Tuesday July 29, 2003
hey der, howya doin'?
how can we possibly go to sleep (regardless of 6am bus to airport) when Fargo is on tv?
i can't believe i used to talk like that. still do sometimes, when i'm reading emails from WI and MN friends out loud to myself. hmm..which is worse? reading emails out loud or saying things like "Doan'tcha know?"
Monday July 28, 2003
bon voyage
we're off to London tomorrow, at the ungodly hour of 6am. and i'm not human til at least 9am.
Miss Ruby jumped right in Rach's car tonight (my little dog is staying with her and Napo for the week, garden-running-happiness) without missing a beat. but she did look out the window in what i imagine to be confusion and sadness when she saw me, not in the front seat, but waving goodbye wistfully on the street corner. sniff. sniff.
oh yeah, it's my sister Margaret's birthday today! (we remembered at dinner tonight..oops)
"why, yes indeed i am girlatlarge! can you pass me that bottle there please?"
through Rose fog, having memories of meeting charming folks (at Saturday's highly successful bbq) who found girlatlarge.com some time back and have thoroughly enjoyed reading my little ramblings, and to my great delight, viewing my paintings as well.
i hope i didn't make a giant drunken-babbling ass of myself in person.
Sunday July 27, 2003
g'morning
rose is a very, very bad thing.
see, it even prevents me from finding the accent key on this english keyboard. oh, right..there isn't one.
back to bed.
Saturday July 26, 2003
at the drugstore (which doesn't actually have any drugs)
the french word for anti-dandruff is anti-pellaculaire. i like that; dandruff being peculiar.
Wednesday July 23, 2003
why Nevada?
another dentist appointment this morning, this time to fill a cavity.(only one more left now) it's unseasonably hot here still, going on six weeks of record heat. today's small talk, pre-drilling:
"C'est trop chaud, n'est ce pas?" (Hot enough for ya?)
-"Oui, il fait trop chaud" (Yes, the weather is too hot.)
"C'est comme la vallee de mort! Las Vegas!" (It's like Death Valley! Las Vegas!)
so i had that to think about while sitting in the chair for the next hour.
Monday July 21, 2003
come on in, the water's fine
welcome to my sister Margaret and husband Ryan, who are now residing this side of the Atlantic! had a bit of a scramble to locate her phone number (i know i put it in one of mom's piles..but you know how that goes!), but were able to reach her this afternoon...they are a bit wonky with travel, but doing well and looking forward to our visit next week.
don't step on that!
we watched a Discovery-channel-style special on elephants last night...the footage was impressive..way up close and personal, done by means of something they called a "dung-cam". damn, i love the BBC.
dans de l'eau
two buildings down the lane, an older woman lives in an apartment on the same floor as ours (third if you're American, second if you're French). every night about this time she chucks a large bucket of water out the window to the pavement below. she's not watering her window boxes or throwing out dishwater mind you, she's just randomly chucking large quantities of water down to the street for no apparent reason. not at least any reason we can think of.
she hit a courting couple the other night. she does that with alarming frequency actually. maybe she does have a reason?
Sunday July 20, 2003
scraping by
mom bought me two t-shirts yesterday. very nice. now i have to go give her a pedicure. everything has its price.
Saturday July 19, 2003
Bert made the papers!!
it's a grainy newspaper photo, but see that fellow (dark shirt, folded arms, white cap) second from right? that's Bert! witness to last nights' flying rental boat disaster! that large motor boat (crashed on top of the other two boats!) can be rented by anyone, experienced or not, sober or not, and taken out to sea...as mom and bert have said, "just a matter of time" before some gas-head guy got all Evil Kanevil with one of those things.
Friday July 18, 2003
girl at large Gallery
much thanks to brother Thomas, my gallery site is now complete. girl at large Gallery. i can accept payment online! ooh, that is exciting. start sending the bucks folks!
seriously, this is an exciting thing. i'll be adding more work at a steady pace, check back frequently, bookmark it, tell your friends.
back to work
completed today, Coursegoules, a view of the small ville we visited near La Gourge du Loup with Suzanne and Jack last month. acrylic and graphite on heavy paper (360g), 22.5" x 19", $275 SOLD
Thursday July 17, 2003
those poor wives (or sisters)...having to learn to compete for his attention with a bathtub. a very expensive bathtub.
having reached that "bickering old married couple" stage with Skipper Bert, Madame Patron (mom) is searching for sailing classes, found some good options online this morning. my fav-sailing lessons for women, by women: "...and if HE goes overboard, and IF you decide to go back and get him, we'll teach you how..." ha!
