Soar-Dream-France

And Which Way Am I Going Today?

When Dali and I start our walk up the hill in the direction of the Mairie-it's morning-the best time of our day. Mornings are best because we have a new fresh day to look forward to.  Nothing has happened to spoil it just yet. Sometimes I walk backwards when I'm on the hill to get a feeling of what it feels like in life-to face backwards...on your path.  I've found that going backwards when I'm going up a very steep hill can help me breathe better and works different muscles.  The ascent is different and actually easier.  I can see the direction I've just come from and if there is anything I missed along the way.  Going backwards when I'm going down the hill isn't really necessary and isn't a natural movement.  It puts me off balance and I could easily fall.  It's almost as if looking backwards in life when times are rough, when you have uphill battles to face, can sometimes work, make things easier and are necessary to get past whatever problems and issues you're facing.  But when things are going well and you're gliding downhill with no problems or obstacles in your way; turning around to look back can actually cause problems or obstacles because you are putting yourself off-balance and could fall.  One of my bosses used to call me the Metaphor Madam, but there is a lot of truth to the issues of looking back, looking to the future, and not being in the moment.  Our walks are good because I am able to pay attention to each step I take.  Sometimes Dali and I stop and soak in wherever we are, and I am reminded that each step is important and is here for us to be enjoyed.     

Surprise...More Books in English!

Yesterday's language class was full of surprises!  I surprised everyone with valentines and chocolate.  They were more surprised than I expected. I learned that even though the French do celebrate Valentine's Day, it is more of an only "couples" holiday here than it is in the states.  My class and other friends in the village who know my family were surprised to get cards, chocolate and other thoughtful gifts from them.  Everyone agreed yesterday that maybe they'll adopt the American version of St. Valentine's Day and celebrate everyone we love and care about!

At the end of class (it meets in the library) we were all saying our "a bientôt-s" and our "a lundi-s", when Greg went over to one of the book shelves, handed me a book by PD James and says: "Here, maybe you want to check this one out!"  I thought he was suggesting that it would help me with my French, but when I looked a little closer it was in English!  I chuckled because I had just written about how difficult it is to get books in English, and now we have a bottom shelf in the village library that has a "building" English Book Section.  The Library is open on Wednesday afternoons so I'll be going up tomorrow to leisurely peruse "our" shelf and check something out.  I'm going to close with a photo from my photo essay called "The Window on the Lot".  Many of the photos from this series are now hanging in the library along with some of my shots of City Park in New Orleans before Katrina.

Books...On the Beam

I've titled my TypeList entry "Books...on the Beam" for a couple of different reasons.  First, there's the expression that someone or something is "really on the beam"-meaning that they really know what they are doing, are really good at what they are doing or that something is a good thing.  You'd think someone who reads as ravenously as I do, would have a Chatette full of bookshelves.  No, I don't own a one but I have something better-huge beams in my semi-vaulted ceilings where I keep all the books I have and have read.  The beam in the guest room is getting full and at some point I won't be able to stack comfortably anymore.  I've imagined one of my guests screaming in the middle of the night because Robert Ludlum or Donna Lyon (in hard back of course) has fallen on their head while they were sleeping! Books in English are at a premium here in France.  I hate to part with any of them, but am always happy to make a loan.  We trade around the village and often go to the market in Villefranche where there is a gentleman who has a stall where he sells English and French books.  He's always happy to see me coming!  I would like to tell you that every book on my beam is "on the beam", and most are.  You can expect very high stars from me on any of the books that I choose to share here with you.  Why would I want to recommend something that I didn't enjoy or believe was some of the best I'd ever read?  

