Much Ado About Color

The official colors approved by the Monflanquin mayor's office

Pigeon Blue Shutters! Tres joli!

A lemon tart on a cookie to celebrate a job well done

 Bill needs a project to feel useful in France. He is not one of those people who can be happy just relaxing. This trip he decides to repaint our shutters.  Honestly, our white  shutters do look awful as they display the  inevitable signs of aging, intensive peeling, and crumbling.  We go to Bricolage E. Leclerc. Imagine Home Depot where all the paint, the tools, the hardware etc etc  speak French and only French. I go along to translate but honestly French Home Depot vocabulary did not appear anywhere on the curriculum for French majors at UCLA. I do my best to translate but worry about missing  essential information on the products Bill needs.

Finally, after choosing brushes and a variety of painting accessories, it is time to choose a new color for the shutters. I actually feel comfortable choosing paint color because the colors are displayed very clearly next to the paint cans.  But wouldn't you know it, Bill and I disagree about the new  color for the  shutters. While he goes off to find yet one more necessary item, I stand in front of the paint samples.  Doubt fills me. Do I go with the color he likes or I like? After all, he is the one doing the painting. As I stand there, an angel appears in the form of my neighbor David who just happens to be shopping at E. LeClerc.  He spots me and informs me that I cannot just choose any color. The color must be approved by the Monflanquin mayor's office. The approved paint colors are coded so they can be accurately reproduced at any  shop where paint is sold. Brand does not matter. The paint must be mixed to conform to the approved  coded color. See color chart above. Thank you, David! I almost risked being run out of town by choosing Breton Blue. David himself got a scolding from the mayor's office because the white he chose for his shutters is not "the right white." This makes me laugh hysterically, but I am no longer laughing when handed a 14 page document about shutter colors at the mayor's office. Apparently, the regional comune must approve my color request. Photos of the newly painted shutters are required as well. They must be joking I think. What is it about the French and documents? My hand ached after signing about 100 documents to buy my house. I kid you not. So what color did I choose?  Pigeon Blue, probably impossible to decipher from the chart. You can see the color clearly on the repainted shutters. I fall in love with the color despite its name. I am not a big fan of pigeons.   So many people stop to admire the color and praise Bill's amazing paint job, that I begin to feel like the village celebrity though do none of the painting.  Bill's newly founded fan club passes by and praises him in French. He gets the gist of it. Bravo, Bon Courage!  The job becomes infinitely more difficult when the upstairs shutters crumble in his hand. Now Bill must rebuild the shutters which consume a great deal of time and include multiple trips to the lumber supply store. Imagine Parr Lumber where all the wood speaks French. 

Sadly, Bill cannot complete his project before his flight home.  With the project two thirds complete, Bill announces he would like to come back in the fall to finish the job.  This thrills me as Bill normally will travel to France only  once a year. What a silver lining or should I say Pigeon Blue?

Recent Activities

Since arriving in Monflanquin, I have hiked about 36 kilometers with a lovely group of people.  The entertaining conversations push me to go on.  At the end of the hike, we are greeted with coffee and cake made by one of the hikers.  By hiking, I get to see so much more of the surrounding area that I would never even know about. We pass sheep, goats, horses, fields of wheat and corn. Along the way, the wild flowers delight us. Surprises await.

Hiking in the French countryside

As Bill finally joins us, I prepare a crustless broccoli quiche. Bill is a vegetarian who adores cheese so this recipe works great. Somehow everything I prepare tastes better here.

Crustless broccoli quiche

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View from my bedroom

Pictures from my walk around the village perimeter

The view does not get old

What? Quelle horreur!

Exercises posted at the lumber  store before you start your project.

 While Bill was here, I made at least 10 trips to hardware stores. Not my favorite activity, but on the positive side, my French hardware vocabulary has expanded. Also, I am amazingly comfortable going up to a sales person and asking for what we need in French. Why were so many trips to hardware stores necessary? Look forward to learning why in my next post.

