Soar-Dream-France

Just Part of My Scenery

When I look out any of my windows to the river, these hang-gliders (parapente) are part of my spring and summer scenery.  One day earlier this week, I counted 14 up there.  I always wonder if my friend from the village is up there with them.  After I got off of the bus last night, I took a short cut home and stopped to take a shot from the road that catches a little different angle than these from my window.  I passed by the home of some English friends who were sitting out by the beautiful pond they built.  We chatted about vacation, my bus ride, the pique-nique in the village this afternoon, and then Helen asked me if I had heard about our friend's accident? I hadn't. Apparently, he made a difficult landing near Mont Brun and has been injured.  It sounds like he's okay, but in the hospital for now just to be sure.  I'm wishing him a speedy recovery and all the best. I want to be able to wonder again soon if he is a part of my scenery up there. Knowing what I know about him-it will be sooner than later.  Have a good weekend everybody...and I can't resist Sarge's line from the beginning of "Hill Street Blues"..."Be careful out there!" 

Language Learning-A Demain

I'm usually up and posting early in my day, but tomorrow I will be waiting at the Cadrieu Bus Stop at 7:10am. I've written a little about the bus driver who I've become friends with.  We catch up from time to time and help each other out.  The last time I took the bus home, he asked me if I would want to spend the day riding the bus and speaking English with him.  Now, I love the bus.  It is yet to be seen if I will still "love the bus" after a full day of round-tripping on a route that I usually only do in pieces. I'm looking forward to the fun and adventure it will be, and am happy to do whatever I can do to foster a French person's progress on their "American" English accent. I've even got some lesson sheets I've pulled together on a few areas I know we can work on together.  It will be good for both of us. 

 

Don't we look pretty with all those nasty trees removed from the back of the barn?

Be back with more stories soon! 

Care Package from Home!

Dali and Sam have been helping me out regularly throughout the barn and vernissage processes, so I like to give them a treat from time to time.  As you saw yesterday, it's not a problem for Dali.  Not only do they have lots of treats she likes in France, but our friends even put them on the window sill.  It's not the same for poor Sam.  She has a favorite soft kitty treat called: Whisker Lickin's.  I've looked high and low for something soft for her here in France, but haven't found anything.  I usually bring a stash in my suitcase on my returns from the states, but forgot this last trip.  We were down to our last bag of a handful of the chicken flavor, when I remembered Kat would be sending her box soon.  I requested a stash for Sam, et voila! Her Aunt Kathleen really loves her. Kat found chicken flavor at Target (4), salmon flavor at Walgreen's (4), and threw in a pack of chicken and cheese for good measure. (Maybe she thinks Sam needs to enhance her treats palette a bit.) With nine packs-we should be in good shape at least into my next return to the states...maybe further! Kat's packing slip said "candy" on it. I got excited...oh boy, treats for me too! But alas, I got to the bottom of the box to find nothing but more Whisker Lickin's. Turns out, Kat called the Whisker Lickin's candy on the slip.  Guess I'll have to wait for my treats in the next delivery! 

 

Four-Legged Friends

I'm not the only one at the Chatette blessed with a bounty of wonderful friends in Cadrieu.  One morning, I looked at the open window and there was this huge bone waiting there for Dali.  Her friend Megan had dropped by with her person Greg, and left this present for us.  It was very sweet and thoughtful.  I stuck my head out the window and found the two of them walking up the road in the direction of the bus stop.  I screamed "Merci" and waved the bone in the air, but I'm not sure they heard me.  Dali was excited. She immediately took her present over to her transitional rug under Msr. Winkelmann and entertained herself for a good long while.

 

Chaneling Georgia O'Keefe

   

It makes no difference who, what, when, where, why or how...close-ups of flowers scream Georgia O'Keefe to me! It makes no difference whether they're paintings or photos, I love them and her. It's one thing to pay homage by imitation, yet quite another to disparage and insinuate less. Some years ago, my brother Tom and I went with a group of friends to the New Orleans Museum of Art to see the opening of a series of Monet's from the Marmottan in Paris.  The pieces were from his later years, when cataracts were clouding his vision.  I had already seen most of them at the museum in Paris, but seeing them in New Orleans made it even more special.  In the middle of the show, a member of our group blurts out: "I could do that!" My skin crawled, until Tom leaned over and whispered: "Yeah, but he did it first!" I hope the artists we've loved in our lives inspire us to soar to higher heights-to be MORE and DIFFERENT!  And always remember...THEY DID IT FIRST!

