Meanwhile…
Emily and her family are living in Indianapolis for the fall this year. Jos and Emily were invited to be the bi-annual visiting International Theater Artists and to teach an undergraduate course for the fall quarter as well as directing a student play atQuinn and Zinnie are attending an international school. The family is living in a house on campus that was provided by the theater department. They are having quite an adventure!
Preparations
This week has been devoted to preparing for a workshop with my very talented artist friend Gail Rieke. She gave 5 workshops in out atelier at the Maison Conti, but this is the first time she will be coming to Moulins. In Montmirail I had a huge studio, with a large table and an extra print room that easily accommodated a crowd. My atelier here is too small, so the garden room will be turned into our workshop. It’s an untested concept! Although the family has used this space at Christmas to do joint projects, and it worked well. The table is quite long, though not too wide. I’m hopeful it can be just as comfortable as the space in Montmirail. Here there is much more of the out of doors to welcome activity.
An Evening in Noyers
There’s that end of summer feeling in the air here in our corner of France. The weather is beginning to cool down and the roads are all of a sudden much less crowded. Outside town are sunflowers that cover the fields as far as the eye can see. They will soon be harvested and the fields once again will lay fallow.
Trees and Ocean
We are only just back to France after five weeks in the United States. The main purpose of our travel was to celebrate James and Daniel’s wedding and to reconnect with family and friends after being away from our native habitat for such an extended time. We participated in so many wonderful gatherings and enjoyed intimate moments with loved ones.
Today I don’t offer you my personal photos of those moments, but rather some images of the natural beauty of some of the places we found ourselves in. This blog is dedicated to our French adventures and the French landscape. We couldn’t help but compare the American environment with the one we live in here. They are much different, each spectacular in its own way. I noticed that I took quite a few photographs of trees, especially the way the sun highlights the rich greens. I found the California woodlands truly breathtaking. France, for all its many charms, has few virgin forests.
The Countryside Around
This week brought some visitors. Rick’s high school classmate Dave, who he reconnected with at his 55th in reunion in Boston last year, lives in Puglia, the southeastern tip of Italy with his partner Sue. If you remember, we stayed with them for a few days last October and had a marvelous time swimming in the Adriatic Sea off their boat. Our part of the world is quite a contrast, especially this time of year where temperatures at their home are in the high nineties. They were on their way to Sancerre to stay with a friend who has bought a place in the center of town. The friend happens to be the campaign finance director for Elizabeth Warren. I was intrigued to hear that someone in that position would be wanting to escape to France. Dave and Sue stopped on their way and stayed with us for a couple of nights. Of course we were happy for the opportunity to show them around this part of the world. They were impressed with all the green and definitely grateful for our cloudy and cool weather.
Around Home
We spent this week at home, gardening, sunbathing and in my case, working on my store and other projects in the atelier. Today we have some visitors arriving from Italy who will be exploring this corner of France with us for the next few days.
Hello Summer
Before reporting on the past week, I give you one last image from our trip to Switzerland. I didn’t post this photo last week, as it was taken in France on our trip back home. We passed this attractive site, but only admired it from afar. The complex, which originally was a castle, built in the 12th century, is called The Château de Joux (the castle of joy).
Crazy Beautiful
Rick’s son Chandra and his family have been planning a trip to Europe since before Covid. Twice it almost happened, but at the last moment fell apart. The third time is the charm. Kyle, Chandra’s wife, has relatives in England so their program included Great Britain and France for family visits. Chandra is a mountain lover, a serious biker rider, a hiker and an accomplished snow boarder so he was very interested in seeing the Swiss Alps, thus their itinerary included a stop in the Jungfrau Region between the two other locations. Luckily they rented a place big enough to accommodate us, and since it is only a 5 hour drive from where we live, we were able to join them there and then drive them back to our place.
Latest Ventures
This June marks our twentieth year of living in France. Our visits back home to California have been few and far between during those years since, for so much of that time we were hosting people at our bed & breakfast. For the last three years we have been working madly on fixing up our retirement house in Burgundy. Now, however, we have shifted our gaze back towards home. We would like to spend a lot more time visiting our family and friends in the States. To this end, because the cost of living in France is so much less, I have tried to think of a business I could begin to make a little extra cash. I’ve had an Etsy shop for 15 years and I’ve sold my handmade prints to over 300 people all over the world. This has been satisfying, but hardly self-sustaining.
The End of Spring
Here in Moulins, spring is ending before it has had a chance to really get going. Apparently this has been one of the rainiest springs in decades. We wait for the moments of sun, but they have been fleeting and far too infrequent for my taste. Although the rain has kept the grass green, it seems high time for a little sun.
Family Visits
James and Daniel have worked very hard on both their house and garden this spring. The results have been spectacular! At the end of this last week they were able to share all their progress with Daniel's parents who arrived from St Louis on Friday.
A Message From Emily
As some of you already know, we will be working in the U.S. from mid August until mid October this year and our beautiful Parisian home will be available to rent. We would be incredibly grateful if you could pass the info along to anyone you know who might be interested in renting it for a few days, a few weeks or the whole time. We’re not on social media so we’re trying to get the info out in the old fashioned way.
A Rainy Week
This week we have had lots of rain. I guess the garden plant life enjoys it, as the back garden, which we made from scratch just two years ago, is becoming like a jungle. All the plants we tucked in here and there, without much sense of design, are expanding, blooming and enjoying their moment of glory, as are we. The erigeron, called Santa Barbara Daisy in California, is a weed, which I carefully planted everywhere and it fills in as a most faithful and effulgent ground cover. The Blue Star Creeper between the stones is full and blooming with charming little sky blue flowers.
May Days
In northern France, as well as in many other parts of Europe, les Saints de Glace (Frost Saints) are reckoned and respected in mid-May. St. Mamertus, St. Pancras and St. Servatius have feast days May 12-15 and are reputed to bring a sudden cold snap. Gardeners are warned that tender plants, especially tomatoes, should not be planted out of doors until after les Saints de Glace have been on their way—in other words, only after May 15. This year has not followed convention, and cold and rainy weather in April and early May has only now given way to some real warmth and sunshine.
Pushing forward
Here in Moulins spring has brought us all to life. The bright days invite some gardening. James and Daniel are very busy at work on their house and front yard, upping the energy level several notches. Louÿs runs circles around us, one after the other. Excitement is in the air.
Here and There
It has been very nice having James in residence. For one thing, we are more inspired to go on outings. Last week we journeyed to Semur-en-Auxois, about 40 minutes southeast. It is one of our favorite nearby locations and is home to our most beloved restaurant. We have not often gone there just to walk the streets and window shop, which we were happy to do with James, who is looking for many different things to fill their house. Semur is a Medieval town encircled by the Armançon River. The town itself has been a monastic center since the ninth century.
Springtime for Puppies...
Last week James and the charming dog Louÿs arrived in Moulins. We went into Paris to pick them up. Daniel will arrive next week to join the rest of his family, meanwhile we've been enjoying the livelier pace around here. The travelers arrived just as the first hints of spring have.
Churches
I have been doing a certain number of architectural drawings lately, based mostly on photographs I have taken from around Europe (and beyond). I find myself often using photos of churches, which are interesting to sketch. Of course church buildings can be found in every hamlet and are, more often than not, the most impressively beautiful building in a town.