At the moment I have one book listed-Rick Jarow's "Creating the Work You Love".  I discovered him quite by accident when I was wandering through the Bookstar that used to be on Decatur Street in the French Quarter.  Bookstar regularly closed out my Friday night ritual that began with drinks with friends at the Napoleon House.  I was struggling with my job and wanting something to really push me to look at my life and my work in a new way.  I found it.  I can't recommend him highly enough.  I've lent the book to friends and recommended it to clients.  As you can see, the book in the photo has been well-loved.  What you can't quite get from the picture is the wonderful aroma of gasoline that wafts by with the turn of each page.  The last friend I lent it to left if in the trunk of his car.  But this book, highlighted in at least 7 different colors by now, pages falling out and reaking of gasoline had to come to France with me.  It helped push me on this journey and continues to help me stay the course when I'm discouraged or need a little tune-up. My books were the most important to bring along when I could, and the most difficult to part with when I had to. I was able to find good homes for all of my books or take them to used book stores in New Orleans before I left.  It killed me to give up my whole set of Southern Living Cookbooks to the second hand store.  Guess I'm doing another kind of "southern living" now. 

I'd like to close with the quote from Rick Jarow's book that pushed me on my way.  I was reading him that fall of '97 when my friend Wendy picked me up at the train station in Cahors.  The first words that came out of her mouth were:  "We have to move to Belgium, can't you come stay in our house for a year?"  It appeared impossible at the time she asked, but after a week of watching the morning mist rise over St. Cirq Lapopie I began to wonder if maybe it really was possible.  And then I was smacked by this quote by Robert Johnson found in "Creating the Work You Love":

"If a fantasy is not responded to, it becomes an energy leak.  It is the creative faculty, squandering itself into wishful thinking.  Wishing for what one does not have is a symptom of unaligned energy."

Ten Words-Dix Mots...my Friend John Weber

I don't know if they have the expression "kill two birds with one stone" in French or not, but today I want to tell you about my 2 language classes and share a story with you about a trip with my friend John Weber.

I was the only English speaker in our village who was lucky enough to be able to attend the Monday afternoon English class offered by my friend Greg Nicolas.  I figured it would help me work on my French and I was right.  Greg has this exercise that he does with vocabulary, where we pick ten words and then we have to write a story using those 10 words.  They can be hilarious because the 10 words don't always go together very well.  My friend Christiane Duponchelle is in the class too and she now offers French class on Friday mornings for me and the rest of the interested English speakers.  I wrote the following story for Christiane's class.  I'm going to list the 10 words for you and their translations-the story is in English for John and in French with all my(almost I hope) corrections for Christiane!

Airplane-Avion (F), Dawn-Aube (F), Coat-Manteau (M), Gift-Cadeau (M), Crowd-Foule (F), To Share-Partager, To Sweep-Balayer, To Fly-Voler, To Attach-Attacher, To Press, Lean on a Wall-Appuyer

In English-It was dawn on the 28th of May, 2006 when Dali, Sammie, my friend John and I left New Orleans by car for Atlanta.  Dali was attached with the seat belt in the last place and Sammie was in her case.  They shared the last place.  Before we left, I had forgotten my blue jean coat so I returned to the apartment.  When I found my coat I leaned against the wall and cried.  During the 10 hour ride, we read outloud and discussed a book called "As a Man Thinketh".  We arrived at Stacey, Dan and Annie's house at 4pm  where we had dinner together and then John left for Florida.  Stacey took us to the airport.  It was very difficult for me.  There was a big crowd and I don't think they swept the floor.  But, Dali, Sammie and I flew by plane to Paris where we rented a car and I drove to our village.  Our life in France is a great gift for us, and three years later we are still here.

