Heartbreak in Nice

Tags

France, postaday2016, terror attacks

I didn’t learn of the horrific attack in Nice until 8:30 p.m last night, my heart felt pain and my stomach sank. I was stunned when my husband told me that a huge truck was used to mow down people left and right before being shot to death by the French police. When will this nightmare end? How do we stop these madmen from using themselves as agents of death? I am sick and tired of going through the list of all of my family, where they are, who lives where, when I read about terror attacks in France. This sick and twisted ideology has to be destroyed, how I don’t know, it seems to seduce individuals who are disaffected and marginalized, weak and without a moral compass. How do we get to them, bring them into the fold before they self-radicalize? I have so many questions, but very few answers. 

I am heartsick today.

Yport, another sleepy fishing town

Tags

cliffs, France, postaday2015, seaside, Yport

   
   
You can see Fecamp in the back of this picture right above, the coastline is magnificent in my opinion, little dots of people communed together basing their lives on the sea and its bounty, novels have been written on this most basic of stories, man versus the sea.

Yport has these tiny houses that are so adorable, beautifully kept and tidy, you can see the pride in their immaculate upkeep.

   
   
The cliffs, for me, were the focal point, their savage beauty, cut by the power of the sea, occassionally brought down by gravity’s pull, I saw evidence of cliff slides on the beach and some had lost their lives when the cliff face pulled away from the top and crashed onto the beach, making for dramatic and tragic imagery.

   
   

Nous sommes Charlie

Tags

Charlie, France, postaday2015

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Alexandre Hervaud‏@AlexHervaud

Charb dans le Charlie Hebdo de la semaine.

I was shocked, beyond shocked when I read the horrific news yesterday. My first thought was of my family members living in Paris and how they must have felt, then my mind raced to the rest of my family, to those brave journalists/cartoonists and finally to France as a whole. I must confess that I had never read any of Charlie Hebdo publications, but there is a strong literary satirical tradition in French journalism and literature that it was established upon and it served a vital purpose in French society throughout all of its expressions. The cartoons bring to mind the descriptives such as clever, provoking, brash, insulting, maddening, harsh,baiting, biting, defiant, incendiary even; but none of these terms can ever justify anyone or any religion into taking another person’s life. These insane fanatical monsters must be brought to justice.

I can’t help but think that all religion is man-made, I understand the fundamental need for most to believe in a higher power and to faithfully accept that the higher power watches over us and must be accorded undying respect, love and worship. Intellectually I understand that, but what I don’t understand is how that conviction and faith can translate itself into war and bloodshed all in the name of the higher being; either within one religion or without against other religions. We are, outside of religion, all human beings, all faced with the same end game, death. It comes for us all and why would we want to expedite it for anyone just because they are not of your religion, irreverent of your religion or hateful towards your religion. The higher power does not need us puny humans to defend its honor; it is a higher power for a reason. Yes Charlie Hebdo created very provocative cartoons, but that was an expression of thought, art and feeling; no way does that even closely invite violence and murder; only the most debased of people can think that blasphemy or disrespect justifies murder.

I fear that there aren’t any answers, I fear that reason cannot prevail and I don’t know what lies next. We have suffered a profound loss and we need to mourn. I hope that their brave lives will be remembered and honored for a very long time. Freedom of expression is vital to us for so many reasons and we need to keep that principle alive for their memories and our future.

Daily prompt: Reviving bricks

Tags

France, postaday2014, renovation, villa

You just inherited a dilapidated, crumbling-down grand mansion in the countryside. Assuming money is no issue, what do you do with it?

These two “villas” are precisely what I have in mind when I think of my retirement home for my husband and myself later on down the road in France, not far from my family in the Bordeaux region.

These are neither crumbling down nor are they mansion grade, but for my wishes and desires I am more than ecstatic over the idea that either one of them could be mine. I would be over the moon if ever I found out that I had inherited either one.