Il y a PLUS que des ANGES

Do you see anything special on the side of that cliff outback?  Many of my friends here have teased that I could turn this into some kind of religious pilgrimage spot if I worked at it!  That's not for me. This is my heaven.  Most people would look at that face and see Jesus. But me, I see my friend Bill who was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1976. It was his death that spurred me on to be MORE independent and to go on to graduate school. Losing him changed my life. More than thirty years later, he's still with me.  When I first came to the Lot to stay at Wendy's that summer, he was a constant presence. When you clear all the "busy" out of your life-emotions rise from faraway places.  I had never acknowledged until that summer of '98, that I wished I had been on that motorcycle with him that day.  So, along with my Nannie and Papa, Grandma Mamie, my friends Bennie, Doug, Madam Vera and Denny; Bill is a regular visitor. So regular that like Bennie's Bells-I have Bill's Bridge, and yes...Bill's Barn. Unlike the others though, I have no pictures of Bill.  I have his letters.  I have my memories. I still cry every time I hear Keith Carradine sing "I'm Easy", and I'm a total wreck when Willie Nelson sings "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain". As I get ready to hang the show in his barn called: "Il y a PLUS que des ANGES" (There are MORE than ANGELS), I look at the face in the cliff and there's Bill still watching over me. 

I went through many ideas for titles of this first event which was also going to be the name of the barn itself. I settled on "Il y a PLUS que des ANGES" one morning by candlelight when I was listening to Diamond Rio sing: "There are more than angels watching over me.", from their song "I Believe."  

Grandma's Eyes

 

 

Looking for shots of Monsieur Winkelmann for today's post, I stumbled on these photos of Nannie and my Mom's Mom-Grandma Mamie. I don't believe in accidents. I remembered this old post that I'd written back in 2010, and what an ever-present spirit Mom's Mom was even though she had died before any of us were born.

 

 

 

 

She was always with us, as you'll see from the post below...

 

August 15, 2010...After varnishing the ladder out on the train tracks yesterday, I brought a few of Kat's pieces out with me to take another look at the results as we go.  This particular shot is my Grandma Mamie.  She died when my Mom was a teenager. I never knew her, except through the stories Mom has told me over the years. We have a number of beautiful old photos of Grandma Mamie.  There is always a hint sadness in her eyes and she never smiles. I have some of them hanging in the piano room and I'm sure some will be hanging in Kat's installation that we'll be having in the barn. 

 

 

The thing is, even though I never met her...I feel her from time to time.  There are: her handkerchiefs in the quilt Mom made, her visits on my bike rides when I was crossing the bridge over Bayou St. John, pictures of her alone that continually fell off my walls in the piano room until I hung her in a grouping with other family members, and each day I took her out to test her along with the others along the ladder...she was the only one who would blow away when it wasn't even windy. 

 

 

I felt her yesterday again as I was varnishing, and I remembered the time my Mom told me:

"You look like my Mom."

Then she said: "You have her eyes."

I decided to crop the photo and take a closer look-et voila.

I'm not sure I'd say I have her eyes, but hers are beautiful just the same.

 

 

 

SOAPBOX-Get Yourself Out and VOTE!

Voting is important to me.  So important that I absentee vote every election from France.  I made sure that I went to the Registrar of Voters in New Orleans to get all of that set up for myself. As you can see by the ballots, instructions, and other paperwork...it is a production.  In addition, I must take it to a notary and two witnesses to observe my signatures and then stamp and sign themselves!  It's a bit of a novelty for my French contacts.  In a small way, they feel involved in American politics and enjoy it. I wish I could say the same for everyone I know in the states.  I have a friend of like mind who doesn't vote.  I told him: "Are you nuts, we need every vote we can get!" I have another friend who works away from home and hadn't voted, but I helped him get himself registered to absentee vote in North Carolina.  We laughed.  He told me: "You do realize that our votes will cancel each other out!" And yes, I did realize that...but for me, it's that we all exercise our right to vote.  And, how difficult is that?

After today's post I'm thinking I'm going to set up a category called: SOAPBOX-it could be fun!

Ancestors Along the Ladder

It seems like it was just the middle of July, and I had six weeks to get everything together for my big end of the month events.  Now, it's almost the middle of August and I'm realizing I better get busy.  Not that I've just been slacking off or anything, it's just that time seems to be moving faster.  Since so many of my friends and family back in the states would love to be here for the apero and the vernissage but can't, I'm going to share bits and pieces of the preparation here from time to time.  At the moment, I'm patiently awaiting a package from Kat and my folks.  Kat has created something special for the celebrations, and the rest of the box is birthday for me with a few other gifts for friends here.  I have an idea of what Kat is planning, so my ladder from the barn is in the process of being prepped for the installation of Kat's work. I know it has something to do with our ancestors, so I took a couple of her pieces from Valentine's Day and Christmas to see how they looked against the wood and spindles of the ladder. I say it's a go. Imagine how pretty that will look with the stone of the barn behind it, instead of the tiles from the terrace!

FOCUS on SAM

Sammie cat has begun to hang out in the barn with Dali and I much more regularly.  It's so much fun to watch her feel so free.  She dashes and darts and explores every corner.  She prefers to enter and exit through the side window, and hangs out there when she's watching me work.  So, today, I want to share a few window shots of Sam. I've used a special effect that brings out the texture of the stone and really makes her jump out! I hope you enjoy seeing her have so much fun, and the uniqueness of the adjusted shots.