girl at large

again, it's the little things. literally.

the best kind of friends are the ones who remember the little things that make you happy and then apply them regularly...nothing like mini gherkins to make my day. Liz is so thoroughly thoughtful. kinda took the edge off having to converse with a crazy person later in the evening.

last chance to dance around the house naked

mom returns early tomorrow morning (9am)...pics and updates to come...

mama mia! leava me-a alone-a!

little Italian mama driving me nuts continued...i've mentioned the first floor neighbors before...well, here today's installment of the story...the building was cut up for sale as individual apartments (condo-style) rather unfairly..the retired Italian couple on the first floor have a huge back garden, an extended kitchen with another terrace built (illegaly i might add) on top of it, the second floor apartment's original balcony (leaving it with none) AND ALL FOUR caves (basement storage rooms). which, though they claim it was just cleaning work..we know via the workers that they made those caves into extra guestrooms for their noisy grandkids (again, highly illegal). kinda piggy, don't ya think? not that i would mind really, i mean they paid for it, it is their home. but this is an apartment building, a community...comprimise and neighborlyness required. (you can't leave the front street door open at all hours for instance just because you want a breeze in your place...which they do all the time, it's a SECURITY door people! as in keep it shut! and i know it was you that took down my very polite sign in three languages, that took me an hour, about keeping the street door closed) but all they do is complain. ABOUT EVERYTHING. and they only stay here for three months out of the year! mom and i are the only ones who live here year round..the other three holiday apt. owners are happy to have us here for security, and seem to appreciate (in various languages) whatever help we can be and how gracious we are about the frequency of short term holiday renters coming and going and causing various amounts of disruption..we never complain, even that one week we had five drunken boat chicks partying all hours downstairs. so, why am i ranting about all this? because, this morning, AGAIN, in her house-dress glory, she pounded (we have a bell like everyone else) on the door...i know she could hear i was in the shower..until i came out soaking wet. to hand me a bit of broken pot (about the size of a two euro coin) and look cross and wag her finger and give me a lecture for ten minutes in Italian. whaaa? after apologizing profusely (for what?!?!) i went to investigate our balcony..well, the Mistral winds have kicked up again the past two days...the other night i brought in all the balcony furniture and put all the loose items, planters, etc. in safer positions. unfortunately, and entirely out of my control (it's the WIND!) a potted plant on the floor of the balcony tipped over and cracked..the wind blew a shard of it through the railing and down to the ground. THAT WOMAN NEEDS TO FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO DO BESIDE DRIVE ME CRAZY. she should take up house-dress sewing or something. whew! this is a serious rant, maybe the heat is getting to me.

France vs. America

the bickering and media-hijinx continue... pretty damn funny though, if you ask me.

the elderly of all types are falling victim to the heatwave

amidst more than ten thousand alleged heat-related deaths in France, a famous ancient tree at Versaille is lost as well. and then my downstairs neighbor has the gall to complain (AGAIN) about the tiny little trickle of water the airconditioner in the bedroom makes in the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. i only run it from about midnight to 5am so i can get a decent night's sleep. it drips down on to her GARDEN for christ's sake. and only once in awhile..last night was the first time it leaked in two weeks. but, first thing this morning..there she is, in all her housedress glory, pounding on the door and pitching a fit. in Italian. how do you say "give me a break lady, it's a 101 degrees and we're all suffering! and a little water isn't going to ruin your precious EMPTY terrace!" in Italian? did i mention she's never out there anyway?! ugh. ok, rant over.

ulti-MAIL-tum update

(see Monday's entry below) nothing in the mailbox yet, (it's too soon i know) but i have faith that i will see some handwritten letters and postcards soon..and i can't wait! seems i may have one winner already, Aunt Maria had sent us a package regarding the McMullen family reunion a few days prior to my rant...not technically the idea, but i think i'll let her slide.