Even if money weren’t an issue; I wouldn’t do much more then apply new paint, perhaps new tiles and just make everything clean and simple. I am not asking for much, a smallish home in the countryside near the ocean and the bay to live in France fulfilling a lifetime dream. I don’t see why that couldn’t happen, it really isn’t such an outrageous dream.

Browsing through the Merrifield Garden Center

Tags

France, gardens, nursery, plants, postaday2014

Last night, while at the restaurant, Abby knowing how much I love gardening, told me that just across the street was the Merrifield Garden Center and it was one of the best that she had ever visited. So today I decided to go see for myself and the moment that I set foot on the grounds, I heard the familiar clicking of a sprinkler head sending bursts of water to an entire area of evergreens and I was transported back to my uncle’s house in Begles, France because every morning and every evening that sound was part of our auditory environment; just like the morning doves. When we were little my uncle would bring my cousin, my sister and I with him when he would go make the rounds at the main nursery in Castets-en-Dorthe; the smaller nursery at the house was really for visitors and daily traffic. The big business was at Castets. We loved to roam around the property playing hide and seek, we spent quite a few hours getting lost amongst the hedges and the rose bushes. The nursery is still in business; my cousin has expanded both operations and he is doing very well.

Merrield Garden Center gave me much needed plant love if that makes any sense. As I was strolling down each aisle gazing at the plants, I was taking mental notes and also thinking, I have this, I have that, that one has gone crazy, maybe I need another one of those. I also liked how they had their plants laid out; those in full sun and the great variety of plants in full and partial shade. I got a few ideas from their selection. The only thing that I have to keep in mind is that down here; the danger of frost is much less than up where we are and our frost is quite unforgiving so I would have to be very mindful of which plants I pick to put in my shaded areas.

Even just slowly walking around inhaling the various smells of evergreen, ivy, and pine just freshly watered, made me smile. For a few moments I forgot that there was a major road just behind me and that I was surrounded by concrete and tar. The wonderful scents of Foxglove, roses, dianthus, and asters plus a myriad of others wasn’t overwhelming in the slightest, perhaps it was due to the breeze mixed in with the spray of the sprinklers, but it definitely made me think of a scent that should be bottled.

I am itching to get back to my plot of a garden. Something to look forward to, hooray!

Dreaming of France

Tags

family, food, France, postaday2014

I have been having the most intense dreams of France in various forms. My family as usual is featured front and center in my dreams, it’s almost as if these dreams are my way of visiting them because my dreams are incredibly vivid. The second thing that stands out so clearly is the food that we don’t have here. My tastebuds are yearning to connect with the most basic of sandwiches; the Jambon beurre, a slender baguette split in half, buttered and filled with a slice of fresh ham; how simple, yet so very delicious. This is part of the reason why I love sleep so much; I get to dream and for the most part, my dreams are a great place to visit.

I was looking through my Facebook pictures from the last vacation that my daughter and I took in France, and I got a little nostalgic. It was only two years ago, 2012, but my daughter has grown so much since that vacation. I think the picture of the daily market full of local produce, local cheeses and meats makes me the most nostalgic, add to that the Mediterranean sea to one side and the rocky hills to the other filled with fields of lavender, rosemary and thyme and it makes for a powerful calling card to anyone.

I think that the picture of the beach almost looks like a postcard; I could print it, laminate it and send it off as a postcard and no one would be the wiser. Before writing on WordPress, I wasn’t much of a picture taker; it has only been since I have found the need to write that I have found the power of pictures in adding to the story in terms of impact and feeling. I now look at the world around me searching to see if there is a picture in front of me or a story to tell, not only with words, but visually as well. I have to say that WordPress has opened up my inner world so much; I am very thankful for what WordPress has done for me.

