Waterfall, Benjamin, & Cèpes

Took a day off from the war — no tv, no radio, no newspaper (only the back — cultural — pages of Libération, & no need to open the Times as the Mets did not play last night). Read some, walked some — Nicole took photos on the walk up the Col du Portillon to the Cascade de Sidonie and just above it, the Plateau de Burbe. Rich mid-summer meadow, plus gorgeous heather-rich cliff edge. Another photo of the shadow of our hands over rock, below.

Three more kilometers & we would have been in Spain. (Thought of course, as I always do when that border comes into view, of Walter Benjamin — who was as close to it, but committed suicide the night he was to cross over into Spain. BTW — 2 interesting new critical pieces available online on the Ferneyhough/Bernstein Benjamin opera; details here). We went back down into Luchon and an incredible lunch centered around a large plate of cèpes (boletus edulis — though far, far superior to the dried porcini we an buy in the US) sautéed with oil and garlic.