Busy Weekend in a Small Village

I love the blues and the forms of penstemons

Last summer a young, attractive couple rang our bell just after we had checked out a house full of clients. We were in the process of stripping beds and laundry lay in towering piles in the hallway. Their names were Gregoire and Morgane and they had come to book our entire house for their wedding day, which was planned for this past weekend. Gregoire is the nephew of Catherine, the châtelaine (the woman who owns our local castle).

When the day for the big event finally arrived, the weather was overcast and rainy. Morgane was discouraged. At breakfast she characterized it as "pas terrible" which literally means "not terrible" but in usage means "absolutely terrible". She, her mother and grandfather had spent two days with us as they fluttered around the village preparing for the events of Saturday afternoon. The wedding was planned for 4PM.

At noon the house came alive with activity. A hair dresser, manicurist and make-up artist and various friends arrived. Furniture was moved around to turn our yellow room into a beauty salon. Pizzas were delivered and consumed in the kitchen downstairs and the gate stayed constantly open as various people came and went in fevered activity. The weather slowly improved as the day went ahead. The rain stopped and from time to time the clouds would disperse, allowing here and there a small patch of blue to appear.

 the hair dresser, looking charming in his yellow plaid pants and chic fedora

As the hour approached, the excitement mounted. Flowers arrived and guests began to gather outside the church on the Place in front of our house. We mostly tried to stay out of the way but were called upon to direct people here and there, lend out our stapler or various other items as requested. A Dominican priest arrived all the way from Paris to perform the ceremony, dressed in ornate cream-colored robes. He found us in our studio and asked for a glass of water. Our sink, which has an energetic sprayer, splashed all over the front of his beautiful vestments, causing some consternation and concern!

the bride's bouquet arrives

Several adorable little girls with huge flower wreaths on their heads took their places. Many of the women guests had elaborate hats and brightly colored shawls.

guests and flower girls await the moment

Morgane's father awaited her on our terrace, and when she arrived promptly at 4, he led her, camera's flashing, to the church and the ceremony was underway.

Morgane on the arm of her father

The church bells began to ring joyously at the end of the wedding. At the very moment the young married couple stepped to the threshold of the church doors to walk out onto the Place, the sun came out from behind the clouds and bathed them in light. The entire crowd cheered. A dixieland quartet struck up a lively tune.

on the way to the reception

Gregoire's father owns a property in town and the reception was held there. Rick heard the happy couple, the parents, grandparents and friends arrive back to our place at 4AM. A 12 hour party!

We expected everyone to sleep in late, but in fact when we went to set up for breakfast a little before 9 on Sunday morning, the grandfather was awaiting us. He was anxious to get back on the road for his home, close to Orleans, a couple of hours away. It was voting day for the legislative seats in France. The country would decide if the new socialist president would get a mandate or not (as it turned out, he got a resounding one.)

Papi, as Morgane called her grandfather, is a very distinguished white haired gentleman, a little hard of hearing, but elegant and friendly. He complimented us for our house, as most French people do. It pleases us so much how appreciative the French are of what we have done with Maison Conti. He was dressed smartly for his drive home. He wore a crisp starched white shirt with blue stripes, a thin black wool cravat, impeccably tied and a beautiful moss green plaid jacket.

The others arrived more slowly, but by noon the house was empty again and all the activity of the past day was a memory. Early in the afternoon, just as I was settling down to a quiet moment, the church bells began to chime again announcing some new event. When I looked out the window, I saw that a child had just been christened. The bells told the tale.

