It wasn't until I came to the Lot, that I discovered myself "coveting" many things that belong to my neighbors. Just for fun, I looked up the definition of "covet" and old Webster states: To feel blameworthy desire for (that which is another's)-To wish for excessively and longingly.The problem for me is that I'm feeling blameworthy desirefor things that are just lying around out in the open...stone and wood. Picking up a rock, stone, or piece of wood in the city or the suburbs is really no big deal. I'd never give it a second thought. But here with stone buildings and wood as a major source of heat, I think twice before I'm tempted to take anything home.
The bottles and jars were taking over the kitchen, so Dali and I took a walk up to the green bottle bin last Saturday afternoon. After we dumped them into the bin, we headed down a road to the river that makes you feel like you're walking straight into the causse! We've had kind of a secret garden overgrown path beside the river, until recently when everything has been chain-sawed, pruned, and hauled away. Everything is out in the open now.
When I saw the bases of the huge trunks left along the riverside, I found myself thinking: "Now if I could just have a couple of inches of that, I could varnish it and have the most beautiful coffee table top." Fortunately, I don't have a chain saw in my tool kit and if I did, I wouldn't be hauling it around with me on my walks to the bottle bin! Instead, I settled for a few photos. I've been accused of being totally out of control in the photo department. That said, I hope you'll appreciate the fact that I refrained from sharing the photo of the inside of the bottle bin that I took on one of our visits last year!
The other side of the Lot is still lush and more shades of green than I can count. This tiny tree reflecting in the river caught my eye. I think you'll enjoy it much more than the inside of the bottle bin!
I'm feeling nostalgic today, since this time last year my friends Steward Bertrand and Eric Holsapple had come to visit me from New Orleans. Like most of my visitors, they started in Paris. They then however, rented a car after they enjoyed their time in Paris to drive here for our time and then on to Barcelona! It is wonderful for me when my friends from New Orleans are able to join me on this journey-Stew and Eric both held me up when things were crumbling around me in New Orleans. They gave me good advice, asked all the right questions, let me cry and scream, and then handed me a glass of wine! Maybe the wine came first!
We covered a lot of territory while they were here...Conques, St.Cirq Lapopie, Calvignac, Cajarc and Cadrieu. Then there were the amazing dinners at Jean's, Christiane and Jean-Paul's and Josie and Patrick's. We didn't stop. One of the best things for me was how nicely they blended into my life here. Eric joined Dali and I every morning on our walk up to Jean's. It gave us a chance to visit and get to know each other even better. He also came up to Monday afternoon language class. He still has his accent...but very politely spoke slowly! I particularly loved that they gave the Chatette a "10" on the charm scale, and mentioned that as beautiful as my photos are...there is no way to capture the beauty, magic, romance and history of this spot. You just have to come! (And they will be back!) Making the visit to Conques with Stew and Eric was particularly special for me. They had given me the book "The Little Saint" by Hannah Green, shortly after I purchased the Chatette.
The title refers to Sainte Foy of Conques, the twelve year old girl, who in the fourth century "refused the demand of a Roman ruler to deny her faith; she was betrayed by her father and then beheaded." There is so much more to the "Little Saint" than just this piece, that I'm saving the rest for its own entry as one of my "Books on the Beam" very soon. Since the gang was going to be in New Orleans at the end of the month, we had aperos here for Stew and Eric's last night to touch base one more time before they left. My neighbors got a chance to practice their English and then out came the dollars and American coins. We had more fun, it was like playing store and learning to make change when we were little. It's nice when it's a bientôt and not au revoir!
The photos are Stew and Eric in the market in Limogne, me at the side window and I couldn't leave you without a shot of Conques!
After telling you about Babar and I-and my family of "Babar-maniacs" the other day, I thought you might enjoy seeing Babar's work with text and photos.
You know me...I'm Babar. I am your homework for next week when Greg is gone. I am your teacher. I have a story to tell you and an invitation to make. I live in a basket in Laury's kitchen with my spoon. Laury's sister and brother-in-law bought the spoon in Paris. It was a present for Laury. Laury bought me at the Champion in Figeac. On Saturday, I was very happy because Laury brought some more of my family home from the Champion in her backpack. Then I discovered that she was going to send them away.
