Holiday time..

We've been in La Ciotat (east of Marseille) since Thursday and settling down. Our tiny campsite is full of friendly French, Polish and German tourists of all ages. It's warm but not too hot with a serious risk of storm tonight. At lunch, we had a pizza and a seafood salad, after which, our attentive waitress warned us that jellyfish were about to invade the beaches and she gave us her tip: staying close to the sea shore (obviously!) I must say that I am a bit of a coward so I  never went for a swim in the afternoon as I originally planned! 

Biking from the campsite to the town is straightforward but a bit dangerous because of the traffic. We are a few minutes away from three hypermarkets. 

We are looking forward to attending a service at the Eglise Evangelique of the Ciotat tomorrow morning. 

What are you doing this summer? A bientôt mes amis! Que Dieu vous bénisse. 

Err, what's the name of this rapace please?

This morning, as I was about to do my bible reading, I was admiring the many birds in the garden. Last night I put some breadcrumbs out and I was able to count at least six types of birds, enjoying their feed. Then came the squirrels equally busy looking for nuts. At that moment, Camille started to type and all the birds left. I thought that was strange. How could a tiny noise like that scare them so much that they would leave? Suddenly on our fence, straight in front of me, I saw it, a proud sparrow hawk. Zut alors! No camera around! A missed opportunity! Still I decided to risk it, ran silently upstairs, snatched my camera and ran downstairs on my tiptoes. I went out. All I could hear was the sound of annoyed and scared birds warning each other of danger. And then I saw it again, in my friend Sue's garden, perched on the feeder! He stooped but missed and came back on the perch, almost posing!

Have a blessed week-end, the first of 2014.

bullfinch

Sparrow hawk in my friend Sue's garden