As quiet as our little village can sometimes be, it is never dull. There is always some important life event being celebrated.

family and friends gather for a baptism

***

Although it has been a very discouraging spring weather-wise, there are some advantages to living in a corner of the world where there is plentiful rain. The emerald green landscape never ceases to enchant my eyes, and when the sun does come out, it is revelatory.

rolling green hills below the fortified walls of the town

On Sunday afternoon we went to the garden. The day was extremely fine, warm and sunny with the occasional puffy white clouds. On our walk we pass all the vegetable potagers of the locals. Their gardens are neat and tidy.

our village garden plots

Garden man and his wife were out picking strawberries. Believe it or not, the large basket that the wife is holding and the large white plastic container that Roland is holding, are filled with strawberries, all from just two rows of plants. I asked if they were going to be making jam and Roland answered that he preferred his strawberries at the bottom of a full glass of red wine!

picking strawberries

Our flower garden is an anomaly, but we gets lots of compliments on it. It is looking particularly pretty at the moment.

our flower garden

Probably our favorite rose is this apricot David Austin, which I believe is named Grace. It is such a generous plant, during the season continuously offering its perfect and very fragrant blossoms.

David Austin rose

It is not a long stemmed rose, so we generally float the blooms in a bowl of water.

crystal bowl holding our garden roses

I rather love the fact that the wall that borders one end of the garden still has holes where archers could shoot their arrows to defend the town. These walls were built long before our house, which was a structure of the renaissance, after siege warfare had been abandoned.

a hole in the defensive wall that borders the garden

Even if our garden is mainly dedicated to flowers, we do have a few salad supplies growing — lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, and some herbs. These heads are perfect and they tasted delicious. I don't even like lettuce, but these were an exception. I might yet come around.

two delicious varieties of lettuce we've grown this year

Late Sunday afternoon we walked back home from our garden, stopping to share greetings with Anne, Christine and Monique. The Place was quiet after a very energetic weekend.

***

Since I've been a bit tardy in my blog posting, I haven't yet reported on our visit from James and Adric, which happened the weekend before. It was not brilliant weather, but a particularly wonderful time despite that. We had a lot of fun cooking, eating, watching the finals of Roland Garros and results of the preliminary French legislative elections.

We also took a kayaking trip together which I could not photograph as the camera would have been destroyed in the effort. It turns out that our area has quite a few well-defined and exciting river kayaking possibilities. We got a map of the routes and took one of them with the boys. This one has you descending over two small waterfalls in the process of navigating the route. We were all soaking wet by the end of the ride, as it also poured rain during part of the adventure. Still, I can't wait to go again.

James sewed a tablecloth and Adric figured out how to play Mahjong, an activity I enjoyed with my brother in my youth. I own a beautiful old set, but we hardly ever get it out, as it requires four players. Adric read the old rule book and taught us the details of set up and scoring, which I had forgotten.

 

We all became addicts of this really wonderful and very sensual game. Rick, who often gets restless with these kinds of activities, won most of the rounds, so even he kept repeating "what great fun!"

Gardening At Last & Quinn's Big Adventure

March's blue and balmy days were followed by a month of almost constant rain. It was a good time to plant a lawn, which we did in our upper garden, but any other kind of gardening was out of the question. May arrived with variable weather, but just enough sun and warmth to make us long to put our hands in the dirt. Here they say that you really must "respect the Frost Saints," who are known to visit as late as May 15th. Planting tender plants, including tomatoes is tempting fate. In the past we have always found this admonition difficult to reckon and follow. This year it has proven justified.

Earlier in the week we jumped in the car and drove down the hill to visit our new favorite nurseryman, Carl. We passed fields of wheat and safflower beside rustic stone farm buildings. The day turned into a scorcher. We loaded our trunk with annuals to fill out our pots and headed back home for our first real day in the garden since spring sprang.

One advantage of all that rain was to turn our world green. As we drove past hedgerows, the extravagant verdant growth filled our view. I gave up trying to count the number of greens in the landscape.

Back at home we began in our front garden. Over a wickedly cold winter several of our jasmines died and so our fence is not quite as covered as before. You can peek through into the private terrace and entrance to the house.

Roses of three varieties climb up over a wooden trellis on the outside of the studio wall and Virginia Creeper covers the rest of the wall nicely. Iris, butterfly roses, herbs, anenomes fill in  the small border around the perimeter of the garden and violet campanula are beginning to tumble down the low walls. We filled our central planter with pansies for early spring. I wait to transplant it with lobelia and more cascading summer plants. Carl tells me it's still too early.