Her sister loves us. Her Mom loves elephants and her Dad...he is a king. So, my family is their present for Valentine's Day. I decided to take photos of everyone so they won't forget Cadrieu. We started at the mailbox because I knew they would be in the mail soon. I don't want them to forget the Lot or Laury's favorite tree. (She takes so many pictures of it, it screams "STOP" from time to time.) But, why not just one more?
The family was beginning to get tired, but everyone was happy in their close up. And, we couldn't forget the Chateau, the barn and the lavoie. I am a little sad and jealous. I will miss my family and I've never been to America.
But, Laury has promised to take me with her the next time she goes. We will be in St. Louis and New Orleans this trip. But, for next year's trip, Laury and I want to invite your class to come to America with us.
Do you think it is possible to come to America with us in 2009? I promise that the plane will be much more comfortable than an envelope!
Affectionately-BABAR and Laury
It turns out that no one from the class is going to be able to go with Laury and I this year. The economy is bad everywhere so the class is saving their money. Maybe next year!
I've been wandering around between the raindrops with my camera in my pocket the last few days. The scenery is changing from day to day and sometimes walk to walk during the same day. Not having my camera with me means that today's flowering tree that I must get a shot of, will have leaves and be less brilliant tomorrow. I'm not sure why, but the rain here in the valley always conjures up Gene Kelly and his umbrella. I think it's because our birds love to sing in the rain, and it just seems that Gene should be leading their chorus. Once they start up, my visual of Gene isn't far behind. I've even imagined him dancing up and down on the wall along our road, where at one point he and his umbrella take a huge leap down to the edge of the Lot (rather Mary Poppinish I'd say) and he just keeps on singing and dancing in the rain. Our birds have done such a good job inspiring him, that he has moved on to choreographing our trees! I haven't decided if this trio is dancing in the rain or slow dancing, swaying to the music! All I know is Gene's had his work cut out for him around here lately!
It all started when my sister gave me a Babar Spoon on one of their visits. I began using it every morning to stir my coffee, and still do! On one of my trips to the Champion turned Carrefour in Figeac, I found King Babar and put him along with my spoon (when not in use) in my 3-tiered hanging wire basket. Valentine's Day was coming soon and I was trying to think of something special to do for my parents and Kathleen and Tom. Mom loves elephants, Dad has his collection of stuffed bears in various baseball jerseys, and Kat and Tom are Babar-maniacs! I had since discovered most of the Babar family at the grocery store, so the wheels were turning.
I decided that I'd get 2 King Babars and the Babar Mom and the Babar Child. Mom and Dad got one king and the Mom. Kat and Tom got one king and a child. Somewhere between purchase and packaging them to send to the states, we ran totally amuck. My King Babar was instructing me to write stories and take photos of his family before they traveled to America. He was especially pushy, because he knew that they were going to be going without him. He had never been to America before! (I think that he was just a little jealous!) So, my King Babar and I ran around the Chatette taking pictures of his family. We have pictures of them on the mailbox, on the wall with the Lot behind them, on the terrace with the chateau behind them, in my backpack and on the table waiting to be packed to be shipped in the mail. We had so much fun (my neighbors and passersby are still talking about it) that Babar and I wrote a story for my Monday language class, inviting everyone to come to America with us in May of 2009. Little did he know that he would be coming with me and three of our neighbors in May of 2008!
Since then, Babar and our spoon accompany me on all my return trips to the states. He loves traveling in my purple back pack and he gets a chance to see his St. Louis family while I'm seeing mine. We have a lot of fun together. I have been known to take pictures of him from our hotel room in Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the background, but haven't taken one of him in front of the St. Louis Arch yet. We'll be returning to St. Louis for a little more than a two week visit on the 8th of May. Maybe I'll have to post "Babar does St. Louis" while we're on the road.
Kathleen inspired me once more when I received her e-mail this morning about a Babar Museum that was posted at www.flotation9.net/sweetfineday. I've become a Babar-maniac...just a big kid in overalls!
After 96 hours of rain, no sun and intermittent mistral-like winds, yesterday gifted us with warm sunshine in the afternoon and a chance to get out and enjoy spring. It looks like the grass grew six inches during that time and we have MONSTER dandelions everywhere. While I worked in the garden yesterday, Dal nestled herself into a few and I couldn't resist.
