Author: Heather Robinson

It was a Sunday and we all knew it and needed it. Remi and I had picked up our hard-working friends Marc and Bettina in Nimes and then headed up through the winding hills to Uzès. Uzès, how I love thee! Ben knows. He loves it too. But it is in Winter when I prefer it as the town, one of the most beautiful in the South of France, is positively empty. 

Ah, save for at Terroirs, where we grabbed the last outdoor table on the terrace. The gentlemen gave the ladies the view on the Place aux Herbes and backs against the (very much needed) space heaters. We did our best to settle in the dogs and then it was time to consider with anticipation how to give ourselves over to a similarly floppy relaxed abandon.

We puzzled and bantered over the simple yet tempting menu with the charming waiter who leaned on our table and wished that he could join us for a glass of the very nice local wine that he had just poured into our ready glasses. Decisions were made, then changed until promises of shared bites were offered.

I was tired, coming off of a week of not sleeping well. But one of the many aspects of being with our long-time friends is that they take us as we are. There is no need to put on a show or to pretend to be other. So I felt free to be quiet. 

The conversation burbled on around me like little musical notes dancing off the staff. I let my eyes do the talking, taking little snapshots of the view from our table, my camera resting otherwise in my lap. Our food arrived just as my stomach was starting to rumble and I enjoyed my delicious gratin du jour, the cheese bubbling over smoky eggplant to warm me up from the inside so that I no longer needed the polar fleece blanket placed with consideration on the arm of my chair.

We all knew our good fortune at being able to eat outside in February and so we stayed. A second bottle of wine was ordered as it was sold à la ficelle, literally by the string so that you paid only for the level of how much you drank. Because honestly, we just wanted to linger, to pull the moment like the sweet taffy it was.

We were amongst the very last to leave (that was our table at far left) and certainly no one rushed us to go. How quiet the Place was now. Full of Winter.

All the better to take a post-dining stroll, an institution in France.

And when that perambulation happens to be in Uzes…

…well, your eyes will feast as well as your belly has.

Sunday, sweet Sunday…

…I always find a home in you.

Terroirs Restaurant

5 Place aux Herbes

30700 Uzès

Tel. : 04 66 03 41 90

http://www.terroirs-uzes.com/le-restaurant.html

I have something really fun to share with you. As of today, you can walk into any French post office and buy a stamp portraying a bust of Julius Caesar that was made from a photograph taken by my love, Remi Benali.  

There are one million of these stamps available for sale!

For any stamp collectors out there, you may not be surprised to learn that only the stamps bought on the first day of their publication are marked with a special seal, which gives them extra worth. This morning, 500 people lined up at the Musée départemental Arles Antique, which is home to the bust, in order to have the special seal.

As always, I am exceptionally proud of Remi. When we stopped by this evening to buy our stamps, he was not only congratulated but was also asked to autograph the set by many savvy collectors! To see more of his archaeological work (of which I will have news in the months to come), please click here.

And so for my sweetheart on this Valentine’s Day weekend, one of his favorite tunes:

And speaking of this very sweet holiday, I was delighted to have been asked by my friend D.A. Wolf at Daily Plate of Crazy to participate in her series on Food and Love. What I wrote, as with the piece that I wrote for my Mom, comes from the heart. 

To read “Love in the terroir” please click here.

Keep sending out the Love for everyday is Valentine’s Day!

The mystery of the in-between…

… an hour when one doesn’t know whether they are coming or going…

…whether it is the end…

…or just the beginning.

And then we choose, we choose together, to continue on.

Although the light is fading…

…making the path uncertain…

…we trust in our internal guide…

…and the bedrock solid shoulders of loved ones…

…to steer us straight into the new beyond.

One can linger in such moments…

…the dreaming and pondering can be delicious…

…or one can buckle down, dig in and do.

In the twilight, everything seems possible. Details grow, becoming crisp.

And then the moon and stars appear…

…as reassuring as old friends.

In the beautiful village of Gordes in the heart of the Luberon…

…I walked the high-wire through the gloaming…

…until I crossed into the deep true of night.

Step by step, without looking back…

…and dazzled by believing’s shining light.

This post was written as a little Happy Birthday sonata for a lovely woman who writes under the nom de plume of Vickie Lester at one of my very favorite blogs, Beguiling Hollywood. Vickie has been hard at work on her novel, It’s in his kiss, which takes place in, “A camera-ready world of fantasy fulfilled, artifice and bone-deep glamour.” Now, doesn’t that grab your interest? It should. Each chapter that I have read had my heart racing, leaving me hungry for the next. For you see, Ms. Lester is not only a brilliant writer but the real deal who writes about Hollywood, it’s wonders and foibles, from the deep insider point of view. And some of the scandalous tidbits? Well, they very well might be a slightly disguised truth, which we all know is stranger than fiction. 