We invited two new trees to live in our terrace. They are different varieties of Japaneses maples. One likes the sun and the other prefers a lot of shade.The two sides of our space are completely different in the plants they can accommodate as the sun baths one half most of the day and visits the other half only briefly in the morning. It makes it impossible to have a geometric scheme so we've moved all the roses to the sunny side and bought some hostas and other shade lovers for the other. The trees will grow up eventually, hopefully providing, at last, that over-grown look I'm so very fond of.

The maple on the sunny side has the added bonus of bright red stems. It will give a little pizzazz during the long winter months.

The bigger garden project takes place at our plot of land on the other side of the castle, a five minute walk from the house. At the far end of the church is a road that leads uphill. Along the way are several "workman's gardens" as they're called. Our house sits in the middle of the village and while we have the lovely terrace and it's small garden in front, there is no land at the back. We own a very nice piece of land along the defensive walls of the city and just below the back walls of the castle.

Most of the gardens along the way are dedicated entirely to vegetables. Here you see Mr. Villette's garden. He spends most of his time here during the warm seasons. He is 87 this year and growing his rows of onions, potatoes, tomatoes and carrots keeps him fit and lively.

We are more interested in growing flowers and our garden is unique along garden row. We developed the geometric side a couple of years ago and each year it becomes better. Our compatriot, Catherine the librarian, the only other gardener along the road who favored flowers, has sold her garden to someone else and we watched as all the perennials were ripped out and replaced with neat rows of vegetables. We now stand alone. We get lots of comments and a few side glaces.

There are still a lot of holes to fill in yet. I like a garden that shows a minimum of dirt. Many of our plants have come back but in the dahlia bed, only one plant survived the winter. I will need to plant many more.

What is our new lawn used to be a large vegetable patch maintained by a neighbor. He has gotten his own garden now, so we were free to have our will with it. The lawn is in it's infancy, but will, once established, provide a place for football, badminton and a swing set for the kids. Our hedge has doubled in size since we planted it in March, but will not be mature for another year or two. Once full-grown it will provide complete privacy, as it reaches to 8-9' tall.

Our bank of white irises are glorious this time of year. I wish they would last all summer, but alas, their beauty is extremely transitory.

We planted these linen flowers last summer and they did absolutely nothing, so we were quite surprised at their profusion and charming blooms this year.

This is another plant that is giving us much pleasure this year, and quite unexpectedly as we don't even remember planting it and certainly it has never bloomed before. If you know the name of it, thank you for letting me know what it is!

Columbine reminds me so much of one of my dearest friends who died too young and too long ago. I think of him every time I see these little beauties, also so much more abundant in the garden than in years past.

If you're a snail, why not be this cute? Neither Rick nor I could bear to remove this little guy with his pretty yellow shell striped in elegant black.

We have spent many happy hours in the garden during the week. One thing that is really marvelous there are the lively birds. There is a rouge gorge (like a small robin) who comes and visits us, very curious to see what new things we are doing. There are lots of other birds swooping and gliding around. One very busy mother has her babies hidden in a hole in the defensive wall. She comes and goes feeding them. You can hear them peeping inside, but they are hidden from view.

***

This last week Quinn had his first camping experience. He is part of a class of three and four year olds at a wonderful bilingual school in Paris. Each year, including the very youngest tots, they have a spring field trip called "Classe Verte." The children spend three days and two nights with their class in Burgundy. We told some of our relatives in California that Quinn would be off with his teacher and classmates, horse-riding, hiking, nature walking and observing and all without his parents. Their response was "BUT THAT'S CRAZY!" It does seem, if nothing else, brave of the teachers to take it all on. Apparently, however, it turns out very well for all concerned and building self-confidence and independence in the children is one of the goals of the school. Quinn was so excited with his backpack and sleeping bag. He learned to groom the ponies

and took a ride through the countryside.

