Cat’Art is a bit off the beaten track. WAY off the beaten track.

We came to the artist and writer's residency from Girona, Spain. After a tiring five hour bus and train journey with our gigantic packs we finally arrived at the residency veiled in a ring of corn fields, trees and stray cats.

Cat 'Art is located in the tiny town of St. Colombe Sur L'Hers. It's many canals and overgrown buildings lend a gritty beauty to the otherwise picturesque town. It’s a wonderful place to come and get work done for a few weeks or even months.

I’m a city kid, so although the cornfields scare the hell out of me at night (think Children of the Corn), I’ve been enjoying meeting an international crowd of artists and playing at small town life.

A sample day in the artist colony generally goes as follows:

-Twisting myself into a pretzel with my Irish, yoga teacher flatmate first thing in the morning then mainling pints of coffee into my system to balance out any health benefits we may have derived from the yoga.

-A bit of work.

-A bike ride to Vival. Vival is a very small grocery store that meets most of our needs. Paul thought it was a pet food store at first because of its leopard print door hanging. The proprietor is a large imposing sun burned woman.

-Hello to the “bonjour man.”
There is not much to do in the sleepy town of St. Colombe sur L’hers. This gentleman watches the river most of the day, but he never fails to say hello.

The day usually ends the way it should in rural France. With fresh cheese, wine and friends.