brushes and boats

after all of last week's social outings and frankly, a touch of laziness or heat-lethargy, i've been occupied with a number of paintings this week...four completed, two more in progress...but can't put them up of course until mom returns with the digital camera (please god let her not have dropped it in the sea)... speaking of mom's absence..i haven't seen hide nor hair of Uncle Bert in two weeks..i finally got through on his mobile phone the other day so i know he's ok, but i've been missing his laidback charm since he's had to keep the boat in the other harbor in the neighboring town. (our spot in Port Vaubon in town will be available to us again on the 15th of Sept). he even missed pizza at DeCito night with Liz in her pink lipgloss...he was crushed when he heard that.

late night web cruising? guilty as charged

GUYS!!!! some practical hints for posting a personal ad online: do not use a picture of yourself: -getting your hair cut -hugging an ex-girlfriend -in super-short basketball pants -about to sneeze -wearing a beret -wearing a �World�s Greatest Mom� sweatshirt -doing the Chicken Dance -from highschool (particularly if you are currently 35) -shirtless while holding a bunny rabbit do not begin your essay with: -�I like to fight. I do something called Ultimate Fighting...� don�t use screen names like: toobiginmypants screeminmonkey gigalo785 funkymule psykoknife any wonder why these things don't work?

ou est le Dominoe's?

with mom (and her dinners) gone, i�ve resorted to my previous single girl eating habits...must remember that five baby gherkins, a bit of cheddar, a half packet of stale crackers (with a dab of Nutella) and a sliced lemon do not make for a well-balanced meal. i�m not even going to get into the pancake issue.

ULTI-MAIL-TUM!

ok folks, today's earlier bonhumeur has evaporated in the face of yet another sad, empty mailbox (aside from the previously mentioned New Yorkers earlier in the week). it's even been two months since my Grandmother Eileen has written me about the status of the weather and contents of the obits in Edgar, Nebraska! email is fine and dandy, but to follow are just a few of the reasons that i (and sometimes i feel that is i alone!) regularly practice the ancient art of handwriting letters and postcards. handwritten letters/postcards: >can be sniffed. crunchy types: never underestimate the ability of patchuli oil/incense to travel internationally. >can be carried in mon sac a main for a few days in anticipation of random joyful re-reading at a cafe, on the plage, in the train, etc. >can be tacked to a wall or frigo without having to put another 50 euro ink cartridge in the printer. >(old envelopes) make handy bookmarks and post-it-note replacements >can be held for ransom if containing scandalous confessions written whilst drunk. >can be riffled through in old shoe boxes a decade later, on a significant birthday or after a nasty break up to reassure oneself that yes, indeed, someone loved them once enough to write it down. >have nifty stamps and postmarks on the envelopes that can still, amidst all this technology, amuse a youngster. (even if only long enough to tear them up) >rarely contain viruses. so, i am issuing a CHALLENGE. the first three people to WRITE a letter/postcard to me will receive a one year magazine subscription of my choice and a Christmas card from me, every year, for life. 17 rue Docteur Rostan apt. 2 Antibes, France 06600

it's the little things

received two concurrent issues of The New Yorker magazine (thank you Grandma Mickey for the international subscription) this week..oh, yum! such a joy to savor each play review (never mind i won't be doing theatre nights in NYC any time soon), article, book review, bit o' fiction and cartoon. oh, and commentaries on life as an American abroad, like this one from Paris to the Moon author Adam Gopnik. laugh out loud and spook-the-dog moment: reading a story about a "Marriage Promotion" program (as a solution to poverty, i won't even get into that)...an interviewee named her most recent newborn De Las'One. ha! love that! reminds me of my favorite Kroger check-out girl in Savannah: LaTrine.

why are the French so thin despite all the cheese?

ha! i've been saying this for years! (i would also add that the difference in car-usuage for everyday errands has something to do with it...the French are regularly on foot far more than Americans)

rain dance

a few days ago in the late-afternoon, the sky darkened behind the town towards the mountains and it looked like rain...it even thundered and was that ever delicious..but, alas..it didn't make it down to us on the coast...i cried. literally. the endless heatwave and glaring sun were driving me batty. then, on Saturday, as we were peddling back down the river in the Gorge (thoroughly enjoying a dip in temperature and another in chilly river water) it happened again...lightening in the distance, thunder, rolling banks of gray clouds...and again, nothing! nature was just messin' with me. but this morning, glory of glories...cloudy skies! and drizzle! i'm going back out to the balcony to sit in it.

