Soar-Dream-France

Just Around the Bend

 

 

All along the Lot you'll find that "S" curves abound. This road follows the path of the river. In fact, the Chatette rests right on the edge of one. Leaving my house heading toward Figeac, Montbrun is the next village up from me.

 

 

What a pretty ride, AND a nice spot to have an impromptu picnic! 

 

 

I threw all my goodies into my backpack along with my 1 euro red thermos (full of green mint tea), and I was off.

It's such a pretty ride.

I remembered other trips there with family and friends over the years.

As I rode, I pondered where I might have my picnic. 

 

 

 

Loving their lavoir that is right near the road, I remembered that its channel to the river flows under the road to a railed wooden terrace that extends out into the river at at the end.

 

 

 

 

 

I chose that spot!

 

The views were gorgeous, my tea was very cold in its new thermos, and I enjoyed my lunch to a symphony of birds, crickets, and the rushing river.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After some rainy days, it was nice to get out in the sunshine and ride.

 

 

Picnics in Montbrun are on my agenda for the summer.

 

 

 

Oops...I better be prepared for tourists. I don't think a nice, leisurely, solitary lunch communing with nature will be possible in that spot once July and August arrive.

 

 

Happy Sunday!

 

Saying Thank You

 

 

Overalls are perfect for so many things. Celebrating finishing the last piece of land on my list to cut, I headed over to Evelyn's to return her long cord. Having two long cords means that I can get past the end of my own land and cut a small piece that actually belongs to the Department.

 

 

I don't have to, but it looks so much nicer and neater when everything is done. Of course, it's almost time to start again.

 

 

The roses have been so pretty and aromatic this season, that I decided to take a couple over with me to say thanks. I had a perfect pocket in my overalls for the short stemmed rose and was able to put the long stemmed one in the bucket with the cord. 

Pretty and practical on all counts!

Happy Saturday!

 

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!

 

 

Camera Eye Candy

 

Yesterday's grass cutting was not all chore! And, why not? It's spring and we are blooming or about to bloom all over the "compound!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like to wander around a bit before I cut and also carry my phone/camera in the front top pocket of my overalls.

 

 

They even have a smaller pocket in a much larger zippered pocket to protect it. I LOVE these Duluth Trading Gardening Overalls! 

 

While anticipating blooming roses (I have 10 buds on a yellow one in the front of the house on the road), I still had camera eye candy at every turn. One may have even  been a "weed," but who cares. Pretty is pretty.

 

 

 

Enjoy these first flower favorites of the season, with a little artistic filter or two. There are many more to come!

 

 

Happy Wednesday!

 

Visitations

 

As I wrote to my family..."OUI-it is truffle season, but I had many more reasons to purchase these postcards than truffles." Look at that dog. Look at that nose. Look at those paws! That dog could be our Dali. It took my breath away.

 

I laughed because there were many times before Dali, Sammie Cat and I became French Girls together, that I teased with friends that Dali would be a great truffle dog with her big nose and huge paws. We painted pictures of her running through the forest with her beret, searching for black gold. 

It never actually happened, but it was sure a great story and lots of fun to think about. After seeing this card...maybe we should have tried!

 

 

What a wonderful way to stir the memories of our time together. It's only right that since Sam and I are sharing lots of gardening time together, that Dali should make herself present again.

Although Sam has a spot all her own, our Dal is riding free in the universe. Her ashes survived Gaston's breaking of her urn, but the fire cinched the deal. I like to think that she is EVERYWHERE-Sunday proved once again that she is!

 

 

 

Happy Tuesday!

 

Springing into...

 

 

...wood, grass-cutting, memories, overalls, and learning to go with the flow! After shopping with Jane on Thursday and "de-Christmas-ing" inside the Chatette on Friday, yesterday loomed as a day of getting as much work done outside as possible.

 

 

I sometimes start out with a mission and a lofty goal that seems to eventually turn in to go with the flow and just do whatever I feel like doing. Yesterday was no different.

 

Knowing the grass was high and the heavy lawn mower is on this side of the tracks, I was prepared to do what I could and stop when breaks were necessary. I managed to get the length of the road side edging all the way past the point and onto the triangular piece of department land done.

 

Tackling the inside yard was another story...high grass, damp grass, sweet wildflowers, and monster dandelions made cutting difficult for different reasons.

 

Those sweet wildflowers were my first distraction. How could I just roll over them with my lawnmower? So, I got out some broken coffee mugs to try to replant some and to press some in my journal. They are so pretty and delicate...still, all the little petals spread through the grass as I continued.

Between flowers, Sammie cat's spot, heave ho pushing exhaustion, breaks for reading, lunch, and my daily call to Dad...

 

...I still managed to get most everything done from the steps past the plum tree AND rid the rose garden of it's high grass up on the terrace.

 

I probably took my longest break when I stopped for Sam. Every time I walk past her spot I'd think it needs to be weeded and I want to plant her Columbine seeds. It felt good to sit and kneel there and pay homage to our girl. We had a few chats. I told her how much I miss her, and I discovered that I'd forgotten that I had laid a pretty stone border around her spot.

