Month: February 2013

Olive gray

I find peace in plenty while walking through an olive grove…

…and I know I am not the only one.
Yes, I am well aware that these trees have been declared a simplistic symbol, the Provence of Provence…
…but I breathe them in and love them now with time and understanding, just like our varying sky. 
For the leaves twist with the seasons, dipping into a palette…
… that soothes yet is vibrant enough to inspire a shout or a joyful run…

…while the trunks, raising raides sometimes a hundred years, twist inward with still solidity.

It is my Japanese garden. Ordered and quiet…

…with just enough rustle to sweep away the gray.
*Update: Oooh, I am so excited to be guest-posting today, Thursday, over at the absolutely amazing D. A. Wolf’s blog “Daily Plate of Crazy”: 
http://dailyplateofcrazy.com/2013/02/28/french-chic-and-shock-transitioning-to-life-in-france/
I hope that you will enjoy and stop over to say hello!*

Paper wings

Paper wings, seeming translucent, written strong with words to catch the wind.
Acts of kindness, acts of faith. Shooting like stars to make a heart, mine, open to the sky.
Un merci, a good job, a bravo, an I appreciate you. We all can use one from time to time. 

I fold my head like a fanning flower, grateful…
…blow-kissing pollen, hopefully, spreading good will.
*warning: what follows is crazy long, feel free to take a run for it while no one else is looking*