There were lots of animals at the center where the class went. He loves goats.

The children do seem happy and content and full of spirit in the photos taken by the teachers. I love the little girls with their wreathes, looking like woodland fairies.

Quinn seemed very grown up when he stepped off the train after his three days away from home. He was sun-baked, grubby and full of beans.

Week 14: Garden Visit

The Queen's Chair, a giant natural sculpture on display at Chaumont-sur-Loire

The rhythm of life has changed dramatically as people are beginning the rentrée (the reentry). There is a hint of Autumn in the air, we find ourselves reaching for sweaters, and the days are shorter, a few leaves are thinking about turning colors. Fewer meals are served on the terrace as the beginnings and ends of days are cooler. Less people arrive on the Place, the castle is only open now on weekends. It's time to order the firewood and get the fuel tank filled. Other signs of the end of the season: Celine, the hairdresser is back. Rick and I no longer look so scruffy. Anne and Christine suddenly reappeared and their shutters are open again after weeks of being firmly shut. They have been soaking up the sun on a Greek Island. And speaking of islands, Quinn and family are somewhere in the Adriatic as I write this, enjoying "the Mediterranean as it once was" (as the Croatian tourist board slogan would have it).

We had several quiet days this week, although we weren't completely free. We did have some Russians staying with us for a couple of nights. Two families, each with two children. The fathers are cousins. Those days were not quiet at all as the four children were all under the age of 8. One family now lives in New York and the other in Israel, so they meet in Europe during the summer and spend time together. Monday was Adi's birthday, she was the oldest girl, turning 7 at Maison Conti. Her father got up early to drive to Vibraye for cake, as Monday is the day our own boulangerie is closed. He arrived back at the house about 9am just as everyone was coming down for breakfast. He was carrying two huge boxes of large and small cakes and numerous pastries of every description. Adi showed her wisdom by asking to delay the cake consumption until the evening. I was impressed by her restraint. They had a long day visiting the Loire Valley and then returned to the house. We had set them up a big festive table in the dinning room and they celebrated into the night. 

***

We profited, as they say over here, from a few days without responsibilities, and did some touring ourselves. Most of this post is devoted to a garden visit we made early in the week. We have been hearing about Chaumont-sur-Loire from Georges. From June to October each year numerous landscape architects are invited to create imaginative gardens which all respond to a theme. The result is acres of fabulous exposition garden plots which are open to the public. Since this International Festival of Gardens is towards the end of its season, we were anxious to visit and discover what we've been missing. The festival was created in 1992 and is now world renowned.

We opted for the garden tour only, although one can purchase tickets to visit the château itself and the celebrated stables, which when built in the early 1800s were the most sophisticated and best-equipped in the world. The castle is in the château fort style, that is it was fortified to withstand attack. During the Renaissance, when wars were no longer fought at castle walls, buildings became much sleeker and delicate. Kings and nobles tried to convert these old, rather squat castles and added graceful Renaissance touches as they were able. The castle of Montmirail is an excellent example of that, as is Chaumont-sur-Loire. This particular château was purchased by Catherine de Medici who was queen of France from 1547-1559 and a very ruthless character (she was the author of the St Barholomew's Massacre, where thousands of protestants, guests at her own daughter's wedding, were assassinated). The king, her husband, Henry II was very much in love with his long-time mistress Diane de Poitiers and gave her the castle of Chenonceau, the most beautiful and famous château in the Loire valley. Upon the death of the king, Catherine forced Diane to trade Chenonceau for Chaumont. Apparently this was heartbreaking to Diane, but one can't feel too sorry for her. Chaumont-sur-Loire is really a stunning location.

The park is huge, with beautiful manicured lawns and gorgeous old trees and shrubs arranged to create breathtaking views from every angle.

