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?