Jacques Prévert

Those who do not know how to weep with their whole heart don't know how to laugh either. ~Golda Meir

One of my latest books from the library is Textes et poemes by Jacques Prévert, perhaps not your cup of tea, since he doesnt care much about the rhyming. However the words below are so simple and yet so powerful.

Breakfast

He poured the coffee
Into the cup
He put the milk
Into the cup of coffee
He put the sugar
Into the coffee with milk
With a small spoon
He stirred
He drank the coffee
And he put down the cup
Without speaking to me
He lit
A cigarette
He made circles
With the smoke
He shook off the ash
Into the ashtray
Without speaking to me
Without looking at me
He got up
He put
A hat on his head
He put on
A raincoat
Because it was raining
And he left
In the rain
Without a word
Without looking at me
And I buried
My face in my hands
And I cried.

Here is a link to the words in French (warning it is set to music), although you can turn the music off.

Link about Jacques in wikipedia.

It is raining here so here is one of my puddle pictures.

Entwined

The French word for cry is pleurer.

The French word for tears is larmes.

Etymology for the word ignore

Big girls blouse ?

Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is. ~German Proverb

The last few years I have heard that there is a shortage of bees, well certainly I for one have seen no shortage! I have a garden and so I understand how they help the gardener, and the farmer. But this year I have seen so many different types of bees and so many buzzing around at their work it is odd.

Of course I have a reason for being observant when it comes to bees, I am allergic to their stings and so i am a little bit afraid. No I am afraid big time. Friday evening we sat outside, but I retreated indoors many times because we have become very popular with a hornet! Last summer we had several kamikaze hornets, who late at night dive bombed our outside light!

Agh I went outside again only to give up as the hornet came back; later however the coast was clear.

Here is a shadow of a lamp near the castle in Fougeres. There are some beautiful street lights here.

So what makes you afraid ?

The French word for fear is peur, sounds a bit like purr.

The French word for frighten is effrayé

Origin for the word afraid.

You only live once?

Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book. ~Author Unknown

Today I was with a friend helping her sort through some paperwork. I knew that my library books needed to be returned by the 18th and so Saturday morning I chanced a trip into Fougeres looking for a parking spot near the bibliotheque/library, necessary since last time I had chosen heavy books...dummy... As luck would have it I had a parking fairy and she found me a spot just by the library, yippeee not bad for a Saturday morning and market day too. After some confusion in the library and returning, and choosing new books I left and spent a few minutes in the Jardin Public to take a few pictures; it is a very pretty park and well tended, a special place to savour the views, and enjoy the ever changing flower displays. The weather was ok but rather windy.

Water framed

Seen any musicians?

Bold and Bright!

I hope that flower isnt too bright for you!

The French word for paperwork is paperasse.

The French word to look after/maintain is entrenir

Shades of green

The trees that have it in their pent-up buds
To darken nature and be summer woods -
~Robert Frost

Tuesday morning on my way to the shop I stopped at the forest to let the dog have a run around. It was raining gently and the soddened canopy of leaves above was showering down on the old leaves which will soon vanish under a sea of bracken. I stopped and took a few shots; the many shades of the colour green were beautiful.

New Shades of Green.

New light leaves

The French word to darken up and obscure is foncer

The French word for a light shower of rain is averse

Warmer outside

Music is what feelings sound like. ~Author Unknown

Warmer on the Outside.....Old Stone Houses.

This area is a source for granite and sometimes I hear a huge explosion down at the quarry. A French lady that I know who is just over 70 years said she remembered when she was a child a horse and cart being loaded up to take blocks of granite to the Mont Saint Michel after a bad fire, they needed to make some repairs.

Anyway you often find that in the warmer months when a fire is not lit within these old stone houses that it is warmer out than within. And so on Sunday afternoon I sat outside, played with two dogs and watched the birds flying from fence fence, and tree to tree. For about half an hour or so I was treated to the sound of a musician practicing, an accordionist playing Breton folk songs. I could just see above the hedge across the road the musicians curly hair, family or friends were visiting the elderly couple who live in a fine old large stone house. Perhaps the musician had gone outside to get warm too.

These days many young people prefer homes that are warmer inside that out!...

Here is the Hurdy Gurdy man playing with great gusto in Dinan.

Summer Street Scene

The French word for feelings is sentiments

The French word for a loose curl is bouclé

Etymology for the word buckle

Lines

I'd rather sit down and write a letter than call someone up. I hate the telephone. ~Henry Miller

The temperature is so pleasant now, well most of the time, that I decided to turf out the wee room which is really very, very, small and only suitable as a dinky office space. I have been sorting through papers, books, and general toot. Only a few weeks ago it was too cold to spend longer than 5 minutes looking for some paperwork. So I am now set up in my summer office. Needless to say time has flown by as I battled with shoe boxes full of papers, dust, and cobwebs..

I haven't even taken any photographs since I have a doggy guest staying and have been a bit occupied so hopefully next week I may venture out and take a few pics. I do have a view of sorts from the wee PC room, I can see across the road and up through fields towards a big water tower. Horizontally the view is slashed by various wires to these old stone houses, not pretty but pretty essential.

Just a reminder of how cold it got upstairs in January, a picture of frost on the inside of the bedroom window.

Cold Blue Room

So if it was a choice between communication via telephone or via your PC which would you choose? My choice would be the ordinateur (PC).

The word Dinky in one of my favorite English Dictionaries.

The French word for slashed is entaillé

A solitary man

Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong. Winston Churchill

Over the years Fougeres has had several well known visitors and on looking through my latest batch of library books I discovered that Lawrence D' Arabie came to visitin 1906.

T. E. Lawrence aged 18 came to Fougeres and took sketches and returned the following year 1907 with his father and a camera. However he wrote to his mother that after he had left his father he was having an excellent time and he made a visit to the Mont Saint Michel. He wrote in his letter that the castle at Fougeres by moonlight was an exquisite spectacle. He loved the castle and travelled to see other French castles too, on a bicycle. As far as I understand he returned the following year with his brother.

Interesting link here about T E Lawrence who had in fact run away at the age of 17 to join the army. Findagrave.


Link here showing some photographs that Lawrence took of the Castles.

I think that Lawrence was a solitary tree, here is a picture of a tree in the forest of Fougeres.

Spotlight

The French word for following or next is suivant.

The French word for a rough sketch is croquis.

PS..I have a lovely brass camel who needs a polish.

Putting on a performance

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best. ~Henry van Dyke

On Wednesday evening just for an hour I sat and listened and applauded inside the beautiful theatre in Fougeres.

I had been asked if I would like to attend and listen to some music students who play for an hour every month. I struggled to find a parking place close to the Theatre and so I was relieved to see that the French lady who I was meeting outside was late too.

The Theatre Victor Hugo in Fougeres is tiny, but so beautiful I was not disappointed.

To start us off two young pianists played, the pieces were very short and sweet. The high point in the music for me was two talented Saxophone players, I do love the saxophone..bravo..

A young French boy played a huge trombone which almost hit the deck, and the music he played was comical and entertaining.

The violins had us squirming in our seats, I thought maybe the pieces played were too challenging! The entertainment was wrapped up by three folk songs all in English! All in all I enjoyed the music and the surroundings and company.

I dont have many photographs with a musical theme, however I did take this picture of a picture a few days ago in Fougeres. I like the confusion of the reflections and the little girl in pink.

A famous musician John Lennon.

Next time I will leave home earlier so that I can stroll around town first!

The French word for students is étudiante.

The French word for paperclip is Trombone.