Bonsoir, mes amis.
I thought it was high time that I check in with you all, especially as some of you have been preparing to send out the search dogs.
While I have been slowing down the pace of posting, I do have plenty of material prepared to share with you, including more from
the Fondation Van Gogh in Arles where these photos were taken.
the Fondation Van Gogh in Arles where these photos were taken.
The play of light and shadows caressed the timeworn surfaces as I skated across the well-oiled parqueterie. Until finally, I stopped moving and just stood in the center of the room, surprised to find myself alone. It is amazing how in such moments one can feel lifted by something so far beyond the here and now as to seem eternal. Or maybe it doesn’t just seem but it is. How lucky then to breathe a bit of forever amidst our ever-changing lives.
I traced the shadows repeatedly, following the directions they were whispering that I should follow, then lifted my chin. That light, so bright that not even the blinds could tame it…it made me want to wrap it around me like a cape, open the windows and fly.
Tell me, where are you headed? Dites-moi tout.
Love your photos. Having trouble with reading right now. I'll be fine soon. But can still enjoy your photos.
Actually, chicken legs are a pretty good substitute – just not quite rubbery enough – it is the texture that I have a problem with, not the idea!
And that book is really helpful – I read it when I moved to France. Some of the more recent parts may be a bit outdated as society has changed somewhat but the basics are there!
I love saying "bonjour" and "aurevoir" in a shop or at the doctors office – why don't we do that everywhere???
Hi Heather – Took 4 years of French in High School and another 4 years through college. Half my notes from college are in French because my brain was starting to think in French, but it has been a while!
Since reptiles and birds are related, wonder if Chicken drumettes prepared in the same way as frogs legs would be a good substitute?
Now "Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong" by Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow is helping me to wrap my mind around not just the language but the "French Way". And, I want to say "Bonjour" whenever I walk into a shop in America. It has already happened a few times and people look at me cross-eyed.
C'est dommage!
Smiles from Charlotte
And thanks for your wonderful reply, Charlotte! I am still thinking about your idea. 🙂
If it is of any consolation, even after 15 years of living in France I still can't handle frogs legs or a bidet (!) and escargot only if copious amounts of white wine have been consumed!
I love your dream of getting a house in the Midi-Pyrenees – there is everything there from the mountains to the beaches of Spain. Good Luck with that!
And yes, it really changes everything to speak even a little of French if you are thinking of living here even part time.
Not sure where I am headed but I know it will be interesting because it always is! One thing I know for sure is that I have determined to live the French life here in America. Hubby and I have been scouring the internet looking to buy a small stone house in a village in the Midi Pyrenees. However, every time we plan a trip we have to cancel – knee surgery, job loss, fence blew down in a wind storm, etc.
So rather than wait for the future, I am living for now. Brushing up on my French, attending more of Andrea's French Food Camps, buying fresh bread, growing French Breakfast Radishes grapevines, drinking just 8 oz of soda in a French Bistro glass with just 2 ice cubes (working my way down to NO ice cubes).
I know French living is more than food but those are just some things I think most people can relate to. Not ready for frog's legs, escargot or a bidet but peut-être?
Still hoping you will put together a "screen saver" CD with your photos. Would love to put it on my TV just to have the scenes to watch during my day.
Thank you for sharing YOUR world with us.
Smiles from Charlotte Des Fleurs
Thank you Judi, your perspective is always very much appreciated…xoxo
Bisous right back…
I loved the photos! I am always partial to the interaction of light on the various things it touches. The pattern and the flooring really touched me for some reason. I know that pattern on the floor probably moved as the day moved on – I guess a bit like life, just when we think we are in a pattern, on a path, things change. All the best to wherever you are headed, wherever the light takes you. I must admit, I sometimes truly wish I knew just where I was headed, with no surprises to monkey with 'the path' – but, alas, not sure life works that way! So, although not always easy, just 'showing up' is so important. I'm glad you took some time for yourself, you give us all so much! Thank you!
I'm so happy you mentioned the exhibit in Amsterdam. I'm going to be there in April and definitely will want to see it! Thank you!
Xxx
Thank you for your kindness and for this spot-on inspiration, Edgar.
I will, Ali and treasure them. I do. Merci.
There is much to see, Emm, much to see…and yes to sideways! I loved that and certainly there is no better way to describe how it can feel at times…save for like a waltz?
The show in Amsterdam sounds amazing…go! And I am sorry that you missed the opus of the worlds most famous postmaster. We need our art as fuel, Silke.
And you know, your life has such different rhythms to it! And yet you always find your way through until it serves you well in the end…I believe in you…
Thank you for all of your kind words and support…et Gros Bisous à toi!
