Soar-Dream-France

Window Works of...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...ART!

 

As time goes by and I'm learning to live more in the new of the Chatette after the fire, I'm finding beauty and joy in the pace and flow of my new life here.

I can say it's better! I can say it's different! But the reality is that I'm finding in many ways that I can now make it what...

...I WANT!

 

 

 

I've written about the radiators before. Those top two, side-by-side photos are of two of the three, first floor, front, river-facing windows. (The third has always had my beautiful round table and chairs there.) Having curtain-less double glazed windows, offers a new visual back drop every day. These photos and arrangements would not have been possible in the past. BOTH of these windows had very nasty radiators and piping inside and all around.

As I thought about US, I wanted to capitalize on these new circumstances and turn them into pretty to the point of works of art.

 

I also wanted anyone who passed on our road below to be able to see the "art" from the outside too. Granted, flying cars and other fast moving vehicles probably won't, but with all the walkers and bikers I'm sure they would. And then there's silly me, who likes to wander around outside in the dark and see what WE look like from the road!

Some ideas work and some don't. One of my main challenges is keeping these areas clean and clutter-free. It's just too easy to lay stuff there and then watch the piles grow. This week...I'm getting us together.

 

 

At the moment, we are beautiful from the inside. I may have to work a little harder for us to be SEEN from the outside too!

Maybe you have some ideas for me that you want to share?

Happy Tuesday!

 

That Unforgettable Smile

 

My friend Gaynell had one of the most amazing smiles. It took up the whole lower half of her face and glowed. Gaynell had a shinging smile...shining and singing. With her passing on the 5th of May in New Orleans, I like to think of her and remember her in just that way.

This shot above was taken during the summer of 2004 when I was out in the yard on Columbus Street painting lattice work.

Just one year later, all my hard work had floated away and we were living upstairs there together so we could both return after Katrina.

 

 

 

It was me and Gaynell and our four-legged children: my Dali and Sam; and, her Stone, Trixie and Bernard.

 

We worked hard to hold our sanity together and keep moving forward. Sometimes it was day to day...bologna sandwich to bologna sandwich!

By Christmas she had returned to live in one side of her family home on Orchid Street and I began living in my back apartment on Columbus Street.

 

 

 

We got together everyday.

Even though City Park was ravaged too, going there on our bikes made us happy and got us out of the daily devastation.

Fortunately, I captured that 2005 holiday ride together in City Park on film with Gaynell's help.

 

Missing you, my dear friend.

And yes...I love you more!

 

 

A Flowerful Chatette Sunday

 

It makes no difference if they're blooming now or not, I've managed to capture many of our gorgeous flowering moments over time here at the Chatette.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I confess. I do go a little crazy from time to time. Who needs a hundred pictures of wisteria? Apparently, I do.

I'm not anywhere near that with the columbines or the roses, but they are still hard to resist.

 

 

 

We seem to be on an every other year pattern for budding, blooming and lushness.

We only seem to have edible plums every other year.

I'm not sure it's a pattern with the wisteria or it has something to do with the weather we've had.

Regardless, everything is beautiful and brings ongoing smiles and joy...rain or shine!

Happy Sunday!

 

 

Cajarc Crossroads

 

 

For some reason, I'd never really noticed this road choice coming into Cajarc until it was draped in flowerful color. I'd already noticed the iris when they were but millions of buds and told myself: "Now, these are going to be worth coming back just to get a shot when they are blooming!"

Et, voila!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I couldn't have predicted that brilliant red and orange that pulled me in too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's amazing how just a little color and texture can catch your eye and take you to places you'd never noticed before!

 

 

Happy Saturday!

 

Barefoot, Pregnant and...

 

...I used to say "chained to the stove," but today I would have to say just CHAINED period. Keeping women down seems to be the goal of many of the elected officials in the USA. Sadly, women are among them.

With so much going on in the world and in my own life these days, the last post I wrote was from the archives entitled: "On Mother's Day!"

 

 

 

It's an important and even more meaningful post for me today, because as I read it again this morning it is about

 

CHOICE!

 

 

 

This attack on women is about making us as a group LESS and removing our FREEDOM OF CHOICE at the very core of our person...our health, mental health, OUR BODIES!

 

 

It is difficult, but I refuse to disparage anyone here.

 

 

Instead, I laud those men in my life and elsewhere who stand with women. I've teased with some of them recently by asking: "Dare I call you a feminist?"

You do not have to be a woman to be a feminist.

In fact, it can't be assumed that all women are feminists. It was a very sad day for me to see a woman governor in the State of Alabama neglect to use her veto power on one of the most restrictive abortion bills this country may have ever seen. It is certainly her right and within her power to do so, as it is within the rights of men and women alike to be anti-abortion. But, DON'T TREAD ON ME!

How can we accept our differences? How can we respect those differences and NOT tread on the rights of others who may have made different choices in their lives. We are NOT all the same.

I am so grateful that I was able to go to the Women's March in Washington, DC the day after this President was inaugurated in 2017. I was worried. I knew that as a woman, it was important for me to be there. 

The worried of 2017 has evolved into absolute horror and devastation during 2019. It's when you are certain something is going to be bad, but here we are two years later and it is a million times MORE horrific than anything I could have imagined then.