The Family : a movie review

Tags

France, Luc Besson, mobsters, movie, movie review, postaday2013

Today my hubby and I went to go see the movie “The Family” directed by Luc Besson. He is the director, writer and creator responsible for one of our favorite movies of all time “The Fifth Element”. We have easily seen it thirty times and it never gets old. This time Luc Besson took his creative genius to France and put a mobster family living under witness protection there to live amongst the locals. The story is based on a book named Malaviva but he wrote the screenplay and was the executive producer. I read in a magazine interview that after finding the cast; Robert DeNiro, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Tommy Lee Jones, Luc Besson was going through the rolodex of directors trying to come up with the perfect director and finally gave into his huge desire to work with these great actors who he had never had the opportunity to work with before and so he cast himself as the director.

I have read the “professional” reviews and they are pretty harsh. I, as well as my hubby, disagree with those reviews on all counts, we sincerely enjoyed it. We loved being in France with the cast, I loved how they shot Michelle Pfeiffer, she is still beautiful and they closed in on her beauty and how refreshing it is to see a beautiful face without cosmetic enhancement. We could see her life lines and they make her even more lovely because she has experience, hopes, sadness, adversity and character impressed on her face and as an actress we get more of her emotions written on her face and that made her silences richer. Perhaps being 46 makes me more sensitive to what it must be like to age on the screen and Michelle has aged beautifully and it gives me happiness to see it.

The other actors, all of them did a bang up job in their roles and France did was she does best for me, make me smile and watch the countryside, the buildings, the small towns, the small streets and the people.

We really enjoyed the movie, I know that it was panned by the critics, but who cares, it made me happy to watch it and that is all that counts.

A video showing why I love Cap Ferret so much

Tags

family, France, paradise, postaday2013, vacation, video

I was perusing Facebook to see what was new if anything and I saw that my cousin Leon had posted a YouTube video of Lege-Cap Ferret. The video shows the area of the Bassin, the Bay, at low tide in the beginning, but I find that even with all of the fishing boats laying on their side, where they would normally be floating at high tide, somehow romantic and picturesque. As the video plays along you get to see sunrise and sunset on the bay and on the beach. You also get to see the oyster and mussel beds where the region’s bounty is harvested. You get to see the wilderness and the sense that man hasn’t yet conquered all. My earliest memories of France are there at Cap ferret, my interpretation of paradise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa3tRi0UAYA&sns=em

Smells and memories

Tags

aromas, family, France, homecooking, memories, postaday2012, smells

• Sniff, Sniff
• Vegetable Soup

  My aunt’s kitchen in France is home to my favorite smell, my Tantine’s vegetable soup. The minute I enter her kitchen, those smells of caramelized onions, carrots, celery and other tasty ingredients fills my nose with the feeling of comfort and home. If I could bottle that smell and bring it home with me, I would. Anytime I felt blue, I would take a whiff of my little bottle and be transported to a good place.

The last in the series of Avignon in pictures

Tags

Avignon, France, photos, pictures, postaday2012, tourism, travel

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This being the last batch of pictures of a most wonderful city, Avignon, I will say that I think that I saved a few of the best for last. One of my big fascinations is the ever present marche in French towns and cities and the one in Avignon did not disappoint, it wasn’t out in the open as in many other places but its exterior with the living plants making up the entire facade more than intrigued me, I was so impressed by it. I find it very encouraging when communities, even when steeped in centuries of the old ways, still look ahead to th future and incorporate green technologies into the day to day.

I was also taken with the inner city canal and the unique architecture surrounding the area, it felt very different from the rest of the city but still beautiful in its own way. The outer walls were also majestic in their strength and agelessness. You can sense that they have withstood the test of time and of men. It is hard to explain how differently a new country feels after you have spent time in the old country. I am not deliberately trying to be clumsy with my words when I’m trying to share the thoughts and feelings behind my pictures, it’s just that the feelings are hard to translate into words.

The color scheme was something that drew my eye, the deep blue of the sky, the deep green of the water and the various shades of gray in the stone made for an artist’s palette and needed to be captured on what would have been film a decade or more ago and now it’s called pixels. I wonder if people lament the vanishing use of film like people lament vinyl in the c.d age of music.

Beyond my garden, I should take my cell phone in search of good picture opportunities around here. It would be a good contrast to my pictures during my vacation. I will have to keep that in mind for future posts.