't.  Nature doesn't have goals, nor does it set expectations.  It simply is what it is, in a permanent state of surrender.  On that particular day, it even showed its playful side.  This is what came out of the ground when I was pulling carrots for dinner.  How cool is that?

And later that day, these two snails were snuggling by the water hose, much too busy to notice me!

They took notice of Noah however, when he picked them up for a closer look.  Luckily he didn't ask too many questions about what the snails were actually doing, dismayed and bewildered (for the nth time) by the fact that most people in France see a snail and call it dinner.  Noah really can't get over it that even some of his classmates eat snails (and froglegs) regularly.