La Placette des Arts in Tarascon old town is in full swing during July and August.

By day a permanent exhibition space, above.
By night regular live music.

The streets are as pretty as a picture.
And all just around the corner from home!

Volunteers have been very busy cleaning and tidying l'église de la Daurade opposite our house in Place Garrigou so it's now gleaming.

These plums along the chemin des papillons are ripe for the picking.

But that sounds like far too much hard work on a hot day!

Yet more butterfly photos!

A Brimstone feeding on Valerian in bright sunshine.

A marbled white feeding on
round-headed leek/allium sphaerocephalon.

A fritillary also enjoying a round-headed leek bloom.

This gorgeous wooden plate was my bargain du jour at the Bastille Day vide grenier in Tarascon.

As soon as I spotted it I knew it would be perfect for rubbings.
Well worth the 3 Euros I paid for it!

On Wednesday, despite being eaten alive by bugs, we had a wonderful walk from Les Cabannes up to the pretty mountainside village of Larcat.

Weekend of art at Prayols.

Prayols near Tarascon staged another wonderful weekend of art with a wide selection of traditional as well as contemporary work.

It's a very quaint, little village in the hills above Foix.

Almost every inch was used to display a fascinating selection of local art and artisanat.

Live jazz/swing added to the ambiance during lunch.

It's definitely on the calendar for next year, maybe to take part - the old stone walls would make a perfect backdrop for colourful quilts!

Samples for this year's class at Festival of Quilts are well under way.  We'll be exploring pretty machine decorative stitches to make a cute 'Little Hanging Pocket'.

Class kits are almost complete too! 

Meanwhile -
Below are leaf rubbings done using watercolour pencils on fabric, as shown on a previous post, inspired by DMTV's recent programme.  I've used a selection of machine and hand stitching for the quilting in Lana, cotton and rayon threads.

This year's Bastille Day celebrations in Tarascon sur Ariege culminated in another wonderful firework display.

The Castella in the old part of town provides a picturesque and historic backdrop for the event.

Le Tour de France 2013 a Ax les Thermes.

Le stage du Tour entre Castres et Ax 3 Domaines.

La Caravane is always great fun with loud music and plenty of freebies thrown into the crowds!

After the frivolity, the serious stuff!

Allez Sky, on the way to victory!

Cav holding in there!

On the right , le maillot jaune du jour.

 The riders were strung out after 2 climbs then the descent into Ax.

Once they'd crossed the river it was time to get ready for the final climb up to Bonascre.

Salut monsieur!

Our friendly gendarme for the day.

La voiture balai brings up the rear.

Today's short walk around Tarascon.

Above is a black-veined white butterfly (Aporia crataegi) common in Europe and North Africa.  According to my little book it existed in southern England until the 1920s but is now extinct.

 Below is a female Pieris enjoying her Valerian lunch.

The hummingbird moth below is using his lengthy proboscis to extract his lunch.

France like England likes to plant a colourful wild flower selection along its roadsides.

Nature's colours always seem to work well together!

 The long toes of lizards really amaze me!

Now here're some interesting shapes, colours and textures!

The moth above is the sun-loving and widespread Six-spot Burnet while the one below is a Cinnabar.  Both were photographed flying in daytime.