October is written in orange, scrawled loopily with a fat crayon. This much we know and I have the photos to prove it. But not the golden glow of Jack O’Lanterns grinning in the night but the warm rust of ochre warming my fingertips, a lasting stain and bright.
Millions of years ago, my part of the world, Provence, was just one long sad sea. When the continents leaned into one another, conspiratorially, limestone and sandstone built up over time, leaving us with the surprise of ochre.
Ochre has been mined for pigments since the dawn of humanity. It traces out the animals dancing across the caves of Lascaux, the Egyptians dabbed it tenderly across their lips and cheeks…
Such earth equalled wealth for those who mined it and such was the family practice along a certain stretch of the Luberon for over one hundred years. And while the natural has long been supplanted by the synthetic, the land here is still thriving.
It seems to me to be that now is a month of abundance, despite an/our American predilection for Thanksgiving in November. And the varying terrain along these former ochre mines is rife…with life.
So lets hear it for the shift and sway of earth giving us the goods over and over.
Let us use them wisely.
For we are indeed rich, when we take in all that we have. Around us and in who we are.
I know, I know how often I say that but right now, as we dive towards the winter sleep on this top of the planet while friends are awakening to spring below on the other, it bares repeating.
Listen to the scribble of the undertow.
What is in your heart during this month?
What are you hoping for that lies ahead?
It is October, a perfect time to do a bit of (gentle!) digging…
…is there anything just below the surface that is calling for attention?
…for while we all learn our lessons and endure our scars…
…all the more reason to welcome a whopping batch of joy when that is what life throws us, to roll around in it gleefully, creating moments to carry us through the months ahead…
For yes, our lives are inscribed indelibly in a lasting ochre. Let us try to write it well.
Today’s post is my October contribution to the “By Invitation Only” series. To see what the talented bloggers from the around the world have concocted for “Thoughts on October” please visit Splenderosa here.
Wishing you all a wonderful month ahead…
David darling,
You're adorable. You really are.
But how many effing times do I need to tell you that this is a MOOD piece? M*O*O*D. Say it with me now.
I mean you can't change a rabbit into a turkey. Or a puppy or whatever. Ok?
There doesn't have to even BE a plot. I AM the plot.
Have you ever even seen a French movie?
Just get Wim Wenders people on the phone. That Trina Posh movie was amazing.
Actually, I WILL DO IT.
No wonder no one will return your calls with an address like that.
Downtown, David? No one goes downtown. I told you to set up in the Chateau but you didn't listen, did you?
Whatever.
"H"
sent from my isad
Thought provoking words Heather the ochre story was so interesting!
Carla x
Heather I truly enjoyed this post. The ochre in your images is stunning and reminds me how rich and complex earth really is.
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
P.S. for those who don't know?….Heather has spent more than plenty of years, before she moved to France, learning the ropes in the acting/theatre business…..and I hope everyone recognizes my previous posting as a satire on the sort of thing that, if you're "in the business", you're likely to hear….
—david terry
Dear Miss Robinson,
Is this the best that you can send us?
To be quite honest with you?…..this just doesn't cut it.
I've spent this afternoon shopping your latest posting around the studio, and NO ONE sees how anyone could turn this into a treatment/pitch for what we NEED here.
Bruce Willis, Lindsay Lohan, Shirley McClain, Jon Voight, AND David Hasselhoff need to have their careers jumpstarted (and I mean NOW!)…and I don't seen any way that your most recent offering can be translated into a commercially-viable vehicle for any of them. Where's the STORY?…where's the ACTION?????
Can you please re-write the entire thing (trust me…I'm trying to watch your back out here in Hollywood)?…maybe get some guns and cars and guns and some violence and guns into this whole "Lost in Arles" script?
You know what I mean…Keep all the France-stuff…but could you just, please, make it more sell-able??????
Lindsay's people won't even talk to us. They saw your piece when we sent it to them and decided that it's just not right for her at this time. It's just not a "good fit". That's complete bullshit; she's PERFECT for the part. Don't you agree?
Please re-write EVERYTHING and fax it to me, pronto. If you could just add a scene in which you get slapped around a little by your boyfriend's mafia-connections (just a little..we don't want to get TOO heavy and come across as a "message" movie), we might get Javier on board. He does good "heavy" parts.
Trust me, Heather Baby….everyone's genuinely interested in this "Lost in Arles" pitch…but you got to get more sex, more violence, and at least two car-chases into it if we're going to get the movie MADE.
Two of the producers are wondering if you could maybe just make the Remi character a bit more "edgy". He's too romantic, as things stand. Can you re-write the whole thing and give him a hardline heroin addiction or something…maybe connect him with the Marseilles mafia? We need some TENSION in the plotline.
you know what I mean? this nice-guy-husband stuff just doesn't cut it for 2 hours in a theatre. Audiences get bored with nice.
Angelina's people passed on the treatment, of course. Jennifer's interested, but only if we turn "Lost in Arles" into some sort of a romantic-comedy. She is such a dumb studio-milking-cow. Our people told her people that wouldn't be happening, since the whole POINT of movies was to alter reality.
Get back to me soon. you got my private cell-number.
Let's get the movie of "Lost in Arles" MADE!
Enthusiastically yours as ever, and let's some MONEY off this story! We just got to change it a little bit, you know?….
David Terry
Executive Senior Producer
Exploitive Productions & Representation
156 Lower E.Commerce Street
Suite #666
Los Angeles, CA
57314
Dear Heather
What a wonderful pictures, thoughts and writing you share with us today. Thank you for this beautiful post – I love it!
Namaste, dear H.
Ochre. Now that is a metaphor with legs. I find myself wishing for time to contemplate, and my job is taking all my brain and then some. My being will probably wish to do as you say here, and in reality I will be rushing about. So thank you for the few minutes of quiet thought.
Stacey, I have to say that as gorgeous as Provence is…I would prefer a New England autumn in a heartbeat!!!
I will do once he wakes up Debra! And I bet that wall was gorgeous. To me it is such a grounding color…?
xo,
H