Maybe today, I'll get the other side weeded and cleaned up too!

 

Just another excuse to wear my newest garden overalls!

 

 

 

I think I'm learning to savor the process! I'm amazed that I still felt accomplished at the end of the day! Maybe today will be a repeat performance!

 

Happy Sunday!

 

 

To Blog or NOT to Blog

 

 

A lot has happened since I last actually blogged. I just looked back to see that it was prior to leaving Cadrieu to head to the states in December.

Having been a daily blogger to that point, it has been an interesting evolution for me for many reasons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't enjoy blogging when it feels like something I have to do. I don't enjoy blogging when there are so many technology problems that the barriers feel insurmountable. I don't enjoy blogging when it feels stressful and overwhelming.

 

 

 

I've come to the conclusion that my blogging needs to happen more easily within the flow of whatever and wherever my life is at the moment. Maybe I'll blog...maybe I won't. Interestingly, blogging began to feel like work. Instead of blending blogging into the flow of my life, I was often squeezing my life around my blogging. 

 

 

I'm pleased to be back to blogging...blogging with no expectations...blogging that adds to and enhances my life as it goes and flows.

That said, I'm back in whatever way presents itself to me as I go.

Happy Friday!

 

Lumberjack or...

 

...Jill, Jane, Joan, Jean etc?

Dad and I had a laugh yesterday when I told him my 4 estaires of wood that I had been waiting on had been delivered that morning. I told him I was feeling like one of those lumberjacks. He said: Or more like a lumberjane! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was good to "giggle!" He also reminded me how I had a similar conversation with my friend Vann. When I told Vann I was feeling like Paul Bunyan, he very quickly said: you mean Paulette Bunyan!

 

I didn't think I'd have to order more wood this season since I had so much left over from last year.

Here I was, a few weeks away from the end of the year and I was almost out.

My four estaires are in their usual place. It's always a race to get thrown, sorted, stacked, and covered with plastic before it rains.

 

 

It's a lot of work, but I'm going to do a little bit each day here.

In the past, I'd haul it up to the covered terrace. This year, I just go down each day and get what I need. It doesn't feel like such a big job when I'm not hauling it all up the 10 stone steps at once.

 

 

I better get busy. I leave for Paris and then on to the states two weeks from yesterday.

I've teased that with the new poele au bois, double glazed windows, and roof insulation; the Chatette is warmer than it has been in 800 years. 

I'm not sure if I want to be a Jane or a Paulette today! I can tell you that I'm putting on my Grandpa Pidgeon's red long-johns, my overalls and my hiking boots to see how big of a dent I can make this morning!

 

Happy Tuesday!

 

Katrina and Overalls

 

 

During the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the tumbling of the levees, my overalls were essential! I did seem to live in them during those times.

The shot above was taken in Armstrong Park, shortly before Dali and Sammie Cat and I were going to be heading out to France. Wynton Marsalis was playing and a friend and I decided to take a break from working around our places and head down to hear him. Armstrong Park is always a fun focal point for events and music, even though it is a location that had a horrid history of slave sales and uprisings within.

 

 

I often had conversations with friends post Katrina about how we survived. We could point to the support of friends and family, neighbors, and that sometimes getting away from the devastation helped.

We often needed to know that there were other places in the world that were still "normal"...or at least the normal we used to know. I got tired of hearing about the "new normal," and even more tired trying to live it 24 hours of every day. 

During a particularly bad spell for me, I went off for a weekend or so with my friends Keith Landry and David Zielinski. Keith had this fabulous place that I'd fallen in love with in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.

 

 

 

Going there was always a treat. 

After being wrapped in the nurturing arms of my friends in Cajun country, I'd return to Columbus Street in a better place to continue to attack problems or new crisises.

The aura didn't last long.

In no time, I was back and moving and trying to fight the good fight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, it was a fight.

 

Through life's celebrations and challenges, my overalls have been with me every step of the way.

 

 

Happy International Overalls Weekend.

Happy Sunday!

 

Me and Dali and Overalls

 

What a girl my Dali was. She lived with me in overalls most all of her life. She and Sammie Cat became French Girls with me here in Cadrieu back in 2006, and when we had to return in 2013 our overalls saga continued. We lost her in New Orleans in 2013. I lost Sam last year in the fire.

 

Actually, I've come to the conclusion that Dali's perfection has ruined me for other dogs. I miss Dali and Sammie Cat desperately! Both were a perfect fit with me!

 

 

Dali was even at our first International Overalls Party here in Cadrieu. I did put her in overalls for the event...somewhere I have the photos! She was a tolerant and patient girl who enriched every moment of my life. Ah, here's a collage...I've teased she looked much better in them than I did.

 

 

 

Happy International Overalls Weekend in heaven to

Dali and Sammie Cat. 

 

Happy Saturday!