Provence in 1999

Before tackling two weeks of intensive Italian in Siena, we spent several days with friends in a wonderful B & B near St.Remy in Provence. Things change, of course, people move on, buildings come and go -- but in our mind's eye we see the past only as bright or dark as our memories allow. This was a wonderful time spent in laughter, enjoying the moment, fleeting as they ever are.

Pont du Gard

Where are the roman engineers now, eh?

Mas de Cornud, St. Remy

Susie and Steve

Mas de Cornud

Italy's Liberation Day and Mine Too

Just to recap: April 25, 1945, Italy is freed from the fascist yoke of Mussolini thugs and the Nazi terror. Three years later I'm freed as well. A coincidence? Maybe . . .

Anyway, on that Monday, April 25, I took the day off from work, tinkered with a book project I'm working on (a series of Photographer's Guides to the Sculpture in Paris Cemeteries) and Susie and I caught an early afternoon matinee of the movie "Hanna."

Tense, tight, with incredible music -- think "Run, Lola, Run" for tweens - and if you can picture Jason Bourne as a 13-year-old girl you get the idea. Top it off with gorgeous locations (right below the Arctic Circle in Finland), and Cate Blanchett playing a "brush-your-teeth-till-they-bleed" heavy who gives new meaning to the concept of female villain. (Remember Henry Fonda as the bad, very bad gunslinger in "Once Upon a Time in the West"?) Graphic in some parts but here's a link to the trailer on Apple:

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/hanna/

On Mayday Susie left Boston for Grand Rapids to spend some quality time with her mom -- and see family, of course. After I dropped her off at Logan Airport I headed west toward Cambridge and Mount Auburn Cemetery, where I spent a gorgeous afternoon strolling the grounds, taking photos before sitting on a short presentation about preservation projects at the cemetery. Colors seemed to come at me from every direction:

http://uscemeteries.blogspot.com/2011/05/may-day-in-mt-auburn.html

Susie came home Wednesday, none too soon as far as I was concerned.

And speaking of the Pastry Queen, she continues to spread the gospel of quality French pastries through teaching. Yesterday she wrapped up another class, this one focused on the magic of making croissants and pain au chocolat to four French women (rather preaching to the choir, I suppose).

It also looks like she's about ready to close on a commercial kitchen space. Nope, not the one downtown but a bit further out , but still near home -- where she'll have more control and more independence.

She's met with the developer a couple of times now, and has the floor plans in hand to start plotting the kitchen layout. She even popped up to Worcester, MA, this past week with Mary and Dorothy along for input and moral support, looking at commercial appliances at Westerman's. That was both eye-opening (in a good way) and enlightening -- and the folks she met there were helpful and ready to assist any way they can. Lots of good used equipment is readily available as well and overall pricing was better than we thought.

I hope to post some photos of all this business before too long. Stay tuned!

My digital archiving work is going well and, as I said I'm working on the outline  series of little guide books specifically tailored for photographers who want to locate and capture the fantastic statuary and sculpture in the major Paris Cemeteries. I anticipate no more than five short books, one each for Montparnasse, Montmartre, Passy and Pere-Lachaise. In addition to providing the standard helpful information about each cemetery, the guide would also highlight the sculpture and artwork themselves so that the photographers have visual signposts of what to look for.

And speaking of photographs about graves,  I have a much more ambitious cemetery project in play as well:  a series of books detailing nearly all the notable sculpture in Paris Cemeteries that I have photographed over the past several years (running to several thousands of images). So far I've put together a total of 10 volumes of photographs of the art in Pere-Lachaise alone. Each of those volumes is about 200 pages of busts, statues, and medallions. The idea is that each piece of artwork will be accompanied by a short bio of the deceased and/or the sculptor who produced it. Anyway, my hope is to follow up Pere-Lachaise with studies of the sculpture in Montparnasse, Montmartre and Passy Cemeteries.

As I said ambitious . . . But hey, I have the photographs, the spreadsheets, the information. . .  So, Marie and Philippe, what do you think?

Life is pretty good right now here in the grit 'n grime of the Ocean State. But life has a funny way of being very short. And I understand anything, the idea is to NOT fritter it away. . .

Take care, be well and, as always,

Wish you were in Paris,

Steve

Paris in 1998 - our first time

Like our trip to Italy in June of 1994, this whirlwind trip to Paris in late April of 1998 set the stage and the tone for what was to come nearly a decade later. Although we only had time to walk from Notre Dame to the Arc de Triomphe, in a matter of hours the two of us we were literally swept away by the very feel of this place. Beyond any sense of explanation,  we felt connected, comfortable and, in the years to come a pressing need to return.

But that's another story; for the moment, here's the tourist view from that whirlwind trip:

Tuileries

Louvre

Notre Dame

From the "Eiffler"

Update shmupdate

Providence in April -- chilly mornings, lots of sunshine and plenty of grit in the air from the destruction of part of I-195 that once ran through downtown:

But the full moon has passed and spring is definitely on the wing here:

Abandoned museum/hotel project on the left and Davol Square, where I work on the right

A week ago this past Monday evening I drove Susie up to Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA, where she spoke to a gathering of about 40 French students and faculty. The idea was for her to talk about her rather dramatic career change and, most particularly, about our move to Italy and ultimately France where she studied pastry. That part always amazes people -- and when we stop and think about it, it was pretty amazing indeed and frankly I'm surprised we did it.

Anyway, much of the presentation was in French and to cap it all off she also brought along five of her classic tarts including my personal favorite, caramel nut.

On Saturday Susie held another Petit Chefs class at Alliance Francaise and once again it was a packed house.

While she held forth teaching the fine art of pastry to the kids, I headed out to the East Bay Bike path to break in my new folding bike. It's a Dahon D7 and unfolds and folds up in about 15 seconds each way.

The ride is smooth although the 20-inch tires are a bit restrictive -- still it was enjoyable to cruise along the bike path even though the air was quite chilly and the wind blustery. On Sunday I really put the bike through its paces, heading into previously unknown territory along the bike path. Susie and I even swapped on and off (she mostly walked though). It was a grand way to end/start the week that's for sure.

More good news: Susie has been looking at two places now for commercial kitchen space. One is in an old mill building located about a mile and a half from downtown and presently undergoing a serious makeover; she would be responsible for the buildout in addition to equipment etc. The other one, in downtown Providence, is already to go, of course she would still be responsible for the equipment but it has the potential of developing into retail space as well. Both places are quite inexpensive and offer short term leases. Cool!

I had hoped to get to NYC this week to moderate a panel on digital art within the western tradition but work holds me fast to Providence. But if you're interested, here's the finale to my short opening presentation (sound up):

Life is full of tradeoffs, eh?

No major trips are planned any time soon -- but we continue to scheme about 2012 and hiking in the French alpes maritimes. You can find out more about our projected "walk" right here or cut and paste:

http://www.onfootholidays.co.uk/Default.aspx/viewTour.22

We'll keep you posted!

Ciao for now,

Steve

Back to Cook and Brown, Apricot spirals

This post is a bit behind schedule: the dinner was a couple of weeks back and the spirals were, of course, not part of that event but a special test treat at home. We joined Matt, Susan, Andrea and Barbara for an early jump on spring dining in Providence at one our favorite haunts. Needless to say both food experiences were outstanding -- although the drink menu had a couple of gaps and my burger could have used a more substantive bun, everybody enjoyed their meal at Cook and Brown that evening.

 

l-r: Andrea, Susie Matt, Susan and Barbara

My burger with paper thin chips

Andrea's steak and cauliflower gratin

Susie's apricot spirals