Autumn colour

... of a different sort. I passed these pretty roadside flowers on my way up into the Montagne Noire for the concert this afternoon. I'd taken a few photos by that point, but the light was uninspiring. Better than later, though -- just as the concert started, the heavens opened and it absolutely bucketed down.

I'd intended to take some photos in the church beforehand but got distracted by conversation and didn't manage to take any. It's quite a large church for a village of 500 people, and the acoustics were fantastic. We sang to a full church, and the audience was very appreciative. As they should be :) We sang well, and the odd glitch was barely noticeable. We were lucky to have two brilliant soloists as well. It's always a good sign when there are several seconds of stunned silence at the end of a piece before the applause starts.

One of the conditions of our choir concerts is that the municipality lays on refreshments for the choir afterwards. Usually, this is squares of pizza, quiche, and wine. Or if you're unlucky, crisps, peanuts, and wine. In St Denis, they did us proud. The cooks were hard at work over gas rings on the terrace of the village hall, with a parasol their only protection from the rain. They served us big platters of moules marinière, and dishes of hot, crispy fried whitebait, washed down with copious amounts of blanquette and white wine. Then they brought in masses of miniature kebabs of chicken, pork, and beef with onions and peppers, still piping hot from the plancha. These were followed by dinky little glasses of chocolate mousse, lemon mousse, yoghurt with fruit compote, and trays of mini madeleines. No wonder we all stayed for hours. Can we sing there again, please?

PS if you are in the Aude or thereabouts, we are singing in Quillan on Thursday, and Carcassonne on Sunday.