Until this past weekend, Jean had two lawnmowers that we shared between us. Both of them were "buggered" (as my English friends say) last week and beyond our ability to repair them. I told Jean that I'd spring for a new one that we could share. Imagine our excitement when we discovered the same model, and for only 45€! Jean and I had expected at least 100€-so with the sale at Msr. Bricolage we each got one. I told the young man who waited on us that it was perfect for me because of the color-I love red and these are fire-engine red! (I have been known to buy micro-waves and other small kitchen appliances and gadgets just because they were red!)
I was shocked to find that my new red lawnmower cost less than the gallon of varnish I bought (60€), and that these days I am more excited about getting my new red lawnmower than I would be about getting a new red sports car! The only thing is that a new red sports car would come assembled, the lawnmower didn't. I'll be getting out the tool kit and the patience I learned from my snails, to get through the instructions in French, and hope to have it assembled before the end of the day. Who knows, maybe we'll even be "dandelion-less" by this afternoon!
In yesterday's post I shared a "Frencher than French" shot of my friend Yves Jolly. I had forgotten that the level of the Lot at Larnagol is measured against and marked on this beautiful arch, until I looked a little closer at the photo this morning. During December of 2003, we had major flooding all along the Lot when an error was made at a lock or dam somewhere up river. Cadrieu was safe, but all of the land along the river was under water. Cajarc flooded with many homes taking in water, farmer's crops were lost and the train tracks were under water and much of the route was damaged. We have a plaque on the other side of the wall in front of the Chatette that shows how high the water got here in 2003!
I spend a lot of time thinking about what our spot was like before the train tracks behind us and the road in front of us. Both are relatively new additions to the landscape, that sandwiched us in between and required lots of soil and shoring to be added so that both could be built. I believe that we are two places here-before the train tracks and road and after the train tracks and road. Because of where we are, soil is always washing down and covering things up. I continue to discover natural and historic treasures once I start digging. 2005 was the year of my lower garden terrace and in 2006 I sat on the ledge by the train tracks and thought about steps up to the Chatette and voila-there they were. That same year I went down into the tunnel where some of the cement had broken to see what looked like the edge of a staircase. You could only see an inch or so of pretty stone at each level. So, I started digging. It's there, but truly an ongoing project. When I went to plant my wisteria in front of the Chatette last year, I hit some very beautiful stone and discovered another step to my front staircase and a tiny stone terrace/landing. All are works in progress at the moment...it's time to start digging again.
I believe the Chatette that was here before the road and the train tracks has been covered up with soil, gravel and vegetation everywhere. I know that if I keep digging, I am going to find more beautiful stone and natural treasures. There is a picture in my mind of what I might find. The day I discovered the steps from the train tracks to the terrace I was talking to my friend Keith on the phone in Lafayette, La. I told him how I sat there and thought, it would be nice if there were steps here. He told me: "If you can do that and steps appear, I think you better go down into the tunnel and sit a while and think about hidden treasure!" We laughed about it, but the funny thing is that it seems to happen that way for me around here.
It's not unusual for me to curse the road and the train tracks when I'm chipping away at hard soil, stone, and weeds to get to the pretty stuff underneath. But after today, that will be no more. I realize that had we been on the river as in times gone by, with no high wall and road to protect us in 2003; we probably would have flooded too.
Today was my second day of bustling here at the Chatette. Jean and I shared Easter dinner together yesterday, and she returned today for a burger lunch with our friends Jane and Yves Jolly. Being with Jane and Yves is always special for me. I met Jane in 2003 when my friend Pauline brought her to our Open House, but it wasn't until the spring and summer of 2005 that Jane and I became close and I met Yves.
At the end of my dinner parties or lunches, I enjoy being able to take my time cleaning up. I have my own little system and have found that I prefer to ponder the get together and ease us back to normal again after everyone has gone. It gives me a chance to recapture and reflect. I am always overcome by feelings of gratefulness for our place and the incredible people who have come my way because we are here. I have many stories to share about my friends who found me here. I've decided that I'll focus on each one on their own from time to time. But today I want to leave you with the words Yves spoke to me on Quatorze Juillet of 2005. We were admiring the progress of my excavation of the lower garden terrace and he turned to me and said: "Perhaps you don't go back." Those words, spoken with that soft, sweet...very charming French accent stayed with me during those times in New Orleans. Maybe it wasn't just the dancing diamonds!
That first photo is Yves along the Lot River at Larnagol-and the last one is myself, Yves and Jane in Larnagol the day I brought someone to look at property they were selling. I thought that first shot just looked so French!