En Français-C'était l'aube le 28 mai, 2006, quand Dali, Sammie, mon ami John et moi sommes partis de la Nouvelle Orléans à Atlanta par voiture.  Dali était attachée a la ceinture sur la derniee place et Sam était dans sa valise.  Ils partageaient la dernier place.  Avant que nous partions,j'ai oublié mon manteau de blue jean donc je retournai l'appartement.  Quand j'ai trouvé mon manteau, je me suis appuyée sur le mur et j'ai pleuré.  Pendant de dix heures,nous avons lu et nous avons discuté un livre qui s'appelle "Asa Man Thinketh".  Nous sommes arrivés chez Stacey, Dan et Annie a quatre heure où nous avons dîner ensemble et John est parti en Florida. Stacey a nous emmené à l'aéroport. C'était très dificile pour moi.  Il y avait une grande foule et je ne pensais pas qu'ils auraient balayé le sol.  Mais, Dali, Sammie et moi volions par avion vers Paris où nous louions une voiture et je conduisais jusqu'a notre village.  Notre vie en France est un grand cadeau pour nous, et trouis ans plus tard nous sommes ici depuis 3 ans.

You're probably wondering why John would have to take us from New Orleans to Atlanta to catch our flight.  American carriers don't allow animals to fly in the hot weather-I believe between May 15 and September 15.  That meant that we had to fly Air France out of Atlanta if we wanted to come to France together on my chosen date in May.  It was an arduous trip for us-car to Atlanta-Flight to Paris-Car here-but it was worth every bit of it.  And I think you'll agree, John Weber is a pretty great friend to have! 

Happy Valentine's Day

And to the victor...the spoils of yesterday's Valentine's Day package! Yes, those two tiny pieces of chocolate are all that are left.  I guess you could say I celebrated my Valentine's Day early!  My Mom asked me if they celebrated Valentine's Day in France, and yes-they do.  In fact, every day of the year is named for a Saint.  Not only do you get to celebrate your birthday, but you also get to celebrate your Saint Day!  (I wonder if the greeting card companies have gotten a hold of this one yet?) My valentines to the states have made it there already, but I'm in the process of putting together my valentines for my friends here.  My challenge is translating my poetry and prose to French.  I expect to share some of these trials and tribulations with you over time in a section I've decided to call: "French Funnies".  Believe me-I have enough material to fill volumes! But-we have fun and laugh at ourselves.  I want to close my Valentine's Day entry with a special Happy Valentine's Day that I received from nature last year.  I discovered these beautiful natural gifts behind "our" barn.  I hope you enjoy them and...

 Happy Valentine's Day from France!-With Love, Laury

Grandma on Grandma's Table Cloth

I'm sitting here the day before Valentine's Day, drinking a glass of Bergerac Red Wine and plying myself with chocolates-Ghirardelli's filled with caramel no less!   My sister Kathleen sent a surprise package full of goodies to France.  One thing Kathleen and I agree on is we love chocolate. Chocolate was only the starter. 

As a group, my sibling unit of four is a pretty talented bunch.  Then, add in the fact that we love holidays. One year we even agreed to wear our individual handmade Christmas Wreaths on our heads for a very memorable group photo! Kathleen shines in the card and memento department, so I knew there would be something special in this box beside chocolate and I was right.  Kathleen had taken antique photos of our Grandma and turned them into beautiful stuffed ornaments and bookmarks, woven and tied with satin ribbon.  I have the photo on the left of Grandma in her sailor suit, but I had never seen the photo of Grandma on the bookmark.  With tears in my eyes-I decided that Grandma needed to be on "Grandma's Lace Tablecloth"-2 of which I've brought with me to France.  Voila-a beautiful homage to Grandma and my very talented sister Kathleen, with a little Paris snuck in for good measure.  Although there's 13 years between "Kat" and I, we've become much closer as we've gotten older. (She also deserves special thanks as my blog consultant because she pushed me to reach this goal.) I've shared Paris with her and her husband Tom.  They came with me when I signed the intent to purchase on the Chatette and have since been back to visit us two more times.  Individually they are great people, but as a couple-they're the best.  So, I'll close my day before Valentine's Day entry with a special shot of my favorite sister and my favorite brother-in-law, Tom Merello, that was taken here on the back terrasse when they were on their way to catch the bus to Cahors to spend the night before they caught the train to Paris the next morning.  It doesn't matter where we are, we have a lot of fun together whether it's in St. Louis, Paris, the Lot or New Orleans.  Being the only one of the four of us who is single, I especially love that the three of us are comfortable together and I always feel like I'm part of the gang.  A special early Happy Valentine's Day Kat and Tom-I'm sure that Grandma is smiling!