Wednesday July 16, 2003
the heat is melting my brain
i just lost a booger in the keyboard. one of those rubber-cementy ones. the booger that is.
"we saw Lance!"
Le Tour de France (at our stop in the small ville of Trets) begins with an assortment of caravans, parade-like floats and vendors of yellow Tour merchandise...what is that devil float for? Bert searches for a prime viewing spot. Mom and Ruby try to find a bit of cooler shade, first on the ground, then in a palm plant. and, finally, there they are! i only had time to get pics of their behinds. the fellow in yellow is not actually Lance...he's in a different shade of yellow, out of frame (how was i to know?). all smiles! back to the hotel for some pool-time.
three hours of hot anticipation for two minutes of excitment. sound familiar?
Sunday July 13, 2003
Bastille Day
it's Bastille Day on Monday. it's a huge celebration weekend here of course, a long weekend..so most folks are off officially Friday thru Monday which means they'll also take Thursday and Tuesday off for traveling. so basically, all of France has this week off.
except of course, those on the Tour de France, which we are going to go see a little bit of on Tuesday..we head out tomorrow morning. i'm driving. i'm bringing duct tape for mom.
there are fireworks going off tonight, Ruby is scared. poor thing. Miss Dawn would love them though.
Saturday July 12, 2003
petite
Quai 16; graphite, watercolor, pen and ink on paper, 11" x 7"
rather than lug all my acrylics, papers, boards and easel up to Rachaels' this weekend, i'm working rather small with portable watercolors and a block that fits in my totebag. it's getting so hot i might be down to carrying around only a pencil and blank notecards soon.
Thursday July 10, 2003
clock stopped ticking today
i'm house/dog-sitting for Rachael again this weekend, whose flat is the lower level of a villa. the owners are in town for a long weekend, dreadfull children in tow. ok, one of them is not so bad and the baby boy is innocent enough..but that middle girl is trouble.
she walked into the apartment, into the bedroom and poked me whilst i was napping. even the dogs were napping. startled, i just looked at her. ok, walking into the apartment is possibly forgivable seeing as how the entire villa does technically belong to her family and perhaps she poked me to see if i was alive...but that snotty little, hee-hee-i-just-bugged-you look on her face..that is intolerable!
Wednesday July 09, 2003
running behind
was going to be late this morning for a rendez-vous, to save time decided to do two things at once..walk the dog and pick up smokes. had Ruby on her morning-wee leash which is a reeled-up stringy thing that gives her more freedom, me less control. on way to tabac for cigs, she acted up at another doggie...i stopped walking and bent over to give her a talking-to when 'BUMP', oops! the fellow behind (directly behind my behind) me didn't notice and sort of, um well...bumped into me, in my bent over state. serious contact (!), and he put his hands on my hips to keep us both from falling completely over.
was that a date?
Tuesday July 08, 2003
ouvrez, svp
another visit to the dentist, number 4 of 5. i'm not sure what he did exactly, only know that it involved my sensitive gums, pointy things, and pain.
oh, and i need two more appointments to take care of some minor cavaties, not part of the original plan, but ok. i'm game.
franglais
i picked up my dusty french book last night for some review. i had spent some time this past weekend at a french-heavy BBQ and wanted to clarify a few phrases. the standard book isn't much help. i need to find one that teaches useful things like: -"Has that mayo salad gone bad in the sun?"
Sunday July 06, 2003
ciao!
took the train (and bus, due to a tunnel cave-in near Monaco) to Menton today for a visit with Aunt Peg and Natale...proper Italian lunch (ooh, new cheeses!), walk around the back passages (by the little old lady feeding two dozen cats) behind thier building for an incredible view of the mountains..and then back on the train, still light out at 8:30, enough so to have a view of the sea on the ride home.
mom wants them to visit us before Aunt Pegs visit ends on the 14th...Peg doesn't want to drive, Natale doesn't want to take the train...i think niether one really wants to leave Menton!
Saturday July 05, 2003
thinking of bottle rockets on the beach
holiday phone call to the Q's in Door County for the Fourth...Grandma Mickey sounds great, says i'm the "hero" of the family? does she know i don't have a job?
MaryGrace wants a painting; "I'll pay money for it you know". um, yeah, that is the idea.
seems everyone's favorite is One Red Boat (see Mondays entry below). sorry, Suzanne got it first. maybe she'll hang it in Door County and arrange viewings.
Cousin Jack had a great time on his visit to Antibes, says Uncle Bert is "awesome". can't get much better than that, especially from a 13 year old.
