This is when things start to get interesting. A smudge of the thumb and the fine line between virtual and real is erased. Within…shall we say…two minutes of having met Dash from the amazing blog French Sampler, I sensed that she was exactly the kindred spirit that I had hoped. But to have her sitting across from me at a small café just outside of the train station in Aix! I scanned her face eagerly. Would there be signs of her panoplie of knowledge, her distinct elegance? I had long appreciated her honest writing, been inspired as she worked hard to improve her photography and was always beautifully surprised by her subject matter. Our tastes are mind-bogglingly similar, it is true but had I misjudged her and she me? A warm smile spread out across her face. We started talking and didn’t stop for the next six hours. And it passed like the blink of an eye. We were still at lunch after three and when finally we pulled ourselves out of our comfortable volley to move, we wisely abandoned our best laid plans and let our feet and cameras lead us. How wonderful to be just two women wandering. Alright, I’ll say it, deux blogueuses. Both looking, discovering with no one to hurry us in the least sense. Cameras in hand, focusing at the eye and click. Quite like a good connection. I have written about the wonderful city of Aix many times and it was lovely to watch her discover its rich diversity. We decided to make mutual posts, revealing our farandole on the same day without showing each other in advance. So I will look forward to finding where her eye landed nearly as much as I will spending time with Dash again…
Now, as quick as you can name the name of Lartigue’s favorite muse (“Renée!”), let’s hop on over to Dash’s wonderful blog:
And for those of you that are visiting for the first time from chez elle, a very warm welcome indeed.
Have a wonderful week everyone!
You are absolutely right, I would have loved to see that. It is the wedding season here in Arles and I am always fascinated to see the many different styles present–different cultures, different times. Yesterday in front of the town hall a couple was posing before their nuptials. Both in their mid-50s. She was wearing a very Lacroix style poof with an ivory top hat!
Hope that you both enjoy your first Sunday in your new home…
xo,
H
Hey Heather….Just for the record?….Thelast two Summers when we were in Aix, we sat in that square when it was packed with a hundred or so Iranian wedding guests (Herve knows the language, so he can speak to them)….all in Iranian fancy-dress, surrounded by hordes of over-dressed and gorgeous (black hair,black eyes, golden skin) children. The grandmothers and matrons had, on each occasion, obviously draped themselves with every piece of golden jewelry they'd collected over years of marriage.
Each time, it was…..quite strangely/wonderfully beautiful….including the prim&proper street gendarmes who, along with everyone else, gathered around the perimeter of the wedding party while the photographers did their work.
It was (twice….and the weddings were for different members of the same extended family) the sort of spectacle you and Remi would love.
Herv'es back home, after having been stuck in Boston for a night due to torrential downpours. I'll tell him hey for you when he wakes up from an obviously much-needed nap with the dogs….
sincerely,
david terry
Now, if THAT isn't a great omen then I don't know what is!!! The American Eagle blessing your new abode…perfect.
And yes, I have been thinking of you both, wondering how it is all going, wanting to write but knowing it is better just to leave you alone while you rustle through it all. So today must be wonderful for you. A relief even with all that lies ahead of you. Because I don't know about you but unpacking makes all of the work worthwhile. Christmas in June! But how wise of Herve to have been absent for the actual move itself…
As for the square in Aix, it is my favorite pretty much of anywhere in the world. Definitely in Provence. No matter what time of the year, the weather or light, I can stare it until whoever is with me gently pulls me away. It is as if I was trying to imprint myself on its facade. And as you can see, I have given up on trying to properly photograph it. I'll leave that to Remi!
Lots of love and Welcome Home!
H
Well…..oh, Heather…..
Having spent the past week closing down two houses and moving everything to this big, old house we've bought, I've just turned on the computer and greedily gotten my "Lost in Arles" fix.
The first photograph in this posting is of a building that I've photographed each of the past two Summers. That courtyard is just ineffably beautiful, and I've never quite "caught" it in a single photograph. Surely you know the feeling of sitting at your computer with a friend, while you bring up photographs from a recent trip….and waving your hands about as you explain "This doesn't really CAPTURE it…."….and youhave to show the friend five or so shots of the same place before concluding with "Oh….you just have to see it for yourself. Pictures just don't do it justice….".
That's how I've felt about that courtyard (I instantly recognized the shutters). I don't even know the name/funtion of the building. I never thought to inquire, either time I was there.
Last Summer, part of it was covered in scaffolding, and I was instantly struck by a foreboding horror….."Please tell me that Donald Trump or Ralph Lauren or Karl Lagerfeld or Francis Coppola have NOT bought the building and are going to 'restore' it beyond recognition…."
thanks so much for this lovely, evocative posting.
In case you wonder?…..yes, we're settled in here….somewhat. I spent yesterday watching movers bring in the last of the thousand&one boxes. I'd vaguely indicate which rooms they were to go to….and the movers would get lost (none of the upstairs bedrooms connect with each other, since they were built for servants and have their own individual, tiny 18th century staircases). I finally just stood in the back courtyard and hollered up at the movers through various windows.
the best news (which I'll give Herve tonight when he returns from a trip to Boston) is that I drove into the village yesterday (that's not an affected term for this tiny, old town) nd came back up the long drivewway to find a damn EAGLE perched on the rooftop of the kitchen wing. I kid you not…..a golden eagle (the Eno river is only about 1/8th of a mile from my front porch). I'd already gathered, back when I was initially scouting-out the house in March, that we had owls and hawks.
So, it seems we've got representatives of every major raptor except condors.
I'm so glad I don't raise puppies anymore.
thanks again….
david Terry
http://www.davidterryart.com
What fabulous photographs!! And I am living vicariously through your lovely time together!! How truly amazing that such things are possible through the magic of the blogosphere!! I just love this little story and that you two have cemented your relationship is such a wonderful way!!
There is the Avignon-Budapest bus….and once you are here, accommodation is no problem. Any time….!!!