2015 FRANCE * Aquitaine (March 24)

The problem with putting off things you've always wanted to do 

is that eventually you run out of always.  

~Robert Brault

  

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

A busy couple weeks in Perigord. 

Life is pretty “normal” now – typical days at Denis & Vivi’s: we take walks, work around the house, I paint, and we visit friends for a few days.  There is a great path just below the hill where the house sits that goes down through the woods and can go for kilometers in either direction.  Périgueux has an group that organizes and cares for these paths.  There the light streams between the trees, rich mosses and ivy on the north side of the path that slants upward catching the sunrays from the south.  The light and texture inspire me.  It is quiet at the base of the ravine, except for birds chirping, and occasional woodpecker, and the crunch of the flint rocks underfoot (that give one a good chance to either strengthen or twist ankles).  Other paths come and leave for acres and acres.  Some are marked with simple posts topped in blue or empty plastic bottles.  Large fallen trees aim mostly north to south telling a story of a wild storm in 1999.  These woods are lovely, sun-dappled, and deep (Robert Frost running through my mind but adjusted to fit my situation) – but I have no major promises to keep.  Miles I will go and it doesn’t matter when I sleep.  I’m walking in Paradise.

Old friends

I have spent nearly a month of travel to visit various friends:  Eva in Valencia, Spain,  Annamaria in Bologna, Italy, and Agnès and Patrice in Lyon, France.   Back at Payenché for a couple days then off to visit friends of Vivi and Denis (and Chanh and Mimi) in Poitiers:  Ives and Ingrid.  They all knew each other when they lived in New York City and took an English class together.  To this day they all maintain contact.  As I get to know each of these people (I knew Chanh first when we were at the University together) I find they are all great people.  Complete in character and at peace with themselves.  Not enough people find themselves in such a self-fulfilled condition in life.

Poitiers

Ives and Ingrid now live in the Vieux Ville section of Poitiers, France, and there are the typical twelfth to sixteenth century buildings all around, many have façades in the Tudor style.  Their building is renovated from a ruin in 2000 (Ives tells us) by a man who purchased the building for about 20,000€ and invested about 300,000€ for remodeling.  He then sold it at a loss.  Some of the elements of the apartment are authentic but others are simply for an antique appearance.  Their “house” includes the atrium garden and the third through fifth floors.  It is charming with their collections of paintings, antique etched spritzer bottles of various colors, painted eggs, and a terracotta sculpture of a young girl that belonged to Ives’ grandmother.    

Sunday afternoon we attend a wine festival where various vineyards offer samples of their reds, whites, rosés, and sparkling wines.   I got to try two or three, but it was so busy, that was about all I could acquire, so I focused on my favorites of Malbec and Bergerac.  Denis and Ives both purchased a couple cases.  Better to buy directly from the producers and skip the middleman.  I wish I could, but I do not have enough room in my suitcase.  (I did find one vineyard whose name was “Barbem” … so close!)

Back to Payenché and we garden, I paint, we visit friends, Vivi cooks, Denis finishes the sink cabinet. There was a bit of sunshine last weekend so Vivi took advantage and cut the backyard yew into a large bonsai.  We go to Chez Poète one day and visit Vivi’s father.  The house, high on a hill in Celles, has been in her family for six generations.  Last time I was here we stayed for a couple weekends.  This day we just have a quick visit then return for an evening of local musicians and a food/fund raiser in Saint Astier.    

Montignac

A couple days later we meet up with a young American student, Emily, who is completing her Bates College degree requirements here in Périgueux teaching English at a local school, and we head to Montignac.  Home of the Lascaux Caverns and Vivi’s brother Armel.  He and his wife have a restaurant on the edge of the Vezere River where we spent a number of weekends during my last visit.  It was good to see them all and enjoy their great family-recipe “pizza” and meal.  

 

After we took the long way back to Périgueux through the Dordogne valley past many Cro-Magnon, troglodyte, and medieval cave towns and châteaus.  This area is amazing.  So much to know and see and experience – and it is just plain beautiful.  I remark:  “The Cro-Magnon sure knew how to pick the spots!”

Southwest France.  One week to Maine.

This week is cold and damp. We are visiting Madeleine in St.Jean-de-Marsac.  She is the widow of a potter who was well known in the area.  He threw and she painted the designs on the pottery.  It is a large, old house but not of the same era as Payenché.  Madeleine is a wonderful lady, energetic, happy, and tiny.  (I think she comes up to my shoulder.)    

We head to the beach-side just to see the ocean and golden sand, then toward Capbreton where there are extraordinary high and low tides now.  Madeleine has photos from a bit ago of the ocean covering the streets and filling the subterranean parking lot.  This day the sailboats in the marina are sitting in water that is so shallow that three ski-jet riders need to get off their machines to push their jets out into the deeper water.  The inlet streams are draining back into the ocean over cascades that are about four or five feet high.  Normally one would not even be aware that they exist.    Madeleine has not seen such tides in her lifetime here.   
Unprecedented! 

