A mamie gets arty

Argelès still has mamies, usually older Catalan women, who are in house dresses and aprons as they walk about the town with their baskets to buy vegetables at the green grocers. Mamie is often what children call their grandmothers. They take care of their children's children, meet on a bench to share their stories whenever they are free.

These are friendly women. One, when she was in better health, watered my plants when I was away without me asking, and even shared her pansies one year. Another knits on her doorstep and talks to passers-by. She always has a smile and a few words for me in her thick Catalan accent.

Maybe the mamies are younger than I am, but they seem older.

However, today at one of the mamie's houses I found a new decoration: A drawing of a donkey in a field along with butterflies. And above the garage doors was the announcement that this was the house of a burro.

I can't wait to talk to the mamie about it to see what the story is behind it.