Wine and whine

My very good friend and colleague, Arles Lucy, invited me over for Wine and Whine after school today.  Truth be told, we have very little to whine about, so we just had a glass of rosé and some great cheeses and caught up.  We are so busy during our days at school that we have very little time to just talk.  We named our sessions Wine and Whine and we act as if we do it all the time, but, once again, truth be told, we haven't sat on her back porch since this time last year.  We laughed as we realized that because, in our own heads, we think we do this all the time.  And you want to know why?  Because we have such wonderful shared memories.
Arles Lucy and I have taught together for quite a few years.  She is our art teacher.  She is a Southern girl, like me.  She is from Virginia, I am from North Carolina.   After I came back from my two week stay in Arles in 2005, I talked about it constantly and was even asked to tell the middle school faculty about my trip.  Since I received summer grant money to go to walk in Van Gogh's footsteps and take cooking lessons, they had to put up with my iPhoto slideshow at a faculty meeting.  She got the idea that maybe I should take adults on a trip to Provence.  I decided to offer the trip through our Academy Nights program, we found our traveling buddies and off we went in the summer of 2006.  Here we are with Gordes in the background.

The trip really was a perfect one.  Everything fell into place and we have all remained very good friends.  We even had a reunion trip in 2008.
But Arles Lucy holds a very special place in my heart.  She and I have been roommates on our trips.  She is my confidante and a true friend.  There is a very good chance that she will not like the photos that I am going to post of her, but I am willing to take that chance (and hope that she is really busy the next few days and she won't have time to look at the blog!).
Here she is at Giverny-- we took a day trip there and packed a picnic with us.  It was a perfect day.  She was even asked to photograph a proposal.

Arles Lucy is an artist, too, and I know she wanted to take Monet's little boat out so that she could paint his waterlilies.

We had lots of picnics in Provence with Chef Érick during our cooking week in Arles.

We even had one at the Abbaye de Sénanque...

Chef Érick stopped the car one day and she jumped out of the car.  She hopped over the ditch so that I could take her photo with the tournesols.  I should've done it, too, instead of staying on the other side.  But I did get this great photo!

We saw lavender, just cut from the fields, being unloaded at Florame in St. Rémy de Provence.

We roamed the streets of Arles...

We visited a winery in Séguret (and wrecked havoc with the locks at the winemaker's house) and looked out at amazing Provençal vistas...

We had an amazing lunch in Vence at La Table d'Amis de Jacques Maximin.

We've had some wonderful times, but we always go back to this trip.  It cemented our friendship.
Here's to many more Wine and Whine afternoons, Arles Lucy!
She doesn't like chèvre, but she always buys some just for me!

And she always has beautiful napkins, too.

Bon appétit, mon amie!