les-boat update

just got word from Mom that she has successfully completed her week's women-only sailing course in Maine and is back in familiar lands (Chicago) today..she loved the course! "I've never laughed so hard in my life" she says, sounds like she really hit it off with the captain and crew...there were no other students booked for that week, but they didn't cancel the trip because Mom was coming all the way from France! more details to come... as for me, i spent the day on a foot-paddle (pedalo) boat with three other gals and two wet dogs in Gorge du Verdun...beautifully cool fresh water. Miss Liz, in a moment of sheer brilliance, repaired an annoyingly squeaky peddle axel with suntan cream..."I didn't go to finishing school for bloody nothing!" she said. very nice outdoorsy (especially for this rather indoorsy gal) day, Ruby is still recovering in the armchair.

bleep bleep

the handset on my landline telephone won't charge properly..seems any bump (aka Ruby) to the rickety table it sits on rocks it off the little charger knobbies...so, have had a number of international phone calls to friends back home interrupted by regular 'low battery' bleeps...made for some interesting converstions: "I might get a job, this guy I met BLEEP BLEEP porn." whaa?!?

what, everything in moderation? who? me? nah...

i am totally sick of pancakes.

dogs and kids

a little French girl shreeked and jumped away from Ruby (who was innocently occupied with wee-sniffing anyway) on our walk through the market area today..very unusual, i don't recall any other incident of dog-fear since we've been here...once, in Savannah, a grown 6ft man yelled at me from across the square, some 50 yards away, to "Keep that dog away from me!" um, ok. have you seen her? she's like a 17lb mouse with a waggy tail. speaking of little french girls and Ruby...went round to R's for a doggie playdate and some dinner yesterday and her upstairs landlord's children were around, as usual...if i could put up with their pestering long enough, i'd learn a lot of french from them. i've certainly mastered "no!, don't do that!" "that's not nice!" "leave that alone!" "i told you already, don't!" "no, i don't want my hair done" "don't put your dirty feet on me!" i love it when they tell Ruby to "Sid!"

funny stuff

my brother Thomas found this...Ping Pong, Matrix style

why do the ones that 'get you' always get away?

near Not-Atlanta, Hurricane Floyd Sept.'99 it was a most difficult thing to do (relationship-wise) but in the end, well worth it i believe-"let's be friends" is usually a death sentence, but...we had a nice long talk last night. (i was feeling a bit homesick). sad that it didn't work out back then, but that doesn't change that he's one of my favorite people to talk to...miss him i do. so, after the previous rant, seems a portion of the human race has redeemed itself. now, where's that double chocolate fudge? and he still grows dope in his backyard. some things never change.

do i LOOK like a doormat?

jesus but people are clueless. does no one have feelings anymore? and don't give me that "you're too sensitive" crap...i'm just wanting consideration! normal, polite consideration for how i might feel. sometimes, human beings are just crap. and then my 'doormat' side says, "oh, but they probably just don't know they are being insensitive/rude/over the top/careless/selfish/thoughtless...it's not really their fault if they didn't know, i'm sure they didn't mean it that way..." BULLSHIT! i've had it! but i'll still think nothing of it tomorrow and go on letting them get away with it. ugh.

my best friends...

in an email from my dear Mike: "Life is good ( I almost typed LIFE IS FOOD!)." ha! i love that. sometimes, life IS food!

sans camera

been painting today after slacking a bit over the weekend...but, sorry, you'll have to wait until mom returns with the digital camera before i can post any pictures...hopefully, i'll have four or five completed new pieces when she returns. the weather seems to have broken slightly, though i could just be getting used to it. showering two or three times a day helps. Ruby's solution is to sleep all day.