Thinking of Easter at home in Cadrieu always brings this very special Easter to mind for me. I stumbled on some of these photos again and had sent them to friends as the day has approached. Today, I thought it would be fun to share this post with you from back when I first started blogging in 2009-a Cadrieu 2007 Easter story! Enjoy!
April 12, 2009-One of my favorite things about Easter (in addition to chocolate of course), is coloring eggs to share with friends. Our first full-time Easter at the Chatette, I got very excited about coloring eggs but then I ran into a huge problem. All of the eggs in the supermarkets are brown.
I tried a couple just to see if it might work, but it looked like my eggs should be out hunting or fighting a war somewhere. I mentioned my problem at one Monday's language class and my friend Jean-Pierre told me that Francine Durand had white eggs. But, they were very big white eggs...goose eggs. When I saw Francine at the village Répas de Chasse, she said she'd be happy to give me some. I rode over "en velo" with my purple backpack and collected 10 eggs that were bigger than anything I had ever seen in my life! My treasures and I very carefully headed home-I got off my bike at the train tracks just to be sure! We made it home safely, but then my other worries began.
First of all, they would have to be boiled in shifts.The next question was whether I had any cups big enough to hold them when it was time to color them. But, as you can see-they worked well. (Even if each egg took up almost the whole cup!)
I had my list of friends who were receiving baskets with the fancy eggs, some Easter Chocolates and other treasures. I hadn't bought baskets at the store, but had hundreds of plastic flower containers that worked perfectly when covered with my medieval gift bags. Add in a little fake grass and we were ready to go. I was able to walk the first two over to Josie and Patrick and then up the hill a bit to Christiane and Jean-Paul. Everyone else was much further, but my bike wouldn't do this time. So, I found a cardboard lid and became my Easter Bunny self-wandering all over the village and leaving my baskets.
Christiane put their egg on a pedestal. Jean kept hers in the basket. Months later, I was shocked to see them in their places of honor still holding up well!
I had a lot of fun that Easter of 2007. I must confess that I haven't become my Easter Bunny self for a couple of years now. Last year I was working quite a bit and had deadlines on projects around Easter, and this year my head has been in taxes. I didn't even send out Easter Cards!
This is when I wonder if I'm letting the stuff of the "real world" get in the way of some of what makes this life so special for me in Cadrieu. Taxes and work! Bah, humbug! Where's my magic wand when I need it? Oh that I could just wave all that bah-humbug stuff away so easily! I can't, but I can say that when next year comes and we're still here I'll remember this post. I'll be knocking on Francine's door again!
Beginning this blog and pondering our lives here in France regularly and publicly, has pushed me to be even more grateful for this life in this place. It has also forced me to reflect further on the opportunity that Wendy presented to me back in '97, that looked truly impossible at the time. There is a quote from Alice in Wonderland that has become a favorite of mine:
"One can't believe impossible things," Alice said. "I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "Why sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."--Lewis Carroll
I've reflected on what it was that made this opportunity work for me. What were the things that turned something that looked impossible to possible? What made me say "yes" when others would say "no"? What made me an opportunity taker? I know what it was that worked for me, but I can't suppose that any of what worked for me would work for anyone else. I do know that if just one piece to my puzzle were different, I wouldn't be here today. People often say to me that I'm living their dream. There have been times when I have tried to share this dream and this life with others. I've learned that our dreams are ours to own and that it is up to each of us to bring our own, individual personal magic into play in our own lives. It isn't something that anyone else can do for you, to you, or with you. It is a solitary journey and is your personal responsibility if you choose it!
All that said-I have decided to offer an opportunity to individuals who would be interested in bringing their own magic to mix with the immortal magic, history and romance of the Lot Valley. No formal program or professional experience is offered. You will have a safe home base where you can venture out each day to design your own magic mixing experience.
For a flat fee of $500 you are provided with a single bed (bedding, towels and washcloth) in shared accommodations in a large room that sleeps 4 with a floor to ceiling french-doored window opening on to the Lot River. Stays begin at a minimum of two weeks and can last as long as a month but no longer. You are responsible for all of your other expenses. I have a brochure and additional information if this sounds like an opportunity to you! Contact me at [email protected] with your snail mail address and I will be happy to pop a brochure with all of the additional details in the mail to you.