Uncle Johnny is still a pervert.
made me a little homesick for summer in WI. try explaining "s'mores" to a frenchman.
Friday July 04, 2003
on the Cap
oooh, was i spoiled today. spent the Fourth of July in Cote d'Azur style at a villa on Cap d'Antibes...Miss Liz had me up to the villa she works at (owners are away, help will play!) on the pretense of sketching/taking photos of her cat Jessica..she wants a series of pen and ink portraits...well, poor suffering Jessica allowed us to take a few photos which i will work from later..that only took a few minutes. so what to do the rest of the day? lie in the sun, swim in the pool, have a little lunch on the terrace, drink bottles and bottles of rose and enjoy the incredible view.
i added my own personal touch of high-class to the day by spilling lunch down the front of my white shirt and falling asleep in a chaise (twice) in the midst of conversation.
Wednesday July 02, 2003
climatisse continued
you should have seen it ..the air conditioner fiasco continues. first, mom spent a fortune on it (the day after poor suffering Suzanne left) after waiting two hours in the hot sun for the appliance shop to open. they got the last one. delivered immediately, Bert and I lugged it up the three flights of stairs. it's german made, Bosch, so though very hi-tech and sleek, it is also very, very heavy. ok, plug it in, attach the pipe, put the pipe out the window (seems counter intuative to me) and jerry-rig the window doors as closed as possible with a tea towel. but wait, the room is too open and big for efficiency...close all the doors to the other rooms, but what about the doorway sans actual door? ok, stand on a dining chair and NAIL a duvet into the wall. a nice duvet by the way. i left at this point, to go for a swim in the sea, the most effective way to stay cool i know. and a very passive way indeed. i returned a few hours later to an oven. "we overheated it". ok, the manual says when it overheats to empty the water resevoir. "there's a manual?" dear god. the drainpipe is way on the bottom of the thing and when you open it to attach the pipe, water just flows right out onto the floor. Bert lifted it (hernia!) over the mop bucket. one broken mop bucket. one wet floor. one still very hot room. ok, water empty. turn it on. HOT air out the vent, the cool air going out the window!! wait til store opens after weekend, arrange for appliance store to come take a look at it. they picked it up, figured out the thermostat had been installed backwards, were able to fix it and redeliver it that afternoon. poor old guy lugged it up the stairs. voila! it works! cool air out vent, hot air out window. but still not actually having any effect on the room. the weekend gave Mom time to buy a curtain rod and a bedsheet (aka curtain) for that nailed up duvet, however the bedsheet, depackaged, turned out to be a fitted one. found other flat sheet, pinned around curtain rod, mounted thanks again to kitchen chair. Bert decides "our real problem" is that there is no air circulation..so, unplug my fan (requiring moving of bed for access to newly purchased and much coveted extension cord) and put it way on top of the armoire..like a ceiling fan. but now, "the other problem" is that too much air is coming out/going in the window space that allows the vent out....Mom, on dining chair with broom stick, hoisting blanket to top of window. no luck. then the ladder comes out of the storage closet. ok, got that now. window covered, doorway covered, fans in place. towels-on-floor method of water draining perfected. hmm..room still not getting cool.
meanwhile, i'm on the terrace enjoying the evening drop in humidity and lovely breeze.
mom's going to unload the air conditioner on a friend tomorrow.
Tuesday July 01, 2003
Le Tour
Le Tour de France is coming up, Mom and Bert are keen to see the Gap-Marseille leg (about 2-3 hours drive from here), though it is far too late to get hotel accomodation. hm, camping? that i would pay to see!
salle climatisse
word is the McMullen family reunion was a big hit, fun was had by all..and even the St.Louis summer weather was cooperative..not too hot and muggy.
it's hot and muggy here..hottest June on record. mom bought a portable airconditioning unit, which is supposed to cool down at least the livingroom. any minute now, yep, it's going to feel cooler in here. any second..just have to wait...
splat. (me, hitting tile floor in puddle of sweat, victim of heatstroke)
le dentist
i'm probably totally embarassing myself with all of these pictures of dental work, but anything for family (Aunt Anna)! another two hours in the chair this morning, but what a difference! (very hard to convey in photos, desole) "Je fais des sculptures" as my dentist says. pic one before, pic two after steps one and two, last pic after today's step three. (the spaces between will diminish, that's from having to keep the composite separate)
two more appointments to go, but i'm not sure what else he's going to do?!
by the way, my dentist does a pretty good rendition of "God Bless America".