Maubourguet

Hi again,
First of all I'm back on the French keyboard so enjoy the challenge along with me, ok?
this week has been so much more calm, thank God. First the toe report- Dominique's are good, more or less, and we have been able to go long distances. I think I have walked 350 miles so far. The awesome thing is that two days ago we started to see see the Pyrenees. One morning they appeared like a thin blu\grey line on the horizon, like a pirate ship, then yesterday they were quite big and jagged and snow covered. They are beautiful, they seem to cover the entire horizon. It is exciting and anxiety causing at the same time. here we go, up and over; probably in four days.
Last Sunday we were at Toulouse, staying by the Church of St sernin, a bishop who was dragged by a bull to his death in 250ad. The hotel is on Rue de Taur, named that because of the incident. It is all so old. That is part of the joy of this walk, knowing that the same paths have been walked on for hundreds of years. We took the metro to the outskirts of Toulose to start our walking again (not the pilgrim way but more satisfying for two impatient people). One of the chambre d'hotes we stayed at was run by a masseuse so I had a foot massage! My feet deserved the treat after all the work they have done.
We have slept in luxury this week too. Everynight has been either someones home or a hotel. i never realized how much I loved sheets before this walk. Sheets really are one of lifes great pleasures.
For two days this week we have had the pleasure of walking with John from York. A perfect combination for Dominique and I, a man who speaks French but is English. I loved every minute of it. We talked about politics and religion and he listened patiently while I talked about how annoying it is to be led around not knowing what to expect from one minute to the next and how I was used to charting my own course and now I had no say in anything and blah blah blah. It felt so good to vent. We also laughed about old scenes from Faulty towers. He left for home today, both Dominique and I enjoyed the break. Three weeks being together 24- 7 is too much.
Let me talk a little about this area. For one thing, this is a region of paté fois gras. There are ducks and geese everywhere. I have had duck soup and duck legs and even fois gras. It was served with figs on toast. Nice but not worth the effort on the part of the bird I think: The crops are still sunflowers and corn; primarily. The land is brown, clay mostly. The fields go on forever. there are plently of hills so I can see forever. We seldom walk on asphalt. We are on paths through farm fields or on stones in forests. The temperature is like MN, cool enough for a jacket in the morning and hot in the afternoon.
I am happy to announce that I am the proud mother of a roller girl. Alison, aka Sweet Justice, is now on the team she wanted to be on. her first game is on 20 October. I am really happy for her and can,t wait for the first game I will be able to see.
I have loads of pictures and will try to get some attached here. Take care. Thank you for writing. I love reading your notes. I try to respond to you personally but for some reason my emails get sent back. I have no idea where I will have another café to write to you. Things look to be more and more remote for a while.
I love you all. Bye till Spain; I think.
Mary/mom.