France by boat & bike

At the end of each season Dirk and I escape for an active vacation to rekindle energy.  This year we flew to Toulouse, France.  We rented hybrid bikes that we kept for the full two weeks.  In our first week we chose the alpine hamlet of Bangere du Bigorre in the Haute Pyrenee's where cycling maps helped us discover remote, rolling terrain with lots of not-too-steep ups and downs.  Stopping for Cafe au Lait, a Croque Monsieur or Biere Presse we gradually increased our fitness level after a summer of too little. 

I had fun painting my morning coffee.  

A golden moment en route to our next week was meeting up with whitewater kayak champion Nouria Newman at the Brasserie d'Opera in Toulouse where she studies between paddling events. 

Next we joined five friends aboard our 'barge' on the canal du Garonne in the Aquataine region of southern France. A fantastic way to travel as your 'home' travels with you. 
Less tourists at this time of the season, les marches filled with fall harvests, and fields of sunflowers most past their primes, but I found this one that had a few blooms remaining.



This is the third time we have vacationed aboard a barge in France where 2-3 hours a day are spent boating through numerous locks to the next destination, then biking, reading, cooking, drinking wine and painting for the rest of the day.  glorious

Patagonia

 A photo often doesn't capture the essence of what we see with our own eyes.  One of the reasons I love to paint is to create what it means to  me.  So I painted the Boatercross race in southern Chile on the Rio Futaleufu at the World Extreme Kayak Championships - www.whitewatergrandprix.com where our daughter Katrina competed.  This is BIG water ! Kayaks popped up and down like balls in a pinball machine.  Katrina is the red kayak in the lead - she actually won this race; one of five stages held on the chilly waters of Patagonia. "Chaotic fun", is how she described the Class V rapid called "Mas O Menos" .

I entered my painting in the Tribe Rider art contest - look for their symbol embedded in the waves.