My Adventures in Provence: Part 3

Well, my God, I could not love all of any more than I already do for your honesty, your forthrightness and for your trust in regards to the previous blog posting. Thank you for divulging these very personal thoughts and wishes. As I was reading each one of them, all I could keep thinking was, “My readers are the coolest.” And I also kept thinking that birds of a feather flock together. Apparently, at the end of all of our lives, high thread count sheets, good food, alcohol, cigarettes, music and family are what matter the most. Isn’t that funny! Thank you so much for all of your comments and for your thoughts. That was a fun exercise!

Okay, lightening things up a bit this week because that was kind of a heavy blog, let’s get back to Provence, shall we?

Amongst the billion reasons why I adore my friends in Provence, is their absolute commitment to respect what is important in life. Family, friends, laughter… And animals. Let me set the stage…

The morning after we arrived in Provence, our host, The Apricot, was unable to join us for an early morning breakfast for a very important reason. The Apricot and the houseman, Joaquim, had a very important appointment in a nearby town to pick up some new members of the family. 30+ rare Japanese Koi fish.

 

Their arrival was the event of the day. These Koi fish probably have no idea how good their life was about to get. They hit the adoptive parent jackpot. They arrived in a big white truck ready to be plunged into their new home… An 18^th-century pond surrounded by balustrades in the south of France. The foster Koi found there forever home.

 

The Koi fish joined their large extended family of other Koi appropriately named: Adorable, Orangette, Aurore, Jonas, Salome, Brumel, Larga, Stendhal, Cendrillon, Namani, Rosetta, Prince William and all the others.

 

Romy Grace and The Apricot celebrating the arrival of their new babies.

 

 

 A temporary tent was erected to shade the koi until the new chic custom canopy arrives.

 

 

Each fish was gently placed into the Koi pond with delicacy and the hope that it would adapt to its new environment. One by one, every fish seemed perfectly at home. And then, the grand finale… The last fish… As big as a small poodle, this particular Koi had to be hand carried, wrapped in a wet towel and gently placed into the pond. Everyone was holding their breath but voilà, the king of the pond figured that “this pond will do just fine.”

 Gently, the mac daddy of all the koi was hand placed into the pond.

 

 

 

Champagne celebration time. From left: My husband David, the husband/wife koi vendors, the house staff of Cristina and Joaquim, The Apricot and Romy Grace, Me and Gracie.

Of course, a round of celebratory champagne was had to welcome the fish to their new paradise. And that, my friends, was my second day in Provence.