For this week’s photo challenge, Humanity, I choose to highlight one of the most delightful experiences where all kinds of people come together for a common pursuit…the weekly market. Being in small town, southern France at the moment, markets are all around us, the closest being in the town of Ganges, in the Hérault Valley, north of Montpellier.

Every Friday, hawking food and everything else you can imagine, there are artisanal bakers, butchers, fish mongers, cheese makers, olive producers, fruit and vegetable farmers, alongside people selling skirts, tops, sneakers, leather handbags, records and CD’s, incense, pottery, flowers and even one stall selling mattresses (HOW do you get that in/on your car?) and did I mention the live chickens, pigeons and rabbits?!

They are there week after week, sometimes making a sale that doesn’t even equal a Euro, and always with a very pleasant, “merci, bonne journée’.

Even if my pantry is full, I go to the weekly market…it is a grand celebration of life and humanity.