Camp des Ainés, Vers Les Cimes

   In my last blog, I promised to let you know how we spend our time at the camp. Along with some thirty like-minded people, who have become close friends, we have a leisurely breakfast between 830 and nine before a quick prayer meeting and an hour of bible instruction. The organisers choose one of the more talented of the Church`s pasteurs to give the talks each year, so there is usually something new to appreciate. This year, it was Phillipe de Paul, the Pasteur from the church at Orthez who was in the chair. Apart from his knowledge and skill, Phillipe is famous as perhaps the only pasteur in the world to sport a long pigtail! I don`t know if this has a philosophical significance for him and have never dared to ask....
  After the religious side of the day, we proceed to the other main event of the camp--dinner! We eat like kings up there. and it`s only because of the exercise that we don`t become as fat as hogs!
   After a pause for digestion, we set out for the day`s hike. As the Colonie is set high in the mountains, there are many scenic places to walk to, peaks and lakes galore. It`s the most beautiful and impressive place in the world. However, it could also be dangerous if you don`t know what you`re doing, so we are lucky to have experienced guides to lead us and make sure the same number of people return as set out! The weather can change so quickly up there, in a few minutes a cloud can drift across and you are lost in a fog. This year, the weather can only be described as mixed, we did have several fine days for walking but several foggy or rainy days when we had to find other things to do.
  One of these alternatives was a visit to the aquarium at Pierrefitte, an impressive, privately-owned collection of tropical fresh-water and salt-water species. We really enjoyed our visit.

You don`t want to dabble your fingers in HIS tank!

   We did this visit on the worst day of our stay, with heavy rain all day. We later learned, that shortly after our visit, the local river burst its banks, carrying away the car of an elderly couple and drowning the wife. A tragic accident showing how swiftly things can change.

  We took Jilly and Laika with us, as they really enjoy the walks and also benefit from more exercise on local strolls in the area around the Colonie. Luckily, they are used to living in the car and there is a shady spot under a tree to park the car (or kennel!)



After our week in the mountains, we were invited to spend a few days with our friend Arlette and her husband Laurent on their chicken farm near Orthez, but that`s another story for a later Ark.


A Bientot!

A Stay in the Mountains

    Well, we`re back from our annual stay at the Colonie de Vacances Vers les Cîmes. You may have noticed that there has been even fewer Arks than usual and this is the reason. We spend a week at the Colo each year. The holiday centre was set up by the Evangelic Church at Orthez as a holiday centre for children, but twenty years ago, a week for older campers was started before the season for children started, the Camp des Ainés. The church at Ortez has links with our church at Matha and we started going to the camp nine years ago.
     When it was first started, the Colonie consisted of wooden huts, which in fact are still there, used by the local farmer to house his hens! They have been replaced by modern, purpose-built buildings. An old Pyrenean barn was also used as an assembly hall by the campers but had become ruinous in the last few years. However, with the aid of a loan to be repaid by benevolent persons, including ourselves, the old barn has been entirely refurbished and is now better than new. We were particullarly pleased at the rescue of this attractive old building, whose entirely new slate roof should be good for another century. This is a picture from last year.


  But the real attraction of the site is its setting in a glaciated valley, with the snow-covered Gabizos mountain behind, a lower, grass covered hill in front, from where hang-gliders are regularly launched, and the wooded slopes of the Pic de Pan completing the bowl. The valley is accessed by a road running along a ridge some 100 feet above the valley which is, we have been told, a morraine left by the retreat of a huge glacier.
  The Gabizos is snowier than we have ever seen it, as the snowfall in the Pyrenees has been particularly heavy and late in the season contradicting the global warming theory!
  Well, having set the scene, I will leave the details of how we spent our days at the Camp for another blog, as Kim has woken and has come downstairs to drink her morning coffee and breakfast calls soon.  A bientôt!

It has not been a good week....

 I have had this post it the `Drafts` section of Blogger for a couple of weeks, events were too raw to allow me to finish it. Now things have settled down, I feel I can bear to finish and publish it, if Kim agrees. If not, you wont be reading this!
   This last week has not been a vintage one for the Ark and its crew. The worst problem has been with Kim`s health. Friends will know that she suffers from depression and has done for many years, on and off. Although in the past it has been a severe problem at times, even leading to hospitalisation, for some years it has mainly been under control by taking a small dose of medicine daily. Like my own drug to control high blood pressure, as long as you take the dose you are fine, though in Kim`s case it is more of a balancing act and like a trapeze artiste, the drop is always there, waiting...
  On this occasion, the cause of the latest loss of balance was self-inflicted. Kim`s Doctor, and even more so her Cardiologist ,have warned that her normal medicine, Anafranil, is not all that good for her heart. Luckily, she has been steadily reducing the dose until it is just sufficient, to a level, in fact, which is unlikely to do any cardiac damage. However, as a precaution, it was decided to try another more modern, `cleaner` drug, Stablon. As Kim was in good spirits at the time, and as it was Spring ( ha!) it was thought a good time to try the change.
  So, the `dirty` but tried and tested Anafranil was discontinued and the new wonder-drug started. There seem to be two problems with anti-depressive drugs. The first is they don`t work for everybody, each person suits a different set of drugs. The second is that they take up to three weeks to work---or not to work, if you get my drift. So we started on the three-weeks `probation` with me keeping a careful eye on Kim, I may not be a specialist in drugs, but I AM a specialist in Kim! The first week, things seemed fine, no darkening of mood. Then the progress seemed to level out and by the start of the third week we suspected we were in trouble. Kim was starting to feel miserable and low and by half-way through the week, it was clear the Stablon was ineffective in Kim`s case. A final straw was the killing of our ducks and hens by the trespassing dog of a friend of our neighbour. On Friday, she was starting to get weepy  I insisted on going back to the Doctor. One of the effects of depression is that Kim becomes less decisive, but I felt we were approaching a drop-off point and to wait until Monday would be dangerous. The Doctor agreed and we returned to the old drug, which, I am glad to say, has returned Kim to her usual self. You can imagine our relief! The Doctor doesn`t feel there will be any problem in continuing indefinitely on the low dose, though Kim plans to reduce it further, perhaps next year, we shall see!

  Bye for now, going to submit this article to the Editor!