greener

This past weekend was pretty quiet around here. Derek and I completed our first run up to Crozet for the season (just before a fresh dusting of snow). A 13 miler that climbed straight up under the telecabine. We found some snowy patches and thick fog up at the top before exploring some new trails on the way back down. We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing by the boulles courts with friends, walking the dogs, and wishing for some sunshine to come back.

The rain turned everything extra green, the vines are looking good, and I found lilly of the valley blooming in the woods on our evening stroll. 

forearm scorpion

Last week in yoga, our awesome instructor, who week after week has found ways to challenge us with something new, flipped us up into a forearm stand. I truly expected to face plant, but to my surprise, my nose didn't hit the ground. This was such a strange new position and I felt pretty stable, so I wanted to take it a bit further. I saw a picture of scorpion pose, and didn't really give it a second thought until I was upside down on my forearms for the first time. I explained to Derek my intention to get my feet as close to my head as I could without smacking my face against the floor and asked him to be ready to catch me.  I really didn't know what to expect. We taped it so I could see if the pose looked and felt close to the same. I want to improve upper body strength and balance so this pushes my limits of both. Plus it's a cool rainy day off from running, so why not try it at home. 

walks & dogs

This morning I walked to St. Genis to meet a friend before heading to pottery. Since I wasn't running, I had my camera with to take some pictures along one of my usual routes. 

Derek and I are sitting for a friend's dogs while they are away. The girls are good walking partners, so we will be out with them quite a bit while they are staying with us. Out again for a beautiful evening.

clouds

It's a dark rainy day to my left and bright and sunny to my right. Somehow, I was lucky enough to stay near the edge of the clouds the whole walk to the grocery store and enjoy both sides. 

honorat & cannes

This morning we headed down to Cannes to catch a ferry over to Île Saint-Honorat, home to wine making monks since the 5th century, and a lovely island to spend a few hours walking.

Oven to heat cannon balls before launching (above left).

Just like yesterday, the sun came out in the mid afternoon as we returned to Cannes.

We wandered by the boats, watched some boulles, and found a seat to enjoy the water and gawk at all the people passing by (this is especially fun in Cannes). I'm so excited to come back in the fall for the Nice to Cannes marathon - running along the coast is going to be spectacular.

grasse & antibes

What to do on a rainy day? We decided to enjoy the views of palm trees from the windows of the Parfumerie Fragonard in Grasse. We took a tour of the factory and and tested our sniffing skills. We walked a little through town and stopped to warm up with Tunisian tea. 

 We continued south to Antibes, and just in time for some sunshine. We wandered through town, and sat for a while on the beach.

riviera roadtrip

We're not actually spontaneous, we just have a hard time committing to anything, especially travel plans. But we decided to head south for the Easter weekend, and I managed to book us a place to stay two days before departure (that's one more day than normal). We packed for whatever the weather was going to bring us and drove until we reached Callian to finally get out and stretch our legs...just a few kilometers from our final destination.

After a visit to town, we followed a narrow road into the forest and through a gué (photo below) to reach our weekend retreat in a cozy yurt. Not your typical crowded sandy beaches, but we'll get to the coast one of these days.

Once we were settled, we had just enough time to take a short stroll on the GR49 toward the lake of St. Cassien and plop ourselves under the wisteria for a dinner picnic.