A Boy's Life...in France

The two months here have meant different things to each of us, but I have not said much about the youngest two; Charles, 10 and Gael, 6, who just do boy stuff, like at home, but different.

Here are a few photos from their day to day here, starting with summer's favorite pastime, lucanus cervus, or stag beetles:

     Killer beetle attacks huge ship:

The beach, a favorite spot:

Charles, Gael and I learned about cow-fighting, or "la course landaise" during the town festival.+ After a class for children on this tradition (using inner tubes and balls as cow substitutes), I am longing to see it for myself. As much as I hate bull-fighting (and yes, I have actually been to 2 corridas), because it ends in torture and murder (sorry, traditionalists, but yuck!), the demonstration of how one jumps over a cow, feet together, or swings away from a charging animal at the last micro-second, was beautiful. Add the costumes and the show...you have the soul of the town festival here; "Fete de la Madeleine." What a phenomenon to try to describe; music and tradition during the day, debauchery all night. The young bucks after the running of the bulls, um, cows,

The kids had their own "encierro" or bull run. They used to do it with very small calves, today (I think litigation has reached France) there are adults pushing wheel barrows dressed up like cows with horns:

In the arena for the class; red scarves for all:

Photos of photos of the ecarteurs (dodgers) in action:

Charles turning 10...too fast!

And the summer is not over, neither is our trip to France; but as C. said this morning; "We'll be home in our own house with our dog and our friends next week!"

+As to why no one else was at the class; first of all, it was geared to children. Second of all, we'd been out to the night time part of the town festival the day before, and even with the best of intentions, had only made it home at 1am. We danced, listened to music and wandered the streets, all together, along with hundreds of other families. It did not seem as wild as I once remembered it being, but then again, we left "early." The only ones I could drag out of bed in the morning for the cow event were the youngest.