Week 44 2013

Hello,

Flaujagues and the falling leaves

A beautiful weekend, with a sunny Sunday and we headed out to the brocantes in Flaujagues and the centre of Ste Foy.  It was great to see people out and about in T-shirts as October draws to a close.

This is possibly the quietest week I have ever known… The events are particularly sparse (not even any films at the local cinemas), so please if you hear of anything, let me know and I’ll add it in, even if it’s really short notice.  It feels like the changing of the clocks has sent the Gironde and Dordogne regions into hibernation!

The centre of Ste Foy - full of folks

Have a great week – keep busy, even if it’s just sweeping leaves!

Best wishes,

Helen

notjustfortheholidays@orange.fr

Week 44 2013

Monday 28 October

Tuesday 29 October

Wednesday 30 October

Thursday 31 October

Friday 1 November

1 November is a public holiday called La Toussaint.  Today many French people honour the lives of their deceased relatives by putting flowers on the family graves – traditionally chrysanthemums.  Most shops and restaurants will be closed as people generally try and spend the day with their family.  By the way, even though you might think that chrysanthemums would make a great gift – don’t try offering them to a French person, here they are flowers for the dead.

1 - 30 November : Pottery Exhibition at the Vitrine du Pays Foyen.  Pop in and have a look next time you are shopping at the big Leclerc at Pineuilh.

 

Saturday 2 November

2 – 3 November : Issigeac Christmas Fair organised by MADS.  Held at Issigeac Chateau.

2 November 11h30 :  Opening of the Pottery Exhibition at the Vitrine next to the Grand Pineuilh Leclerc.  All welcome.

 









 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 November : Piano concert by a premier Russian concert pianist, Anait Karpova from the Moscow Conservatory to celebrate the church bell benediction at Castelmoron-d'Albret.

To find out more and to reserve tickets call 06 07 78 62 16.  Entrance €20






Sunday 3 November

 

Traffic free Sunday in Bordeaux – the roads are closed for the first Sunday of the month.

 

3 November : Concert in the church at Ste Foy featuring David Olaizola and les Chanteurs Pyreneens de Tarbes.  Entrance €12

Coming up…

And finally… Not a lot of people know this… (Thank you J&PL)

 

"The ending  '-ac' exists not only in the Dordogne, but in the Auvergne, the Massif Central, Lot, Aveyron and Tarn which were Celtic before the Roman invasions '-ac' means 'village'

Or possibly the suffix derived from -iacus, a latin suffix of the Gallo-Roman period, denoting simply possession. For example, "the villa of Aurelius" was written as Aureliacum, which became Aurillac.

In the particular case of South-western France today the city names combine very often the celtic '-ac' or the Roman '-Iacus' and the name of the first Roman colonist to whom the estate was granted - 

Examples: 

Marminiac - village of Marminius

Souillac - village of Solius
Salviac - village of Salvius ( Salge ) 

Segonzac - village of Secundus

etc.etc

 

Sometimes we have named items after the villages.

Examples:

Armagnac

Cognac

Cadillac

Coulibiac

Bivouac

Almanac

Shellac

Celeriac

Zodiac

Lilac

Tarmac

and

Yashmac

In other cases the type of person residing in the village gave the town its name - 

Examples:

Bulimiac

Amnesiac

Bibliomaniac

Haemophiliac

Egomaniac

Pyromaniac

Hypochondriac

etc.etc.