Friends are in and out.  Neighbor Dominique and author/potter Chris who is from outside Auch, just west of Toulouse.  Chris is publishing a book-journal that she created after a pilgrimage through 88 Buddhist temples on the Japanese island of Shikoku.  She has also completed a pilgrimage of Saint James Way (El Camino Santiago known mostly by the Martin Sheen movie “The Way”).

We will visit one more friend before returning to Payenché this weekend. Vivi wants to have an open-house to invite friends by for aperitif, to see my artwork I’ve created this trip and to say “à la prochaine”. One week remaining.  Then I head back to Maine.  (I am really hoping the sunny weather there for the next few days will melt away much of the remaining snow there).  Ready to see my family and friends, yet so torn because I love France and my dear friends here.  Vivi and Denis have opened their hears and home and friends and family to me.  It is such a blessing to me.  They will never realize how wonderful it is for me to have them in my life.  They are absolutely amazing people - I can barely begin to explain it.   I kid them and say that I’m the “American Cousin”.  But it feels that way to me. 

Sunset at Payenché last week

Thanks to the cloudy, damp weather, I am more ready now to head home than I have been before.  I am getting excited for the group trip during the third week of April when I have twelve with me to go to the Côte d’Azur (the French Riviera), Cassis, Monaco, Arles, and Paris.  I’m willing to pay the Cloud Piper now if it means we can have the sunshine for that trip!

I can always come back to Aquitaine in the summer...
 

The question for each man is not what he would do if he had the means, 
time, influence, and educational advantages, 
but what he will do with the things he has.
 ~Hamilton  

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2015 FRANCE #4 * Payenché, Marsac-sur-L'Isle (February 2)

"Second star to the right, straight on 'til morning"   ~J.M. Barrie

Venus winks at me from between the branches of the catalpa tree.  There are stars in the early morning sky which promise one of my most treasured gifts: Sunshine!  The rain and wind have done their best for the past few days, even to the point where the gusts caused some wires to skip and the lights went out last night.  But the golden ribbon on the horizon whispers a promise of light and beauty today. Birds are flitting about in anticipation of the coming day. The online weather shows clouds all day .. but it is  often a a deceptive memo.  A warm shower in a toasty bathroom, a fresh mug of french coffee, a pensive cat by my side, and thick limestone walls to anchor me - I'm ready for this new day!

Payenché backyard

It's a couple of quiet days here around Payenché this weekend.  The sun in this region does not rise until after 8 am this time of year.  In the summer it doesn't get dark at night until 10:30 or 11pm.  It's disconcerting.  But I think it's because all of France has the same time and we are in the west.

Traditional walnut party

cracking walnuts

Vivi and I go to a folkloric festival:  the cracking of the walnuts that will be used to make oil and other products.  There are over one hundred people sitting at long tables hammering walnuts and listening to traditional folk music played by Les Croquants d'Escornabïou.  The combination of sharp-toned, whining instruments and the incessant whacking of walnuts with wooden mallets on wooden tables for a couple hours create an atmosphere where one is unable to even attempt to talk with the friends sitting beside you.  Eventually your ears want to occlude it all.  Silence, please!  Or at least a small break!  But it is a unique experience - a "once in a lifetime venture" - (because, well, once is enough - Vivi and I both agree). 

Croquants d'Escornabïou

dancing

dancing in sabots

The Croquant costumes are unique to this area of Perigord and from (I believe from as much research as I can find so far) the mid-1800s.  The dances seem to be the origin of square-dancing in the US.  They dance in circles, lines, groups, in-and-out, under-the-bridge, promenade and various moves similar to square-dancing.  Remember doing them in elementary school?  (I wonder if schools still do them at all today to teach the history).   One gentleman, who was completely enjoying himself all evening, did a number of special dances in sabots!  (I do believe everyone enjoys themselves, but seriously, some people didn't smile all evening!)

Hurdy-Gurdy

cabrette & Borelli accordion

The instruments are also unique:  the Borelli accordion (box-shaped), the Cabrette (a bagpipe that has a bellows at the elbow instead of a mouthpiece to blow, invented by a French carpenter who had lung disease), and the beautifully crafted and complex Hurdy-Gurdy.  It is nice to experience the history of the region in music, however, for me personally, the whining is tiring.  (I have a couple short videos, but they will not load here or on YouTube.  I'll keep trying)


One of the best things made from walnuts, in my opinion, is walnut wine.  If you have access to a walnut tree and unripened walnuts, here's a good recipe for walnut wine.  It takes a couple years to mature, but wonderful - soft and flavorful - when it is ready.  Walnut oil is also becoming one of my favorites.  Make a nice salad dressing with it and some vinaigrette (various flavors) or balsamic, a touch of salt and pepper, and you have a wonderful compliment for a fresh lettuce or endive salad.

