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As a self-respecting Golden Retriever, Ben has his priorities straight. What do you need to be happy in life? Food. It’s just that simple. That and yes, some affection but since he has so much of that, he tends to focus the vast majority of his efforts on achieving his primary goal. Through the years, he has honed his technique down to a fine science, one that is applicable to many of life’s obstacles.

STEP ONE: STAKEOUT

How on Earth can you expect to get what you want if you don’t even know where the object of your intentions is? In this case, that would be me, the person who will eventually feed him his dinner at 6pm or so. Just to be on the safe side, from 4pm on, Ben doesn’t let me out of his sight. Although his first line of fire is under my desk, he is ready to travel a yard or two if I happen to change rooms.

STEP TWO: DENIAL

Once you have successfully persuaded the object of the importance of your wishes, move to Step Four. Again, it is important to position yourself in the immediate proximity and do whatever it takes to give your saddest, most pitiful look. Yes, like those clowns in the paintings that are on black velvet. Practice this look in a mirror when you are alone. The idea is to evoke utter pity, one for a beast that has not eaten since morning and might fade away if not immediately attended to. This might just be your step to victory.

STEP FIVE: ANGER

If amazingly, you are dealing with someone who has a heart of stone, then it is perfectly acceptable to fight fire with fire. Get mad! Bark if you need to! The slitty eyed “I curse you” glance can be especially effective.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. At this point, you have no other choice. Force the object of your intentions to deal with you. Feel free to plop down by her chair with your back towards her so that you are sitting on her feet. She is trapped and must do your bidding. Either that or, if you are up to it, try a multi-combo move incorporating Step Four by placing your head on her lap and blaze her with the Velvet Painting Eyes. This will work nine times out of ten.

If by some horrible tragedy, none of the previous steps have worked, well then, it is time to pull out all of the stops. This takes reflection and planning. What is the exact expression that will cause her to crack on this precise day? Will the “Slow tail wag in addition to the goofy grin” work? Not always. This is a freestyle, creative move but once you have mastered it and the rest of the steps, then the world is yours! 

I can’t be the only one that is eternally grateful that such a monster of a full moon is gone daddy gone. I have always been especially susceptible to its pull but this month I could have eaten the world in two bites and drank it down with a flick of the wrist. Full of the sea change within me, within all of us, I would have broken out the big wings to fly if only I could.   

But good things can come of strange things. What beauty that bone white orb spread across our ancient monuments. Walking through, with my love at my side, I arrived at a bit of time holding its breath, just before the wane. Une petite pause. And très juste, this light, one entirely unafraid of banishing the dark.

Yes, I am a liiiitle bit behind in my posting but it seems like I am not the only one who is taking her sweet time dipping into 2012. And yet I certainly have nothing to complain about as the year started with a bang. Well, the pop of a champagne cork to be more precise. We were invited out to lunch with our friends in the country for the day of the 1st. Thank goodness our friends are so generous with us and that we are now smart enough to just say, “Why thank you, we’d be delighted.” 

We clinked our coupes outside, each turning to let the sun give its first bisou de l’année on our cheeks. Talk about an air kiss! How could you not be conscious of having good fortune under such circumstances? We almost, almost could have had lunch on the patio.

Yes, I know. How many times am I going to publish photos of this view? As long as it continues to make me so happy, I suppose. But really? The curve of the pines, the glisten of the olive grove, the monstrosity of the Chateau des Baux in the background…only in Provence.

There are over 350 dealers spread out amidst several “villages” each with their own distinctive ambiance. As usual, we started with our favorite, Le Passage du Pont, also known as L’Ile aux brocantes. We love the less formal ambiance and also the extraordinary selection of pieces that wear their patina proudly on their oh-so-perfectly-tattered sleeves. We also were delighted to run into the couple that sold us the beautiful over-dyed linen sheets at the local monthly brocante in Arles. Their permanent stand was packed to the gills with gorgeous antique textiles but we were kept busy by a rather philosophical conversation with one of the owner’s who is taking the same doom and gloom stance towards the French economy that the French press has been hounding us with for months.

Yes, there is still a bit of industrial style present and many of the important pieces have thankfully lost their overly restored Provençale gloss.

As charmed as I was by the vignettes and as clearly as I was lusting after the linen covered ottoman that I had absolutely zero use for, I felt drawn like a moth to a flame, as I always do, to the stand of Annie Gravezat. Along with her partner Bernard Roux, she was one of the pioneers of patina in Southern France and certainly an innovator in elevating that style from quirky to iconic. 

I couldn’t help think of my friend Brooke Giannetti, whose wonderful book Patina Style, became an instant success in the States. Yes, this is right up her and her husband’s Steve’s alley and I am looking forward to their discovering all of Provence next summer. 

…as well as the oooh ever-so-slightly kitsch. And yet, this Chinese temple lantern was the only piece that really tempted us that day. Would it look just right in our ‘petite salon’ hanging above our antique travel photography or would it be too much? With a sigh, we decided too much. Not without a bit of bumming as it is something that we have never seen before nor will most likely see again. Did we make a mistake?

I am thrilled to let you all know that one of Remi’s photographs will be in the January 9th edition of The New Yorker. The photograph illustrates “Reversal of Fortune,” an article by Patrick Radden Keefe concerning the lengthy struggle of the Ecuadorian people to hold Chevron financially responsible for the pollution created during the company’s twenty-year drilling process (under Texaco at the time) in the country. It is quite simply, the largest environmental suit ever and a case of David versus Goliath if ever there was one. Those of you that read the New Yorker will know that the use of photography in the magazine is fairly recent and remains rare so we are doubly pleased that Remi’s photograph was chosen for an issue that is dear to our hearts. 

Remi first captured the story while on assignment for Vanity Fair magazine. His photographs accompanied the article “Jungle Law” by William Langewiesche in 2007. Remi’s experience while shooting in the midst of the Ecuadorian rain forest was both challenging and striking as he captured some of the 900 oil waste pits left behind as well as portraying those suffering from cancer (the risk of death by the disease is up to thirty times in the region than elsewhere). For further of his photographs on the subject, please see his website but again, as these photographs are copyrighted, I ask that they not be borrowed or pinned.