One can walk for hours, (or better yet ride a bike) down well-tended paths that wander through seemingly endless woodlands. Although we didn't see a gardener the whole day, there must be a small army of them as every blade of grass is meticulously trimmed and every tree perfectly manicured.

The vistas over the Loire River are spectacular. We enjoyed watching an art class put their impressions down on paper.

Along one pathway a row of basket chairs were arranged for enjoying the view. I loved the design.

It was a splendid day to enjoy the exposition gardens. There were hundreds of people there at the same time, but the grounds are so immense that we never felt crowded. Twenty-four exposition gardens were created to respond to this year's theme Body and Soul. 

One of my personal favorites was the tea garden, complete with a wall of tea cups at the entry. Each afternoon tea is actually served in the porcelain cups in the charming little garden behind.

The garden itself was a cottage garden filled with a jumble of flowering plants.

Each garden had a panel at the entry with a short explanation of the idea behind the garden design. My favorite was this:

"Mysterious and light, fanciful and joyful, this garden evokes the soul of those departed and works on the idea of reincarnation. The presence of birds brings peace to its visitors." It then quotes this marvelous story by Philippe Cailltaud:

Every day at the end of the 1970s I went to see my grandparents, who lived in a street close to mine. The rue du Haut-Pas in Dieppe. They lived in a flat on the first or second floor. I can't remember now. I often saw my grandmother feeding the birds on the kitchen window ledge. A group of feathered creatures, that was to say the least mixed, had become habitual visitors and came to beg for their sustenance every day. Side-by-side there were pigeons, sparrows and of course a seagull; an emblematic creature of the town, providing the soundtrack of life in Dieppe. It seemed to be the same ones who always came back and my grandmother talked to them. She had a conversation with them. One day she explained to me that these weren't in fact just any old birds: they were the reincarnation of members of her family (and so of mine) that she had known well and who had died at various times in the past. Obviously their appearance had changed a little, but she could recognize them because their fundamental attitudes had remained the same. So Aunt Léontine was still as stingy and surly, Uncle Marcel, miserly, Uncle Ferdinand generous and musical, Aunt Alice reliable and cheery, Godmother still ate as much, and so on and so on. She recognized the dead people who came to visit her. She gave them her little offerings and all these birds found they were given names. Dieppe Metempsychosis. So it seems that in my family, our souls transmigrate into birds.

There were several water gardens, reflecting white puffy clouds, with golden carp swimming below the surface.

We entered one garden through a spiral path that led to a central space where one could relax on hand-crafted chaise lounges. This was purported to be mother nature's birth canal.

Some of the gardens afforded lovely views through the trees and down to the river.

All along there were places to sit and relax and enjoy the many colors, glorious day and pleasant aromas.

 

Ceramic balls of various sizes make wonderful benches

 

Tibetan themed prayer garden

After exiting the exposition gardens, which are re-created by guest gardeners each year, you find another space called the Experimental Garden, created by the regular Château gardening staff. It is evolving but permanent. I am slightly partial to vegetables, so I particularly enjoyed this one, as it is basically a big kitchen garden with its seasonal crops grown and displayed in highly attractive and creative ways.

Vertical seems to be a big theme in the garden and it's such a great way not only to get more space, but allow the produce to grow unencumbered.

If you've been in Paris and seen the famous vertical garden at the Quai Branly, by the new museum near the Eiffel Tower, you know what a gorgeous and exotic thing it can be. Basically a building is covered with a kind of netting that holds soil and an irrigation system. Plants of various shapes, colors and textures are tucked up and down the fabric and create a living wall of plant growth. The technique was first developed here.

 

After hours of garden exploration, one has a whole series of cafés and restaurants to choose from for either a quick refeshment or a full-on meal. No wonder Georges and his family spend two full days here.

We, on the other hand, had to hurry back home to prepare the house for our next visitors.

***

The week in Montmirail ended with a Brocante, basically a village-wide garage sale. During the season one can always find one village or another hosting such a sale. This week was our turn.

***

 

Moon rising over the Loire