no reason in particular

i wish there was a punctuation mark that fell somewhere in-between the exclamation point and the period. you know, one that conveyed the 'eyebrows up' expression of surprise or amusement. the exclamation point is too "oh my god!" or "yippee!" (and the multiple !!! is unforgiveable, though i too fall victim to the usage)...and the period is too well, unexpressive. hmmm..i have nothing better to think about at the moment.

fromage emergency

having friends over for dinner again tonight..but, mon dieu, i forgot that my cheese man is closed on Mondays...i didn't misplace the pate this time though (don't ask)... mom is out on the school-boat in the state of Maine this week..wonder how it's going? wonder if she's figured out how to use the digital camera yet...or when exactly it is going to be dropped in the sea...

cravings

i saw Bisquick at Geoffrey's English food store yesterday and couldn't pass it up...and then couldn't wait for breakfast..had pancakes with syrup for dinner. yum. i miss relatively few American food items here (and when i am stateside, i hanker something fierce for french food)..but what does come to mind: s'mores, Krispy Kremes, proper brats boiled in beer first, oh..speaking of beer..Leinie's, Grandma Eileen's peanut butter fudge, bagels with cream cheese, low country boil, cranberries, post-drinking-binge sunday brunch at Nautigal, a cheap slice at Vinny's, Dawn's gumbo, Chinese take out, enormous over-priced muffins with lots of nuts, fruit and calories in them, lemonade that doesn't fizz, and corn on the cob *. *for reasons unknown, -corn- was on my mind, on my salad and in my conversation yesterday at lunch. all corn, all the time!

tomaaato tomahtoe

if one more ENGLISH person corrects my ENGLISH pronunciation i am going to scream...in AMERICAN interesting thing, not a single FRENCH person has ever corrected my FRENCH pronunciation unless i asked for help....

in mom's room

figured out the sweet set-up tonight...moved the computer, on which i can watch dvd's, into the AIR CONDITIONED bedroom!! woo-hoo! i have seven or eight months worth of movie-watching to catch up on...well, actually more like seven or eight years worth....i've never been much of a movie person, but that cool, crisp a/c air is changing my mind...now if only the mac came with a remote control...or at least a longer mouse cord... note: Ruby sheds more when squeezed. (must not watch a spooky movie late at night all by my lonesome again)

whew!

Mike has posted his post-dinner-with-my-mom report and i'm happy to say it is excellent. and i quote... " I bragged you up as much as a mother likes to hear about her daughter.� No racy stories--I skipped the "Angel of the Morning" story--and the worst she had to say was, "I just don't want to know who's sleeping in my bed...!" and it sounds as if mom has done her share of bragging up life in Antibes...Mike is thinking about make it over here for a visit next year...yippee!

international snafu

did i actually offend (scroll down to of August 5th "on to Salisbury" entry, see "comments") the ex-mayor of Salisbury? could that be true? and if so, why wasn't the reference to a low-quality public-school lunch program meat dish more offensive?

heatwave

cloudy and overcast today, a small relief from the heatwave, which continues to cause suffering and deaths here in France and throughout southern Europe. the air conditioner is now functioning (albeit with the help of plastic tubing, a square of poster board, the classic duct tape, a mop bucket, a bathmat and a watering can...long story!) in mom's bedroom, which you have already accurately assumed i am using in her absence. spent the afternoon attempting to catch some of the infrequent breezes on the Smuggler Path on Cap d'Antibes which looks eerily like Cave Point in Door County, Wi. note: previously unknown to me, a fear of/discomfort with hieghts also applies to viewing via goggles the dark, cavernous depths of the sea. (grimace)

blackout

just got word late this afternoon about the major blackout in Canada and the Eastern seaboard of the US,...from where mom is due to take a flight to Maine today! no word yet if she had trouble, but i'm assuming that at the very least she was delayed if the reports of airport backups are accurate. if i recall her itinerary correctly, she does have a spare day to make the boat if needed. wonder if the blackout made her dinner date with my friend Mike last night all the more interesting?!

