I'm sorry to say that on July 3rd Monique's dad passed on. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, three children, grand children and many friends. Monique will have more to say later. But for now here is an image that I'm offering to the memory of Pepe.It may seem kind of odd to feature an image of Pepe drinking champagne, but this was one of the last photos that I took of him and the toast was to his health. It was a celebration. He had already assured us that after the operation, he would be happy either way. 'Rest In Peace' Pepe.
Kent

This gentleman and young lady passed out old french songs that everyone seemed to know.
Kent

This photo was also taken in Toulouse. It was at night in a very narrow street. Here you see Monique and her friend Muriel caught up in the infectious spirit of the festival.
Kent

This is 'The Fete' in Toulouse. As you can see everyone gets into the act.

Hey Yaya
'Fete De La Musique' is a nation wide French music festival. Every year 'The Fete' occurs on the same day, which is June 21st. It first began about twenty-five years ago. Monique and Francoise were there for the first one. Music can and does happen on every street corner. This year we are of course in Lyon.
Kent

Hey
This ia Daniel, Monique's brother who mananges a restaurant. We were invited to share lunch with him and the people he works with. We had a great time. every person was from a different place in the world. Algeria, Ivory Coast, Spain, Tunisia, Moroco. Daniel is camera shy and didn't want to be in the picture. You can imagine what a challenge this was for me as an artist. So I tried to show what kind of person Daniel is by his reflection in other peoples attitudes.
Kent

New routine

Well as expected it did not take long for the pounds to piled up on our out of shape bodies. There is no resisting the wonderful pastries and multitude of delicious and enticing dishes and wines.
So as they say one needs to make the best of a situation and use the resources at end to make the necessary changes. We know we cannot give up the good food [why else be in France!] so I thought it would be a good idea to increase our physical activity and use the abundant stairs in our neighborhood as equipment.
We live at the bottom of a very ancient hill so on every block there is a long staircase going all the way up to the big cathedral and its gardens.
So today first day: 230 steps. We are starting slow but in the process of our outing we discovered wonderful buildings, cobbled streets, monasteries, etc..just amazing. It certainly is incentive to keep up with our new exercise routine.
Monique