Soar-Dream-France

All Along the Lot-Treasures #5

 

 

This has always been a place of gates with personality! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unique

 

 

 

Charming

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...and then there are the fences-

 

 

 

 

...and flowers, and more flowers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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All Along the Lot-Treasures #4

 

 

IRRIGATORS! This huge Irrifrance has always caught my eye. And then, I discovered a series of irrigators across the river that looked like the colors in a bag of M&Ms. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even in their utilitarian practicality, there is FUN!

 

All Along the Lot-Treasure(s) #3

 

WILD Flowers and otherwise (hmmm-TAME Flowers), abound all along the Lot...pretty, unique, and interesting. Are they wild? Are they weeds? You be the judge.

Judging vegetation is one thing, but judging people is another. I'm going to be my simple "Pollyanna" self this morning. It's all I can do when I don't really know what to do with the shape of the world and the insanity all around (not just "around," very close to home).

This is my homage to Baton Rouge and the rest of the world. When will the violence stop?

 

 

 

 

 

Breathe, and gather:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Beauty;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Peace;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and, the POWER

you cannot see;

 

 

 

...to be able to

 

 

...Carry On.

 

All Along the Lot-Treasure #2

 

Blame it on Monet, I love hay bales. I'd never seen these round babies until I came to Cadrieu.

Since then, I oggle them all up and down my travels on Interstate 55 between New Orleans and St. Louis.

 

 

Here, I can get close enough to revel in them and enjoy them. 

Happy Sunday...Let's Make Hay!

 

 

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All Along the Lot-Treasure #1

 

Next year marks the fifteenth anniversary of my purchase of the Chatette. Incroyable! I said then, and still say today...I belong to her.

One of the first things I enjoyed during my stolen snippets of beginning times here, was being able to wander towards Cajarc along the Lot. Wednesday morning, I took off again on foot to do just that...from Cadrieu to Cajarc along the river and from Cajarc to Cadrieu home along the main road. It was a treasure- filled adventure, as I knew it would be. Today, I share treasure number one.

Happy Saturday!

 

 

 

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My Waiting Wagon

 

With projects everywhere, I find myself taking each day as it comes and doing whatever I feel like doing. Yesterday, I'd gone out planning to continue the endless job of pruning; but looked at the wagon and decided hell with the pruning...the wagon was up next.

When I left two years ago, I'd tarped it and put the door over it again, thinking that I would be protecting it. Well, when the tarp and the door came up: buckets of water had settled there; a whole colony of carpenter ants was scurrying madly; and, snails had taken up residence. I was heartbroken.

 

 

I thought about other things that I could have done to protect it more. I thought that maybe I never should have taken it out of the barn. And then I stopped...we get so much enjoyment out of the wagon. It will be resurrected and protected somehow. Two years gone is just too long.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I worked, I took my camera and massaged our breaking hearts.

 

 

 

We'll be back to "wining" at the wagon very soon! 

 

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Some Days Begin...

 

...with the trees whispering bonjour from the dark in delicate dancing raindrops on your soul. I make my coffee. I open the window and begin my day journaling. The first few mornings this week were these to be savored. And sometimes for good measure...Moon Rivers with Mom.

 

Pastoral Promise

 

 

The flow of life here in Cadrieu often takes me to comparisons to life in New Orleans. Trust me, this is not the view I see when I look out my front door or windows on Columbus Street.

The shot above says "pastoral" to me, but I wanted to look a little closer at the meaning of the word before I used it. My American Heritage Dictionary talks about animals and rural, country life, but then here it was in 2b:

"Having the qualities of idealized country life, such as charming, simplicity, and a leisurely and carefree pace."

 

That's it!

 

 

I can very easily say that I have a "pastoral life" in Cadrieu. Charming is a wonderful word. My llfe here is certainly that. But the one that screams at me is:

Simplicity

 

I love (what I'm coming to know again) my "pared down," close to the bone life. 

I've tried very hard to translate this life here the best I could to my time in New Orleans...no television, no car, buddleias, garden, and early morning journaling. Believe it or not,those were relatively easy.

Others were much more difficult, such as: being able to live a life of less stress; living with doors and windows open; making fresh flower arrangements with flowers from the garden almost every day; focus and centering; living in the moment; and, being able to journal in the early morning by candlelight.

 

 

Surrounded by noise, crowds, constant activity, and always people; can make it very difficult to get to me. Here, back in my idealized country life; I am able to be with me again. That, is what I've missed the most.

 

Light and Moving Music

 

I should know this. After years of trying to capture musician friends around the French Quarter and at the Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans...most of them are NOT still long enough to catch clearly in a photo. The musicians at the Chateau de Cadrieu on Saturday were no different. Between the sing-a-long in the evening light and jazzy, toe-tapping, dancing music, I surrendered...eventually.

I'd gone back a little later in the evening to support some of my Cadrieu friends who are part of a singing group. They were listed as the "Chorale de Cadrieu" on the program at the door.

 

 

 

I've been hearing about their performances and practices for a while from afar, so I was really looking forward to seeing and hearing Christiane, Evelyn and Jean in action. For some reason, I thought the group was larger. Their performance concluded with a sing-a-long that the crowd enjoyed. 

 

All that singing got our crowd in the mood to sway and tap their toes. 

 

 

 

This next group up showed me where the lone horn and other lone brass instruments we were hearing in the evenings on high from the Chateau had originated. I'd thought one was a saxaphone. Evelyn mentioned that she thought one was a sousaphone. Seeing the group together, it could have been either of those ... and more.

 

 

As dusk began to settle in over Chateau de Cadrieu, party lights came on and captured the: mood; music; and the spirit of this amazing event. The spirits were moving. A special salute to Jade, her friends and family. This is only the beginning.

I'm already looking forward to next year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Performance Approach

 

 

With the ruins of the Chateau de Cadrieu as the anchor, Jade and her friends used performance art to melange the history, romance and magic of this place. It enriched our experience. Each step along the way, spaces were used to present: an historical monologue on the swing outside; a musical serenade in the entree; a petit play that began in a living space and found its way out to the terrace overlooking the Lot River; and, this period beauty's haunting melody from on high.

 

 

 

 

Guests were enthralled with: performances; costumes; setting surroundings; and, the tinges of humor everywhere.

 

 

 

 

By the end of the tour and the return to the many events and activities in the garden; one could easily feel the melange-ing of past and present beyond boundaries. If you closed your eyes; it could have been any place, anywhere, any time...in the universe.