Just Humans Being...

Religion is still a big thing in rural France, especially in the Auvergne. We've seen it all before - the volcanic rocks with virgin Mary statues towering over communities, the altars and crosses just outside villages. The views from the statues are amazing, so always worth a climb.  Friday (All Saint's Day) was a day of families gathering. Everywhere was quiet and we took the opportunity to explore. Saint-Pierre church at Novacelles is a lovely little building. With a warm and cosy atmosphere. Day of the Dead is all about honouring our deceased loved ones, so we lit candles. Our Lupe died just days before we came away on our trip. Our beautiful companion of 14 years. We are still hurting and know when we arrive home next week we will miss him dearly. We continue to wish him a goodnight every night, as we do Fleaby (our other old boy) when we're away from home.  Lupe is buried just outside our bedroom window, under...

Halloween and All Saint's Day (La Toussaint) is a big event here in France and it has been for a long time, probably as big as in North America. We remember being in Paris with our kidlets many years ago over Halloween and seeing lots of decorated places and kids dressed up, which we didn't really see much of in the UK at the time. Our hotel overlooked one of the city's large cemeteries and on November 1st, we woke up to an incredible sight - the cemetery was absolutely buzzing with people bearing flowers and gifts...it was fascinating for us all to see and experience.    At the moment, we are house and kitty sitting in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region of France and there is much activity in the cemetery of this rural village this week, as families honour their dead loved ones. Today has been a quiet day for us, we are happy to stay away from the Halloween celebrations and instead just enjoy the peace of this lovely house, cuddle lots of kitties, feast and relax....