Every fiber of freedom and democracy is being challenged, and NOT just where women are concerned.

Too many tears these days for my country and a way of life that appears to be heading toward extinction. I am in mourning.

What to do?

I wish I had an answer.

 

Morning Gold and...

 

...and the yellow rose of friendship strike me today.

These are times of love and loss and carrying on. It's about the crossing overs.

It's about the so many hurts of losses so deep in avalanches of pain and sadness, but knowing that you'll suffer all those hurts gladly because you wouldn't have given up knowing any and all for a million dollars.

 

 

I am rich.

 

They join the tapestry of our inner lives and always find a way to let us know they are still a part of our life and never very far away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Really always with us!

 

So today, I celebrate a new day and all of the wonderful people in my life who are here and there...never very far and always near.

I love you more!

 

 

Happy Saturday!

 

On the Road and Olonzac

 

Arriving in Carcassonne to meet the Bruces at the gare mid-afternoon, meant heading back to their place in Montlaur and settling in nicely.

We'd seen each other every year since we'd met in 2014, except last year so I was ready.

 

 

We're in touch on FB, but as many of you know, it's not the same as face-to-face in person!

 

 

Gorges abound in this gorgeous place. We encountered many on our road trip on Saturday, and then stopped in Olonzac to have a look. Pat and Graeme had rented a place there in the past, so they knew it well.

I've often asked myself why one village speaks to me and others don't.

I loved Olonzac.

 

We parked and wandered just a little bit and ended up at the Cafe de la Poste.

 

 

 

I loved the stamps.

I loved the place.

We settled into our choices of beer, wine and coffee AND I loved the French Fries!

Any place that doesn't make me beg for ketchup is tops on my list.

 

 

With homemade fries and a whole bottle of ketchup-

-I'd fallen in love!

 

We relaxed nicely.

We people and puppy watched. That's Mimi and her person on the right!

We wandered a bit and then headed back in the direction of the car to make a pit stop to see if we could find the people who ran the place where they had stayed. 

It was such a nice day together.

I would return to Olonzac if the opportunity presented itself again.

Maybe ... maybe not. If not, what wonderful memories!

 

 

Happy Friday!

 

 

Home Again, Home Again...

 

...and it's heaven!

As good as it is to go, it's even better getting home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love being with my friends and seeing new sights.

 

I love meeting new people, or even people I've heard a lot about but have never met! 

It's the traveling to and from parts of travel that are becoming less and less fun these days. I know. I do moan about it.

But, yesterday I had a moment.

Pam dropped me at the navette at the Toulouse Airport.

 

 

For 8 euros, they dropped me at the Toulouse Matabieu station.

I had 45 minutes till my train. I scooped a nibble and a New York Times.

I listened to the public piano in the terminal.

I hit the 70 centime toilette...

 

 

...before I boarded the Intercite train and settled into a seat heading my direction with my stop in Cahors as the "terminus!"

 

It was raining. I got the laptop wrapped up in plastic and had my umbrella ready so I could make my dash to the bus and we'd be safe enough on the walk home from the bus stop.

I sat in my seat feeling very calm, relaxed and balanced. I asked myself why don't I ever feel this way in the states?

It may be that I'm just getting better at this France Travel stuff. It may be (as Evelyn mentioned earlier) that it's a totally different means and kind (and usually reason) of travel in the states. 

 

 

I'm thinking I should explore more of this travel in France. You can get some awfully pretty shots from the windows of trains and buses...even when it's raining!

That bus ride home through the valley along the Lot gets me every time!

Happy Thursday!

 

 

Flowers for the Barn

 

Look at that grass!

Getting both sides of the Chatette cut and all along the road with Evelyn's cord too, I was feeling like we were pretty beautiful.

But, I was also pretty weary. So, Tuesday turned into a ride into Cajarc (mostly for my demanding birds and their bird balls) and then...no grass, just laundry. That made yesterday morning a grass cutting necessity.

I truly could cut grass everyday SOMEWHERE.

 

 

Maybe I should just make it a part of every day's activities.

 

 

 

Yesterday's cut was difficult...wet, mud caking the mower, rocks, stones in the ground, and just plain high AGAIN. Being a holiday, I stopped to take a break and then came back to do a little more later in the afternoon.

Inspiration!

Cutting aside, I wanted to pay a little more attention to the wagon and the barn.

 

 

I still managed to do both.

 

 

I've said that I want to spend time with my barn as is since this summer is the last summer before the new roof in September.

 

 

 

Remembering our history...the rest was a breeze!

 

 

Flowers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Thursday!

 

 

 

Road Wrangling

 

Sometimes it's fun for me to enjoy all the different angles and sides to this place. Of course, it tends to happen when I'm out cutting grass or doing other chores.

 

 

 

Smack on the road, I have to be careful because there are speed demons among us. Coming back down the road towards Cajarc from the other side of the house on Monday, I stopped and moved closer to the side of the road. A huge pack of bicyclers was passing with an impatient speeding car behind them.

They did something I've never seen anyone do...the whole group lined up one behind the other and rode straight down the middle of the road on the white line.

 

 

 

The car stayed behind them. When they got passed me, they moved to the side and the car passed. It was the first time I'd actually felt protected on the road.

Huge Merci to these very considerate guys. Wish I had gotten a photo!

Happy Wednesday!