I first met Kate Griffin when she baby sat for Adam and Alex when we lived in Northwood Hills more than 40 years ago. She married Pat around 1990 and became Kate Graham. At that time she seemed to be in charge of the relationship as she made the speech at her wedding while Pat remained silent. Shortly after the marriage she had a premature baby boy that didn’t survive. Subsequently she had two children who are now thriving adults.
They arrived at La Colle in the middle of the afternoon. We opened a bottle and more or less continued to drink for the rest of the day. We did stop for a little time to eat our evening meal. All of us fell asleep as soon as we hit the pillow, but everyone had a story in the morning about how they woke in the middle of the night.
Monday 6th September
In the morning Andrzej’s gardening team arrived and very shortly one of the men pointed out that we had a nest of Asian Hornets in the roof of the summer kitchen. He said that he could destroy the nest with a spray which cost €40. I gave him the money and off he went brought back a can and proceeded to spray the horrible things.
They immediately started to drop dead and fall out of the nest. The Asian Hornet is between 25 to 35 mm long with a wing span of approximately the same length. Their main food seems to be the honeybee and other pollinators. Their sting can be quite dangerous. On of the gardeners had to have two days off work after his arm swelled up and he felt very ill. Another local gardener died after being stung four times.
I stayed at the house while the others shopped at Leclrec for lunch and the evening meal. After lunch and a short siesta we headed down to the beach at Villeneuve-Loubet and enjoyed a couple of hours on the beach and in the sea.
Maggi made another great meal and we watched a film called Marshall about a black civil rights worker who acted for clients from the 1940’s onward and became the first black American on the supreme court. The film was excellent.
Tuesday 7th
We visited two regular haunts with Kate and Pat today, Gourdon and Tourettes-sur-Loup. I drove up to Gourdon and we walked around the village. Recently the council have erected some statues by a local artist and today I saw one that was new to me, stuck to the castle walls and facing down towards the main road.
When we all visited the church I noticed that Kate bought a candle and lit it. She said she feels obliged by her upbringing to help the church.
We had our lunch in the Aux Vieux Fort again, and again we all enjoyed the meal, although the price keeps going up. Kate and Pat kindly bought the lunch.
We didn’t leave the restaurant until after 3 pm and then I drove to Tourette to have a wander around the town. I think Kate must have visited every clothes shop on the way and she still didn’t buy anything.
We returned home for our evening meal and we found a terrible film to watch on Netflix.
Wednesday 8th
In the morning we showed Kate and Tom around Grand Frais and shopped for the evening meal.
Kate had volunteered to cook her favourite meal a mixture of cod and shrimps. As `i remember it tasted pretty good.
After lunch we drove down to the coast and parked outside the hippodrome. From there we walked along the promenade towards the Villeneuve-Loubet flats. Just before the bay we stopped at Plage de la Fighière and sat down for a drink. I chose a large beer, while Pat had a half (he drove). I then went downstairs to the toilet where I changed into my swimming costume. With towel I sauntered down to the beach and then the sea. Pat changed on the beach and joined me in the water.
Neither of us spent a long time swimming but I still found it refreshing after walking in the sun for ¾ hour.
Pat and I walked back to the car ahead of the girls. By now Pat started to open up a bit more, or maybe it was me and he just responded. Anyway I found that he could be good company if you worked at it.
Thursday 9th
Today we visited the National Picasso Museum in Vallauris. We had tried to visit the museum the previous Friday but had arrived at the wrong time, i.e. just before lunch time closing. This time we set off much earlier and arrived before 11 am. We parked in the same car park and walked the few hundred yards to the museum.
We paid the €3 each entry fee and started to look around. There are 3 parts to the museum,
- the chapel where Picasso’s piece War and Peace is located. He painted on board and then attached the board to the walls and ceiling of the chapel
- the main body of the building featuring some Picasso ceramics and the work of other artists from Vallauris
- a cellar across the square from the main building where there are more Picasso ceramics.
Alberto Magnelli
The main building housed an exhibition of the work of Alberto Magnelli and I think this work stunned us all. They had posters available for sale, but the reproductions just didn’t capture the colour and the emotion of the original. The image in the gallery seemed to mix the bleak and the warmth in one painting.
Also in the main building we discovered various pottery by other local artists working in Vallauris.
The basement
The cellar of the main building contained numerous pieces of pottery by Picasso.
We left Valluauris after having a drink at the local cafe and a quick wander. Our next stop, Fort Carreé, for free parking and our picnic lunch. Maggi, Kate and Pat walked into Antibes while I used the shuttle bus from the car park. The service was quick and efficient and I arrived way before they did.
We had a nice stroll around Antibes , which included an ice-cream for everyone and a quick wee in the local toilets by the old market. We returned to the shuttle stop via the walls of the town and some public artwork.
Late afternoon and we return for a swim in the pool.