Yesterday morning my wife Jan walked back into our house, after a short shopping excursion, and said: “Well, it looks like winter is killing the market already.”
Okay, it’s not actually winter, but Jan was right — now that the Tourist Season is over, and the Greater Daglan Area glides into the Quiet Season, activity in our weekly market is down. Way down.
In fact, the only vendors there yesterday were selling vegetables, flowers, and honey. Here’s how the market look as I went past, just before noon:
It’s definitely not the market in summer.
The weather has definitely turned — mornings can be quite cold (I’ve seen it as low as 2 degrees so far), although the afternoons remain pleasant. Still you can see real change, even in the air. Here’s a view from Le Belvédère, the café perched at the edge of the village of Domme, looking down and outward at the Dordogne River Valley. Jan and I were there for coffees on a recent afternoon, and you can see the air becoming hazy in the distance:
Looking down into the Dordogne River Valley.
In the fields around Daglan, crops like corn and sunflowers have already been harvested, and nearly all the sunflowers that haven’t actually been cut down have withered into dull shades of brown and black.
But as always, there’s the exception that proves the rule. This hardy stand of sunflowers is growing beside a small hill near Daglan’s Stade Municipal, or local rugby pitch, and still is dazzling:
A brave stand of sunflowers indeed.
Coming soon, the annual harvest of walnuts. That’s big business in the GDA.
Where have you gone?
Just back from a break in Toulouse. Busy, busy!
Always welcome a line from your good lady!