A bit of music? http://www.stereomood.com/song/66859

So I have to say that I was quite surprised and touched to have been given several blog awards this past week. Isn’t that lovely? I know there is no gold little man for me to clutch while wiping away shaky tears on the back of my glove but all the better! Just a simple curtsy will do.
It started with Marg Hogan of Destination Here and Now, who gave me The Addictive Blog Award. Merci beaucoup, Margaret and for those of you that might need a graphic designer in NSW, Australia, take a look at her portfolio here. 
Me oh my-oh Cinco de Mayo and then teamgloria came a knocking. Ah, tg she is my chou chou. When the inordinately talented Author of the blog was diagnosed with three tumours in her neck, she created teamgloria as a means to document her team of “glorious people, places & things” that helped her get through and move shining forward from that dark time. Quite simply, both the narrative of the blog and the woman behind it are amazing. Actually, she didn’t even have to come knocking as I can nearly always be found there, loitering. So that she chose Lost in Arles for the Liebster Blog Award, I blushed (I did). But then, a bit of a chain reaction was set in motion! 
Tg had nominated the lovely, lovely Julia from Three Times Yes (an actress!), who decided what the hay she didn’t care about rules and would nominate me as well. And then another of Julia’s nominees, beautycalypse, also threw me the award and I have only just discovered her blog! Boomerang. But you have to love a woman who refers to her readers as her fellow “adventurers”–I know I do. Let alone that she feels that real beauty can knock her sideways, she quotes Bowie and loved the poem “If” by…Kipling (that is Rudyard, sillies, not our new pupper.)
Now, what has been fun is a volley of exchange and turns of phrases that could give Houdini whiplash. As I have mentioned, there are normally rules. Such as thanking the person that nominated you, telling eleven things about yourself, answering the eleven questions asked of you and passing on the award to eleven more. Well, happily, I have already been given this award (thank you again Natalie!) so I am going to throw most of them out the window but I will answer teamgloria’s questions here and in a hurry as I have been waiting to read the other responses for fear of being “influenced” by their brilliance (Julia and bc I will answer yours with gusto on your blogs, just give me a moment to catch my breath).
But first for those of you that are just about ready to sign off on this long post my list of ten blogs for the Addictive Blog Award. These are the ones that I go “Oh, goody” when they arrive in my inbox. Well, some of them. You are all so talented, it is amazing!
1) Of course, teamgloria
2) and Three Times Yes
3) and beautycalypse
4) and Destination Here and Now
but also
5) French Essence – http://vickiarcher.com/
6) Collage of Life – http://collageoflife-henrqs.blogspot.fr/
7) Glamour Drops – http://blog.glamourdrops.com/
8) HATTATT – http://hattatt.blogspot.fr/
9) Elizabeth Minchilli in Rome – http://www.elizabethminchilliinrome.com/
10) Subliminal coffee. – http://subliminalcoffee.blogspot.fr/
Thank you all so much for oodles of inspiration. 
Are you still here? Really? It certainly is understandable if you have nodded off, a bit like me trying my best to see the red carpet yesterday evening (oh how me loves that particular awards ceremony, dreams of lives past still swirl about me like fairy dust). The envelope please, teamgloria’s questions, as promised:
1) candles or spotlights? 
While my hearth is full of candles and perhaps their light is the most consistent point of my existence (see final question), I do indeed know how to work a spot or two and yes, jazz hands are usually involved.
2) how many books do you have next to the bed? 
Well, let me go see…eight plus a back issue of National Geographic from 1984.
3) when did you last read in a café and what did you eat?
While I try to just be present when I am dining alone, a rarity in itself, I could not resist the temptation to break out a newly arrived American Vogue, expat gold, the last time that I did. I had an excellent gazpacho (a hint as to the season) plus a tartine rubbed with potent garlic and topped with ratatouille, serrano and emmenthal straight out from under the broiler. And a glass of wine. Then an espresso.
4) when did you set up your blog and why?
Here we go:http://lostinarles.blogspot.fr/2010/10/good-day-as-any.html As a professional travel writer, I missed creating once the press started to tank. I had no idea that I would come to love taking the photographs as much as writing or that I would come into contact with such exceptional people in the process.
5) what was the last film/movie you saw?
An enlightening refresher course for question 8, one that I have a sneaking suspicion just might have been chosen with me in mind? Or is that pure ego taking the reins?
6) what was the first single you bought?
Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
7) chocolate or cheese? Discuss.
I live in France, a land where there are enough varieties of cheese so as to discover a new one every day of the year, hence there is no discussion. 
8) do you identify with any of the characters in Pretty in Pink? If so, which one? And–still?
Apparently I still identify thoroughly with all on the non “ritchies,” all of them. Ode to the Duckman. And yes, still. Iona especially took on whole other shades for me that I am the now normal too. But once an outsider, always an outsider. It brands you from the inside. It was quite a lovely experience watching that film again (and enjoying the soundtrack, the finest of that time), so thank you for the homework.
9) Maria Callas or Madonna Ciccone? 
Dinah Washington.
10) you’ve been invited to (where?) for supper–name the 11 other guests (alive/passed on/haunting you still):
I believe that we have already established that I detest parties. One on one. Or family. But no more. And please don’t make it a theme.
11) Is there a meaning to life? Do you need one?
While it certainly isn’t up to me to make a mass statement for the planet, I know that my personal answers are “no” and “no”. I am trying to live happy and do no harm as I go, hopefully do a bit of good. So bandage up those paper cuts, fold out your wings and…
One more for the road? http://www.stereomood.com/song/70349

Hazy

Going for a walk wasn’t my idea. Remi had coaxed me into it. The wind was whipping on the hills above Les Baux but there was sun to soak and vistas to gaze on. The act of opening to look out untangled all of the crossed-wires that had bundled up in my nerve box and short-cut hopped the haze of too much thinking.

We took to the paths…
…bent into details…
…and let the dogs run free.

No noise, no encumberments. Best to roll my arms in the air and toss my head back…
…to let it all evaporate into the air or cobweb the trees but get it gone good.
And it did. I came back breathing soft and slow.
Wishing you all a change of scenery as well as just a simply wonderful weekend ahead…

Patience, patience

Tie my dreams upon a string, lift my arms high in hopes that they will sing…
All right, down to the brass and tacks for those who have been asking: Kipling is doing just fine. The massive smile on Claire’s face on Monday night at the check-up said it all but she exclaimed, “Bravo!” Even though the drain had popped out on Sunday (!), it had done its job. So with a snip came the end of the stitches and the cone was banished to the back of the closet. None to soon for Mr. Ben who was getting mighty tired of being chased around with it, I can tell you. So see that leftover Valentine above that seems to thump in the twilight? It is. Good news is good news.

