Thursday 22 October 2009

Marseille - an end of summer weekend...


I love Marseille. But I'm not so sure why exactly I do so. It is smelly. It is noisy. I can't always understand the accent of the Marseillais, but there is something about the Ville, that I really love. It is vibrant and passionate. It is the biggest town in Algeria so I have been told. It is everything that Paris is not. It is a poor city by and large; at least that is my feeling when I have been there and because I do not know it intimately I may very well be wrong. But there are a great many beggars and some of those could be straight off the streets of Indian cities and North African towns. Arabic music wafts from small shops in the side streets where more than 30 years ago I witnessed my first knife fight in a street amongst these, between two women. Apart from the screams and the shouts of those involved all I remember is sitting in a rough restaurant and having my first menu du jour. I had no idea what I was ordering, or in what order.

(the photo above shows an outdoor art installation on the walls of the old fort in Vieux Port)

As summer ended, up here, I found I needed to dip my toes, to plunge deep into the Med and swim in warm water, and feel that I had not missed having a beach under my feet for yet another year. And when that need was satisfied, have a pastis de Marseille...


...while deciding what type of seafood to eat and where to eat it...


A pot of rosé wine, a first course of aioli, followed by salade des poulpes, a dessert of fresh fruit salad and a strong coffee for €11 + and then the patron wanders over and offers small glasses from an unlabelled bottle of an aniseed flavoured digestif.

The afternoon was spent wandering about the town taking photos of buildings, and boats in the old harbour while looking for somewhere to eat that evening.


Two sides to Marseille architecture...


In the Cours H. d'Estienne d'Orves (now with a name like that it is worth having a square named after you...) I found the Maison de l'Artisanat et des Métiers which housed a travelling exhibition of patchwork... Hmmm not usually my cuppa tea but a quick glance inside and the mention of the words, "entrée libre" got me inside where I was confronted by a collection of modern and traditional style patchwork, mostly on a visit from the American state and former French territory of Louisiana. Most of the work was simply beautiful. Fabulous fabrics, worked delicately and boldly. A real knock out.

One side was this.... a small group of poppies and a single poppy; so turn it over, or go around the other side of the display and ...


see a field of them...




Maples? Simply beautiful. I'll stick some others on Flickr.

A weekend by train through southern France, and filled with sand, sea, tremendous limestone cliffs, fish on plates, Arabic music and sweets at the end of a Ramadan day, pastis, climbing up to Cathedrals, packed street markets, graffiti covered walls and the steady siren scream of les flics - Plus Belle la Vie

Tuesday 20 October 2009

While still feeling drowsy from the anesthetic ...


I thought the scaffolding was crying out for a couple of potted geraniums, and soon it will be too cold even to keep them out on the south facing side of the house.

Already we have had some killer frosts, as Sylvie next door has reminded me when asking me to go and pick some of her parsley...

So before I hand them to Aurèle for safe keeping over the winter, here they are...

Sunday 18 October 2009

Renovation of an old barn - 2009, take3


Finished!

Well almost. But the odd thing is that creativity has entered my life again...

A simple act of sorting through some collected stones and patiently positioning them against an ugly old wall, has been quite an exciting pastime.

I used to think climbing mountains and skiing fast was exciting. But something has obviously happened to me. I have loved it and it has, in the eyes of those close to me been quite noticeable.

Now all I have to do is mix a load of mortar and apply that with a block of tight sponge, and do that while it remains above 5 degrees centigrade, which is usually between the hours of 11am to about 3.3opm or so and when the sun sinks behind buildings and the air temperature drops. All this at only 550metres altitude.

Thursday 15 October 2009

Thought for the Day...

I wish I had not thrown the bloody thing in the bin, but an envelope I received a few days ago containing a well deserved cheque from some Swedish clients, had a beautiful stamp on it.

It pictured a bunch of carrots.

Fancy that. Swedes sending carrots.

Has anyone told them?

Rutabagas the lot of 'em...

Wednesday 14 October 2009

Renovation of an old barn - 2004

Some years ago we bought an old barn in need of renovation while we were in need of a roof. The fact that said barn overlooks Lake Geneva should be taken with a pinch of salt. The barn was in need of everything.

Three years or so after we took it on and started to live in and renovate it around us we decided it needed shutters on the front of the house. Some neighbours, Aurèle et Stéphane, watched as I struggled single-handedly to position and fix them eventually tiring of my growing frustration at my own ineptitude. They came over and took over. By this time, I thought the best thing to do was to go into the house and find a camera and record their endeavours. What they fixed is still in place and swinging open and closed as we desire. All I have done since is paint the buggers.

I was pissed off I must admit with the large patch of flat and ugly concrete above which was laid three rows of breeze block that had been mortared into place to block a gaping hole left where the original barn had been closed by some large door that would have opened onto the street outside. The amount of straw lying about when we took the place on suggested the upper part had stored hay and straw that fed the animals that lived below stairs... in the dank, dark and dreary space that now houses a bathroom, a laundry, two bedrooms, my office and a small wine store.

Only now have I had the real opportunity to get to grips with that ugly space...

Renovation of an old barn - 2009


Day 1... 9th October. Now, five years on I have decided it is time to fill the awful concrete filled space on the outer wall with stones collected from the garden, dug up when the four unwanted barn supporting pillars were removed and some given, again from Aurèle and Stéphane. Slight progress.


Day 2... 13th October... a few more stones posed and it is starting to generate a few complimentary comments from neighbours and passers-by. Encouraging.













Day 3... 14th October. I think I might get this finished before Christmas. More stones donated, all very important as the stone is and from a seam in the mountains that is particular to this area but is, unfortunately porous. Against the treated breeze blocks it will not have a detrimental effect. When the stone is used as a foundation all sorts of problems can be had but the damp only travels a certain distance upwards and the chalet type wooden living area is then put on top...

The damp caves or cellars below is perfect for storing wine...


I'm beginning to feel a little creative...

I'm getting quite a buzz from this. Lumilyon said in a post that she had felt a lack of creativity during August... I had had that very same feeling, but sad to say, with me it lasted into October. Lucifer begone...

Thursday 8 October 2009

4 nashonal potree dayee



Previously published here...

Tuesday 6 October 2009