My Amazon books arrived:
The Curious Incident of the Dog - Mark Haddon. I read it in one day and thought it was clever writing and quite thought provoking. I wonder if Allan has read it.
The Dead Heart - Douglas Kennedy. An American writing a thriller about Australia - should be funny.
Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood. Another futuristic exploration of humanity.
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere - Stories by a young African American woman are a bit disappointing after the reviews. Maybe they'll improve as I read more.

Spring has definitely sprung. The trees in the domaine are becoming bright green and the flowers are emerging. Some of the flowers, possibly the pine trees, are giving me hayfever.

I went for an extra hike last Thursday with Annsofi and Ingrid, both Swedish, up Montagne de Thiey in an effort to look for AnnSophie's gold bracelet, to no avail. The wildflowers, however, were lovely. On the Tuesday we had a very leisurely hike on the old Route Napoleon from the road on the River Saigne, including a drinks stop at the bar and a cup of rose from Angela. Yesterday we had a very short walk after a longish drive above La Turbie, led by Gillian (with a hard 'G' as Annsofi corrected me), as Angela's mother-in-law had just died.

I played tennis in shorts for the first time. Pat and I have been playing quite a bit. I've put on weight. Linda at tennis was telling me about Atkins diet of minimum carbohydrates. It would be very hard when the bread is so nice. The pain de campagne from Pain aux Dieux tastes like sourdough and comes in a large long loaf - yum.

Pat got the Panic Room out of the CE library. It was quite good but a bit laboured and far too long for such a simple story. Now we have Captain Corelli's Mandolin. I'm a bit reluctant to see it after I enjoyed the book. I'm remembering that the other book I tried to read of his, at Gary Davies' place in Italy put me off him completely: horrible stories about drug deaths in Columbia and I don't know what else.