For those who were there for the opening, thank you so much for coming and for those who could not make it here are some pictures. The exhibition is until the 31st of May. http://galerie-lionnes-de-kaolin.fr/
With co-exhibitor Maria (center) who is a glass artist and Pascale, the owner of the gallery. The beautiful flower paintings on the background are by Doro.T, another co-exhibitor who could not be there on that day.
Some of my paintings together with Maria’s glass art.
Last Wednesday night I decided to go see the movie ‘Fame’ with my daughter. The movie theater is in Louhans which is 15 minutes drive from our house. It was the day of premier, at least in this part of the town, so I was imagining to see a crowd in front of the cinema. We arrived 15 minutes before the show and there was nobody outside the theater. So I decided to move my car which I parked in a nearby parking lot to a spot right in front of the theater. So I did. We went in, got tickets and opened the door of the hall nr.1. There was nobody there. It took my daughter and I a while to choose the best seats. There was a small balcony from where I heard someone talking. It was a teenage couple. So, there were other people, thank god. But down in the big hall where we were, we were the only spectators until the end of the movie. We counted the seats, there were 176 of them. And I wonder, is it a luxury to have the whole place to yourself? It must be. But I can say this for sure, I didn’t feel at ease the whole time sitting in an empty theater.
About the movie? It was more out of nostalgia for me and also a bit curious about this re-make. I saw the original when I was a teenager. The new one wasn’t bad. I just wanted my daughter to see it and she liked it.
Dear friends,
Thank you so much for coming to the opening of my exhibition last night. I was a bit nervous but it turned out to be a great evening. I was moved to see all my friends there, driving an hour (or more) to be there, all for me!
The crowd (=my friends) was very international, lots of English and Dutch, Swiss, German, Jamaican, Japanese, Australian, American and not to forget French!! I even had an international call from a dear friend in England during the evening! Thank you Jenni, we all love you.
ZING’A'T, or zing à thé, (meaning like ‘zinc bar for tea’) is really a great place to be. It’s a lunchroom/tearoom with art on the wall and on the counter. There is a corner with couches with magazines, brochures and flyers with all cultural info’s you can brouwse. Creative people leave their cards behind. Just drop by for a cup of coffee or tea with their homemade cookies and muffins or have light lunch with friends! It’s cosy.
For those who are planning to go there and for those who are hesitating, ZING’A'T is open from Tuesday to Saturday, from 9 am to 6 pm. Address : 19, rue Dufour in Mâcon tel: 03 85 39 04 56 (Behind the Hôtel de Ville, one of the side street of the shopping street rue Carnot.)
It can be quite busy on weekdays during lunchtime. And my exhibition is till the 7th of November!! Don’t miss it.
Everyone knows that composting is a good way of recycling garden waste. I have a wooden container on the corner of my garden. It’s quite big but it’s always full and this pile doesn’t seem to reduce at all. I know all the rules like alternate the different kinds of waste and turn it once in a while and keep it moist, etc. I don’t really follow these instructions just because I’m lazy. Actually I need another bin or container next to it.
This is what I saw at Ines and Alfred’s. Really simple.
This way you don’t have to turn it over and when one bin is full just move over to the one next to it. It’s worth a try.
Here are some more shots of their wonderful garden.
We started our little chicken farm about a month ago. Just for the convenience of having some fresh eggs at hand.
When we went to get the hens at the local marché, we saw this beautiful rooster and my daughter couldn’t resist it and she insisted on including the coque in the chicken family. So we ended up buying him too. Actually my daughter paid for the rooster with her own pocket money. He cost only one euro more than the laying hens. (10 euros versus 9 ) whereas he is much bigger and impressive. But again, he doesn’t lay eggs of course.
This is Kibi the rooster.
And this is one of the three red-heads who are supposed to lay eggs. My daughter named them all but they all look alike so I never know which is which.
One week passed and there was no eggs so we went to the market again and bought these ladies.