But not so long ago, after the final edit had been sealed and the book cover designed, Vickie discovered that the publishing team that she had been working so hard with had been dissolved. Just like that, quicker than a sunset. Can you imagine? Years of work. So what to do? In the in-between, we have to make a choice. And rather than lie down on the floor and sob for a few weeks – which is frankly, what I would have done most likely – she kept going. Yes, just like a heroine in one of those old movies that we love and that Vickie knows like the back of her hand (her knowledge of Hollywood, old and new, is positively encyclopedic). And so now, she is bravely stepping forward into the world of self-publishing, a high-wire if there ever was one. She is surrounded and supported by all who know her because she is that kind of woman. So when our mutual friend George Kaplan asked if I would participate in a virtual birthday celebration for Vickie, I said, “Oui” in a heartbeat. 

Now, let’s get this party started:

I believe in you Vickie and you truly inspire me. May this year ahead be as great of an adventure as I feel it will be for you, I am sure of it…

Happy Birthday!

To read another tribute to Vickie, please see the very moving testimony on the power of friendship, beautifully written (as always) by Lanier at Scents Memory: here.

For The Perfumed Dandy’s tribute, please click here.

To read Beguiling Hollywood, please click here.

And to learn more about “It’s in his kiss” and to listen the the lead character’s soundtrack, please click here.

As our house-hunting deadline accelerates rapidly, I am spending more time everyday on the internet, looking at ads with all of the intensity of a witch trying to conjure a magic potion. All of the truly interesting properties – either to rent or to buy – disappear like lightning. And yet, there was one that lingered that I just couldn’t ignore, I wanted to go see it. An appointment was made.

We arrived in a neighborhood that we knew nothing of – very unusual as Arles is not that big and I cover a lot of ground on my walks with the dogs – to find what by all appearances is a traditional Provençal farmhouse in the middle of town with a very large courtyard in front and an attached garage.

Now, to say that the…decor…in the courtyard is…unusual…is an understatement. Wait, did you already take your glasses off? Please put them back on and step inside.

To the left of the entry, is a very large living room with French doors leading to the courtyard. It was filled with light but as the owner was there, I had trouble photographing it so this photo is borrowed from the charming real estate agent. Underneath the crêpi on the walls is gorgeous stone waiting to be revealed.

A fire was roaring in the poêle à bois that had been newly installed and a good thing too as it is the only source of heat for the house!

Ah, just a tad rustic. Such as the pipe descending by the front door…

But there is a charming staircase and again, all of that pretty stone so close and yet so far…

…not to mention very interesting 1930’s ceramic tiles and a sleeping pupper on the entry floor.

Remi was fascinated by the stone surrounds on the doorways, dating from the 18th century, most likely.

Ok, are you ready? Hold your breath and dive in…

…to the kitchen! Ta-dah! Oh, I so wish that I could see the look on your face right now. 

But here is the kicker. The kitchen has enormous potential.

It is far bigger than I could capture and would be just gorgeous once the stone is uncovered and say, oh something wacky like cabinets were installed. 

Back in the hallway, a door that looks as though it is from the beginning of time opens on to…

…a long thin storage space that runs the entire length of la maison, one that has been divided and redivided many times – more of that in a bit.

The roof of the space could be easily replaced with glass to make a lovely veranda.

Up the twisting stairs and you arrive to see…

…Not one but two toilets! hehehe Oh, I am enjoying this. For the house originally was shared between two families that agreed to share the staircase! I told you there was history in Arles…

To the right, is the first bedroom…

…filled with light and larger than it looks.

We don’t need to mention the bathroom.

And to the right is a positively huge room…

…that had been cut in two with a partition (the position of the bed is different in the second photo)…

…in order to create a bathroom and dressing area.

Underneath the linoleum lies lovely tomettes tiles, just waiting to breathe again.

And downstairs off the kitchen is a big garage that looks onto the courtyard. That iron door could be replaced by a glass and steel frame to make this Remi’s office.

See? Here is the angle of the house showing the garage. But what is that you ask?

The possible veranda as seen from above. I’m sorry I can’t hear you. You are asking…what is that just beyond?

Oh, that would be…the train tracks. 

Dun, dun, dun, duuun. Yep, they are right there. Several trains passed while we were visiting the house and oddly, it wasn’t that loud at all. But of course, it would mean the house is unsellable and explains why it has been on the market for nine months.

Now. Here is the question – and I ask you to be polite in your answers please – can you see the potential that Remi and I saw? Because we really did. Or maybe you would have to have lived in Provence as long as we have in order to know. Because it is there. The agent is determined to keep trying until she finds just the right people to bring it back to life. 

That won’t be us but we would have been sorely tempted if it weren’t for the proximity to Choochoo Land. It was a fascinating little trip back in time. I hope that you enjoyed it. 

We are ramping up the visits. We saw an absolutely stunning rental last week that is sadly, too small (we have non-negotiable things to consider with Remi’s equipment and the printer for the gallery). And we have two visits today, one for a rental, another for sale. Yes, I will keep you posted. 

Have a wonderful week, everyone!