And yet I am seeking patience. It is dead quiet in these parts. Just take a look at the neighbourhood kids who have set up in the middle of the Place du Forum. Might as well. Nearly all of the cafés are closed with the owners sunning themselves in the Seychelles. With Kipling recovering, we have not been able to dive into our normal discoveries and are quite Arles-bound for the moment.

In the meantime, I hope that you will be patient with me. And I will try to not overwhelm those of you that are not as animal-oriented while we welcome a new member to our family, an understandably important event. 
I am asking patience of me too. That me sitting worrying in the near dark in the photo above. How I want all to be running so smoothly but what an unrealistic wish. There are too many variables up in the air. 
It will all happen with time, that same that builds and tears down and puts up again.
Patience. It is required in negotiating and there is a lot of that going on right now in this household that even with a joyous addition feels topsy-turvy like the sea.
I need to be more quiet and just see and breathe. I am trying.
And doing…
…but what a masculine household this has suddenly become!
Well, I have my flowers and multi-fold sweetness just not when expected, not to mention the joy of discovering a new being. That too requires patience, especially in this delicate circumstance but it will be rewarded ten-fold.
Wishing you all well. So grateful you are here.

Scratching at the surfaces

We are still in winter, this much I know despite the light beginning to whisper me otherwise. For I find myself still nombril-gazing, shuffling, wearing that strange perfume, a miasma of this year and that. So I go out searching, scratching the surfaces. Looking for the colors of the past that will stick to the soles of my shoes this spring and those which will fade with my tread as I keep on walking, quietly, for it is that time of year.

Update from the couch

Hello there! This will be just a little update, yes, one from the couch where I have been spending quite a bit of time with two wonderful furry creatures, Kipling and Ben. How are they getting along? Now, now don’t be silly, just take a look at the above photo. Ben who is less of a snuggler than one might think, initially resisted but slooowly his head fell down, down, down onto Kipling until he was sleeping with his eyes half-open as he is want to do. It was a first but as you will see, not the last…
Now, I have to say that we have had a little setback with Kip’s recovery. He has developed an inflammation on his abdominal wall, which is producing quite a bit of liquid and blood that are forming in pockets under the skin. Claire, who is our vet and is also a very dear friend, has been taking excellent care of Kip, including putting in a drain yesterday that we hope will do the trick. Already, Remi and I see quite a big difference and hope to get this boy out of any pain as soon as possible!
But, as it is being treated and he is back on antibiotics, it should not develop into a dangerous situation–just in case you might be a worrier as I am. And that doesn’t prevent us from taking him on his walks along the Rhone in the morning and to the Arena at night (for now, I am not varying them as I want to reassure him as much as possible). But we are taking it easy.
And so much sleeping is involved, provoked with “Radio Spa” which Remi has realized has a very soothing action on both puppers. Yes, he often has to wear the dreaded “Cone of Shame” as fellow dog owners will call it so as to be sure that he doesn’t pull out the drain but he is getting used to it. Slowly but surely.

And even with the cone, the couch is not such a terrible place to be when we have such friends to lean on, n’est-ce pas? 
Have a wonderful rest of your weekend everyone…

Pink kisses too

Love.
A dizzy joy, a tender kiss but also that sneaking warmth at light’s last lark.
Happily, my definition of it has only expanded with age.

Whatever form it takes, may it find you and hold you this Valentine’s Day.
Pass it on.
Today and every day!

Many thanks to the inspiring and inspired Julia in Berlin for sharing this lovely song.
As you can see, I am taking my own advice and passing it along…

Country interludes

On our forays to and fro the Refuge S.P.A. des Baux de Provence in hopes to adopt the handsome Kipling, the countryside of the Alpilles provided both a fine mirror and consolation to the heart-skip of our emotions. 
We would park at the same spot, beyond the refuge but not so far that we were innocuous to the plaintive yips and demanding barks, I would wait as Remi would go and retrieve Kipling and pace with Ben, trying to remain positive, trying not to imagine Remi coming back without him because he had been claimed (although in all honestly, we would have been delighted if that had been the case. We are no dog thieves). 

