Even after so many years of living in France, I can’t help but be drawn to the parfum d’antan, that ephemeral feeling of the past, one often wafting around me like the scent trail left behind by a beautiful woman. My eye roves towards that sense of time worn, time known.
It is little wonder why I am so taken by such beauty. Only those that are born here seem to be oblivious to it. And yet I wonder if all of this past pulls me by the arms at times, holding me back. My Sister is visiting. One of the fascinating aspects of seeing family members after an absence is that the changes in them stand out as if drawn in bright colors. Robin has been working hard on herself and seems so less caught by the cobwebs of the past than before. She stands clear in the present with an open face towards the future.
So best then to appreciate the past with its style and substance without letting it take roots within. To linger in the parfum d’antan without getting caught under its spell…
Bon weekend!
PS. As I was about to hit publish, I had a lovely surprise from my friend Virginia in Melbourne. She is a talented and successful designer and yet shares her world generously in her incredible blog, Glamour Drops. Today’s post involves me and our friendship. And while the French have taught me not to say thank you for a thank you, what she wrote is just too beautiful not to acknowledge. And it also is very similar in its way to what I have been pondering here. So far away and yet on the same wave-length. There is nothing old-fashioned about that. Friendship lives out of time, doesn’t it?
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Dear Heather,
It's good to read that your visit with your sister is going so splendidly (not that I'd expected some "Streetcar Named Desire", Sister-Blanche-Comes-to-Town scenario).
As for life hereabouts? Herve's gone to Berlin for a few days, which is just as well, since this means that he doesn't have to witness My Hysteria over the business of hanging 568 pictures (for those who don't know, we've moved to a "new" house….and, yes, I took the time three days ago to COUNT all the damn things).
For the most part, the business (concluded, FINALLY, late last night) has been a Fete Worse Than Death.
…But, around 11 last night, I finally finished up with hanging the kitchen (so to speak). The kitchen's about 20' by 30', with twelve foot ceilings…..enormous by any standards. The rear half is all floor-to-celing windows on three sides of the room, looking out on the old boxwood garden. Lighting is, to say the least, tricky. Basically, it's like hanging pictures in a greenhouse.
That said?…..I got what I said, a while back, I wanted. Smack dab in the middle in the middle of the main wall is a brilliant (both in coloring and technique) French landscape by the California painter Ginny Crouch….with two of Remi's photographs (the jubilant boy in Mali and the white horses in front of Chappelle de St. Croix in Arles) on either side of it.
….and THAT will be the first thing we look at each morning when we get up and have our coffee. Do, please, tell Remi how beautiful and plain-out HAPPY these pictures of his are. As you may know, Herve spent most of his twenties (he graduated from college at age 17 and medical school/residency by age 23) working in Faso Burkina…establishing women's clinics in rural areas (is there an even minimally- urban area in Faso Burkina?…and I should admit that I invariably have to struggle to avoid calling the country "Faster Bikini").
In any case, Herve (who works too hard and, like many doctors, occasionally needs to remind himself why he took up the profession to begin with) LOVES Remi's photograph of that exuberant boy in Mali. I gather that it's one of his two favorite things in this house of all too many things. Before we moved this past month (and having had the picture since we gave each other photographs by Remi for Christmas in Tours this past Winter), he kept it propped up on his desk. Now, it's found a "home", so to speak.
thanks, again, to you and Remi…..and tell your sassy sister that she has to be Very Nice to you during her visit; you and Remi could, at a moment's notice, simply disappear and go off to visit Your Admiring Fan Club in North Carolina.
Level Best as Ever,
david Terry
http://www.davidterryart.com
Maybe I have had too much wine………..I read it twice.You love the past as I do but your sister is forging ahead………….NOT LOVING THE PAST?What do you mean she has changed?Is she loving your little abode above the ground floor with shutters to fling open wide?I best go ………love the photos as always……….detail, light,Ben,that CAFE place……………all GRAND!
Well if it isn't done to say thank you to a thank you, that means I shouldn't now say thank you to this thank you either! How tangled it all becomes. And correct or not, I shall be a rebel and say it, because your words, as ever, cut straight to the point and yet are works of beauty in their own right.
Now onto these images! You have outdone yourself here. Is it the summer light, Remi's teaching, having your sister around or just practice? Because these simply jump off my screen with their sunny vibrancy. And a love of the past, together with an appreciation of the modern – I think that is the true definition of culture, is it not? Enjoy your sunny beautiful weekend with Robin. xx
Did you get a new camera or is it the lighting? Your photos are beautiful.
As I read today's post I was thinking that I don't recall how I found your blog nor when. But your blend of photography, your writing and the way you describe your world has made it a definite 'treat' in my life. Enjoy your weekend and time spent with loved ones~
Have a wonferful week-end with your sister
Thank you for the beautiful photos.
The doorway detail with the little heads…I want to sculpt some to make my own dorway.
I am always impressed by the small details that you pick up and photograph so beautifully. Thanks for sharing. Bon weekend.
Thanks so much Gina. Have a wonderful weekend!!
Dear Heather, I love the way you see the world, right down to the tiniest details.
ox, Gina