Odile - Welcome to My Garden

Arriving in Castelnaudary

I went to the grocery store to stock up on food. I drank a can of juice and ate a almond pastry while loading the rest of the items into the food bag.

After several hilly streets I came to the house that said Villa Henri. Noone was home so I looked around first. Today was a Welcome to My Garden  day and I saw that there was a very big back yard.

Front of house showing filled in cracks
 

Closeup

Back of house

I looked to see where I would put up my tent. I called Odile and said I was there and that I would go ahead and set up.  So I drank the other can of orange, ate a sandwich and set up. I was airing my sleeping bag and bivy on the laundry line when I noticed a dark sky and some rain drops. I hurriedly threw everything inside and got in just in time. A little later the phone rang. It was Odile saying she was coming home to open the house and I should move inside. So I brought all my things in and while the thunder was going on outside I was happy to be inside. 

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Odile is a social worker. She told me she was bad as a child and first had to go to an all girls school with nuns and later a school run by priests. She is trying to quit smoking and has chewable tablets everywhere to help her. She bought out this house from her husband after their divorce. It is over 100 years old. In the last year she has had many cracks fixed.  She has a son and daughter and 2 grandchildren. 

My first photo of her cat Tao is a scary one.

After the cracks were fixed the whole dining area...

...and kitchen have been renewed.

I like this Camping sign.

I am staying in her son's room HShe says he likes fairies

             He has quite the collection of pictures.

The longest bread I have seen so far. We enjoyed a nice supper together with cucumber and tomato salad and paté and cheese and bread. 

Thank you Odile for supper

We talked about her boyfriend, Leo, who likes to ride hills on bicycles. He owns about 6 and had just bought a carbon bicycle that day. He does brevits.

In the evening she logged on to my blog and was enjoying reading many of my older blogs. She would look over at me and say" You are not Mary Ann" because I have lost weight.

We stayed up until 11 and I was downloading photos while she continued looking at my trips and showing me funny pictures.

 

In the morning she gave me a container of cornichons or little pickles to take with me. Goodbye Odile. Thank you for having me. May God bless you.