1/14/12

My 2011 and a few pictures



January



In Brittany, the new year started the way the old one ended - Very cloudy, quite cold and windy. The beach below our home was totally empty except for a few birds.



Back to Paris, Popeye went away again round the world... (Almost.) I travelled back and forth from Brussels to Paris as usual. And I was in Paris when my Canadian nephews turned up there.





We spent such a fun evening together at Café de la Paix, right by Opéra Garnier. And then we were driven all over town by a friendly taxi driver who kept telling us stories about Paris, most of them totally inaccurate!


 The Monet show ended on January 24th at the Grand Palais in Paris. I managed to go there several times. I have never seen so many people at an art exhibit before! But it was worth it...

February

We spent the whole month in Brussels, cleaning and sorting our belongings, again and again. We did manage to take a few walks from time to time... 

La porte de Hal
A romantic vision of some Middle Ages ruins... Very close to...

Institut Bordet
the Cancer Institute... I am not kidding. Very welcoming entrance, isn't it?


We were invited to have some tea at our Chinese friends' home. A very traditional ceremony. Complete with some outstanding tea and ancient cups. It was an amazing experience.

March

 We were devastated when our wonderful black cat, Byerly, expressed very clearly he couldn't stand pain and suffering anymore.


Swee' Pea came back to Paris for an astrophysics event. Since he was supposed to entertain some friends, Popeye and I moved to a nice hotel overlooking the Tuileries and with a wonderful view... Well, I know. Spring was not really sunny and the Eiffel Tower looked quite sad and lost behind rain and fog. But we enjoyed the view anyway while it lasted.


Our dear Marc-Antoine and Marie-Claude stopped in Paris for a couple of days on their way in-between Thailand and Montreal where they live. They wanted us to know that they were getting married in Montreal, early September and they said that we had to be there! (You'll find our answer in "September".) This is the way we packed them... and their luggage when we drove them back to the airport in Swee' Pea's ancient Land Rover.


Right after they left, Spring started! Amazing. Parisians had been so sun deprived that hundreds of people flocked together on every available lawn. Here by Swee' Pea's appartment, close to the Invalides.


 April


A very tired Swee' Pea was cramming for the (French) CNRS exams... while wishing he were back to Pasadena and Caltech... He left a few days later.

And then we left Paris too and went to Madrid, for the umpteenth time, I know. I was delighted to go back to El Prado and to take long walks through the city. Actually, I was quite shocked to see how bad the Spanish economy was. Madrid was filled with empty apartments and offices for sale. It still looked like a bustling city because there were so many tourists around. So many tourists, yes and so many beggars too.

Some inventive ones...


 and some very desperate ones...


All of them very Spanish... Those pictures were taken a few days before the "Indignados" invaded the Puerta del Sol. We were gone by then.

May

May was rather calm and quiet even if in Brussels, we went through another sad moment. Our friend Niruj was definitely leaving Holland to settle in India.


 Even the best Belgian beer did not convince him to stay with us.



So we went back to Brittany... And there it became even worse since our dear Henri passed away the minute we drove back to Brussels. We went back to Brittany for his funeral.

Brittany was still torn apart between clouds and sun. Let me tell you that the clouds won again and again.

June


Whenever you want to see seagulls going crazy, come boating with usIt is a must whenever we have children on board. We bring stale bread and throw small pieces in the sea. One seagull will appear from nowhere and all of a sudden, tens of them fly over to the boat and start fighting for crumbs. We obviously did love "The Birds" and do not fear seagulls.


We learnt a lesson one night in June. (Well, not exactly... We knew this already!) Children do not get cold as easily as adults! It was quite chilling outside. The children's parents tried to get them to wear warm clothes. To no avail! Lucky children!


We finally made up our mind to go to Giverny, late in June. To admire Monet's white water lilies in his garden. What a wonderful experience!


July


Early July, we got to meet my Canadian sister's husband who was then working in Germany. He obviously enjoyed a lot teaching chess on the Seine bank.

 
We spent Bastille Day in Brittany. Summer was finally there... for one day! But we enjoyed our first long dip of the year (and almost the last one).

Carcassonne
I had such a nice birthday surprise. We flew to Toulouse and then spent a few days around in Southern France where I come from. We stayed in Carcassonne but we went back to my village, Arfons.

Arfons
And we did climb up and around the four cathar "châteaux de Lastours" which was something we had done like... one century ago... It was hard but fun.

Lastours

August




 Guess what! It still was very cloudy and windy in Brittany... Very dry too. So many clouds and no rain. So cold!



We did manage to go boating a few times but only a few times... The "children" were delighted!
Some even tried wakeboarding. But not for too long!

 September


So, yes! We made it to Marc-Antoine and Marie-Claude's wedding in Montreal. Three magical days! 


