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One door

There is one door to open, another to walk through and finally the one that closes behind.
I am becoming increasingly aware of Arles taking form around me as my time here is most likely drawing to an end.
The details of my daily life, the ones that I have stopped seeing, are sprouting into bas-relief as I reach out towards the handle on the door ahead…
…wondering where it will take me. How far and fast I will go.
Off I go to America, to visit my wonderful family there and to have a change of air. While I have prepared many posts photographically, they are yet to be written, let alone posted, so if for any reason there is silence on these air waves on the days to come, not to worry but please stay tuned…

With my Best from Arles,
Heather

Walking blind

Saturday we visited our old picnic spot. I have seen it all of the seasons now – well, all of our seasons in the South of France. After eating and drinking plus spilling a bit of wine, we slept. Remi in the sun, me in the shade and the dogs alternating back and forth between the two. When I woke up, they were restless and so we did the stroll around the perimeter of the vines, the one that I always do, slowly, consciously, as if I were the owner of the land. As if I belonged there.
The sun was piercingly bright, reverberating off the edges of the blue, blue sky. So much so that I couldn’t really see what I was doing in taking my photos, those photos, some souvenirs. But I kept clicking away, nonetheless. Pointing at shadows, zooming aimlessly towards forms and definitions. I was walking blind.
This morning, I feel the same for France. In yesterday’s elections for the European Union, the Front National party won the day with 25% of the vote and claiming victory in 71 out of France’s 101 départements. By doing so, they will now have the greatest number of seats out of the political parties in representing the country for the EU Parliament – which in itself is ironic as the FN wants out of the Union entirely. Today there has been much discussion with some proclaiming that the real tragedy is that 57% of the population did not vote which means that roughly just over 10% of the French chose the FN. Over half did not vote and this is the result. I am reeling, exhausted with disappointment and fear. How else is a foreigner living in this country supposed to feel?
Do I understand that the French economy is not really recovering and that people are frustrated to extremes by a perceived lack of options? I do. But “to extremes”? Just as with that walk I keep taking, I will keep repeating, “Have we learned nothing from History?” France lived through the Second World War. There are those in these streets that knew what it was for Arles to have been occupied by the Nazis. In the United States it is Memorial Day. We are called upon to give respect for those that have fought, who have served and those who lost their lives in the process. We have to remember. To understand what was and what can be.
I want to hear the details of proposed policies beyond ideologies from the Front National party. For this election is solid proof that they are indeed advancing even if stumbling forward while shouting at the sun.

For those of you that read French, you can see an outline of the FN’s suggested policies: here.

Thank you for being here, thank you for reading…

To see more from my Contrasts in Provence series, you can do so here and here.

The Antiques Fair at L’Isle sur la Sorgue, Part two

Ah, you are back. What’s that? I think that you meant to say, “May I please see some more photos from the antiques fair at L’Isle sur la Sorgue?”

Très bien, since you asked so nicely, why don’t you pull up a Tolix and we’ll have a look.

You would like something more comfortable? Oh goodness, aren’t we spoiled but yes, by all means just hunt over there…maybe one of those Louis XVI replicas are cushy enough for you…Of course they are replicas. Otherwise you can trust me, they would hardly be scattered all willy-nilly on the grass like that.

Ah, you have noticed there is more umph have you? 

Well, that is because we have crossed over the stream and onto the main grounds of the fair…
…those reserved for outside vendors with a little something more…special…to share.

But you liked all of the bric-a-brac stands? 

Oh, fine then. Go, go, by all means go and good luck with whatever you may find there.
Because, you see, for those in the know, the gardens are where the biggie items can be found…
…those that command presence. 
Hmm? Oh yes, the industrial look is still hanging in there, amazingly…

…although the tendency seems to be towards pieces which are practically artworks in themselves such as this siphon…Yes, it does look like something one could find in a temple. A temple to wine! 

How I do crack myself up. Or quack myself up! Ha-ha!

This table was tempting, awfully tempting. Only 450 Euros too. Quite the bargain.

Are you still thinking about wine now that I brought it up? 

All right then, sit down for a minute…

…I’ll clean up two of these and go find us something cool.
Dear me. I was stopped in my tracks by this! Demi-tour s’il te plait! Seven years of bad juju and all that. Looks like something or someone had a bit of a rough trip. Buh-dum-dum.

Ah, you found my chou-chou. That little repose-pieds probably should have come home with me after all, despite its dire need for an update, it was my favorite piece of the whole day…the candelabra? Don’t you remember that I already have a pair? Oh, you do…
Pardon? You think that I am going to give them to you? Ma chére, there is about as much chance of that as my becoming mayor of Arles!

Now don’t dawdle…come along…there is still much, much more to see.

The Antiques Fair at L’Isle sur la Sorgue

Why, hello there. Would you like to go shopping with me? It’s a beautiful day out, why not? What? Oh, for antiques of course. Is there anything better? 

For you see, while we were up at the world’s most peaceful mazet recently, the twice yearly Foire Internationale Art et Antiquités was being presented at a mere ten minutes drive away in the always beautiful L’Isle sur la Sorgue.