on my own

my dear, loveable, gorgeous friend Mike (there we are some 5+ years ago at Genna's in Madison, WI) is taking my mom out for dinner tonight in Boston..bless his heart, he offered to do so, and hasn't never even met her before. (though we've known each other going on 7+ years now, or are Nedrebo's years doubled?!-we used to work there together, ah memories...don't think i have any SOBER pictures of us though, come to think of it...) just had a lovely little dinner party with the girls..and i managed to "cook" without using a heat source of any kind. just unbearable to think of using the stove (aka: cooker) in this heat...

releasing my inner neat freak

damn! damn! damn! mom took the digital camera with her! now i can't show you pictures of the newly-organized (labels forward!) kitchen cabinets! did i say something before about needing a date?!

things you learned in Wisconsin that you'll use all your life

i can't believe i knew this...oh well, a good laugh!

bon voyage

mom left for her trip this morning... i've already purchased organizing boxes and attacked the kitchen with copious amounts of bleach...now, where did i put that label-maker? (imagine happy home-making humming)

puppy love

"Webster's gone to be with Snoopy and all the other happy puppies now" -Hil for an old friend of mine, who's feeling particularly sad today...my Miss Ruby is a shelter/rescue success story (she was one day from being 'put down'!)..but there are so many other sad stories out there...and on the same topic, i received this little so-true ditty from another old (as in "known a long time", you're still young and ravishing Mike) friend yesterday... 1. Dogs are never permitted in the house. The dog stays outside in a specially built wooden compartment named, for very good reason, the doghouse. 2. Okay, the dog can enter the house, but only for short visits or if his own house is under renovation. 3. Okay, the dog can stay in the house on a permanent basis, provided his dog house can be sold in a yard sale to a rookie dog owner. 4. Inside the house, the dog is not allowed to run free and is confined to a comfortable but secure metal cage. 5. Okay, the cage becomes part of a two-for-one deal along with the dog house in the yard sale, and the dog can go wherever the hell he pleases. 6. The dog is never allowed on the furniture. 7. Okay, the dog can get on the old furniture but not the new furniture. 8. Okay, the dog can get up on the new furniture until it looks like the old furniture and then we'll sell the whole damn works and buy new furniture...upon which the dog will most definitely not be allowed. 9. The dog never sleeps on the bed. Period. 10. Okay, the dog can sleep at the foot of the bed. 11. Okay, the dog can sleep alongside you, but he's not allowed under the covers. 12. Okay, the dog can sleep under the covers but not with his head on the pillow. 13. Okay, the dog can sleep alongside you under the covers with his head on the pillow, but if he snores he's got to leave the room. 14. Okay, the dog can sleep and snore and have nightmares in bed, but he's not to come in and sleep on the couch in the TV room, where I'm now sleeping. That's just not fair. 15. The dog never gets listed on the census questionnaire as "primary resident," even if it's true.

lonely heart

seriously, i really do need to meet a boy. that little italian number the other night (whether or not a certain someone thinks he was a geek..hey, geeks have incomes!) got me thinking... sorry, pervs, i'm not going to tell you WHAT i'm thinking!...

home alone

mom leaves for seventeen days in the US tomorrow morning...hmmm, what shall i do first? run around naked? (nearly am already, what with this heat) eat crackers in the livingroom? (no biggie, she does that already) have a boy over? (better odds on pigs flying) sadly, it is organizing and cleaning and furniture rearranging that i am looking forward to. i really gotta find a boy to have over.

dreaming of rain

Heavy skies, Port Vaubon, oil pastel and pen and ink on heavy paper, 20" x 25", SOLD finished this late last night, dreaming of seeing such another overcast, promise-of-rain day soon...

when in doubt, just add a french accent

only an important errand would send me out into the blistering sun today...i need a large poster mailing tube so mom can bring home a number of my pieces as requested... moi: excusez moi, svp, madame, je cherche un...un...um, continues like so in bumbling french: i need a thing like a box, but not a box, it's a circle instead and it goes into the mail but it's long and i have want to fly a painting to the usa and i don't know the word in french...(good god, what IS the french word for 'tube'?!?) madame: une tube? moi: bien sur, une tube.

we loved this old guy...

