Hazy Day

We keep looking for the cloud of ash that has absolutely stilled European air travel, but all we see is blue sky. Well, it is 8km (about 5 miles) up, and it is very fine. But still, it's odd to be able to picnic and have a leisurely day in the sun while the news rages on about the thousands of people stranded in various airports. It's as much the weather (and its holding pattern) as the volcano (which has been erupting since March 20th), and I'm holding out hope that the weather will move along faster than the volcano. There are some pretty amazing slide shows out there, and reports of glass (glass?) and boulders being spewed out, as well as bolts of lightning (lightning?) coming from the cloud forming above the volcano. The most amazing element of it all may be the name of the glacier under the volcano: "Eyjafjallajokull." I haven't seen a single reporter attempt to pronounce it yet - daunting!

So, Iris's invented Tic Tac Toe board, made of sticks and stems and flowers and clovers, seems a little incongruous with the day, but here it is. We're still planning to leave on our second little vacation outing: 3 days/2 nights in the Finistère, to the edge of the world! The world in our France life, as Iris continues to say.

Our second café/ice cream in a terrace! It's really starting now, with week-ends being much busier in Josselin, and sidewalk tables starting to sprout up everywhere. See how sunny and warm it is? Almost weird!


I don't know if it was the invigorating ice cream (or coffee), but we found ourselves climbing the church bell tower within minutes of finishing. Turn after turn of a spiral staircase with great stopping places up (storage rooms, older bigger bell, bits and pieces of sculpture from the church) and then a magnificent view of the entire region. We are looking over to our neck of the woods, here.

It's been such a beautiful day that we couldn't really go inside, so we went to the Bois d'Amour instead (having picnicked at the Lists) and to my amazement, I started making little chains made of daisies (all good unless the stem breaks!). Iris soon had several designs for jewels in mind. This is the princess crown - love the big gem (rose petal) in the middle of the flowers. And the knowing but the kind look of my little girl.





Quite the finery when Her Majesty is completely bedecked out.





So we're going to press on with our plans for tomorrow, and the discovery of the Finistère - I promise an entire array of excellent Breton names (there's still quite a bit of Breton spoken in the Finistère) and pictures of wild, wind-battered cliffs as well as peaceful beaches (all within minutes of each other). Off to the wilds of Brittany to see what is coming in across the sea!