Saturday, August 29, 2009

St. Jean Pied du Port and St. Palais

Today Kaaren and I drove to two old Basque towns.  In the first, St. Palais, we found the most marvelous artwork in the church there and found the stores all closing at 12 for a long lunch.  In St. Jean Pied du Port we prowled around the old military fortifications and ancient city which was the last city on the pilgrim route (still is) to the St. James church in NW Spain.  It is a gateway town to Spain, being only 7.5 kilometers from the Spanish border.  Here are some pictures of our day there.
 
When we got back to Dognen, we went with Bob and Britt to swim in the Oloron river.  I watched Arden - putting her on my stomach (I started to write "tummy" but realized I don't  really have a "tummy" anymore) to let her be entertained with my grisley face.
Before we made dinner, Kaaren and I rode bikes through the cornfields and into a couple of small villages - Prechacq and Saucede - that are very, very old and beautiful.  We had a blast.  There is also a picture of dinner time yesterday evening.  Note the interesting loaf of bread I brought home.
 
love,
 
Dad

1 comment:

Montana Blakes said...

Brother & Sister Pixton,
I need to let you know that I have your blog attached to my google reader and that I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts! I don't know if you know but Rodney and I have 8 children now. I am glad for it and wouldn't change it but I do find (especially lately) that I have a tendency to view mealtimes (particularly the dinner meal) as events to be gotten through as quickly as possible so we can clean up and move on to the myriad of other things that fill our lives too full. That's one of the reasons I've so enjoyed your blog. I get reminded from you to slow down and enjoy things like good food, art and people. So I hope you don't mind that I've been sneaking peeks at your lives! :)
Sincerely,
Ana (Nielsen) Blake