So I would look at the trees, studiously. 
Then sigh with relief as I saw Remi and Kip come into view.
After our little hips and hoorays, our worries and wonders, we would part. On the way back to Arles, the car would somehow pull itself over to the side of the road. 

A beauty balm.

And we are still digesting these recent events, each of us in our own way. 
That is why we hopped in the car yesterday, four of us now, for a little country interlude, one that did us all some good.

*Update: I know that some of you must be wondering how things are going with Kipling’s arrival into our household. I don’t think that we could have asked for it to have gone better so far. He is wonderful and is recuperating nicely. Ben is adjusting very well and is offering up the best of his sweet self. Remi and I are dolling out Love all around.*

Thank you all so very much for your unbelievably wonderful, generous and heart-felt responses to welcome Kipling. I think that they are the most that I have ever had to a post and each one is  as special as the last. Remi and I were both very touched by them. 

I hope that you will bear with me if, as with this post, I am a little less verbose these next few weeks…I really want to give all of my attention to making Kipling feel at home. Merci les amis…

*Update to the update. Try as I might, I can’t resist just one:*

Please welcome…Kipling!

Ooh, I am so sneaky. I have a really, really big surprise for you all: we have adopted a dog! His name is Kipling.

Isn’t he beautiful? 

As stories go, this one came entirely out of the blue and was a bit bendy just like life. 
When we went up to Grenoble recently, Ben stayed with his beloved pet-sitters Camille and Guillaume, a young couple who met as they are both volunteers at the S.P.A. des Baux de Provence (no not that kind of spa, people, it is the local version of our ASPCA). When we picked Ben up, Camille casually mentioned “Oh we have a dog that could be Ben’s sister at the shelter right now.” My jaw dropped open, I had to know more. Golden Retrievers are not nearly as popular in France as they are in the States and I can assure you, you never see one up for adoption. Ever. I have long hoped to get a second Golden as a companion for Ben but alas, the 1000€ fee to buy a puppy was prohibitive. This rare opportunity was one worth exploring and so a rendez-vous was set for us to meet her the following Saturday.
However, you can’t force these things and there was absolutely no spark or connection with this pretty girl for either Remi or I. And worryingly, she has a wide sway to her gait plus a back leg that points out that made me fear that she has hip problems, something which would pose a challenge in our second floor walk-up plus we knew we couldn’t afford to bring in a dog with special physical needs. We said our good-byes, knowing that she would be soon be found by the family that was right for her.
Guillaume took us around the facility to meet the other dogs in residence, an astonishing 140 in all (plus 80 cats, a goat and several sheep). The noise from their raucous barking was disturbing, their eyes, when pleading, heart-breaking. Then we turned a corner and in the holding pen for new arrivals was…a very beautiful dog…a Golden/Collie mix. He was frozen in fear and as we approached, he started to shake. Guillaume, who hadn’t yet met him, went in to his pen first. The dog immediately took refuge at his side, as he did with Remi after. A paw was offered, eyes closed, looking for a bit of peace, to forget where he was for just a moment.
He offered me the same gesture, repeating it as we headed out with him for a walk. Here, was a dog of utter sweetness. Just like another we know…
When I sat down, he tried to crawl into my lap. 
Our hearts were thumping in our chests but we knew that before even thinking ahead, we needed to make the introduction with Ben. But we did put down the option to be the first to be able to adopt him if he wasn’t claimed during the ten day holding period. 

We came back out with Ben on a Wednesday and followed the advice that my friend and wolf-photographer Jeff Snyder, who is experienced in these types of situations, gave on how the moment of meeting should take place. Sniffing occurred and we kept walking…
We all were amazed to see that their coloring is exactly the same. Can you tell who is who?

Yes, this wonderful dog, even in the very reassuring company that Ben provides, still…

…needs to seek safety and comfort…

…and yet…it seemed…

…that they were willing to imagine being friends…

Fast forward to our second visit with the dog, who we have already started calling Kipling. It happened naturally and immediately. I looked at him and “Cali” came out, which sounded too feminine. Remi responded with “Kipling” and that, really just rang true. For despite his timid debut, he is a dog that is very…brave. He is simply shell-shocked as he should be. Kipling was found outside of the biggest supermarket of Arles, waiting patiently for his owner to come back. According to what we have learned, he might have been there for nearly a week. Waiting. He was not claimed, nor does he sport a tattoo or microchip to take him to his former owners, let alone a collar with any indication. We even went to ask around in the area where he was found. Such an incredibly sweet dog, how could he have been abandoned?