I am so happy to hear that you are going to be in France and so soon! I do hope you make it to Paris if you have never been…even for just one night…just walk the Seine and dream a bit…
So true, Ali. I think that we tend to forget both the impermanence AND the possibilities most of the time. And yes, to choices too.
xo
If only you knew how appropriate that is Jackie! I hope all is going fine for you both. Of course, some of your detours have brought about some fascinating results…
Remember Paul on his way to Damascus being surrounded by light and transformed.
Light and its epiphany "and fly".
I’m glad you are back.
Have you lost the loving feeling..or perhaps found plus encore ! Whichever..j'espère vous serais comblée de bonheur !
Please allow me to say something to your thoughts because I find you have a very interesting point here.
What exactly is it when we are reading a blog? Is it to follow someones real life? Sometimes it is. Is it a narration? Can be. Fiction? Also. What do we expect if we read a blog?
Would we ask for example Marcel Proust this question if he wrote a blog? Would we think that we got to know Swanns life well? Would we call Swann in "À la recherche du temps perdue" ill of ease?
Heather…After I posted a comment earlier…I went for a hike. I found a Bald Eagle feather. I immediately thought of you. Eagle Feathers mean courage and vision and maybe change….all good things. Hold those good thoughts.
Ali
This is so perfect. Course corrections, starting and stopping, backing and filling, toward the light, upward, downward, sideways (?), process, journey, constant change.
Where am I headed? Some days, it seems like merrily, merrily on my way to nowhere in particular. Others, to hither and yon. With luck, and clearing out some more of the personal underbrush, to France this spring, peut-être. Carrying in my mind some of your wonderful photographic images.
Heather, so glad to have you back! I truly missed your beautiful posts! They cannot be replaced. Your posts are singular! And luxury! But creativity sometimes needs time to linger so I was letting you breathe. But I am happy others started to send out the search dogs and I was very sure they would do so!
I am headed NOT to miss that gorgeous exhibition (I suppose) in Amsterdam at the Rijks Museum that has just started in February. (up to the 16th of May)
CATWALK. It shows their dutch clothes collection from 1625 up to the 1960ties. And from what I see on the website and from what I read it seems to be a stunningly done exhibition! Please take a look: https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/catwalk
After I have missed the opus exhibition of Henri Rousseau le Douanier I even more urgently have to make it to this one.
Which leads to the other thing I am headed to which is finally being able to control the workflow that starts again to eat me up. And I am honestly NOT proud to say that. Though I love the designwork I realize it takes my livetime if its too much. And one needs to rest.
Just today I came across a quotation from C.G. Jung who said: "Someone who needs to rest and keeps on working is a fool".
So simple, so true. Amazing!
Heather, thank you for that breeze you have send us and of course that wonderful parquet floor and that balustrade of fer forgé … 😉
Gros Bisous!!!
J'adore! De très belles paroles! Thank you for sharing! Perfect for those photos and that post, that moment!
So glad you wrote this post. I was starting to wonder whether something had happened or whether you had given up on us. That parquet is just so beautiful. Can't wait to hear more about this beautiful building. We will be headed to Normandy at the end of March and might have time for just one evening in Paris.
It seems that no matter our circumstances or where we live in this crazy world…..we are all connected by the not knowing of the future and its infinite possibilities. This gives us either hope or despair. That is why as humans we have choices.
Ali
Sometimes, I am finding, that when you think you know where you are headed, life throws up a detour sign and you find yourself stepping in place and not quite sure how or when you'll proceed.
As always, love your photos, yet for quite a while now, a human disconnect perhaps? I believe we all experience that from time to time. When I first began to follow your blog, Heather, I began to feel I was getting to know you and your life in France. Now it feels more like gorgeous pictures of a life ill at ease. Please do not interpret this comment as a slam of your blog. It is anything but that. I'm reminded only nowadays of that old Righteous Brothers' recording, "You've Lost that Loving Feeling." I hope that I am completely erroneous in those thoughts and you will, Heather, in no uncertain terms tell me that I've completely "missed the point." Best wishes, always, and truly.
How very much do I wish that this year will be a far more peaceful one for you…and that all too soon you will be able to swim with Bob and Henry in the river again…
xo
Oh wow. Did they speak to you?
Thank you, Mary. And I know oh so well how hard it is to have your heart in two very far away places on the map. I am sending good energy to your loved ones.
Yes!
Isn't it true? Even after having been in Provence for ten years, there is still so very much to learn…
Sending very, very good energy for your exploring! Fingers crossed that there is a little bit of luck under your sails…
Thank goodness you can't help yourself, Rebecca. 😉 This is pure magic.
