Sunday was rainy and windy. But Sunday is brocant day. And Sunday was Jerome's birthday. Someone suggested we all go to the brocants and find gifts for Jerome under 5 euros. We drove 20 minutes through the darkening skies to a neighboring town to see that 80% of the shoppers and vendors had packed up and left. Most of us made a half-hearted attempt to browse, but the tables were covered in plastic to protect things from the rain. Within minutes we went back to our cars and waited for the Montrealites to return to the cars and their senses. They returned 20 minutes later with treasures (they seem to put Kippy and me to shame with their sharp eyes at a brocant), a large art nouveau brass vase for only a few euros the most evident thing, which drove me to jealousy, and I guess the others too, because we stumbled out of our cars into the rain with our umbrellas and made our way up the road, peaking under plastic tarps. We loaded up with lovely little things ridiculously priced, and drove home happy little campers. We would surprise Jerome with our presents later in the evening over champagne. But first, we had to get 3 hours of work done in the studio; we had a model.

By dinner time we had finished in the studio, wrapped our presents and went downstairs to the courtyard where friends were gathering in honor of Jerome. He opened all his cool little presents as we ooh'd and ahh'd to discover what each other had purchased.

One of the things we had for dinner was boudin. Google it.

 Today, Monday, the wind has not stopped. The skies are brooding. It feels like fall so much that Jerome has lit a fire.

We worked in the studio all day with a model, ending at 6:00. We should be called to the table soon.