It's Not Nice to Jump on the Mayor's Car

 Dali and I walk every morning, and now that Rocky is here he joins us too.  Jean left us with a choice of leashes-so for walks in the village I use the retractable one.  Dali has taken to walking leashless behind us while Rocky walks me.  He pulls and pulls, but the worst part is he jumps at the cars that go by.  Usually there aren't any cars on the road behind the Chatette that takes me up to the Mairie, but they're working everywhere so people are "deviating" all over the place and using this usually "unused" road.  (I chuckle every time I see "deviation"-it took me a while to figure out that it meant "detour"!) I can hear the cars coming before I see them so the three of us stop together-and since yesterday-Rocky is on a very short leash!

Yesterday was our first walk together since Rocky's arrival.  I wasn't too worried about the cars.  Rocky was running ahead as far as his leash would allow, with Dali and I following behind.  A couple of cars went by and he tried to chase them.  I started bringing the leash in once I heard a car coming.  Yesterday was particularly busy, and of course, the car I missed on its approach was the Mayor's car!  Madam Mayor drove by-I waved and then I saw Rocky try to jump on the back of her vehicle!  I pulled in the leash and caught him. But, just my luck! Keeping him on a short leash is best under the circumstances, but it means that I have to work very hard with him when he joins us.  He has more energy than Dali and I put together.  Now that he is bigger than Dali, his puppiness in a big dog's body makes it hard on us all.  But, I tell him "no"-he sits down-gives me his paw and looks up at me with those big brown puppy dog eyes and I just can't be mad at him anymore!  Maybe some day he'll be able to walk patiently along the road with Dali!  I'll leave you with a shot of Dali "on the road".

 

The Great Kir Debate

Although I drank Kirs when I was out in New Orleans, I must confess to never serving them at home until I came to France.  A Kir can come in many varieties, but the basic is usually white wine with a shot or so of cassis thrown in.  Most people put the cassis in first and then the white wine.  Being "different" of course, I began to put the white wine in first and then the cassis.  The result is an almost stain-glassed window effect.  They're very popular as "aperos" at our get togethers here.  It's been interesting because you can now have your kirs "Laury's Way" or the usual.  Everyone feels differently about it. I haven't actually taken a vote among my firends and the locals about which they prefer.  I know that some prefer to live dangerously and try something a little new and different, and then there are others who stand over me while I'm making them "my way" and say: "That's not the way you're supposed to do it.  You're supposed to put the cassis in first and then the white wine."  I'm always tempted to say:  "If you don't like it just stick your finger in there and stir it up!"  Or better yet, maybe next time I'll just stick mine in their drink and save them the trouble!  It's tempting!  The picture on the right is a kir done "my way"-that is enhanced by the scenery of the valley right outside the upstairs bedroom window. Would you like to weigh in on the Great Kir Debate?  Maybe you'll want to come by and share one with me on the terrasse some evening as the sun set over the valley.  I promise you can have your kir any way you'd like-with or without fingers! Cheers to Kirs!

From the Archives: La Grange Dentelle-Fate to be Determined

 

Looking back from today to our history and journey together, I've had some major ahas along the way. Our barn is once more bringing home to me the importance of my journaling and blogging. As I looked back at all of my barn blog posts, a ten year picture of my blogging was also painted for me. Somehow, I missed the ten year anniversary of beginning my blogging back in February of 2009! Mon Dieu, is it really 2019?

Each day that the work is being done on the barn, I plan to share a photo or a collage of photos of now AND a post from the blog archives that will give you a sense of our history and magic together. 

