Spelunking in Cute Shoes

The VCCA/Auvillar artists and writers spent the day "Spelunking!"  (That means cave exploration, in case you didn't know.)  Actually, I didn't know that's what it was called until one of the writers pointed out that fact that all us writer-girls were there to explore the ancient caves of Pech Merle in cute shoes!



Oh, but what about the caves!?  Well, they're amazing!  They were discovered in 1922 by Andre David and Henri Dutertre, two French boys--only 16 and 15 years old--who were out exploring the countryside when they climbed their way into this magical and mysterious subterranean world of stalagmites and drawings of bisen and reindeer and even ancient cave women.  Yes, our French tour guide had a wonderful time pointing at paintings and then repeating in English (with a gorgeous French accent) "this is the stomach, this is bottom and this is the breasts."  See, French men appreciate their women, even when they're thousands of years old!

Oh, and here's my beautiful student, Merridith.  She is definitely not thousands of years old.  In fact, she's only twenty-six years old, but definitely the kind of gal to inspiring a cave painting or two or three!

Afterwards, we visited the village of St. Cirq where we had a wonderful lunch and walked around the village--oh, and did some shopping, bien sur.  I'm not a good shopper.  To be honest it makes me nervous, but I love taking photos of things I would buy if I were a woman of independent means.  Actually, I am a woman of independent means...perhaps that's why I'm rather frugal!
Still, if I were a wealthy woman, I would buy all these bags!

And then it was time to make our way home through the beautiful French countryside.

Most of the sunflowers are now gone or as they say, "they're deadheads," but I did manage to catch one photo of a field where there was still some yellow left.  So before I bid you au revoir, here's a sunny picture!

More tomorrow! xo Jamie