In the meantime........

Daniel enjoying local produce

 Bill got his new passport Wednesday June 7 and flew to Paris June 8. His adventures or misadventures continue. His train to Bergerac where we would pick him up is late leaving Paris for Bergerac.  He ends up spending the night in Limoges where the SNCF pays for a new ticket, a night in a hotel, dinner, and breakfast the next day. An SNCF employee  personally escorts Bill to his hotel. He also rolls his suitcase there.  We pick Bill up in Bergerac Saturday June 10.  Fortunately, Bill likes public transportation and is in a surprisingly good mood when he arrives.

In the meantime, Daniel arrives in Monflanquin. As you can see, he adores the local produce. 

Raptor Show at Josephine Baker's Chateau

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Josephine Baker's Chateau

Daniel also enjoys sightseeing. We visited the Chateau of Josephine Baker in Dordogne. She was a black  American jazz singer and dancer who became the sweet heart of France. Thanks to a comprehensive audio guide, we learn that Josephine Baker was not only an entertainer, but played a major role in the French resistance movement.  When she moved to the Chateau, she adopted 12 children of different races and nationalities to send the message that we can live in harmony despite our race and ethnicity.  Josephine loved the chateau for its elegance and grace.  She took up farming and looked after her exquisite gardens.  If you are in the Dordogne, I highly recommend a visit.

Tennis anyone?

Roland Garros French Open Tennis Stadium

Daniel and I enjoy watching  a match

The next day after my arrival in Paris,  son Daniel who is working temporarily in Paris and I head to the beautiful tennis stadium Roland Garros in the 16th arrondissement. Many years ago, I took a tour of the stadium and learned that the attractive clay courts are used only once  a year for the French Open.  With our day pass, we are allowed entry to any court we desire in addition to our assigned seats at the court Simonne-Mathieu.  Amazingly our favorite tennis player will play in court 9.  What incredible luck as one cannot know  in advance who will play the day of one's ticket.  Our guy is the Argentinian Diego Schwartzman, one of the shortest tennis players ever at 5ft7". He also happens to be Jewish which we appreciate as well.

What Schwartzman lacks in size he makes up for in effective speedy footwork and strong returns. Our seats in the intimate court 9 allow us to see him with extreme clarity. He flies across the court with a grace comparable to a ballet dancer.  His opponent, the Portuguese tennis player, Nuno Borges plays well;  the match is a close exciting one.  Diego Schwartzman wins! Daniel and I are ecstatic.

 

Someone is missing

We received the email to check in for our flights to Paris  on Sunday May 28. My check in went smoothly. I  decided to buy a  window seat rather than risk being stuck in the middle of the row.  My preferred seat would be the aisle but no aisle seats remained. Bill finished his gardening and went downstairs to check in. He came upstairs  only to announce that the airlines would not permit him to check in because his passport would expire in two months. France requires that one's passport be valid for  at least three months from first date of entry into the country. Never mind that Bill intended to visit France for only two weeks or that the airlines  had sold him a ticket  after he  submitted his passport information. The next day being Monday  Memorial Day, Bill could do nothing to sort out his dilemma until Tuesday. He woke up at 5 A.M. on Tuesday to book an appointment with the emergency passport office in Seattle. Why this could not be done online seemed incomprehensible to me.  It soon became clear that I would fly to Paris solo, and Bill would miss the French Open and the visit to the Catacombs, our two major planned events. Daniel felt bad for Dad. I felt worried, and Bill felt horrible.  Bill's appointment is Tuesday June 6 and if all goes well, he will get a new passport that day. He is planning to fly to Paris June 8 to arrive  June 9. Luckily, he found an available dog sitter that could stay with Maggy for an additional week so he could extend his trip. As of this writing, Bill still does not have a new passport.  Will he be able to get one on Tuesday June 6? Stay tuned to find out.