...and he loved that beer. i've finished his portrait, had to work from a series of photos i was able to take while pretending to fiddle with the camera on the table top (flash off)..pity i couldn't work from life this time, but i just had to paint him. i've never done a portrait before (except that little one of the back of mom's head and the still-unfinished self-portrait) as for the finished painting, Ale, acrylic and charcoal on paper, 20" x 25"; i alternate between loving it and loathing it.

they always say i have beautiful "eyes"...

;wueownnndm,fnaoieuwoi..rose..iweutiow...another bottle o rose.,jfwlkeuiu..tequilla?.jklje...an italian boy.jlkweoiu..mmoreitalianboys.lk..ajdiditrytospeakitalian?!? aksjoiut...back to bed

dog days of summer

mom actually made frozen buillion cups for Ruby today because she read in Reader's Digest (5 euros!) that it's a "cool treat for dogs suffering in summer heat". there are just so many funny things to be said about that. as the record heat continues, we are all suffering. pup-sicle anyone?

Captain Crazy Bitch

mom tries on her new foul-weather gear in preparation for her week-long women-only sailing course with SeaSense. she leaves for the USA next Wednesday, starts her "cruise" on the 16th departing from Maine (hence the intense gear). she's hoping to find her inner-sailing-bitch. i've never seen anyone so excited to put on a Santa costume in 90 degree heat.

high

finally finished this one up today, Deck plans/Monaco. acrylic and oil pastel on heavy paper, 20" x 25" worked from some sketches and photos i was able to get a few weeks back...Miss Liz kindly let me tag along when she went to take care of her bosses second (or third or fourth?!) home in Monaco, an apt. right on the harbor, the balcony had a direct bird's eye view of the boats. i've also, after much experimentation, found the right finish varnish..one that works for acrylic paints as well as the oil pastel, without smearing it. it reaks, but it works.

hot lunch

i found the answer to Peg's question! (without using her own answer service) seems that the hot dish in question was named after the 19th century creator, not the 13th century cathedral.

other British worthy mentions

i got a kick out of Bill Bryson's insight, from an American's point of view, into England in Notes from a Small Island, particularly his ditty regarding the vast difference in the Tube map's depiction of London versus the actual geography of the city. i found it to be very true. i am absolutely crazy about The Office. i watched the entire first series on DVD twice when i was house/dog-sitting at Rach's week before last. and then, on our van tour to Stonehenge/Salisbury/Bath, we actually drove by the town of Slough. i laugh to myself just thinking about that show, it's just like every office i've ever worked in. you must see it. again, love that BBC. and it's even better in person.

London pros and cons

PROs: the cooler weather, but not so much the spittles of random rain the Tube is convenient the Pubs the Cream and High teas (though we did tea in place of our usual naps..it's a tie) CONs: the rain, though the cooler weather was enjoyable the Tube is really crowded and kinda dirty (is that where the black boogers originated?) very, very early last call at the Pubs..11:30pm. (mom swears our reduced wine intake is responsible for our, um, how to word this delicately?..back ups) the coffee (sorry, but French cafes just have that beat hands down)

London tid-bits

other notable outings: the yummily morbid Titanic Artefact Exhibition at the Science Museum. we were given boarding passes at entry, told to check at the end if our passenger shown survived or was lost. mom thought it was telling that though we checked for "ourselves", neither Peg nor i checked on the status of our "husbands"! oops. i could have stayed all day at the National Portrait Gallery. but i don't think mom could listen to me whine about the average birthyear ( '81?! '84?!?!) of the current BP Portrait Award winners any longer. cream tea at the famous Fortnum and Mason. great tea, but why do they serve it with day-old KFC biscuits?

a lone plastic Sheep in London

i can't even begin to explain. let's just say it's good way to pass Tube-time..my personal fav, sister Peg's: Woman's Wool Daily. oh, and The Silence of the Lamb was good too.