Mother's Day in Moissac

This is vivid. Precious. Europe Green. Still.

HOT day, I decide to wear 'the' dress, on only its third outing all year. Drove to Moissac, a cathedral town on the Garonne, famous for its cloister and its canal. Markets again, our French is running back into our mouths like saliva does when you see something delicious. Suddenly, the words are there.

An outside, sunny, hot, picnic of couscous and chicken by the Canal du Midi. The lunch is gorgeous, the company fine, the weather has us amazed - it can feel like this!

The canal runs across France from Bordeaux to the Mediterranean, and was built by a genius engineer (he must have been) during Napoleonic times. Here in Moissac, the canal must cross the Garonne. Simple, they said. So a bridge to transport the canal was built, ably assisted by a lock to adjust levels. We walked under plane trees, saw some boats lower in the lock, and walked back again.

Green spring. My beloved boys. All three. This is how a mother's day should be. Every now and then. Too much and we wouldn't have enough to laugh about later.