Gros Bisous et un grand merci!
H
After almost a year of turmoil, I have been resting. As we have more and more sunny days, and so more light, I am just beginning to awaken and, in real life, venture out once again beyond my nearby world. And you, you somehow beautifully meld being a poet and a flyer. With every best wish, Leslie in Oregon
Perfect photo for the thoughts. It reminds me of the time I was in the Musee d'Orsay right after it opened and I found myself alone in a room full of Van Goghs ….. Unexpected, unusual ……
Headed towards what I hope is comfort in my new life in France. Harder this week than others, as the ones I love are in a crisis and I'm not there. Helpless feeling but we all just move on and do our best, n'est ce pas? I hope you are well and feeling loved:)
TO MEET YOU!!!!!!!!!!
XO
Well I am headed to France! I am having so much fun reading about Paris and Provence. Although I have been many times to both….there is always something new to learn.
Your post is wonderful. Seems the sun is talking to you through the shadows.
Wow. I know that feeling and your words captured it perfectly! And the sun on the floor. I am quite enjoying our winter sun this year. We are so very lucky in the way it enters our house during the cold months leaving squares of much-needed warmth and light on our bed and on our living room floor. Karina is not the only one who chases it from room to room.
I am headed to the Hudson Valley tomorrow. We are taking the pup and doing a bit of our own exploring.
Of course this post reminds me of one of my favorite Hector Berlioz songs, L'île inconnue, with words by Théophile Gautier. And because I can't help myself, here's the whole poem and a rendition by the incomparable Kiri Te Kanewa.
Dites, la jeune belle, Où voulez-vous aller?
La voile enfle son aile, La brise va souffler.
Le pavillon de moire, Le gouvernail d'or fin;
J'ai pour lest une orange, Pour voile une aile d'ange,
Pour mousse un séraphin.
Dites, la jeune belle, Où voulez-vous aller?
La voile enfle son aile, La brise va souffler.
Est-ce dans la Baltique? Dans la mer Pacifique?
Dans l'île de Java?
Ou bien est-ce en Norvège, Cueillir la fleur de neige, Ou la fleur d'Angsoka?
Dites, la jeune belle, Où voulez-vous aller?
Menez-moi, dit la belle, À la rive fidèle
Où l'on aime toujours!
Cette rive, ma chère, On ne la connaît guère
Au pays des amours.
Où voulez-vous aller?
La brise va souffler.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AbUOYC5F78 (and if you continue listening, you will hear the entire song cycle…"Les Nuits d'été" I LOVE these)
It doesn't seem very like you! But maybe this next plan of yours just needs more time to form. And of course, we all need our moments of rest, don't we?
PS. I hope that you are right! 😉
I am hoping that you have beautiful Greek light to lift you Maria, despite all of the darkness there that you have mentioned. It is the little things that help us so much…xo
So very true. And life seldom lets us know exactly what the destination is anyway, does it? Best just to keep going and learning on the way, as you have said.
I think that we are right there together, Bernadette. Actually, I know we are. Bonne Continuation…xo
I sure hope so, Sister. Thank you for this very beautiful and inspiring response – that analogy is just perfect. I love you so much.
I have no idea where I'm headed which isn't very like me. Right now I'm doing laundry and between episodes of House of Cards. So it doesn't seem I'm going anywhere right now. But clearly you're headed towards big growth. What lovely photos!
lovely lovely photos! I am headed towards the light, anyway I am trying to. Just keep going as FRANCETASTE wrote.
Very lovely. I look forward to hearing about where you're headed!
Sometimes, we don't know where we're headed until we get there. It's all about the journey, the process of getting one foot in front of the other. Sometimes, it doesn't really matter if we reach a destination. All that matters is that we kept going.
I am headed ahead, forward, shedding the winters weight. I am trying to see where I am going. My path is not clear. I need to be free of something unknown, felt. The light of the spring is whispering, whistling, catching my attention. Distracting me with kenetic interchange. I am alive.
Wow. Sounds like a dream or a spiritual awakening of some sort. Whatever it is, it sounds hopeful, and we are glad you followed the whispering voices – it sounds like the beginning of an adventure! Where am I headed? I recently read that planes that are on auto-pilot steer back and forth over the path of its assigned course, making constant corrections to get back on course. This is me!!! Off course, off kilter, but getting back on course by all of the different life enriching, life affirming practices I engage in (from readings to yoga to Buddhism to walks out here in the country). That still doesn't answer the question of where I'm going…towards love, I hope! Et toi?