Soar-Dream-France

Bows, Batons and Poles

Yesterday was quite a day.  In addition to everyone seeming to "need me", I did a good job of jamming my right big toe when I kicked a soccer ball.  I was exhausted and a little worried by the time I got back.  When I went over to close the curtains and snuggle in, the sight above was waiting for me.  I couldn't see all of the rainbow.  It was more of a rainbaton or a rainpole from my vantage point. The rest of it must have been huge and bowed far and wide. Even though I couldn't see it, I knew it was there giving pleasure to others...that power we cannot see!

Portraits, Places and Squares

Portrait artists abound in Montmartre's Place de Tertre and in Jackson Square in New Orleans.  The only difference I can find is that in Montmartre, most of them are wandering and catching customers as they stroll. When I was in graduate school in New Orleans in 1976, I went to a very "stationary" portrait artist to have one done for Mom and Dad as a Christmas present.  I was very excited and impatient to see the final product.  About half-way through my portrait, the artist said to me..."Now you must understand, this is my impression of you." At that point I knew I was in trouble.  His "impression" of me looked nothing like me, but Mom and Dad loved it anyway.

Along the Seine

Saying "A Bientôt" to Paris is never easy.  In the past, I'd have been sitting at a hotel window, gazing at Sacre Coeur, wondering if the fates would will return for me. They always did.  This last trip, our bus picked us up at this corner on one of the ponts of the Seine.  There wasn't much time for pondering in peace.  People were everywhere, and especially people who were finding fault with Paris.  I didn't want to listen or participate in that conversation, so I wandered off and scooped a few more shots.   

Head Holding

This shot of the facade of Notre Dame made me giggle this morning.  I am still feeling very much like the third guy standing there.  It seems that ever since I got to Germany, I have been sick with a head thing of some kind.  It starts up.  I take something. It goes away and then it returns.  This pattern has continued on and off the whole time I've been here. This is difficult for me.  I am rarely sick and when I am, it goes away.  If I'm honest with myself, I'm sure that being in a new place, living in a hotel, being around people pretty much 24/7, working around children who are sick, and eating very differently have all contributed to this hanging on head stuff.  I do feel better today.  If our third guy is our gauge, he could be holding just his "nose".  Happy Sunday!

Squishing and Squeezing

Themes to my life these days center around squishing and squeezing, square pegs in round holes and a general absence of both "fit" and "time".  I did everything I could to fit the Eiffel Tower into these shots.  To do it, I had to use that diagonal technique I learned from my brother Tom. It worked. But the more I looked at this shot, I realized that time was just as huge a factor as fit was.  It was a quick trip to Paris.  We were trying to squeeze as much in as we possibly could during a weekend.  We did a great job of that too, but you already know that it left me wanting more.  If I'd had more time, I would have wandered leisurely around the Eiffel Tower with my camera in my pocket.  I might: stop and marvel, have a coffee, watch the people, get some shots from different angles, and just soak up a favorite place.  As I head back to France soon, I look forward to being home where fit and time abound. I experience peace and a very natural flow to my life.

Filling Our Friendship Shoes

I've spent a lot of time thinking about children and their friendships this week.  The topic came up everywhere I went, and gave me cause to think about my own grown up friendships.  Evelyn and I have done a lot of talking about the pilgrim's path and trust this week...shoes, paths, trust, confidence, and supporting each other on this journey.  We decided that we would practice "trust" this week and that maybe if we "double-teamed" trust together, we might find peace in a destination that is not clear for either of us at the moment.  I love this shot of Evelyn and Jean-Luc on our hike on the tow path between St. Cirq Lapopie and Bouzies last September.  It is clear that their feet are moving, making progress on our path right before my very eyes.  Although I had to stop to take this shot, I was moving too.  Trusting together this week has kept us both moving.  We're going somewhere.  We may not know where, but isn't it wonderful to share the journey with a friend.  I talked a lot this week about children learning to "fill their friendship shoes". My friendship shoes are "filled" and moving down the road with others.  What shape are your "friendship shoes" in? Stop in at www.redbellfarm.blogspot.com and learn more about Evelyn's journey!

