Video and Photos of "Scenes from a Village" Expo

Hey,

So here's the video of Deborah's Expo that we promised:

You can find out more about Deborah here.

Deborah, just before people came to see her paintings...

Deborah talking to Kerry and the American playwright Nora Seilheimer

John having fun talking to the locals about the paintings of their dogs an houses...

Filou waiting patiently for some food from the annual village Aperitif

It was a lot of fun...

"Scenes from a Village" - Deborah Clarke - Expo

Above is the poster for Deborah Clarke's "Scenes From a Village" which is showing here today and tomorrow!

Deborah lives in Grenoble and has been to La Muse three time now. You can check out more of her great watercolors here.

Going fast: Reduced Rates for August/September Retreat!

We still have rooms available for the August/September retreat.

So, a call to all former Musers: we are reducing the high season retreat rate to 600 Euros for the three weeks, on a first come first serve basis!

That's nearly 400 Euros off on Clio and 335 Euros off on Euterpe!

And for all of you out there who have not been to La Muse before: we are reducing the high season retreat rate to 750 Euros for the three weeks retreat, again on a first come first serve basis!

That means nearly 200 Euros off Euterpe and 245 Euros off Clio!

Email us now to book your room or please spread the news!

Colline de l'hirondelle

Been a while since we posted anything as we've been renovating and full at La Muse...

Anyway, just wanted to let you all know about our friends' Didier and Jenn's great wine at the Colline de l'hirondelle.

It's in Douzens, not that far from here.

At left is their latest wine ad. Classic!

More adventures in wild food

Oh, look, Kerry brought home a big box of grass to cook for dinner...

Wait! It's a little leek! A wild little leek... 

 

 Clean 'em up, throw 'em in a pan with some butter and lemon or olive oil, and you've got ...

Dinner! Savory, slightly bitter, a meaty dish. Wild food is so nourishing, it's filling. To fill it out into frittata: Pour in four eggs beaten with a grated chunk of Parmesan, and bake it for 20 minutes. So good you'll scurry out for more.

Life in Labastide, cont'd

 Oh, it's spring and I just can't get enough wild asparagus. See that sweet slender thing offering itself up?

Last Sunday we had lunch with our friends the Darnells (Tom's a painter) at their home in the Minervois. We took their truck (the two dogs Betty and Gladys sat in the front and the people piled in the back) to a green oak forest nearby and hunted like wild things, running bent at 90 degrees through the underbrush eyes peeled to the forest floor. 

     

We ate well that night: risotto

The Honey Badger Doesn't Give a...

Cross Dressing Moutaineer Dies...

The world is an amazing place...

Check out this article in the Telegraph.

Granny with Handbag Scares Robbers...

Classic. Watch her as she RUNS across the street to hit them :

Muser art to be featured on online gallery...

 Send us your art! La Muse is looking for art created at La Muse for an online gallery to be featured on our new website. It's still a work-in-progress, created by John our resident e-marketing and Internet optimization guru.

John's gives workshops to attendees about creating one's own website and blog, and how to use social networking tools to get their stuff out there, up there, and seen. Our new site is a good example of how to use those tools... Type in "writer retreat France" and we come up first out of more than 6 million websites!

Please email your images to getaway@lamuseinn.com by April 1, if possible. We'd like to have the gallery completed in time for our TENTH ANNIVERSARY in May.

We love this work by Marilyn Gaffney, an Irish artist at La Muse in November...

Marilyn Gaffney created several other amazing works during her stay here.

Life in Labastide

The beautiful thing about winter is that all that chimney smoke makes everything soft. I plan to do a pencil drawing of the above landscape, and maybe a painting of the village in late afternoon sunlight. Someday, when I have the time...

For the first time in our ten years of doing La Muse (yes, it'll be ten years in May) we decided to close for the month of February. Now, that doesn't mean we're sleeping until 11 and reading books by the fire all day. It doesn't really mean we're on vacation. But it does mean we do have more time together and we do have our weekends free. And so this afternoon, we went for a long and lazy walk to the rocks.

Life in Labastide

Umbilicus rupestris (navelwort, penny-pies, wall pennywort). A yummy succulent for winter salads

After getting Seamus and Fionn from the mini school bus the other evening we relished the warm winter sun (temps well into the 60s) on a walk with Gloria to the spring for some fresh source water. It was Seamus's idea to stop on the way to pick some fresh nombrils de Venus (which translates beautifully to "Venus bellybuttons") for that night's salad.

Seamus and Fionn pick greens.

Still-life Bounty: someone's gotta paint these

Fionn and Seamus love to gather wild food

Penny-pies (as they are called in English) grow all over our village in late autumn and winter on the walls, stone steps, and along the base of houses (avoid if within reach of dog wee).  They taste like sprouts, great with a garlicky lemon mustard seed dressing.
They also have a medicinal use -- applied topically, their juice is used by locals to banish warts.

Gloria learning young to live off the land

A fresh finish to split pea fritters, red pepper relish and tahini dressing

Stay tuned for more "Life in Labastide" entries... the reasons we love living where we do, and part of what makes La Muse an amazing experience.