Here's an interesting little read about the Dordogne region: Dordogne

Meanwhile, back home, another blizzard.  In the Portland region I think they've had over 4 feet of snow in the last week.  (I've borrowed this photo):

 

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**  Artwork Website:  TravelingArtista.com **  

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2015 FRANCE #3 * Payenché, Marsac-sur-L'Isle (January 29)

I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within.     ~Lillian Smith

petit rouge gorge

A few overcast days, but the frost has departed for higher ground where it is more welcome.  This morning there is a golden band on the horizon promising a partially sunny day, but we shall see.  In the early morning fog there is a lone buck wandering the field beyond the winter garden - a powerful and graceful creature, taking his time to find the best morsels of grass.  A small rouge-gorge comes daily to harvest the breadcrumbs that we shake from the tablecloth on the back steps.  (A European robin about half the size.)

The greys of winter here are warm greys.  Amber-grey, softened green, russets, and a color that in soft pastels is called "caput mortum" - a type of purplish-brownish-grey.  Snowdrop flowers are dripping in the garden from their fragile stems.  There are a few hardy flowers displaying faded blooms, many plants tinged in beige, and the moss and hens-and-chickens are cuddling tenaciously close to the ground.  With leaves and flowers gone from many other plants (the wisteria and fruit trees) one is able to better see beyond the yard and gate of Payenché.  

Portland, Maine (about 30 inches)

Historic Blizzard to hit NYC (didn't happen)

Meanwhile, back home:  blizzard in Maine and New England.  I watch posts on Facebook and other social media to be entertained by the various reactions.  Finally, something to discuss and bring people "together" even in the midst of isolating them in their homes under two-plus feet of snow.  It even reached the evening news broadcast here:  "Historic Blizzard to hit New York (and New England of course).  Two days later I learn that New York City was spared a direct hit.

Périgueux cathedral and market

Périgueux marché - fruit du mer

Vivi arrived back from Amsterdam last night and today we got caught up quite a bit and went into Périgueux to do some market shopping and supermarket.  The outdoor marché is still wonderful, even in cold drizzle, and the antique stone buildings of the city are wonderful with a steely-grey backdrop of clouds.  The "fat market" is where they specialize in foie-gras and duck and goose parts.  Vivi has ordered a large duck for next week to make some home-made confit (duck meat in duck fat).  One of the most amazing things to eat.  We also purchased black radishes, fish, a variety of cheeses (SO wonderful are the French cheeses!), and a variety of vegetables.  

black radish

Amsterdam smoked herring & mackerel

Vivi brought back some smoked herring and mackerel from Amsterdam (something that is a specialty there).  For dinner, with the amazing French bread and cheeses,  a taste of the walnut wine (for which I helped pick the unripened walnuts from a tree at Chez Poète, her grandfather's house), an improvised endive salad with sautéed mushrooms and beats, a mixed vegetable soup, a wonderful Bergerac wine, and quiet conversation with good friends makes for a great, unhurried evening meal at Payanché. 

Walnut wine, homemade (2012)

 A trip into Périgueux takes about fifteen minutes from Payenché through what recently was beautiful countryside but now is being overtaken by small houses dotted along the road.  While waiting for an appointment, we visited an art exhibition, "Dédale", a history of street art and urban cultures from the 60s to present. 

 Interesting works and exhibit but with little explanation of the history which surrounded the artists who created this work.  There was a broken floorboard surrounded by caution tape in front of a skateboard chair.  It was not originally part of the exhibit, but I thought it fit perfectly with the 60s spirit - pointing out the obvious, as would Warhol or Magritte ("Ceci n'est pas une pipe").


The rain has been constant for the last few days.  The temperatures between 40 and 50F, but the dampness is creeping into everything.  Périgueux's every little pebble and stone wall is being showered and cleaned.  I think we are receiving the left-overs from the New England blizzard.  

We stop on the way home at the baker's truck to pick up some more amazing French bread.  This truck comes from a store in a town about an hour away which sells Vivi and Denis' favorite bread (pan de campagne).  For lunch it makes a wonderful marriage with the duck pâté, a mild white Rebluchon cheese, and a conservative glass of Bergerac wine.
 

Each day I am aiming to create a good amount of a new painting and have been focusing on pastels.  Some are not displeasing to me.  I do wish we had sunshine because I find myself so much more inspired with light and color and texture and contrast which the wonderful light brings.  


Many evenings, after we sit by the woodstove to chase away the damp, my day is wonderfully topped off with a FaceTime visit with my sweet granddaughter Eliana in Maine.  

I can sleep contentedly. 

* MORE PHOTOS *

**  Artwork Website:  TravelingArtista.com **  

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