Perspective

Learning vocabulary in another language is easy. Communicating to people in a language you are learning is a completely different challenge.  I often leave a French conversation wondering if they understood what I was trying to put forth, (or did they understand the exact opposite?). It is frustrating, and I am realizing that this is not a phenomena special to learning a foreign language. 

Reviewing the words I speak in French many times over has forced me to review the words I speak in English with English speakers....and this is my conclusion....communication is VERY difficult...and sometimes I don't comprehend the perspective or intent of the person I am speaking to. My son shakes his head in impatience when I ask him to clarify or repeat...but I don't want to assume any more that I understand the intent of what he means. Nor do I want to fail when communicating my responses. I am very aware that the words I use are often misunderstood, even if my intent may be clear.  Funny how learning a 2nd language is emphasizing what I am still grasping about communicating in my mother tongue...so to all my family, friends, and fabulous people that I have met through community, thank you for your continued patience!

Now, back to what you really came here for...

Frank pulled over near a concrete canal which many would just pass by...this gorgeous landscape only unfolds when one is willing to overlook and leave out the harshness of human construction. A closer look reveals the simple beauty of the hills and valleys; the quaint village in the distance...

View towards Cadenet, 30x40" original oil painting by Frank Bruckmann©

A typical table d'orientation with its 360 perspective from atop a mountain in the Gigondas region

Here is the view in one direction, the Dentelles of Gigondas. Found this place with my weekly hiking group which is comprised of an international crew, mostly French or French speaking Anglo Expats with a few Dutch  and Israeli hikers sprinkled in for fun. They are all my French teachers...so grateful.

this is the coffee/yoga part of Frank's day....

He is looking at grape vines (cep de vigne) differently, painting the energy and motion in their woody, gnarly limbs.  Like painters before him, he is exploring the standstill/movement, the human/inhumanness of their structure.

Whether looking at the bottom of her bowl or from the ruins above our village,
I imagine it's all good...from a dog's perspective....



And, I leave this gem right here for you....

the importance of silliness for its own sake. 

High Places

Painting below Mt. St. Victoire

Mt. St. Victoire rises from the otherwise low hills and is like a beacon for miles. When driving into Aix, it will suddenly appear, stricken by light, or as a husky darkened form contrasted by the glow of the morning sky. Often I gasp, as it's majesty surprises me over and over....as it makes itself known repeatedly....

Just wanted to prove that Frank is not exaggerating the light!

Painting in process....

On a weekend drive over the Luberon Mountains we visited Fort Buoux near Apt and Bonnieux. The magnificent ruins provided 360 views and signs of ancient life, including sarcophagi dating back to the 9th century, it was great to wander and wonder. At the top are deep trenches, vaulted cisterns (minus the tops), and other signs of building, both of shaped stone and carved in the solid rock itself. The view from the end, out over the deep valleys is magnificent and one of us couldn't handle the vertical drop which was severe and gut wrenching. We descended on a "secret set of stairs" which were utilized during attacks. Unbelievably steep and slippery, we could barely handle rambling down, and imagined how people under siege might retreat in full armor, with weapons or holding children! 

Family hike up to the Fort Buoux in the Luberon

Very well intact ruins...fun to imagine who what when and how

View down to the Aiguebrun River from Fort Buoux 

Standing above the trenches

           

Daisy Crown
Happy to find the field of daisies on the way up! 

Secret Staircase for hasty retreats

You want us to walk down THERE? it was steeper than it looks. I was looking for a belay rope!

At the tip top...don't look over the edge!

  

Back in Rognes...where we have our own set of impressive ruins!

Something the Fort didn't provide....lovely outdoor cafe in the  brilliant
winter sun! Drinking coffee at Le Rancard, Rognes, France.

Chateau Beaupre as a painting site.

Frank and I visited the local vineyard, Chateau Beaupre, in Rognes and got permission to paint on their grounds....what a  treat...so lovely and spacious...great trees, grape vines and fields, architecture, easy parking, wine.....a very muddy stream/trench that Hazel enjoyed fully.

Hazel entrenched in our vineyard visit

Calanque-ing and Canyon-ing on Weekends

We were invited to join a family at Jorgie's school to their "cabanon" aka, a rustic cabin down on the Sormiou calanque. If you don't know what a calanque is, then you will need to do a l'il research to an earlier blog post of last month....ok, now...in the states, I always laugh when someone says they have a "cabin" or a "cottage" and when you arrive you realize it is much better equipped than your full time home and you are probably underdressed.  Well, had I known we were going to a "cabanon" I would have worn footwear for rock climbing and packed our contribution to brunch in Tupperware, not a glass pie pan to be heaved up and over rocks for the 2 miles from the gate where security mandated we park and walk. Though not at all prepared, IT WAS GORGEOUS! And, our host was unreachable (no wifi, no electricity, running water) and late. We had no idea where to go beyond down to the sea. 

ahhhhhh, this view was startling.....on one side the center of the rocky cliffs open up to reveal the dense civilization of Marseille, the other side revealed the Mediterranean off of the Sormiou Calanque. I audibly gasped when the scene spread out before me...cant prove that, no one heard me, you'll just have to believe….

Heading down to Sormiou, outside of Marseille

Found their weekend cabanon, just beyond this tiny port, it was the LAST house before the sauvage coast! Thrilling!

The cabanon, surrounded with this terrain.....it is crumbly limestone and ancient sandy soil with tons of prickly pear cactus, loaded with their thorny magenta fruit,  scrubby indigenous thyme, rosemary, lavender, sage and others. All of these scents, including the air, sea, trees, and other wafting smells are known as the smell of the "garrigue". It is why the south of France smells the way it does, and it is a thing that will always stay with me.

Inside Frederic, Claudia and Lilly's cabanon, built in 1906 by his great grandfather. they would travel by donkey with building supplies, water, etc. Now a very rudimentary pump from the cistern brings up water.

Prepared to take in the view in his own way, Frank opened his pochade box and painted this gem.
(Margi Rosenthal, is this one for you???) There is a pic of me taking in the view my way....eyes shut, mouth open drooling, with a gorgeous turquoise sea backdrop.

Day Trip...The Grand Canyon of France

Eye-scrubbingly adorable mountain town, "Moustiers-Ste-Marie" which is the gateway to the  Gorges du Verdon...there were waterfalls and mossy slopes and mountain goats and a 16th century cathedral, small streets of endless outdoor cafes, pottery tradition of Faience.... and on the OTHER end of the charm, the first public WC toilettes I've seen this trip which was a hole in the floor with squatting footpads....

Pedal boating on the Lac de Ste. Croix through the gorges. BTW, if you have the chance to pedal boat, one hour is sufficient....my quads were screaming!

Blown away by the scene from above....endless canyon and rocky limestone walls.

This week, we had a special guest chef in our home! Our friend Salam Al-Rawi (from Westville's Rawa) dropped by in his jaw dropping 1964 Caddy that he had restored in Lebanon!.....He has spent the last month driving it through Turkey, Italy, Greece, and into France. After having some minor mechanical stuff mended in Avignon, he piloted that beauty up our dead end street and stayed overnight, but not until we got busy in the kitchen....we fused Chinese rice noodles with provencal grilled zukes, lots of turmeric and other ingredients (that stained my "new" old damask linens from the Acco Decco in Aix-en-Provence, c'est dommage).

 Au revoir Salam, it was great seeing you here, even though you think my romantic notion of  "Garrigue" is bullshit!