We might have found the reason during our second visit with Ben. When Kipling finally had the confidence in us to roll over on his back, feet in the air, Remi found a very large lump on his lower belly. It scared us to pieces as perhaps it did his previous owner. We spoke with the Director of the shelter, who felt that as the lump was completely soft, it was not a malignant tumour. She promised us that, whether we adopted him or not, she would have it examined and taken care of as need be. Kipling, as he was now being called in the shelter, was already scheduled to have the operation to be neutered, the vet would do what needed to be done. We waited on pins and needles to hear what was the verdict of the lump.
It was an intestinal hernia. A very large one. I will let you look up the details of that on your own if you are curious but what a weight on this gentle soul. And what a serious surgery for him to undertake on top of his being neutered.
We picked him up on Wednesday. All has gone very well so far. Ben has been a champion, the most considerate host and yet he knows very well, somehow, that Kipling is here to stay. The main challenge so far has been in keeping Kipling from pulling off his heavy bandage and ripping open his stitches. In order for that to happen, we need to keep a strict eye on him during the day (for he is trying) and to put the dreaded plastic cone around his neck the night, which he detests as is understandable. He also will only do his business while backed into a bush, which is a bit problematic as we live in the center of town where there is nary a blade of grass to be seen. But we will work it out. Kipling has been through so much in so short of time. I really give him credit for coming to us with such an open heart.
He seems to love both the hunter green cushion and the blanket that we bought for him on the run when the shelter called to say, “You can pick him up today after 2:30pm, yes?” Yes, we’ll be there. 

I bought his blanket quickly at Casa, an inexpensive home store that was next to the pet store where we bought his collar. I didn’t realize until it was unfolded that upon it was written, “Home is where the heart is.”
It has been a fascinating few days. All of the subtle negotiations between these two really beautiful dogs–both males of the same age–as they try to find their place together. Kipling, who, at times through the fog of his pain medication, wakes up with a start to know where he is and presses his forehead against my leg. We reassure him. Such tiny moments as Kipling touching paws with Ben are a big promise of what is to come…and last night there was even a few gentlemanly yet joyous attempts at play! 
 Remi, Ben and I are all doing our best to welcome him to our home and to our little family. 
I know that you will all fall in love with him too.
*Update: Swane, the Golden girl that we initially went to meet, has also been adopted*
I would like to extend a big thank you for the support and suggestions from my family and friends at The Gold Post (a must visit website for Golden lovers) plus of course, our deep gratitude to Camille, Guillaume and the volunteer-run and sponsored S.P.A. des Baux, which is a no-kill refuge.

Refuge Saint Roch, S.P.A. des Baux de Provence, home page
Other dogs at the refuge waiting to be adopted
What you can do to help

All of these links are in French but for those of you in the region, I know that they could use old blankets to help keep the dogs warm in winter. The S.P.A. does a great job with their visitors. They are walked regularly and we saw such love and attention given to them on each visit. 

Bravo à la SPA et merci pour tout ce que vous faites!

Pink kisses

Beauty is the sap of my life.
It is as close to a physical manifestation of love as anything I can know.
I find it everywhere.

It fills my lungs and pushes the blood into my heart.
It makes me gasp with dandelion’s breath, it makes me cry loping crocodile tears.
Beauty lifts me out of this particular time to a larger one…
…and yet freezes the second hand on my life’s tick-tock watch. 
How different we all are in this wide world and yet we all have been kissed…
…by its grace.
Pink kisses maybe. Brushed lightly across our forehead.
The touch of creativity’s spark…
Straight into the best of who we ever are.
Cue music……
Today’s post was for By Invitation Only, an international meeting of bloggers all singing a different tune of the same song. February’s theme is “inspiration.”
To discover the other offerings, please visit Splenderosa by clicking here.