After posting the painting of Toulouse that I liked, I got a text from a friend that I had met on a tour the first time I was staying in Toulouse. She and her husband, came to Toulouse for a month last fall and we spent time having drinks, dinner and going to a wine festival while they were there. We ended up having a long text conversation catching up what had gone on in life since we last saw each other.

Two things about this interaction, the first is how easy it is with modern communication it is to keep in touch and make the world very small and, second, it is wonderful to me how you can connect with people and become friends even though you do not spend time with those people all the time. The different interests and things that allow you to connect with people are amazing.

For the communications side, the blog I write is a great way for people to know what I am doing and what is going on in my life. It allows me to connect to different people and learn lots about them. The other part is texting, email. WhatsApp, FaceTime and other forms of communication let you maintain relationships with people all over the world very easily and immediately. I regularly communicate with people I have met since I have been in Toulouse wherever they are in the world. I can keep in touch with friends back in Alexandria when I am in Toulouse and in Toulouse when I am in Alexandria.

There are a number of people I have met through my travels and now communicate with regularly. I think those of us who travel regularly are in some way a community of people of like interests. I think this is especially true of solo travelers. The other connection I have had is with running. I have made many connections through running groups and others who run.

Another aspect is that I have a FaceTime every Wednesday with one of my best friends and part of my chosen family. We would have lunch every Wednesday when I am in Alexandria and figured that we could keep doing it by FaceTime while I am in Toulouse. It is his lunch time and my apéro time. It is great because we can keep in touch with my life and I get to hear about what is going on with his family. This week part of the conversation was making arrangements to meet in Italy in November. He and his wife are coming over to Italy and I am going to meet them in Florence and then we are going to Bologna.

On life in Toulouse, I went for an afternoon walk and was going to check out the Chapelle of the Carmelites which I had never visited. On the way, I saw that the Église Notre Dame du Taur was open. It was the first time I had seen it was open since I had been back in Toulouse. It was being renovated and when I was here before it was briefly open to see the work but I had not seen it after the renovation. It is magnificent.

In the morning, I had walked over to the Marché Cristal and got some fruit for breakfast and lunch. There were some beautiful pears so I got some of those. I saw a headline on one of the local news sites I see discussing that even with the drought and other factors, the produce at the market was still amazingly inexpensive. I would agree, or at least, in comparison with the United States.