Soar-Dream-France: August 2016

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August 2016

August 20, 2016

On An After Apero Morning...

...light, wood, and buddleias.

Posted at 08:38 AM in France Life, Just One..., Mélange-ing Magic, Photography | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 19, 2016

Finding Friends...

...at the bus stop!

Posted at 05:43 AM in Fabulous Friends, France Life, Just One..., Mélange-ing Magic, Photography | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 18, 2016

It's always so much fun when you find people (or they find you) who are kindred spirits and then your friends become friends. The minute I saw this photo I knew this had to be the one for today...our group-selfie from the 2015 evening that Pat and Graeme Bruce and I visited Mike Edwards and John Wilson at Mahogany Oaks after enjoying my favorite fried catfish at Middendorf's in Manchac!

What a night it was. Carmen came over. We all sat around the MOB (Mahogany Oaks Bar) and quickly became fast friends.

All of this to say: Pat and Graeme (aka Monsieur Honey) are going to be arriving at the Chatette later this afternoon. I'm so excited. They'll be staying with me for a couple of nights, special dinner on tap for tonight and an apero for my Cadrieu contingent tomorrow-a Friday evening. The Bruces have rented an apartment in Cahors and will depart from the Chatette on Saturday, but that only means the fun will continue and spread across the Lot.

Of course, you'll be hearing more about our visit and our fun over the next days. Happy Thursday!

Posted at 07:24 AM in Fabulous Friends and Family, Food and Drink, France Life, Just One..., Mélange-ing Magic, New Orleans NOW, Photography | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 17, 2016

Dad is Doing

Many of you have asked how our Dad is doing these days. He's on his own now at Hidden Lake Assisted Living and has moved to a single apartment that is wheelchair accessible. His room is closer to the Hearth where everyone dines and where all the activities are held AND his mailbox for his room is now actually at a place that he can reach it to open it with the key.

Even though change is more difficult as we get older, Dad chose to make the move to a room that would work better for him. Fortunately, my brother Tom was up from New Orleans so he was able to help Kat, Tom M. and Dad with making that move possible right before he had to return to New Orleans. I also want to mention our case manager Diane Smith-who is sometimes our power and push behind the throne...she gets it done and I always say that she is worth her weight in gold.

Even from over here in Cadrieu, I try to call Dad every morning 7am his time before he goes to breakfast. Some days we make it and others we don't-but we make it more often than not. It's easy when we're both at 7am-but his 7am is my 2pm and it's very possible I'm on the bus, pirouetting with a power cord, or hanging from a cliff somewhere when it's time to call.

He's been running the once a month trivia event at Hidden Lake-Kat wrote this morning that today is his Trivia Day. She also mentioned that she smiled when she saw on the monthly activity calendar:

Cheese, Wine and Trivia with Larry

I smiled too. That's our Dad. I'd say he's doing pretty well, wouldn't you?

Thanks to all the family and friends that love Dad and ask about him regularly.

Posted at 10:08 AM in Fabulous Friends and Family, Just One... | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 16, 2016

The Godess Has Spoken

Keeping up with the Chatette land can be an awesome task. Up until 2010 when the barn became part of our "we," we had two chunks of land between the road and traintracks that are large, but relatively level and easy to cut. The barn brought a number of small oddly shaped, parcels of land checker-boarded with communal property that makes me nuts. I cut it all.

This land is hilly, rocky, dry, and a challenge to cut. Trust me, these are NOT anywhere near your manicured British Gardens, but I do like it when everything is nicely trimmed and edged. I've been teasing that after I finish cutting my grass: "I feel complete!"

I have a friend in the village who I pay to keep up with the garden for me when I'm away. Everything looked great when I returned, but riding mowers and weed whackers miss some of the finer touches that I like.

I got in one good cut and then my lawnmower died. I tried everything and gave it a little time thinking it might revive. It didn't. I was feelng "incomplete", so I surrendered and went to the Bricoramma with Annemarie and Gerard to get another.

Out in the yard the other morning with my brand spanking new and very powerful heavy duty electric lawnmower, I was ready. My brand new lawnmower wouldn't start. I tried different plugs, a different extenstion cord connection, checked the circuits in the cave, and finally decided that maybe I needed to borrow another cord. Evelyn obliged, et voila.

