Month: August 2011

August in the Alpilles, Part One

We are back in Arles after our eleven day stay in the country. Every day was the same and yet each were unique. The light, the wind or lack of it, the emotions as our nerves fritzed their last buzz before settling into peace. I am still in vacation mode but wanted to share. I’ll leave it to you to imagine my scrabbling over rocks in thin-soled espadrilles, Ben, our Golden turning back to wait for me with a big smile. The afternoon doing the same. The olive trees, the whispering pines. As always, the scent of rosemary and thyme. But you know all of this, it is the stuff of Provençal legends. I am so incredibly grateful to have had this moment a part in such a beautiful home, private enough to feel good in my skin again. The Alpilles singing their own song–this time of the year it is the castanets of the cigales but also, if you really listen, some sort of exhale. Although that might just be what I wanted to hear. 
I’ll divide the photos up into three posts so as to (hopefully) not overwhelm or bore. Am wishing that you find the scenery as phenomenal as I did…
Thank you again for all of the kind birthday wishes. In its simplicity, it is one of my very favorites. Sometimes we don’t need to work so hard to faire la fête! 

After the rain

Isn’t it gorgeous? We had a bit of rain, most unfortunately the evening when our friends Frederique and Mathilde stayed over (with the owner’s permission of course) but it was lovely to huddle under the umbrella on the terrace while the first pats came down. We stayed up talking until 2am, literally burning the candle down low. I would have imagined after such a night to awake to zephyr skies, but no, still a hulk of gray. That didn’t stop my girlfriends from donning their bikinis to plunge in. And they were right, yes, the difference between the water and air is less shocking on a cloudy day. Real Provençal girls, these two. Certainly wakes you up quicker than a café!

The odd weather lingered after their depart, trilling on until late afternoon. But when it started to clear–below while still wearing a black cap, what a light! Normally, I think of it as so Paris, that side swipe of gold. How lovely to see it tumbling over, knocking against the Braquesque surfaces of the Alpilles. Shattered into a million pieces at a glance.
In the midst of this, I am just observing. Somehow I found the password to just let myself be here and do nothing. Truly, I don’t leave. My last post was the right post and there is nothing more to tell. Save that tomorrow is my birthday. Forty-two. Oof. While I am not ageist, somehow this one seems to be on the other side of something but maybe that is just how my heart is feeling these days. 
Birthdays are a rather big deal in my family. Yes, your day, you decide and do what you like with it. But do you know what? Rather than make a big plan and wallow in a bit of hoopla, I think that I am exactly where I would like to be. I can’t imagine anything nicer (well, I can, but it involves taking the plane and spending exorbitant amounts of money) than, for once, just staying still! More yoga, another walk with Ben, salmon on the BBQ and considerable attention from my honey and I think that I am good. I am trying not to over-think the future, what is the next step but just be grateful for all that I have in my life and that includes the wonderful many that I have met here. Thank you–you are all a true gift! 

Postcard

Open up the shutters. Breathe in the morning air. Pad downstairs to the espresso machine. Verify that the view is just as breath-taking as it was yesterday evening. Say hello to the already clicking cigales and the rustle of the pines. Faire le vide. Yoga on the lawn. Lunch. Sieste. A dip in the pool when it is too hot to take any more, carefully floating past the sipping bees. Reading, letting the words sink in. A walk with Ben. A very long apéro while regarding the light shift. BBQ. Talking until the cigales pipe down. Sleep. Repeat.

A generous gift

And I am not talking about the lilies, although they were the first real gift that I have given myself in a while (and their perfume is impregnating the walls of our new home, slowly replacing the thwack of paint). No, something that will have a far longer lasting effect, I hope. For those of you that have been reading along for a few months, you might remember our lovely Easter weekend “In the Alpilles” when our dear friends saved us from the madness of the Easter bullfights by inviting us to stay at their home in the country. Well, they have come to the rescue again. They are loaning it to us while they head off exploring for ten days. Ten days! Of quiet. In the pool. Sipping rosé. While reading. It is, indeed, of the pinch me variety. 
Most certainly because we are acutely in need of it, something that our friends are well aware of, so much so that they told us that it was “an order” that we accept, knowing that otherwise that we would simply be overwhelmed by their kindness and try to weasel out of it. With the cost of moving, we cannot afford such a respite otherwise any time soon. Actually, Remi and I haven’t taken a vacation since 2006 and even that was a rushed affair for a friend’s wedding. I have been back to the States a few times since but again, finances kept Remi here. These past few years have been especially stressful and I think that the move was the final goutte d’eau de trop. Today, while I was ironing, I started crying and couldn’t stop. On and off for a very long time. I spoke to my friend Frederique, who thinks that it was what they call the contre-coup, something akin to backlash. Nothing that a stretch of nothing won’t cure. 
We are leaving the piles of random objects that have not yet found their places where they are, paintings are propped up on the furniture. The lilies will powder and rose petals will fall on the mantel. There is a problem with the internet where we are going, so I may not be posting as much as I would like and again demand your patience. I promise to come back with many photos and hopefully a new perspective as a parenthesis within the new perspective.
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