Happy Sunday!

And so, let's begin at the beginning!

 

From the archives on 2/9/2009-

Just back from my language class at the Mairie (City Hall), hoping that Rocky (our 4-legged house guest) had not jumped in the fireplace to eat charcoal, broken through 2 barriers and a door to get to Sammie cat or tortured Dali.  I planned to write about him today.

 

But after our class, I can't get La Grange Dentelle out of my mind. 

 

Ever since I bought the Chatette back in 2002, I've been in love with the tumbling down barn behind us on the other side of the train tracks. It sits on communal property next to the lavoir and can only be accessed from behind.  I've inquired about it from time to time, and it's always been out of reach financially. It just seems like it should be part of "us", and I have allowed myself to believe that it is and always will be. 

It appears that the barn has now passed into a third set of hands since the fall of last year.  Today in class, I heard that the barn could be worth more dismantled for its stone than for its beauty and history.  I realize that 10 times more is nothing to sneeze at; that it is not easily renovated or sold; but I'm sitting here trying to figure out what I can do to save the barn. And, I don't think I can round up the 10 times that it would take.

 

I think about the shape of the world at the moment, my friends who are losing their jobs or being asked to take pay-cuts, reduced work everywhere (myself included) and I ask myself...you're worried about this barn?  My heart is breaking as I think about the things we can't put a price tag on...history, romance, magic, and experiences that transcend time and worldly boundaries of the universe.  I think about the empty space that would be left in many more ways than just a patch of grass, and I wonder if there is anything that I can do to save the barn. 

 

I am at the beginning stages of pondering here.  This is a story that will be continued, but for now-La Grange Dentelle-Fate to be Determined...we shall see.

I've added a few more photos on here at the end to give you an idea of what an important piece the barn is to the picture of our place. 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday Today was Tomorrow-Ode to Toby Boy

 Getting ready to tell you whether my Fireplace Fortune Teller was accurate about an impending "Excellent" day yesterday, I spent a lot of time reflecting on my friend here in the village, Jean Howling.  Jean is English, 70-something (I know she wouldn't mind) and we're pals.  Even in our struggles in French-Jean understands much better than I do but hesitates to speak. Me, I don't always understand, but I just jump right in and speak whether I know exactly what I'm saying or not.  We joke that it takes two of us to make a whole.  Since Jean has a car-we are frequently running the valley together.  She made my day an "Excellent" day as we shopped, caught up on the village, stocked up on heavy items and lots of dog food for her dog Rocky's stay with Dali and Sam and I while she returns to England for 2 weeks.  She takes care of Dali for me and I take care of Rocky for her.  Rocky is a very new addition as of May last year.  Before Rocky came along-there was our Toby Boy.  I say ours, because Jean, Dali and I really loved him.  We lost him last February right around this time-here's my ode to our very special guy!

I first met Toby in 2005 when I was here offering workshops to social workers.  Dali and Sam were back in New Orleans-so Toby became my best 4-legged friend.  Every time I'd walk up the drive, he'd come running and get all my best kisses.  I used to tease that I was going to kiss every dog in France by the time my stay was over, starting with him.Toby was born on a boat and lived on the boat with Jean and Roy when they travelled the rivers of Europe, later lived with them in Spain and then lived here in the Lot.  What a great life-Toby had an exciting life and travelled more than most people I know.  I think he even had a passport! Most dogs fetch sticks and balls and such, but Toby-he fetched rocks!  I'd never seen anything like it!  Once I came here with Dal and Sam-Dali and I walked with Jean and Toby every morning in the village.  The minute I got in the door he'd want his behind scratched and he enjoyed it so much-he actually marched! He'd stay with us when Jean went to England and Dali would stay with them when I went to the states. He left us last year just before Jean was leaving for England.  We miss him and I think you'll agree when you see the photo of him and then the photo of him and Dali together-He was a pretty special fella!