Embarassingly (or hilariously)...both lawnmowers started up in a heartbeat! It was my very long power cord! I'd already decided that maybe having BOTH lawnmowers was not such a bad idea.

This powerful one with many levels of blade adjustment could be kept over in the barn and the old one would be kept in the house for the easier land. This way I have a back-up (heaven forbid that I can't feel complete) and I'm not heaving and ho-ing a lawnmower over the wall on a regular basis!

We are all giggling about this, but I'm now feeling doubly complete and I've told everyone:

The Godess Has Spoken-Two Lawnmowers it is!

Posted at 07:24 AM in Fabulous Friends and Family, France Life, Mélange-ing Magic, Photography | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 15, 2016

Coffee and Moon River by Candlelight

Up and out even earlier than usual a couple of these mornings to try to catch the Perseids, I reveled in: the dark, dark; the solitude; the silence; and, the more than beautiful light show that is our night sky in the Lot. The first morning I saw 5 and the second morning I saw 3, all across the river and above the causse.

It was that second morning that I came into the Chatette, wanting the magic to continue. I turned off all the lights and lit all of the candles in the piano room. Monsieur Winkelmann was so happy, he glowed. Our Moon River was particularly beautiful that morning. We were one.

Everything felt: soft; beautiful; nurturing; timeless; boundaryless; and, very tender in that sweet candlelight as I played.

Through tears of joy, I could see all of my visitors crowding in to surround Monsieur Winkelmann and I. Vann was even dancing with Mom!

What a morning!

I want MORE!

Posted at 07:19 AM in Fabulous Friends and Family, Food and Drink, France Life, Just One..., Mélange-ing Magic, Photography | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 14, 2016

Under the Same Roof

The moment I walked into the Chatette, I was struck by how much of Mom is everywhere here. I have: her cross-stitches and needle points hanging in and around the kitchen; her dolls and the dolls she'd given me ever since I was a little girl; her Hummels; her handkerchief quilt; and of course, Monsieur Winkelmann screamed at me to bring out my Moon River (and many others) sheet music that I had tucked away in the folder in my bag with the other very important stuff. I chuckled because in many ways, having Mom's stuff is having Mom.

Mom's departure has been a strange one for me. I loved that hospice gave us the chance to go on her final journey with her as far as we could. I still smile when I remember her telling us that her suitcase was packed and everyone was there. The last time I was alone with Mom she whispered in my ear: "I wish I could have done more for you." On other days, we might have talked about this together at length. On this day, I simply said:

"Oh Mom, you made me the woman I am today."

Ours, was not an easy relationship. I miss my Mom. There are of course those times when I want to call her and tell her something just to hear her voice. Now, I just tell her. I've been playing Moon River and Somewhere Over the Rainbow here for her, along with a few Nat King Cole tunes, most mornings. I look at the moon and the Perseids and she is beside me saying: "Oh, look at the moon. Is that a shooting star?"

I've wondered if there was something wrong with me? My grief has been very different than my siblings. Shouldn't I be sadder? Shouldn't I miss her more? What I've always known (and others will tell you) is that we are very much alike. There were times I had to say to her: "Mom, I'm not you." I carry her with me always in ways that make me feel she isn't really gone. Mom really is everywhere that I am.

Even though she's never been to the Chatette in the flesh, she's been here every step of the almost 15 years of our "we" here and continues to be.

We were raised to always believe that we were just one big happy family. That in many ways, we were all alike. We weren't and we aren't. I've come to realize that each of the four of us had very different relationships with Mom, Dad, Mom and Dad as a couple, and each other. There is freedom, knowledge, and peace in that aha!

I remembered a line in Richard Bach's Illusions that struck me the first time I read it. It rings even truer with me today:

"Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof."-p.84

We are family. We love each other. We are not the same. We are not always going to get along. But, we've learned to celebrate our differences, and still love each other in the process.

And, that really is okay. Right, Mom?