Our friends had warned us by saying that if we don’t put the hens on the farm all at the same time, the ones that are there first will be mean to the new comers. We thought,” oh, just a week difference, they will get used to it.” But our friends’ words were right. The red ones are really mean towards the black ones even after one month of sharing home…
What’s interesting is that the rooster is of course the boss but he also protects the hens by making warning sound when cats approach and when they go to sleep his place on the perch is always closer to the door and the hens snuggle up just behind him. He even lets the hens eat first!
It has been very interesting to observe their behaviors which I had never expected it to be so. Besides, we have 3 eggs a day now.
I’m Japanese and my husband is Dutch and we live in France. We have two teenage children whose first language is French. As they grow older (they are 15 and 12), the way they talk changes and use more and more teenage slangs. We parents sometines have hard time understanding our own children. Besides they talk fast without articulating and if we say,”what?” then they look at us with an expression on their face like” oh, poor old folks, they don’t even know what it means.. ” and say to us, “oh, nothing, forget it”.
I found this internet site on cool French which might come in handy when talking to young ones or your French neighbours. But I would say, if your level of French is beginner’s, it would be better not to use them but rather understand them.
Every morning the moles create an interesting landscape in our garden. But unfortunately we have to get rid of their work of art so that we can mow the lawn without having to worry about the possible damage to the mower. Sometimes I use this finely ground soil for planting. But of course not everyday whereas the moles are digging day and night. We remove the hills and they make more. It’s like a competition of who’s faster.
I know someone who keeps immaculate lawn and everytime I see him in his garden he is walking around with a sort of rifle under his arm pointing down at the ground. I guess it’s called “taupe gun” (not top gun). Poor moles..
It’s like the bugs who eat your crops can be really annoying but then killing them doesn’t help either. Once I heard an organic veggie farmer answered to the question “what do you do when you have harmful bugs?” and he said, “I plant something which attracts the bugs and the rest of the vegetables are safe. Just let them.” I thought that is a very zen attitude.
Yes, I escaped the routine here in the Bresse to the lavender land. Well, actually we (me and my girlfriend) were just a couple of weeks too early to see the lavender fields in full bloom like you see on the picture postcards. On the other hand, we were nicely surprised by the quiet villages just in time before the tourists rush. It was as if the silence before the storm.
We had a nice little hotel in a small village called Buis les Baronnies. Thanks to the choice of my girlfriend and booking.com which makes hotel search & reservation so easy. Hotel les Arcades Le Lion d’Or was the name of our hotel. By the way, in France we come across quite often Lion d’Or as a name of a hotel and do you know why? Somebody told me that it’s a play on word of Lion d’Or (golden lion) and Lit on dort (bed we sleep).
Our room facing the arcades, we could watch people at the marché (held every Wednesday) all day long from above.
Buis les Baronnies is also known for their lime-trees (linden). The dried blossoms are used for infusion (herb tea). Everywhere we saw linden in bloom and it smelled so sweet.
Another opportunity came up for me to show some of my paintings at a hotel/bar restaurant LE CHARDON in Chardonnay. Yes, it’s the home of thé famous Chardonnay wines. About this charming little wine village and about Le Chardon, you can read more on their website www.lechardon-chardonnay.com
This one is at the bar. It looks like this;
Hard to tell from the picture, but they are mussels.
This still life is hanging nicely in the corridor.
Mine is above the bed. This room is called Pinot Noir.
The owner of this hotel restaurant is a very nice English couple, Rebecca and Nick. They have guests from all over the world. Who knows, you might bump into this place and get to see my paintings. If that happens, and even if it doesn’t, please feel free to leave some comments.
I know a Swiss couple whom I adore and whose way of living I admire. They have their own style and I feel that there is some kind of principle or philosophy in their way of living. I visit them once in a while, enjoy their magnificent garden and come back home with lots of inspiration ( but often to realize that I cannot be like them..)
I will be showing some of the examples and hopefully be able to transfer their “esprit”.
I just love this kind of solution rather than buying ready made stuff.
The tallest trunk serves as log chopping board.
They ‘re not only decorative but useful. You can put plant pots on it or simply sit on it.
Well, this was part one of this series. There will be more coming up.
