Sparkle

Everyone needs some in their life. I had a little blip break by the simple expedient of not taking any photos for a couple of days. Here's an EWB* so I can write a quick diary entry. 

On Wednesday we were chez F and S to continue helping with post-flood clear-up. An advantage of living in the country is that you have neighbours with tractors and trailers. We filled the trailer twice with ruined furniture and other bits and pieces -- most of it soaked-through kitchen units (chipboard doesn't respond well to flooding) and the dishwasher. Once we'd cleared the pile, Y got going with the Karcher. It's obviously his favourite toy -- once he'd eliminated any trace of mud from the patio, garden furniture and tables, he then set to on anything within range. Nothing was safe -- when he started pressure washing the pot plants and the kitchen windows, F screamed at him to stop. I think S may finally have pulled the plug out to stop him, leaving Y puzzling over a sudden lack of pressure. All pretty much done now -- though apparently the lean-to with the heat pump in it collapsed last night, overcome by moisture.

Yesterday evening, at my insistence, we went to a free four-hand piano concert in Lézignan. S expected to be bored but was in fact dazzled, and I was very pleasantly surprised. Hélène Assémat and Philippe Monferran started with an innocuous bit of Fauré (the Dolly Suite) and then splendidly played a Schubert Fantasia. The most Schuberty Schubert anyone could hope for. They finished with the wonderfully showy and virtuosic Six Pieces, written by Rachmaninov when he was only 21. And as an encore, an arrangement of Rachmaninov's Vocalise, involving much amusing crossing-over of hands; at some points each pianist was playing the opposite end of the keyboard from where they were sitting. This concert certainly added sparkle to our lives. 

A plan to end the evening chez Maria, long-unvisited,  was frustrated by the restaurant being full. We ended up at the pizzeria in Fabrezan, buzzing and friendly as always. Simple pleasures.

* Emergency Wine Blip