Week 30 (24–30 July 2023)
Bit of a slower week, might be compensating for the previous ones. It's hot too so I spent more time inside watching movies1, writing notes about movies etc.
Organizing the Nuits des étoiles
Like I said back in Weeknote #4 C and I joined an association for the promotion of astronomy. We've been busy lately, because its main event is taking place in a couple of weeks! The Nuits des étoiles (lit. "nights of the stars") is a national event that takes place every summer since 1991 in hundreds of towns all over the country. We're helping organise the 24th edition this year in the nearby village of Chassiers.
I know how to make websites so I was immediately put in charge of everything web, from the homepage to setting up the booking system for the event (spots are limited to 100 persons for each of the 3 nights). And since the association's website is an old, mostly-unmaintained WordPress site, there's a bit of mess to clean up, including at least one malicious script2. Fortunately WordPress is great, so it was relatively easy to set up the booking system and build a landing page.
C and I also designed a poster for the Nuits des étoiles theme of the year: cosmic dust. Since the event is falling right in the middle of the Perseids, we grabbed a photo from NASA and wrote a few things about meteors and 109P/Swift-Tuttle. We got the poster printed in A2 and it looks great!
The week of the 7th will be the busiest, with event set up throughout the week and the actual event on the nights of Friday, Saturday and Sunday (11, 12 and 13 August).
The Payzac farmers market
Summer is peak market season, with a bunch of seasonal markets (mostly evenings). This week we've been to one of our favorites so far, on Sunday morning in the small village of Payzac (40 min drive from home).
Picture a small patch of grass at the edge of the village with magnificent, old chestnut trees. All around, in their shade, stalls: cheese veggies melons saucisson and more, and in the middle, small tables for having coffee or a crêpe or lunch.
It was the perfect size, in the perfect location, and we'll be back for sure! Plus we also want to (re)visit the markets at Chambonas, Laboule, Lablachère (Domaine du Vialat), Prunet, Ailhon, Baumont...
Watching
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) by Steven Spielberg 4/10
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) by Steven Spielberg 6/10
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) by Steven Spielberg 6/10
- Rocky (1976) by John G. Avildsen 8/10
- Rocky II (1979) by Sylvester Stallone 3/10
- Oppenheimer (2023) by Christopher Nolan 9/10
- Along with the Gods (2017) by Kim Yong-hwa (3/10)
Yup that's a lot of films this week, one per day on average. How come? It was hot so I saw a few films in the afternoon (it's cooler when we stay cloistered inside in the dark), and also I like to finish what I start so I couldn't possibly watch Raiders of the Lost Ark last week and not watch Indiana Jones 2, 3 and 4 immediately after.
Reading
We went back to the library this week so I read a bunch of comics, and I've also started a new novel: L'Usage du monde by Nicolas Bouvier.