Tiny Dancing Secret Spirits

My sister Kat has been hard at work researching our family history on Ancestry.com. She has uncovered information in the census records that it appears no one has known about or discussed on my Mom's side of the family.  The news is very new and I'm still trying to sort out in my own mind all it means and how it impacted my own life. As we discover more, I will share it here.  For the moment, I believe there is a tiny angel spirit out there who is so grateful to have been discovered after all these years.  I see her dancing for joy! 

A Square Peg

There is so much to love and miss about home.  Being a person who finds comfort in routines, this work has challenged my ability to find new ones to carry me through the two months that I've been working.  I miss my morning walks with Dali, coffees with Jean, language classes, candles softening the approaching dawn, stoking up the fireplace, an evening glass of Cahors beside the blazing fire with Dal at my feet and Sam in my lap, playing Monsieur Winkelmann, and even regularly writing in my journal.  I have gone weeks at a time here in Germany without writing there.  I have my reasons which become clearer and clearer, but I realize that my blogging and my e-mailing have replaced my journaling here for the moment from Germany. I'm once more grateful for all this technology that makes the other things that I must do in my life easier.  I've described myself to some here as a "square peg in a round hole".  I feel it. I haven't been comfortable, but I am learning that I don't always have to be. Discomfort has pushed my boundaries and helped me to step out of my box.  I didn't think I owned a box anymore. I return to France an even more (if that is possible) open person than I was prior to my departure.  I have learned much and experienced new and different from a whole new perspective.  It's still nice to know that a glass of Cahors beside a blazing fire, with Dal at my feet, and Sam in my lap are all waiting for me at home in the place of my heart.

Piano Places

Monsieur Winkelmann's piano room in the Chatette is a very special place. "He" takes up the whole room.  He is the star center stage.  I love that we have our music place...a place that has 3 windows and 3 doors to open to the valley and lets us make music together.  The front door to the Chatette and the back door to the covered terrace are perfectly parallel to each other, making music magic in stereo possible.  My across the river neighbors in Saujac tell me that they can hear us making music early in the morning when they are working in their fields and my friends who Kayak and participate in other river-related activities often comment on how wonderful it is to pass by when I'm playing.  Yesterday I hugged the Chatette-today I'm hugging Monsieur Winkelmann.  I've been going through piano withdrawal during my time in Germany.  Can't wait till Monsieur Winkelmann and I are Moon Rivering together again!  This shot is of a rose from my garden that decorated our piano room last summer.  It has been hard for me to be gone.  There is just so much to miss. 

 

Waiting Just For Me

 

Coming into the last 2.5 weeks till return, I laid in bed this morning missing Dal and Sam like I always do.  There was no Sam on my chest and no Dal snuggled nicely into the form of the right side of my body.  But this morning, I found myself missing and embracing the Chatette. I have always felt pulled to our place...that it needed us as much as we needed it.  It was a little hard for me to get my arms around the Chatette visually, but then there was the light and the pieces to our puzzle of peace that surround us. When Evelyn came to spend that month with us last September, I was able to share the beautiful glowing cross that the moon makes at night over our valley and the river.  I've experienced one other moon event that I wasn't able to share with Evelyn-at certain times, when the moon and valley conditions are just right-(usually around 3am when I'm wandering around)-I've seen the moon beams reach into the tunnel from the river and literally encircle the Chatette.  Maybe it's about timing.  Maybe it's about weather conditions.  Maybe it's about geography.  I don't know, but I don't have to.  The moon embraces us on a regular basis.  And so today, I focus on the power of our Lotoise moon hanging in the sky over the causse as it reflects in our very own Moon River.  I focus on all that surrounds the Chatette.  We are hugged by the moon. We are hugged by the pieces that surround our place.  Even from Germany, with the help of the moon I can embrace our place of peace and know it will be waiting there just for me to return.