France's national "Fete du Musique" - and ANOTHER picnic!

In every wide spot in the road in France on this saturday night it was "Fete du Musique" a big party featuring music of all sorts. Our village used a 12th century church field for it's Fete and it was a pot luck. Becky brought a lentil/salmon salad and her other favorite - Jamie Oliver's red cabbage, apple and fennel salad.

We got there at 7:30 and got a primo parking spot and we hiked behind the church to lay out our goods and listen. They had a "Renaissance Faire" group of Grateful Dead types doing juggling, drums, penny whistle and ancient guitar - and they had to compete with a frog pond nearby. Last night must have coincided with the annual frog mating night - they (frogs) were not bothered at all by the crowd or music and singing because they (frogs) were singing their hearts out as they (frogs) tried to jump the bones of every and any frogs in sight. And they competed very well against humans.

When we say "Pot Luck" we mean it - everything from pizza to go to luscious clafoutti to home made pates to watermelons - you name it and the tables had a sample. Chow down

Their finale, that started at 11:00 - was fireworks of a sort. The Deadhead performers got out the hose and watered down the grass field (and kept it nearby) and had a fire show. Juggling with flaming torches, baton twirling, even a Chinese New Year influenced dragon helped close down the place with - perfect - more fireworks.

And I loved the grass smell in the evening - lots of great memories. Lots of <10 year olds running around through the horde of grown-ups. Nothing between the ages of 10-30 - this was impossibly boring to those age groups and they have better (read "more exciting") things to do in Agen - the big city just down the road.