François Hollande has won power in France, turning the tide on a rightwards and xenophobic lurch in European politics and vowing to transform Europe’s handling of the economic crisis by fighting back against German-led austerity measures. Continue reading ‘French Election Sunday 6 May 2012′
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Archive for the 'Life in France' Category
Tonight I walked the long way to pick up Oliver from school, following the river through the forest. The song JF and I got married to accompanied me on the ipod ( 4 years today I love you immensely x) The sky was bright and there were beautiful streaks of peach, crimson and red cloud. The moon was crisp and almost full – it sat like a giant silver disc against a dark blue night and I could see part of the man in it. I was cold, my nose was frozen but, I was happy to be there.
A little hunched back lady walked towards me approaching from a path opposite, about 50 meters to my left. As I watched her the sky filled with ravens, they settled around her on the ground and the trees above her. As she continued walking, they stayed behind and started crowing. She turned and yelled something to them, I couldn’t quite make out what she said. It was a bizarre sight.
I came to the Lac Dausmenil with about 15 minutes to spare and I sat in the light of the moon and watched a second hunched back lady feeding breadcrumbs to about a dozen white swans. She was taunting them in French. Swans are feisty and they fought each other for their share of bread. Lac Dausmenil is magic. I have a short video of it I will post it maybe.
I was late to pick up Oliver. We came home, he played Skylanders while I cooked and he then fell asleep at the table whilst we ate dinner.
We are both still jet lagged.
The song JF and I got married to Awakening of a Woman by Cinematic Orchestra
Peau d’Âne – a little gem I discovered last night starring a young Catherine Deneuve (such beauty!). Peau d’Âne or “Donkeyskin” is one of Charles Perrault’s fairytales.
A king had a beautiful wife and a rich castle, including a marvelous donkey whose droppings were gold. One day his wife died, after making him promise not to marry except to a woman whose beauty and attributes equaled hers. The king grieved, but was, in time, persuaded to seek another wife. It became clear that the only woman who would fit the promise was his own daughter.
She went to her fairy godmother who advised her to make impossible demands as a condition of her consent: a dress the color of the sky, a dress the color of the moon, a dress as bright as the sun, and finally, the hide of his marvelous donkey. Such was the king’s desire to marry her that he granted all of them. The fairy godmother gave her a marvelous chest to contain all she owned and told her that the donkeyskin would make an excellent disguise.
She fled. Eventually, she found a royal farm where they let her work in the kitchen, despite her ugliness in the donkeyskin. On feast days, she would dress herself in the fine gowns her father had given her, and one such day, the prince came by her room and peeped through the keyhole. He fell in love at once, fell ill with his longing, and declared that nothing would cure him but a cake baked by Donkeyskin, and nothing they could say of what a dirty creature she was dissuaded him.When Donkeyskin baked the cake, a ring of hers fell in it. The prince found it and declared that he would marry only the woman whose finger it fit. Every other woman having failed, he insisted that Donkeyskin try, and it fit. When she had dressed herself in her fine gowns, his parents were reconciled with the match. Donkey-skin later found that her father had remarried to a beautiful widow and everyone lived happily ever after.
My favourite scene from the film was the Masquerade Ball of Birds and Cats (complete with Pig Orchestra) at around 2:43