We went to rest in Brittany. Well, I did. Popeye came over every week-end. Summer was there... finally! So we went boating a lot.


End of September, there was one of the most fabulous spring tide ever... Mostly because it was very hot and sunny... I followed those clamdiggers and went to work on my project around mussel beds. I love spring tides because the sea recedes so far that one gets to see things that remain hidden all year long... rocks, ancient mussel beds, fields of algae... It's like walking on the bottom of the sea!



And then one horse came suddenly out of the sea! Sort of!

October  



 October was very summery... We were glad we had left our boat in the harbor. It had been quite a long time indeed since we had enjoyed boating so much.


Popeye was working though. He had to go to Spain for business. Barcelona, this time. I had not been in Barcelona for the longest time (twenty-five years at least). I was amazed how much it had changed and I loved it. It looked amazingly protected from the economy crisis.


I overdosed on Gaudi of course! And I loved every minute of it!


Barcelona is built by the sea. Did you know that Christopher Columbus sailed from there when he discovered the 'New World'?


From Barcelona, I went straight back to Brittany. Well, it was rather wintery there... I almost flew right back to Barcelona!


November


2011 was quite a different year for me! I even went with Popeye to the Paris Masters! Something I never thought I'd ever do. Well, I did it and I have to admit that it was worth it. Poor Tomas Berdych really was kneeling down. What else could he do against Roger Federer? Exciting event!


 My pleasure... Paris Photo, one of the greatest events for me, year after year. Hundreds of great pictures from all over the world... even from NASA!


November turned out to be very nice after all. We took walks in our favorite garden ever (except for Père Lachaise) - the Montparnasse Cemetery where young people in love smooch on benches by the graves!

December

Different year indeed! Another Popeye's dream came true. I went with him to the Paris Boat Show! Hundreds of boats there... from all over the world. Quite incredible and so many people there... marveling at them.


Wow! It snowed in Brussels... One 'wintery' week... Only one!



We spent Christmas in Brittany with Swee' Pea, as usual... except that we left on the 29th to go to....




Venice! The city I always wanted to go to. My dream came true...


complete with a fantastic New Year's Eve concert at La Fenice
I loved Venice. Every minute of it.

2011 ended in Venice. 2012 started in Venice with my loved ones. What more can I ask for?




*Good Luck, and Good Night*


1/10/12

I am back and on my way. But somehow 2011 slipped away...







In 2011, mankind went through high hopes and despair, revolutions and repression, peace and wars, disasters of all kinds.

I spent most of the year glued to the news before truly realizing that I had no power whatsoever over things and I guess this is how I finally became a grown-up. Sad, I know. Sensible... I hate being sensible.

In our inner circle, things went crazy from time to time, oscillating between pure bliss and grief, grief and pure bliss or mere happiness which is so wonderful to start with.
 

This year, we attended one wedding and two funerals. Three babies were born not too long ago and three are to come in 2012 and they do count in my statistics because they all were conceived in 2011.

Oh and yes, Swee’ Pea’s dear old cat died. Our Byerly.

Going to a wedding was pure bliss...
 

This year, the Ankou was not idle around Les Tertres. I hate funerals. I hate goodbyes.

The babies are yet to be met. Twins (one girl, Victoire and one boy, Titouan) and another baby girl, Sofia. They are beautiful, of course. Have you ever seen an ugly baby?

My life took a new turn, this year. I have been feeling good enough to start travelling.

For those past 8 years, going away meant going to Les Tertres, which was not bad, not bad at all... I always felt so happy there that I never thought I’d go somewhere else. I did dream of travelling to far and distant lands though... You can’t help dreaming about going round the world when you spend most of your life watching the sea from your home.

Well, you are going to laugh... I have not been round the world yet but I did leave Les Tertres...

Madrid, Barcelona (Spain), my old village down South (Southern France) and Carcassonne and many places long forgotten, then Montreal - Quite amazing... Three days in Montreal for our dear Marc-Antoine and Marie-Claude’s wedding... Three days - Paris/Montreal/Paris and I survived. I loved it!



Then last but not least, five wonderful days in Venezia, Italy. We got there very early on the 30th of December 2011 and left very late on the 3rd of January 2012. What a wonderful transition!

The future is promising! Watch out, a very adventurous Olive is on her way and nothing will restrain her.

Next stop? Probably India... Or the Galapagos... Or Rome... Or New York... Any idea?



I wish you all a very Happy New Year and I do hope that we will run into each other one of these days.



«Hi. I’m Olive. Je m’appelle Olive. Me llamo Olive. Mi chiamo Olive...» Ok... there still is talking with my hands and I am pretty good at talking anyway.


Remember? I am the «Storyteller».
Oops. Guess I'll have to resume my storytelling too!




*Good Luck, and Good Night*