So what say you? Shall we swan along together? A tiny bit of time travel will be required but just wiggle your nose Bewitched-like and we’re off…This week’s posts will be dedicated to a little virtual wish-listing. And while I am sure that Remi will sigh in exasperation at my including too many photos (as usual), I wanted to make sure that there was something for everyone…
Of course, all of the usual suspects were present, such as charming old pétanque balls…

…eye-blinding bling…

…la vannerie that would look very smart slung over a crooked elbow at the farmer’s market back home…
…plus – the perpetual favorite – pots à conserve whose prices finally seem to be going back down…

…as well as grain sacks waiting to be plumped into expensive scratchy pillows or upholstery in upscale boutiques around the world.

But there were a lot of unusual items as well. 
I was especially fascinated by these oriental molds for printing wall paper. Wouldn’t they look lovely mounted in a group in a hallway or in a bath? 
Similarly, Remi and I were both drawn to this set of silver molds until we saw that A) it was 287 Euros and B) it was made of ivory. Ahhh, non et non.

For the intrepid, there were many tables crammed with interesting and inexpensive bric-a-brac to trawl through. Alas, patience is not exactly my middle name…
No, I was drawn by the bigger gestures and especially the stands that offered an intact aesthetic, such as with this seller’s juxtaposition of French provincial with Asian antiques. Now we are talking.

These six sculpted Chinese flowers might have gone home with me in better days (ahem) and I loved how beautifully they complimented the gorgeous faded colorway of the dresser.

Of course, there were plenty of smaller pieces that caught my eye.
Who can ever have enough crackly old suitcases to stack at the end of the bed…

…or passmenterie to pull back those extra long linen drapes?

Pieces with authentic or even exaggerated patina were still in abundance, even while the “whitewash everything/Annie Sloan chalk paint” look is fading into the past.

Simple seems to be the order of the day, which is just fine by me…

…as well as using basic items or materials creatively, such as these stacked (albeit wobbly) vegetable crates as end tables…
…or sections of old Indonesian boats to form a perfect outdoor sofa (although I will pass on the hot pink plastic Rhino head, thank you very much).

Not all of the faire’s 250 vendors (in addition to the permanent shops) are in the old goods business. 
I knew that I had seen the yellow mid-century style console before and sure enough, everything at this stand was the work of two young women from Arles. Eve and Soriana, created their company En goguette (which means “a little bit drunk”) in 2009 and since then have been creating their designs out of cardboard. The results are precisely well thought out, fun and environmentally friendly. 
Which is just wonderful. For while it is always a delight to puff up the dust of the past, how important it can be to keep one eye squinting directly towards the future…
Have a wonderful week everyone! More soon…
And thank you kindly for all of your interest concerning Vickie Lester’s “It’s in His Kiss”…it tickled me pink.

“It’s In His Kiss” by Vickie Lester

Folks, prepare for me to gush.

While it may not show much in my current daily life, I have a deep and long-standing admiration for glamour, most especially of the Old Hollywood kind. No, not the tinsel and flash but the Goods, the kind that causes a frisson or two. Now, I have a charming friend who feels the way that I do and as we are talking about writers and writing this week, it is the perfect moment to tell you about Vickie Lester’s (yes, that would be a nom de plume) fantastic new novel, “It’s In His Kiss.” 

You might remember my dedicating a post to Vickie this past February as a cheer up effort for her birthday, one that fell just as her team of publishers dissolved while her novel was on the brink of publication. Can you imagine? It is amazing to think that in so short a time, she bravely took up the fallen reins and rode into the world of self-publishing with her friends and the many fans of her blog, Beguiling Hollywood, cheering her on to the finish. Et voila, she did it and ahead of schedule to boot. It’s a good thing too as this is one fantastic ride of a read. I am snobby enough when it comes to using certain adjectives where literature is concerned but honestly? “Fun” is the appropriate word here. Vickie told me, “I loved writing it and I loved editing it.” It shows.

Here is what I had written previously: “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.” 

My oh my, someone was being prescient that day. I had no idea what I was in for when the novel arrived and I could finally read all of it. I am warning you now (and I see by a review at Amazon that I am not the only one), as cliché as it sounds you. will. not. be. able. to. put. it. down. Until you are neatly dropped down on the other side, breathless and blinking. 

I understand more clearly “Ms. Lester’s” use of a fake name after having tasted each morsel of this dark but deeply romantic mystery, as some of the details are frankly too fantastic not to be true. And those of us who read her blog understand complicitly that this is a woman who knows of what she speaks from the source. Not to mention her skewering a certain “Clientology”? Scandalous. While I am no gossip in life, a little fictional swimming in that steamy pond never hurt anyone and half of the fun in reading the novel lies in discerning the “who is who” of the character’s real life counterparts. And the other half? In trying – and failing – to see where the story is going to take you next. 



Hollywood. Glamour. Power. Lies. Destruction. Rebirth. It’s all in here…it’s all “In His Kiss.” 



To Buy it on Amazon US: please click here.
Pour mes amis dans la belle France: cliquez ici.
To read more about the book: please click here.
Plus, there are plenty of great excerpts on her blog: here (just click on the photos).
Isn’t it amazing when our friends do great things? 
Makes me happy and very proud.
Have a great weekend everyone and thank you for all of your kind responses on my previous post too…
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