Posted at 08:40 AM in Fabulous Family, France Life, Just One..., Mélange-ing Magic, Photography | Permalink | Comments (2)

August 13, 2016

Days of the Dog

The moment I saw Twister's smile, dark brown eyes, and slender, elegant face; I thought of Vann. I'm sure you noticed how many of yesterday's photos were of Vann and "man's best friend." Vann loved dogs. He came to me again through the TWIST!

Once Mr. Twister got here, that deal was sealed. His: smile; long, lean body and legs; perky puppy personality; that "look at me" strut when he walked in front of me; all, made me giggle and think of Vann. Add in that he was part "hound dog" and as they say here-chien de chasse (hunting dog); they couldn't have been a closer match.

He even had his very own bright yellow reflecting jacket like Vann wore for work. You should have heard him howl when I played Moon River on Monsieur Winkelmann. I began to wonder if I could teach the TWIST to howl to Moon River while I played. Now that could have made me a million bucks!

As you can see, my two weeks with the TWIST were special for many reasons. I loved him and hugged on him with a passion that my very sweet boy seemed to understand.

I laughed when: he'd hang from the edge of my skirt when I was walking through the Chatette; sleep smack up against me every night in MY bed; and, that his favorite place to settle while I worked was on the second Christmas rug from Vann. For two weeks, he was my very specialest of boys...TWIST and VANN-two peas in a pod-my angel boys!

Vann never made it here in the flesh. We talked about it many times, but as you can see...he's here in spirit. Everyone I love eventually gets here...some kind of way.

Happy Weekend from me and my two peas in a pod!

(Unlike the TWIST, Vann didn't seem to like to have his picture taken. So, special thanks to Vann's cousin Sherry White for this shot below that I love so much!)

Posted at 08:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 12, 2016

A Reason and a Season

It's never easy to discover that someone you love has "departed". It can be even more difficult when it is a sudden, violent death AND you've discovered it on Facebook. That's how it happened in January 2015 with my friend Vann Yates.

Vann jumped in to my life with both feet that fall of 2005 after Hurricane Katrina. He was in New Orleans to work as a debris removal supervisor for one of the companies that had these huge government contracts.

He pulled up into the Chase Bank parking lot in his big white Chevy Truck as Dali and I were short-cutting on our morning walk through the hood. Hanging out of the driver's side window, chewing tobacco, his first words to me were:

"Nice dog!"

I still laugh about that today. What an original line? That line was only the beginning. Fortunately, I had captured our time together in my journals and my many letters I'd written to him from France.

Of course, everything was here in Cadrieu. This was the first trip home since his death, that I was able to hold our time together again in my hands and look back.

So, I read. I remembered. Tears tumbled. I felt him close again, and even closer in this place. We shared so much. He was there for me when others weren't. He always encouraged me to do what was best for me. I learned a lot about myself from Vann, but I knew that with the way he worked and the configuration of my life that we'd eventually head off in different directions. We did.

I think Vann knew that too. We were very different people. He'd often tease that he'd never have met "someone like me" if it hadn't been for the storm. When I was looking back, there were many moments and many conversations that brought him here, but there was one question he asked me that stands out the most to me today:

"Are you going to be the one who haunts me for the rest of my life?"

I didn't feel like it was a question I could answer. We seemed to get to an "it will be what it will be" kind of place. But today, it looks like he's the one who is doing the haunting...a haunting that is ever so welcomed.

And, a bit of a reincarnation story for another time!

Vann is everywhere!

Posted at 09:31 AM in Fabulous Friends and Family, Mélange-ing Magic, New Orleans NOW, New Orleans THEN | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 11, 2016

Almost Forty Year Friendship

Out in the garden scooping buddleia to arrange, I needed more "vases". The minute I put my hands on this pitcher in the hutch, Russ Carll was there. I remembered Angela telling me that Russ had picked this green pitcher out for me from St.Cirq Lapopie, during their first visit to the Chatette in September, 2002.

I held it close. I remembered all their other visits over the years, but am particularly grateful for their 2014 visit. We had some fun! It was wonderful to visit: with Angela; visit with Russ; and, visit with Russ and Angela together.

Ah, the stories and memories.

One might think that everyone I love has been here to the Chatette. (That is not the case, and I doubt it ever will be.) As I tell everyone, it isn't an easy place to reach. You really have to want to come to get here. Russ and Angela came more than once.